Archive

Trees and wood | Part 3: Mythological trees

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

Interview | Teaching and learning Greek, with Suzanne Lye

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

Androgyne in myth

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

Book Club | September 2022: Bravery of Women

Regarding the virtues [aretē] of women, Clea, I do not hold the same opinion as Thucydides.​ For he declares that the best woman is she about whom there is the least talk among persons … But to my mind Gorgias appears to display better taste in advising that not the form but the fame of a woman should be known to many. . … I would have said …that man’s… Read more

Adornments: jewelry and more

According to the Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, the art of jewelry making can be observed under the word toreutikē, the art of ornamental works in metal. (τορευτική – toreutikē). Both the Greek and the Roman name come from the words denoting in the two languages “the graver’s tool” (τορεύς – toreus); and in its general sense caelatura may be taken as meaning the arts employed in the production of ornamental… Read more