Folklore as the Basis of the Greek and Latin Literature

在这项研究中，我们证明了希腊和拉丁文学在很大程度上归功于民俗，诗人们通过他们的创作才华为复杂的文学提供了原材料。Nakatsukasa提出了一个假设，即欧里庇得斯的《独眼巨人》的戏剧性结构的基础不是《奥德赛》第9卷中著名的插曲，而是广为流传的波利菲默斯的民间故事。如果我们接受这一假设，我们就可以解决这部剧中的许多问题。奥卡指出，索福克勒斯的《俄狄浦斯王》的结构很大程度上受到了俄狄浦斯传说的影响，特别是被遗弃的孩子和杀死父权的神谕的主题。俄狄浦斯传说在古代有许多变体，所有这些变体都有一个明确的结构。这种结构被证明是索福克勒斯创造性工作的基础。从这个角度，我们或许可以厘清俄狄浦斯究竟是一个不屈的真理追求者，还是一个逃避真理的普通人。中冢描述了古希腊民间故事的实际情况，考察了民间故事的称谓、承担者、公式和社会功能。然而，在希腊和罗马世界，我们对口头传播和文字传播之间的关系还没有给予足够的考虑。这仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。

In this research, we have proved that the Greek and Latin literature owed much to the folklore and that the poets raised raw materials to the sophisticated literature through their creative talent. Nakatsukasa suggested a hypothesis that the basis og the dramatic construction of Euripides' "Cyclops" was not the famous episode in the 9th book of the "Odyssey" but the widespread folktale of Polyphemus. If we accept this hypothesis, we can solve many problms in this play.Oka pointed out that the structure of Sophocles' "Oedipus the King" was much influenced by the Oedipus legend, especially the motifs of a foundling and the oracle of patricide. The Oedipus legend had many variants in the ancient world, and there was a definite structure common to all of them. That structure was proved to be the basis of the creative work of Sophocles. We may be able to clarify whether Oedipus is an unyielding pursuer of truth or an ordinary man escaping from truth from this point of view.Nakatsukasa described the actual circumstances about folktales in ancient Greece, investigatig the appellation, the bearer, the formulas and the social function of the folktales. However, we have not given enough consideration to the relation between oral and literal transmission in the Greek and Roman world. It remains an open problem.