The Use and Meaning of "alpha-tau-eta" from Homer to Euripedes

FAIN: FT-10748-70

Richard E. Doyle
Fordham University (Bronx, NY 10458-9993)

Fellow to finish writing a book entitled The Use and Meaning of "alpha-tau-eta" from Homer to Euripides. Six chapters finished; chapters on Sophocles, Euripedes and concluding chapter remain to be finished. "Alpha-tau-eta" in its original meaning signified "blindness," "infatuation," or "folly." Gradually the concept shifted from a subjective meaning to an objective one of "ruin," "calamity," or "disaster," almost always inflicted on man by some divine agency. Study to focus on the development of consciousness, in Greek thought and culture, of the tension between personal freedom and necessity or predestination.