Archive

Visiting Scholars

Open House | Performance Traditions in Greece, with Panayotis Fragkiskos League

We were delighted to welcome Panayotis Fragkiskos League, PhD Candidate, Ethnomusicology of Harvard University, for an Open House discussion. The video discussion was on Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. EST, and was recorded. The topic of this ‘Open House’ is ‘Performance Traditions in Greece.’ Paddy League also performs songs accompanied by laouto, and demonstrates the tsambouna. You can watch the event below or on our YouTube channel. Members… Read more

Topic for Discussion

Armenian Song Culture—Vahagn

  The Heritage of Armenian Literature [1] opens up with a chapter about oral tradition. The information about the Armenian oral tradition comes from the History of the Armenians by Moses of Khoren. He mentions different forms of story telling about the ancient Armenian heroes. Zruyts “old and unwritten stories, to which Moses of Khoren attaches a high degree of credibility. Less credible ones, what he terms araspels or legends… Read more

Texts,  Topic for Discussion

The Daughters of Helios

Claude Lorrain, The Daughters of Helios Searching for their Brother Phaeton (1658) Montreal Museum of Fine Arts I often go to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts but I did not notice this painting until last month. The painting represents the sisters of Phaeton lamenting for their brother after his tragic death. Different versions may be found about who they are and who is their mother. The painter Claude Lorrain… Read more

Texts,  Topic for Discussion

Errant Brothers

A guest post by Sarah Scott I was reading Gregory Nagy’s translation of the Sappho ‘Brothers’ poem, and it made me think of Works and Days, and then I got to wondering about brothers—or sisters for that matter. I do not mean those who form a pair, as in the ‘twin’ myths discussed with us by Douglas Frame for example, where the two are complementary. Rather, I mean those siblings… Read more

Visiting Scholars

Open House | The Epic of Gilgamesh, with Jacqueline Vayntrub

Our Open House series of 2016 started with a visit from Jacqueline Vayntrub, who is NECL Post-Doctoral Fellow at Harvard, 2015–2016, as the visiting scholar. The discussion topic was The Epic of Gilgamesh, with the focus on ‘The Search for Everlasting Life’ (section 4 in the edition linked). Bitterly Gilgamesh wept for his friend Enkidu; he wandered over the wilderness as a hunter, he roamed over the plains; in his… Read more