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
Quite regularly the conversation of the Kosmos community returns to the subjects of astronomy and geography. In this post I will attempt to summarize what has been discussed, while focusing on the work of Anaximander, my favorite physiologos. His approach of understanding the world through rationalization and argumented dialogue [logos] was the logical next step after the period of oral tradition. No less than the messenger of the gods, Hermes,… Read more
We were pleased to welcome Jeffrey Rusten of Cornell University, Department of Classics for an Open House discussion about Zeus in Comedy. In preparation, you might like to read: Iliad 14.153–360, 15.1–235, 16.419–461, 22.157–187 Aristophanes Plutus (“Wealth”) lines 33–144 and 1019–1190 Passages from Lucian (PDF) You can watch the event in the frame below, or on our YouTube channel. You can join the discussion in the forum. For further videos please visit the Watch… Read more
What an unhappy fate, great gods, to be the slave of a fool! A servant may give the best of advice, but if his master does not follow it, [5] the poor slave must inevitably have his share in the disaster; for fortune does not allow him to dispose of his own body, it belongs to his master who has bought it. Alas! ’tis the way of the world. But… Read more
We are excited to share the themes for the Fall 2017 sessions of the Book Club when we will be reading selections from the following: September Aristophanes Plutus October Albert Bates Lord Epic Singers and Oral Tradition November Poetry of Horace Look out for announcements with details of the selections, and the related forum threads, which will be posted near the beginning of each month, with the hangouts scheduled for… Read more