~ A guest post by Myrmidon ~ Fatal Attraction in that Michael Douglas-Glenn Close movie I understand. But fatal attraction in the Iliad? Frankly, I’ve found the idea hard to grasp, and some of the explanations in The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours[1] prompt me to ask some additional questions. What is fatal attraction? How do we know it exists? What kind of attraction? And why would anyone be… Read more
We were pleased to welcome Gregory Nagy and guests, for an Open House session during which we discussed the epic cycle, oral poetics, and composition in performance, including: what the wheel of a chariot means how ring composition works how a performer relates to the audience what happens with predictions within the narrative the difference between improvisation and deep structure/surface structure multiformity vs interpolation You can watch the recording on… Read more
~ A guest post by Laura Ford ~ Continuing our look at the etymology of proper names, it is interesting that the two women who jointly raised Odysseus have very similar names: Eurycleia means “broad fame,” and Anticleia means “opposing fame.” Do their names constitute a clue concerning their respective attitudes towards Odysseus’ quest for kleos by joining the expedition to Troy? Eurycleia was Odysseus’ wet nurse and the one… Read more
In conjunction with the visiting scholars, Casey Dué and Mary Ebbott, in June we will be reading Iliad Scroll X from the Sourcebook and Iliad 10 and the Poetics of Ambush, Part 1, Essays 1–4: 1: Interpreting Iliad 10 2: The Poetics of Ambush 3: Tradition and Reception: Rhesos, Dolon, and the Doloneia 4: Iliad 10: A Multitextual Approach Google+ Hangout will be on Friday, June 20th @ 1:00 p.m… Read more
We were pleased to welcome Gregory Nagy, and Allie Marbry, for another Open House session. Following last week’s conversation, and in conjunction with the readings of the Book Club, our discussion topics included questions from the community about some of the issues that emerged from those conversations, including: The nostos of Odysseus, and the nostos of Telemakhos The naming of Odysseus by Autolykos, and their association with Hermes, including the… Read more