Welcome to the November session of the Book Club! This month we will be reading selections from Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War: Books 1 and 2. You can find the text on Perseus in a translation by Benjamin Jowett (who also provides a helpful Note on the geography of Thucydides), here: Book 1 Book 2 There is also a translation by Thomas Hobbes: Book 1 Book 2 A translation… Read more
A guest post by Sarah Scott This month I’m inviting everyone to explore the word turannos [τύραννος], which is defined in the Core Vocabulary: “turannos, plural turannoi (Lydian word for ‘king’): ‘king’ (from the viewpoint of most Greek dynasties); ‘unconstitutional ruler’ (from the viewpoint of Greek democracy).” A more detailed explanation is given in H24H[1][1] 19§6, where the focus is on Oedipus in the Sophocles drama Oedipus Tyrannus: In this book, the… Read more
Tapestry of the story of Achilles, Ateliers Bruxellois de Jean François et Pierre Van Der Boorcht (around 1740) “Thetis plunging Achilles in the Styx In September, I saw a nice Rembrandt exhibition at the Jacquemart-André Museum in Paris. This is a wonderful museum, with an amazing collection. The restaurant is decorated with four tapestries. A fifth tapestry is in the hall. The tapestries represent some events from the myths… Read more
In this episode, Gregory Nagy and Keith Stone respond to comments and questions from the community about the relationships between: poetry and prose, Homeric and Hesiodic traditions, justice and vegetal images In particular they discuss an Attic red-figure column-krater (c. 450 BCE) that features Apollo, Artemis, and a sacred palm tree. Image: (from left to right) Artemis holding an oinochoe; Apollo holding a laurel branch and a phiale, about to… Read more
We were pleased to welcome Stamatia Dova, Hellenic College Holy Cross, for an Open House on Odysseus and the Poetics of katábasis. You can watch the video in the frame below or on our YouTube channel. The psūkhē of the fleet descendant of Aiakos knew me and spoke piteously, saying, ‘Resourceful Odysseus, noble son of Laertes and seed of Zeus, what deed of daring will you undertake next, that you venture down… Read more