Archive

Visiting Scholars

Open House | The Aeschylean ‘’Odyssey’’: A Journey in Fragments, with Zoe A. Kalamara

We were excited to welcome Zoe A. Kalamara for an Online Open House entitled “The Aeschylean “Odyssey”: A Journey in Fragments.” The event took place on Friday, November 12 at 11:00 a.m. EST and was recorded. To get ready for the event, you might like to read: Odyssey, Book 11 and Books 20–24, and the fragments in this PDF handout: Kosmos-Open-House_2021-11-12 You can watch the recording on our YouTube channel… Read more

Book Club

Book Club | November 2021: Suetonius Lives of the Caesars

Our Book Club selection for November is The Lives of the Caesars by C. Suetonius Tranquillus. Suetonius was born towards the end of Vespasian’s reign, probably around 69 or 70 CE. He was educated in Rome, and became a friend of Pliny the Younger, whose assistance and support led him to work as a librarian for the emperor Trajan. He then became secretary to Hadrian. However, in around 121 CE… Read more

History

The Punic Wars Part II | From A (Alps) to Z (Zama)

The second great conflict between Rome and Carthage is the most well-known because of the famous Carthaginian general, Hannibal Barca. While this war, like the first Punic War, ended in victory for Rome, it is Hannibal and his elephants, crossing the Alps into Italy, which has captured people’s imaginations. After the end of the first Punic War, and after defeating the rebellious (and unpaid) mercenaries in Carthage, Hamilcar, father of… Read more

History

Women in Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, part 2

Study of Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of the Eminent Philosophers[1] gives us tantalizing snippets of information about women of whom we might never have heard. He tells us of nameless women, wives, daughters and courtesans. He wrote, for example, that Timon had a wife and son, but we are told nothing about them. Eudoxus had three daughters, but we are told only their names, Actis, Philtis and Delphis. In the first… Read more

Visiting Scholars

Open House | Georgios Gemistos Plethon, with Brian Prescott-Decie

We were excited to welcome Brian Prescott-Decie for an  Open House entitled “Georgios Gemistos Plethon: The Role of Byzantine Scholarship in the Preservation of Platonic and Neo-Platonic Thought.” The event took place on Friday, October 15 at 11:00 a.m. EDT and was recorded. To get ready for the event, you might like to read the passages in this PDF: Texts for Plethon discussion You can watch the recording on our… Read more