But the mane [khaitā] of the other one, my kinswoman Hagesikhora, blossoms [epantheō] on her head like imperishable gold [khrusos]. … She is Hagesikhora. But whoever is second to Agido in beauty, let her be a Scythian horse running against a Lydian one. … It is true: all the royal purple 65 in the world cannot resist. No fancy snake-bracelet, made of pure gold, no headdress from Lydia, the kind… Read more
The Book Club is taking a break over the holiday season, although discussion is still taking place in the forum. Meanwhile here is a foretaste of what is to come during the early part of 2018 to start a new year of varied classical reading both from primary texts and from secondary sources: Claude Calame: Choruses of Young Women in Ancient Greece Lucian: Dialogues Pliny the Elder: Natural History Look… Read more
How did the ancient Greeks view hair? There are many passages in which it is mentioned or described, and this series of blog posts will explore different aspects of how it is featured in some of the texts. In this first post, we are looking at physical descriptions of men’s hair. Right from the beginning of the Iliad we see the hair of Achilles featured as part of the action… Read more
Join Professor Gregory Nagy and a group of students, HeroesX participants, and alumni, March 10–18, on the Harvard Alumni Travels – Center for Hellenic Studies Spring Break Trip 2018, an immersive, 9-day exploration of Greece! Travel back in time to ancient Greece, starting in the charming seaport town of Nafplio, home to Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies. Then proceed through the Peloponnese to Delphi and Athens, exploring Greece’s famous… Read more
We continue this month’s Core Vocab exploration—taken from The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours (H24H)[1] and the associated Sourcebook[2]—of kharis [χάρις], plural kharites [χάριτες] which Gregory Nagy glosses as ‘reciprocity, give-and-take, reciprocal relationship; initiation of reciprocal relationship; the pleasure or beauty derived from reciprocity, from a reciprocal relationship; gratification; grace, gracefulness; favor, favorableness; gratitude; for the sake of’. In part 1 we looked at it as an ordinary noun,… Read more