Transmission and Acceptance of Classics in Europe and Japan

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This year in the process of the investigation, Greek and Latin classics came to be seen in a new light : it had been idealized till the first half of the last century but now it is considered in a relative, comparative perspective. Accordingly the emphasis of the research has shifted to the sense of values that enabled transmission and acceptance of the classics in the European history. As a result, it is needed to read classical texts from a new point of view of gender. This kind of reading will give a new understanding of the importance of the classics as a background in the western thoughts.The first fruit of this year's research is the plain explanations of Greek myths which were attached to each end of the books of 8-volume series for the reading public. The work has promoted popularization of both Greco-Roman myths and the classics in general.A second fruit is a paper analyzing Aristotle's Politics from a gender point of view. The examination of the text revealed that his conception of women was highly based on a traditional representation called misogyny that appeared frequently in the ancient Greek literature. It was Aristotle who established a systematic theory justifying the tradition by making good use of dichotomy and domination-subordination relationship in a male-centered society of Athens in the fifth and fourth century BC.The object of the analysis of this year was confined to Politics, but hereafter it will be expanded to his other writings about human body and reproduction.