Editing Allegory (section)

==Classical allegory==

The origins of allegory can be traced at least back to [[Homer]] in his "quasi-allegorical" use of personifications of, e.g., Terror (Deimos) and Fear (Phobos) at Il. 115 f.<ref>Small, S. G. P. (1949). "On Allegory in Homer". The Classical Journal 44 (7): 423.</ref> The title of "first allegorist", however, is usually awarded to whoever was the earliest to put forth allegorical interpretations of Homer.  This approach leads to two possible answers: Theagenes of Rhegium (whom Porphyry calls the "first allegorist," Porph. Quaest. Hom. 1.240.14–241.12 Schrad.) or Pherecydes of Syros, both of whom are presumed to be active in the 6th century B.C.E., though Pherecydes is earlier and as he, is often presumed to be the, first writer of prose.  The debate is complex, since it demands that we observe the distinction between two often conflated uses of the Greek verb "allēgoreīn," which can mean both "to speak allegorically" and "to interpret allegorically."<ref>Domaradzki, M. (2017). "The Beginnings of Greek Allegoresis". Classical World 110 (3):301</ref>

In the case of "interpreting allegorically," Theagenes appears to be our earliest example.  Presumably in response to proto-philosophical moral critiques of Homer (e.g., Xenophanes fr. 11 Diels-Kranz<ref>H. Diels and W. Kranz. (1951). Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, vol. 1. 6th edn. Berlin: Weidmann, 126–138.</ref>), Theagenes proposed symbolic interpretations whereby the Gods of the Iliad actually stood for physical elements.  So, Hephestus represents Fire, for instance (for which see fr. A2 in Diels-Kranz<ref>H. Diels and W. Kranz. (1951). Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, vol. 1. 6th edn. Berlin: Weidmann, 51–52.</ref>).  Some scholars, however, argue that Pherecydes cosmogonic writings anticipated Theagenes allegorical work, illustrated especially by his early placement of Time (Chronos) in his genealogy of the gods, which is thought to be a reinterpretation of the titan Kronos, from more traditional genealogies.

In classical literature two of the best-known allegories are [[Allegory of the Cave|the Cave]] in Plato's ''[[Republic (Plato)|The Republic]]'' (Book VII) and the story of the stomach and its members in the speech of Menenius Agrippa ([[Livy]] ii. 32).

Among the best-known examples of allegory, [[Plato]]'s [[Allegory of the Cave]], forms a part of his larger work ''[[The Republic (Plato)|The Republic]].'' In this allegory, Plato describes a group of people who have lived chained in a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall (514a–b). The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows, using language to identify their world (514c–515a). According to the allegory, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality, until one of them finds his way into the outside world where he sees the actual objects that produced the shadows. He tries to tell the people in the cave of his discovery, but they do not believe him and vehemently resist his efforts to free them so they can see for themselves (516e–518a). This allegory is, on a basic level, about a philosopher who upon, finding greater knowledge outside the cave of human understanding, seeks to share it as is his duty, and the foolishness of those who would ignore him because they think themselves educated enough.<ref>{{cite journal|last =Elliott|first= R. K. |date = 1967|title = Socrates and Plato's Cave|journal=Kant-Studien|volume= 58|issue = 2|page= 138|doi = 10.1515/kant.1967.58.1-4.137|s2cid= 170201374 }}</ref>

In Late Antiquity [[Martianus Capella]] organized all the information a fifth-century upper-class male needed to know into an allegory of the wedding of Mercury and ''Philologia'', with the seven [[liberal arts]] the young man needed to know as guests.<ref>{{cite book|translator-first1=William Harris|translator-last1=Stahl|translator-first2=Richard|translator-last2=Johnson|translator-first3=E.L.|translator-last3=Burge|title=Martianus Capella and the Seven Liberal Arts – The Marriage of Philology and Mercury|volume=II|location=New York|publisher=Columbia University Press|date=1977|edition=Print}}</ref> Also, the Neoplatonic philosophy developed a type of allegorical reading of Homer<ref>{{Cite book|title=Homer the Theologian: Neoplatonist Allegorical Reading and the Growth of the Epic Tradition|last=Lamberton|first=Robert|date=1986|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520066076|jstor=10.1525/j.ctt1ppp1k}}</ref> and Plato.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|last=Calian|first=Florin George|title='Clarifications' of Obscurity: Proclus' Allegorical Reading of Plato's Parmenides|date=2013|url=https://philpapers.org/rec/CALCOO|work=Medium Aevum Quotidianum|pages=15–31|editor-last=Dolealová|editor-first=Lucie|publisher=Krems: Institut für Realienkunde des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit|access-date=2019-11-06|editor2-last=Rider|editor2-first=Jeff|editor3-last=Zironi|editor3-first=Alessandro}}</ref> As scholars of allegory point out, ”the literal reading of a text has its counter-part in allegorical interpretation. This way of reading, which must have started with the first readers of  Homer and found a fertile ground in [[Philo]]'s allegorical commentaries on the Bible, was amazingly natural for [[Proclus]], whose writings and commentaries represent the last phases of late antique philosophy, and particularly of the relation between philosophy and rhetoric.”<ref name=":0" />