Autore: Gastaldi, Silvia
Titolo: L’"Encomio di Elena" di Isocrate: la potenza della bellezza
Periodico: Estetica
Anno: 2025 - Fascicolo: 1 - Pagina iniziale: 85 - Pagina finale: 100

This article examines Isocrates’ "Encomium of Helen" with the aim of elucidating the rhetorical strategies employed by Isocrates in presenting a radical reinterpretation of Helen’s character. Indeed, he challenges the conventional view that Helen was culpable of the actions traditionally ascribed to her. Isocrates’ speech is centered on the concept of Helen’s beauty, which is presented as a gift from her father, Zeus. Isocrates portrays Helen’s beauty as having possessed exceptional power and beneficial effects on those who admired and loved her. The article focuses on Isocrates’ account of the heroic deeds of Theseus, who first loved Helen as a child, and on the sequence of events concerning Paris, whose character is completely reassessed. Finally, the article emphasizes that, at the conclusion of Isocrates’ speech, Helen, who had previously played a passive role in relation to the gazes and desires of others, attains immortality, thereby demonstrating her own power.




SICI: 2039-6635(2025)1<85:LDEDIL>2.0.ZU;2-4
Testo completo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/download/article/10.14648/118575
Testo completo alternativo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.14648/118575

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