~ A guest post by Sarah Scott and the Oinops Study Group ~ In our initial discussions we concentrated on the Homeric epics and identified some of the themes that appear in our focus passages. When we viewed together the main subjects surrounding the words appearing with oinops, pontos, ‘sea’, and bous, ‘ox’, we started to see a connection with seasonality (see ‘Oinops and Oxen’), so we decided to look in… Read more
Explore what it means to be human today by studying what it meant to be a hero in ancient Greek times Registration is now open for the latest session of The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours, a unique MOOC that introduces participants to the literature and heroes of ancient Greece via the content from one of Harvard’s longest running courses. The first of five modules on The Ancient Greek Hero, “Epic… Read more
~ A guest post by Jenna Cole ~ While thinking about oinops in the course of our word study, one passage stood out as unusual because oinops appears in one published edition of the Greek Iliad text but not in another. For Scroll I, line 350, Chicago Homer, which is based on the 1902 Oxford edition by D.B. Munro, gives this: θῖν’ ἔφ’ ἁλὸς πολιῆς, ὁρόων ἐπὶ οἴνοπα πόντον: But… Read more
~ Update ~ In addition to our original selection, for the discussion on September 5 we will also read Hymn 26, which is also to Dionysus. Here is a link to the English text: Homeric Hymn 26: to Dionysus Our next Book Club selections are the Homeric Hymns to Dionysus, Hymn numbers 1 and 7. You can find the English texts on Perseus: Homeric Hymn 1: to Dionysus Homeric Hymn… Read more
We were pleased to welcome Kevin McGrath, Associate in the Department of South Asian Studies at Harvard University, to discuss how charioteering and charioteers are emblematic—if not signal—of warrior song and culture in the Mahābhārata. Our discussion included reference to focus passages from the Iliad and Mahābhārata noted below, as well as McGrath’s article on Kṛṣṇa in Mahābhārata. Focus Passages & Scholarship Iliad 2. 545ff Iliad 4. 297ff Iliad 5. 239ff… Read more