This book is a
fascinating excursion into the ancient mind.  It is concerned with the
experience of anger, and theories about the nature of anger, in the Greco-Roman
world.  The authors of each of the book’s eleven chapters are, without
exception distinguished scholars: classicists, historians and philologists.

Ancient
literature dealing with the theme of anger is surprisingly extensive.  The Illiad
, that paradigm of Greek literature, opens with the line "The rage €“
sing it, goddess, that of Pleleus’ son Achilles: accursed rage, which laid
countless woes upon the Achaeans."  Ancient Anger takes the reader
on a tour of the emotional and conceptual landscape of the ancient world. 
Beginning with an analysis of the themes of anger and pity in Homer’s Illiad,
we are treated to an amazing discussion of the valorization of anger in
Athenian society, which is followed, appropriately, by a thorough discussion of
Aristotle’s theory of the nature of anger.  I must confess that this was my
favorite essay in the volume.  Revisiting Aristotle is always a treat for
anyone interested in philosophical psychology, and this essay drove home to me
subtleties in Aristotle’s views that I had not hitherto appreciated.  For
Aristotle, anger can only be correctly understood in the context of status and
dominance-hierarchies: one feels anger when one has been slighted and not paid
the respect that one is due in virtue of social position.  This view is
compatible with an evolutionary theory of anger, and I have already begun to
incorporate it into my work on the evolution of emotional regulatory systems. 
Further chapters are concerned with representation of female rage, the origin
of anger-restraining magic, representations of anger in Chariton’s novel Chaereas
and Callirhoe, anger in babies and children, in the Aeneid and
Hellenistic philosophy, divine anger, and anger in Greek and Roman epics.

This is a
wonderful work of scholarship, full of unexpected nuggets for anyone with a
serious interest in either the psychology of anger or the ancient mind.  It is,
however, a very demanding work and may be heavy going for readers who do not
have at least a nodding acquaintance with Greek and Roman literature and
philosophy.    In my view, though, it is well worth the effort.  Although it
has been almost 3000 years since the Homeric epics were composed, the writings
of the ancients remain a fountainhead of enlightenment about the nature of the
human mind and the human condition.

© 2004 David Livingstone Smith

David Livingstone Smith, Director,
The New England Institute

Categories: Philosophical