In this video, Gregory Nagy, Douglas Frame, and Leonard Muellner have an informal discussion of ‘weird forms’ in Homer, of the preserving power of Homeric tradition, and of the study of Homeric language as a system, with the example of the name Nestor and related verb-forms. Read more
Following on from our discussion of biā / biē it seems natural to continue with another, contrasting Core Vocab word: mētis [μῆτις] glossed by Gregory Nagy in The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours[1] and the associated Sourcebook[2] as ‘artifice, stratagem, cunning intelligence’. It’s a word I immediately associate with Odysseus, and in particular his cunning ploy with the Cyclops. There are two words for ‘not’ in ancient Greek, depending… Read more
Our Book Club readings this month are from Albert Bates Lord: Epic Singers and Oral Tradition, which is available online for free at CHS. As usual we will start and continue the discussion in the forum (here), and we will meet via Google+ Hangout on Tuesday, October 31 at 11 a.m. EDT. We will all read the following chapter: Chapter 1: “Words Heard and Words Seen” In addition, you may… Read more
We were pleased to welcome Anna Stavrakopoulou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) for the next Open House discussion, in which she looked at the role of puppeteers. The event was streamed live on Thursday, October 5, at 11 a.m. EDT, and was recorded. You can watch in the frame below, or on our YouTube channel. For further videos please visit the Watch page. Anna Stavrakopoulou Anna Stavrakopoulou studied philology at the University… Read more
A review of Colm Tóibín’s new novel, House of Names House of Names chronicles disturbed people performing disturbing acts. The novel is based on the story of Orestes as dramatized by three playwrights of ancient Greece: Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. But wielding a heavy editor’s pencil, acclaimed novelist Colm Tóibín radically revised the story and its structure. As well, he invented new characters and made the attributes of existing ones… Read more