Archive

Beauty in Homeric Iliad and Odyssey

Beauty: a concept of the mind that is intangible, culturally influenced, and fluid. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, say many. The realm of beauty is as old as humanity. The topic canvasses from philosophy to religion from natural to man-made. This is a huge topic, from which I will focus on the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey, and explore how people in antiquity thought about beauty. I have… Read more

A Memorable Trip to Egypt: Cairo, Alexandria and a Nile Cruise

Day 1: Arrival We arrive at our hotel which is in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, conveniently situated for the Pyramids. Day 2: Giza Early morning wake-up call, the first one of so many more to come! A small drive by coach to the Pyramids of Giza, their silhouettes looming on the horizon from afar: The largest of the three, the Great Pyramid of Khufu, is the only survivor… Read more

Homeric Greek | Odyssey 1.136–143: Dining, and serving food

We are pleased to revisit this segment in the series on reading Homeric epic in ancient Greek. In each installment we read, translate, and discuss a small passage in the original Greek in the most accessible way. If you’ve ever dreamed of reading Homer in the original, here is your chance to do so with teachers who have spent a lifetime thinking about this poetry. With their guidance even new… Read more

Gallery: Jewels and Precious Objects

Gold openwork hairnet with medallion (200–150BCE) This Gallery is going to show you some jewels and some precious ornaments or objects. The pictures were taken at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In this passage, when Hera wants to seduce Zeus, she goes to her room to prepare herself. Earrings are part of her attire. [170] She cleansed all the dirt from her fair body with ambrosia, then she anointed… Read more

Open House | Linked Open Data for the Graeco-Roman World with Dr. Monica Berti

We were delighted to welcome Dr. Monica Berti, of Leipzig University, who joined members of the Kosmos Society for an Open House discussion on the principles and recommendations of the so called “Linked Open Data” (LOD) to share and reuse data across the web. The focus was on the use of LOD in the field of Graeco-Roman antiquity. Examples were taken from the project “Linked Ancient Greek and Latin” (LAGL), which… Read more