Whether you are new to the group, or would like to catch up with items you might have missed or want to revisit, welcome to this round-up of highlights from the content, community, and conversation at Kosmos Society over the past year.
January saw changes to the community’s identity as the former “Hour 25” became the Kosmos Society, reflecting its broader scope.
Online Open House discussions
This year’s series of Online Open House discussions is listed here:
- Ovid, with Leonard Muellner—helps us to start thinking about Latin texts and Roman authors, with a focus on Ovid’s Metamorphoses
- Becoming Moses: Deuteronomy 32 in Performance, with Keith Stone—focusing on passages in the ‘Song of Moses’ that provide evidence for performance
- Crossing the Sea: Migration in the Ancient World, with Paul O’Mahony—an exploration of ancient descriptions of voyages and migration
- Deaths of Ancient Leaders, with Norman Sandridge—what was considered a good way, or a shameful way, for an ancient leader to die, and what meaning is attached to the mode of death?
- Equine Poetics, with Ryan Platte—including comparisons of the chariot race in bridal contests
- Virgil’s Aeneid, with Gregory Nagy—focusing on Books 4 and 6
- Gift of tripods in Odyssey 13, with Douglas Frame—Phaeacians and Phoenicians in the return of Odysseus
- Gold, kraters and treasur(i)es in Herodotus’ Histories, with Maria G. Xanthou—the purpose of gifts described in Book 1
- Indo-European Epic Poetry, with Kevin McGrath—a comparative approach, including the different types of poetry performance
- Zeus in Comedy, with Jeffrey Rusten including selections from the Iliad, Aristophanes Plutus, and Lucian
- Dialogue of the deaf: puppeteers vs. interviewers on oral history and historical data, with Anna Stavrakopoulou—the role of puppeteers and the role of researchers
- Living Traditions of Vedic Ritual and Recitation in India, with Finnian M.M. Gerety
- The poetry of Horace, with Gregory Nagy—this discussion introduces the poetry of Horace and focuses on Odes 4.1 and 4.2
- Homer and the Epic Cycle on (Mis)Recognition, with Justin Arft—this session looks at evidence within and outside the Odyssey about other traditions about Odysseus
You can find a complete list of previous video discussions on the “Online Open House” page.
Resources and Projects
We shared a number of resources to support members’ and visitors’ learning, including continuing discussions of the Odyssey featuring Gregory Nagy, Douglas Frame, and Leonard Muellner. You can find the videos listed on the “Learn” page, here. Look out for further sessions coming up!
We also shared news on the site about resources at The Center for Hellenic Studies and elsewhere, including the Homer Multitext project, the Online Repository of Particle Studies, performances from the Antigone Project Phase II, and news about the National Library of Greece.
Guest Posts
This year’s guest posts, designed to lead to further discussion in the forums, included some written by individual members, and others written collectively by groups. They included posts on subjects as diverse as:
There was an ongoing series featuring passages in which Core Vocabulary terms from H24H are used in different contexts. You can find links to these and to posts from previous years on the “Core Vocab” page.
Members also shared translations, book and exhibition reviews, and travel experiences.
You can browse through the blog posts either by following the “Next Page” link at the bottom of the Home page or any blog post, or by using the “Find Blog Posts” functions on the right-hand side of the Home page.
Community Conversation
Some members prefer to use the forums for discussion, others prefer to meet in Hangouts, and others use both.
The language study groups (currently four for ancient Greek, and one for Latin) meet to support each other’s learning. You can find language study resources on the “Learn” page; please post in the forum if you would like to join a group or would like to know more.
The Book Club has been meeting monthly, and readings included selections from Ovid Metamorphoses, Seneca Phaedra, Xenophon Apology of Socrates, Virgil Aeneid, Aristophanes Plutus, Albert Bates Lord: Epic Singers and Oral Tradition, and the poetry of Horace.
Selections for the new year will include varied classical reading both from primary texts and from secondary sources.
Looking Ahead
The community is welcoming new members who are joining the group from HeroesX and from elsewhere. However long you have been a member, you can jump in, take an active part in discussions or activities, and help to shape the future of the Kosmos Society. Here’s to 2018!