Theoretical Challenge
Grammar, lexicon, and semantics are the three pillars of translation (see A. Zgoll 2022, 301 f). The more difficult or polysemous the decipherment of a source or the translation of a text, the less sufficient grammar and lexicon alone are, and the more important semantics become. This is where hylistics comes in.
Methodological Response
Hylistics = field of semantic analysis.
Hylistics provides a methodology to
- contribute to decipherment of texts (especially when difficult or polysemous)
- contribute to translation of texts (especially when difficult or polysemous)
- supplement incomplete texts
- compile arguments for the constitution of a text
1.1 Distinctions
| Philology | Hylistics |
| reconstruction of (manuscripts of) texts = basis of hylistic analyses | reconstruction of (variants of) narrative materials = basis of hermeneutics |
| limited to one medium (text) | transmedial (texts, images, films etc.) |
| focus on grammar, lexicon, and style | focus on semantics |
The optimal approach is an iterative process combining philology and hylistics:
Philological edition = basis of hylistic analyses.
Hylistic analyses can help to complete, clarify and adjust philological editions.
The benefits of hyleme analysis are similar to the benefits of grammatical (morpheme) analysis. Just as grammatical analysis is necessary for the precise translation of a text, hyleme analysis is necessary for the precise reconstruction of a narrative material.
| Morpheme analysis (grammatical, lexical) | Hyleme analysis (semantic) |
| Morpheme analysis makes otherwise unconscious and opaque ideas and decisions about sometimes invisible grammatical / lexical information (or, where no decisions are made, the failure to address the issue) conscious and transparent. | Hyleme analysis makes otherwise unconscious and opaque ideas and decisions about sometimes invisible semantic information (or, where no decisions are made, the failure to address the issue) conscious and transparent. |
| Morpheme analysis often reveals unconscious and unreflective additions and helps to avoid linguistic mistakes. | Hyleme analysis often reveals unconscious and unreflective additions and helps to avoid semantic mistakes (as anachronisms). |
| Example: Sumerian mu-dab5 may e.g. be referring to the morphological situation of {mu-n-du2-Ø} = “He/she has given birth to him/her/it” or to {mu-?-du2-Ø} = “I have given birth to him/her/it” etc. | Example: “mother” as word of a text / part of an image / part of an event may e.g. be analysed as referring to a hyleme – A woman gives birth to a child. – The woman is from now on a mother. or to – A woman adopts a child. – The woman is from now on a mother. etc. |
1.2 Case Studies
1.2.1 Hylistics contributes to the decipherment of texts
Hylistics can – for example – lead to the correct reading of a cuneiform sign which corrects the translation and identifies a new intercultural parallel between Hittite and Greek sources (see C. Zgoll 2027).
1.2.2 Hylistics contributes to the translation of texts
As a semantic context analysis, hylistics can help to find an adequate translation for ambiguous words.
Example:
How are Prometheus and his kin characterised in Hesiod’s Theogony? The adjectives used by Hesiod (theog. 509-511) are archaic and difficult to translate and therefore can be interpreted as either slightly positive or slightly negative:
- Atlas κρατερόφρων (509): „strong-minded“ or „stubborn“?
- Menoitios ὑπερκύδας (510): „extremely courageous“ or „overconfident“?
- Epimetheus ἁμαρτίνοος (511): „misguided“ or „mad“?
- Prometheus ποικίλος αἰολόμητις (511): „clever schemer“ or „deceitful intriguer“?
➔ Hylistic analyses of the Prometheus passage in Hesiod’s Theogony can show that Hesiod is presenting the myths of Prometheus and his brothers in a negative light (see C. Zgoll 2026, forthcoming).
1.2.3 Hylistics supplements incomplete texts
Reconstruction of beginning and ending of the mythical narrative in an incomplete text:
Innanas Gang zur Unterwelt: A. Zgoll 2020.
Reconstruction of the ending of a mythical narrative in incomplete texts:
Dumuzi-Laments in A. Zgoll / Cuperly / Cöster-Gilbert 2023.
References:
Zgoll, A. 2020, Durch Tod zur Macht, selbst über den Tod. Mythische Strata von Unterweltsgang und Auferstehung der Innana/Ištar in sumerischen und akkadischen Quellen, in: A. Zgoll / C. Zgoll (ed.), Mythische Sphärenwechsel. Methodisch neue Zugänge zu antiken Mythen in Orient und Okzident, Mythological Studies 2, Boston / Berlin, 83-159. (Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110652543-003)
Zgoll, A., 2022, „Sacred Texts and the First Myth about the Creation of Writing“, in: Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 22/2, 258–314.
Zgoll, A. / Cuperly, B. / Cöster-Gilbert, A. 2023, In Search of Dumuzi: An Introduction to Hylistic Narratology, in: S. Helle / G. Konstantopoulos (ed.), The Shape of Stories. Narrative Structures in Cuneiform Literature, CM (Cuneiform Monographs) 54, Leiden / Boston, 285–350. (Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004539761_013)
Zgoll, C., 2026, „The unknown Prometheus – and what Hesiod made of him. A case study of hylistic myth research“, in: M. Konaris (Hg.), Studies on Greek gods and heroes. Interpretations and Appropriations, Trends in Classics, Berlin/ Boston (accepted).
Zgoll, C., 2027, „The Hittite ‘Theogony’(CTH 344) and Hesiod’s Theogony: Discovery of a New Parallel“, in: A. Johnston/ B. Ballesteros Petrella (Hg.), Divine Narratives. Religion and Literature in Greece and the Ancient Near East, Edinburgh (submitted).