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Visiting Scholars

Open House | The Odyssey, Kingship, and Nestor, with Gregory Nagy and Guests

We were delighted to welcome Professor Gregory Nagy (Harvard University) with his guests Professor Leonard Muellner (Brandeis University) and Douglas Frame, for an Open House Discussion. You can watch the recording below (or on our YouTube channel), and scroll down to see a summary of the main themes discussed and links to works referenced during the discussion: We had been invited to post questions ahead of this week’s visit and… Read more

Topic for Discussion

In Focus: Odyssey 1, lines 1–10

|1 That man, tell me O Muse the song of that man, that versatile [polu-tropos] man, who in very many ways |2 veered from his path and wandered off far and wide, after he had destroyed the sacred citadel of Troy. |3 Many different cities of many different people did he see, getting to know different ways of thinking [noos]. |4 Many were the pains [algea] he suffered in his… Read more

Topic for Discussion

Community Discussion: Fostering Civil Dialogue

We are pleased to share the following video, which was filmed for a HeroesX segment of AlumniX. In this clip Professor Nagy responds to a question about whether or not heroes can hope to achieve something that is beyond their portion or fate [huper moiran]. Nagy argues that within the ancient Greek song culture, the poetic phrase “beyond fate” can be equivalent to saying something is “beyond tradition.” This idea becomes… Read more

Topic for Discussion

Under discussion: “That Man!”

~ A guest post by Janet Ozsolak ~ The active interaction among the bard, internal audience and the external audience in a Homeric performance intrigued me since Version 1 of the HeroesX project. I wondered how the external audience, in the 5th century BCE, processed such a complicated narrative (Homeric Iliad and Odyssey). How did they kept them near and dear to their song culture? How did they connect the… Read more

Visiting Scholars

Open House | Epic narrative, twins, and heroes with Professor Nagy and Douglas Frame

Follow-up conversation with Professor Gregory Nagy (Harvard University) and Douglas Frame The community was very excited to welcome back Professor Gregory Nagy and Douglas Frame. You may watch the video below or on our YouTube channel. Several strands came up throughout the conversation, but here are some of the main topics: Twins seen through the prism of Indo-European vs Near Eastern traditions, and Nestor [1:51] Patroklos as the therapōn of… Read more