The latest Kosmos Book Club Discussion included a passage about a father giving advice to his son. An experienced father was lending his knowledge to his child. Ovid’s story of Phoebus and Phaethon inspired us to look at other passages from antiquity with father figures advising their children. In the production of children both [parents] share alike; but each makes a different contribution to their upbringing. It is the mother… Read more
When Pindar says “Water is best, (ἄριστον μὲν ὕδωρ) and gold, like a blazing fire in the night, stands out supreme of all lordly wealth” in Olympian 1, he is not wrong. Life happens around water. It is hard to find an example that water is not present in our daily lives. Water cleans, nourishes, and heals. Who wouldn’t enjoy a nice bath? How about the ancient Greeks? In this… Read more
At this time of year our thoughts often turn to food and drink, so we start our exploration of the topic in Homeric and Hesiodic poetry. Where does their food come from? What kinds of foods does the poetry represent? How is it prepared and served? There is evidence for herd animals being reared. For example, in the Odyssey Eumaios mentions the flocks on Ithaca and its neighbors: There are… Read more
Pierre Judet de La Combe in his book Homère (2017) evokes the gifts of the gods which are ambiguous and double-edged. One example he mentions is Demodokos: 62 The herald came near, bringing with him a singer, very trusted, 63 whom the Muse loved exceedingly. She gave him both a good thing and a bad thing. 64 For she took away from him his eyes but gave him the sweetness… Read more
Victorious poet (inscribed “He is beautiful”) reciting (“As once in Tiryns…”) In Part 1 we looked at the role of aoidoi as depicted within epic poetry itself. Now we turn to later sources in which the word rhapsode comes into use. In that post, we touched on the performance of Achilles and Patroklos in relay. Gregory Nagy comments: 8§28…Homeric poetry was performed at the Panathenaia by rhapsōidoi, ‘rhapsodes’ … The… Read more