Parmenides and the Tradition of Katabasis Narratives

Chapter five focuses on one of the core motifs of Greek thought concerning death and the afterlife: the katabasis, or descent into the underworld. Benzi examines the deployment of this motif by the early Greek philosopher, Parmenides. Benzi sheds light on the famously obscure proem by reading it as a katabatic tale, a form of narrative which he argues is a traditional means of establishing authority. However, Benzi argues that Parmenides’ deployment of a katabasis subverts this traditional function, and represents a means by which Parmenides demonstrates the logical vacuum of the poetic tradition.