The Kerameikos kratēr The Athenian Kerameikos was the potters’ quarter of the city, from which the English word “ceramic” is derived. Kerameikos was named after Keramos, son of Dionysos and Ariadne, hero of potters[1]. A particularly notable pedestalled kratēr of this area is kept at the Metropolitan Museum of New York, where it is soberly referred to as the New York MMA 34.11.2 vase[2]. The vase is dated to the… Read more
This time the Core Vocab word, taken from terms in H24H[1] and the associated Sourcebook,[2] is ekhthros [ἐχθρός], glossed by Gregory Nagy as ‘enemy [within the community], non-philos.’ The plural form is ekhthroi; and the associated noun is ekhthra or ekhthos ‘hatred, enmity’. There is a difference between an ekhthros who is a personal enemy, and a polemos or polemoi in the plural, a collective enemy, an opposing force in… Read more
Following the heroic age of the Myceneans is the silence of the Greek Dark Ages. In the proto-Geometric period (c1150–c950 BCE), the pre-Greek tribes make war, then consolidate and start forming city states. The Doric tribes mix with the Attics of Athens, and art focuses on motifs that express “order”: concentration and intensity. There is no expression that refers to myth or religion. The Minoan and Mycenaean palaces and civilization… Read more
In the previous posts, we considered descriptions of male and female hair, and rituals associated with hair. In this post we consider epithets related to hair. We referred to Milman Parry Studies in the Epic Technique of Oral Verse-Making: I. “Homer and Homeric Style” for a definition and description of epithets: In my study of the traditional epithet in Homer, I dealt with those formulas in the Iliad and in the Odyssey which… Read more
We were pleased to welcome our guests for the final Open House discussion of the Spring 2018 session: Laura Slatkin (NYU Gallatin), Nancy Felson (University of Georgia), and Maša Ćulumović (Center for Hellenic Studies). They joined us for a discussion of exchanges in the underworld from the Odyssey. This event took place on Wednesday, May 9, at 11 a.m. EDT, and was recorded. Before watching the event you might like… Read more