To tie in with this month’s Book Club readings which include the Epinician Odes of Bacchylides, this Gallery features some ancient Greek artworks featuring the kinds of athletic contests celebrated in the poems. These contests seem to have been a favorite subject in the visual as well as the verbal arts from the earliest periods. Chariot race According to Britannica “From four to six chariots competed in a single race, normally… Read more
Silence is no ornament for a successful man. With remembrance of fine deeds a man will also sing the gracious recompense made by the honey-voiced Cean nightingale. Bacchylides Epinician Ode 3, translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien This month we are reading poems of Bacchylides. According to the General Introduction to Jebb’s edition, Bacchylides was born in Ioulis (Khora) on the Cycladian island of Ceos (Kea), probably around 512–505 BCE, and… Read more
In part 1 of this series on trees and wood, I found examples of their being used for practical purposes in Homer and Hesiod, and a more detailed analysis by Theophrastus and others in part 2. I also found that Homer and Hesiod also include references to myths, rituals, and sacred spaces associated with trees and wood, including nymphs, so for part 3, this current post, I looked for further… Read more
We are pleased to share this interview with Suzanne Lye, Assistant Professor of Classics at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in which she talks about her experiences in teaching Classics and ancient Greek. You can watch the video in the frame below, or on our YouTube channel. Related topics Interview | Teaching and learning Greek, with Joel Christensen Interview | Teaching and learning Latin, with Bettina Joy… Read more
I became intrigued in the subject of androgyny after some of our Book Club readings. Plato, in the Symposium, reveals a myth on the origin of mankind through the speech of Aristophanes (starting at 189d). The Symposium is a series of amusing speeches on the subject of love, supposedly composed during a meal given by the young poet Agathon. Aristophanes decides to demonstrate the origin of love. In the beginning, he says,… Read more