A guest post by Sarah Scott This month I looked for sophos [σοφός] ‘skilled, skilled in understanding special language’; sophiā [σοφία] ‘being sophos’.[1] For if one possesses good things without a lengthy ordeal [ponos], many think that he is sophos, that he is not one of the ignorant, [75] the way he arranges his life, they think, with straight-planned stratagems. But that is not ordained to be, in this world… Read more
In his book Homeric Questions, Gregory Nagy explains his choice of title as follows: The title of this work is marked by the word Questions, in the plural. It takes the place of the expected singular, along with a definite article, associated with that familiar phrase, “the Homeric Question.” Today there is no agreement about what the Homeric Question might be. Perhaps the most succinct of many possible formulations is this… Read more
A guest post by Anne Spendiff It seemed that when I watched TV programmes about Rome they featured gruesome death, sex, or communal toilets. Now I know that death, sex and toilets are part of life, but I did not want my first cruise to the Western Mediterranean, and my first trips to Rome and Pompeii, to focus on them. In preparation, I read Mary Beard’s Pompeii[1], and researched various… Read more
In this episode, Gregory Nagy and Claudia Filos respond to comments and questions from the community about: The hero as a cult hero and as a tragic hero Oedipus as a savior Myth, ritual and miasma Oedipus as a turannos Hippolytus and Phaedra with reference to Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles, and Hippolytus of Euripides. This dialogue also includes discussion about the following movie clips: The opening scene from The Night… Read more
We welcomed Professor Dan-El Padilla Peralta of Princeton University for an Open House Discussions on Waste in Antiquity. The discussion took place on Thursday, November 10, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. EST, and was recorded. You may like to read the following focus passages in the Sourcebook to get ready for the event. Iliad 22.395–428 Iliad 23.770–785 Odyssey 17.280–300 You can watch the recording in the frame below, or on our YouTube… Read more