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| author | Dawn Francine DeMartino |
| title | Cosmos and Polis: The Good City in the Orestia and the Divine Comedy |
| abstract | The twentieth century stands as testament to the consequences of bad ideas. All actions, good or bad, start with ideas;
philosophy matters. When societies accept philosophies that discount the individual human person's value, catastrophe results. On the other hand, when societies
affirm human dignity, culture flourishes. In their introduction to the Orestia, Robert Fagles and W.B. Stanford note a lack of scholarship exploring connections
between the Orestia and Divine Comedy, two works that express the ideals of western civilization's watershed periods: pre-classical Athens and Florence on the
cusp of the Renaissance. Both works embody the humanist perspective that would become the hallmarks of classical Athens and Renaissance Florence. As the main
characters journey from tragedy to transcendence, the authors explore the cultural significance of cosmic, philosophical, political and religious assumptions.
Each presents a "good city" as the example of a perfect community that guards all citizens' freedom and dignity.
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| school | The Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, Drew University |
| degree | D.Litt. (2018) |
| advisor | Virginia Phelan |
| committee | Liana Piehler
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| full text | DFDeMartino.pdf |
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