Melpomene, Muse of Tragedy, Louvre I have been reading The Death of Tragedy by George Steiner (available on Kobo). At the beginning of his book, Steiner writes: The Iliad is the root of Tragedy The life of a hero is short Murders inhuman and cruel actions occur The disappearance of Troy The Fall The destruction The vulnerability of men Fatality Men are powerless in front of gods It all ends badly… In… Read more
We were pleased to welcome actor, writer, and educator Paul O’Mahony for an Open House discussion on ‘The Power of Performance: Mythology and Outreach Today’. He introduces the topic as follows: I would like to talk about our reception of classical texts and our approaches to performance—finding new and exciting ways to re-imagine them. I will use my own experience both creating and watching various shows (both tragic and comic).… Read more
We are pleased to share the following video about ancient Greek meter, featuring Professor Leonard Muellner. In this video, Muellner describes the basic rules of prosody, with a focus on dactylic hexameter, the meter of Homeric epic, and iambic trimeter, a meter used in ancient Greek tragedy. This presentation is accessible to those just beginning to learn about ancient Greek. Members can post your comments, questions and perhaps take a… Read more
Come, take the Dorian lyre down from its peg, if the splendor of Pisa and of Pherenicus placed your mind under the influence of sweetest thoughts, when that horse ran swiftly beside the Alpheus, not needing to be spurred on in the race, and brought victory to his master, the king of Syracuse who delights in horses.[1] Dear readers, The Hour 25 Book Club will host a discussion on Pindar… Read more
We were pleased to welcome Casey Dué for the first in our series of Open House sessions for fall 2015, in which we discussed the Iliad and the Greek Bronze Age. She introduces the topic as follows: How old is the Iliad? The Trojan War has traditionally been dated since antiquity to about 1250 BCE, and the Iliad is usually dated five hundred years or more after that, but there… Read more