Foundations of Violence - Death and the Displacement of Beauty (Paperback)

The pursuit and love of death has characterized Western culture since Homeric times. Foundations of Violence enters the ancient world of Homer, Plato and Aristotle to explore the genealogy of violence in Western thought. It uncovers the origins of ideas of death from the 'beautiful death' of Homeric heroes through to the gendered misery of war. Jantzen examines the tensions between those who tried to eliminate fear of death by denying its significance, and those like Plotinus who looked to another world for life and beauty.