In part 1 we looked at divine mothers in epic. Now in part 2 we see the difficulty of being a mortal mother of a hero. Unlike some of the examples we looked at featuring divine mothers, these sons do not rely on their mothers or ask them for help, and the mothers seem to have no control over events or their sons’ lives. But as with the divine mothers,… Read more
We were excited to welcome back Gregory Nagy of Harvard University, Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature and the Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington, DC. for an Open House. The topic of the discussion is “Thinking comparatively about Greek mythology.” The event was live-streamed on Thursday, October 10 at 11:00 a.m. EDT, and was recorded. In preparation, you might like to… Read more
For October’s Book Club, we will be reading selections from Greek and Roman Actors: Aspects of an Ancient Profession, edited by Pat Easterling and Edith Hall, which will provide the opportunity to read different perspectives about various aspects of theatrical performance in ancient Greece. Our suggested readings are: Chapter 1: “The singing actors of antiquity” by Edith Hall Chapter 6: “Looking for the actor’s art in Aristotle” by G.M. Sifakis… Read more
In these posts we are looking at the way the relationship between mothers and sons is portrayed in Homeric epic. In this first post we look at some divine mothers: Aphrodite, mother of Aeneas, and Thetis, mother of Achilles; Hera and Hephaistos, and the role Thetis played in caring for Hephaistos. Because Aphrodite’s and Thetis’ sons have mortal fathers, their sons are also mortal, and will die. Both these mothers… Read more
We were pleased to welcome back Olga M. Davidson, Boston University, for a discussion on ‘Persian epic and the embedding of a song of lament’. The event took place on Thursday, September 19 at 11 a.m. EDT, and was recorded. You can watch the event on our YouTube channel, or in the frame below. In connection with this discussion, you might like to read her article “Women’s Lamentations and the… Read more