Katabasis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Katabasis[1] (from Greek κατα, "down" βαινω "go") means in general a "descent", a journey downwards which can mean moving downhill, a sinking of winds, a military retreat, or a trip to the underworld. It may also mean a trip from the interior of a country down to the coast, and has related meanings in poetry, rhetoric, and modern psychology.

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[edit] A trip to the coast

The term katabasis can refer to a trip from the interior of a country down to the coast (for example, following a river), while the term anabasis refers to an expedition from a coastline up into the interior of a country.

This is the main meaning given for katabasis by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) which is describe as "A going down; a military retreat, in allusion to that of the ten thousand Greeks under Xenophon, related by him in his Anabasis." and quote:

1837 DE QUINCEY Revolt Tartars Wks. 1862 IV. 112 The Russian anabasis and katabasis of Napoleon. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 17 May 4/1 Little space is devoted to the Anabasis; it is, as in the story of Xenophon, the Katabasis which fills the larger part.

– OED - katabasis

[edit] Arts

In poetry and rhetoric, the term katabasis refers to a "gradual descending" of emphasis on a theme within a sentence or paragraph, while anabasis refers to a gradual ascending in emphasis.

[edit] Modern psychology

In modern psychology, the term katabasis is also sometimes used to describe the depression some young men experience.[2] Author Robert Bly proposes in his book 'Iron John: A Book About Men several reasons for the "catabasis phenomenon", amongst them the lack of Western initiation rites and the lack of strong father figures and role models.

[edit] Trip into the underworld

See also: Descent to the underworld

Katabasis is the epic convention of the hero's trip into the underworld.[3] In Greek mythology, for example, Orpheus enters the underworld in order to bring Eurydice back to the world of the living.

Most katabases take place in a supernatural underworld, such as Hades or Hell — as in Nekyia, the 11th book of the Odyssey, which describes the descent of Odysseus to the underworld. However, katabasis can also referto a journey through other dystopic areas, such as what Odysseus encounters on his 20-year journey back from Troy to Ithaca. Pilar Serrano[3] allows the term katabasis to encompass brief or chronic stays in the underworld, including those of Lazarus and Castor and Pollux.

[edit] References and notes

  1. ^ In some academic fields like modern psychology also spelt catabasis
  2. ^ Jung's 1932 Article on Picasso
  3. ^ a b Pilar González Serrano, "Catábasis y resurrección". Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Serie II: Historia Antigua. Volume 12, pp. 129–179. Madrid, 1999.

[edit] Further reading

  • Rachel Falconer, Hell in Contemporary Literature: Western Descent Narratives since 1945, EUP, 2005. On modern examples of katabases, or descents to Hell.