κοπετός / κόπτεσθαι communal expression?
Posted: August 9th, 2015, 12:53 am
Do κοπετός / κόπτεσθαι "beat the breast", "wail" express an unorganised communal expression of grief (individuals carrying out a socially defined/expected grieving action), or was it seen as an individual action simply in response to one's own feelings inside.
Acts 8:2 wrote:Συνεκόμισαν δὲ τὸν Στέφανον ἄνδρες εὐλαβεῖς, καὶ ἐποιήσαντο κοπετὸν μέγαν ἐπ’ αὐτῷ.
Matthew 11:17 wrote:Ηὐλήσαμεν ὑμῖν, καὶ οὐκ ὠρχήσασθε· ἐθρηνήσαμεν ὑμῖν, καὶ οὐκ ἐκόψασθε.
Matthew 24:30 (cf. Revelations 1:7) wrote:καὶ τότε κόψονται πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ὄψονται τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενον ἐπὶ τῶν νεφελῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ μετὰ δυνάμεως καὶ δόξης πολλῆς.
Luke 8:52 wrote:Ἔκλαιον δὲ πάντες, καὶ ἐκόπτοντο αὐτήν. Ὁ δὲ εἶπεν, Μὴ κλαίετε· οὐκ ἀπέθανεν, ἀλλὰ καθεύδει.
Luke 23:27 wrote:Ἠκολούθει δὲ αὐτῷ πολὺ πλῆθος τοῦ λαοῦ, καὶ γυναικῶν αἳ καὶ ἐκόπτοντο καὶ ἐθρήνουν αὐτόν.
For especially Luke 23:27, compare κοπετούς τε γυναικείους ἀφαιρῶν in Plutarch, Fabius Maximus, 17, 5, translated by Bernadotte Perrin as "checking effeminate lamentation". I take that with the things lsted about others following it - make known their common bad feelings, rather than with his own stoicism that are listed before it.Revelations 18:9 wrote:Καὶ κλαύσουσιν καὶ κόψονται ἐπ’ αὐτὴν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς οἱ