His story starts in a cave far from the company of the blessed gods in the care of a daughter of the Titan Atlas. His story often ends in a cave too. In between, he slays a giant shepherd with an unusual number of eyes, is connected with the slaughter of sacred cows, smells the aroma of broiling steak but does not partake, and is involved in meals with appropriate shares for each honored… Read more
When she [= Kalypsō] had thus spoken she led the way rapidly before him, and Odysseus followed in her steps; so the pair, goddess and man, went on and on till they came to Kalypsō’s cave, [195] where Odysseus took the seat that Hermes had just left. [καί ῥ᾽ὁ μὲν ἔνθα καθέζετ᾽ ἐπὶ θρόνου ἔνθεν ἀνέστη Ἑρμείας] Kalypsō set meat and drink before him all kinds of food to eat… Read more
After our previous post about snow and winter, we were inspired by this delightful fable from Aesop: Χειμὼν καὶ ἔαρ. Χειμὼν ἔσκωψε εἰς τὸ ἔαρ καὶ αὐτὸ ὠνείδισεν ὅτι εὐθὺς φανέντος ἡσυχίαν ἄγει ἔτι οὐδείς, ἀλλ’ ὁ μέν τις ἐπὶ λειμῶνας καὶ ἄλση γίνεται, ὅτῳ ἄρα φίλον δρέπεσθαι ἀνθέων καὶ κρίνων, ἢ καὶ ῥόδον τι περιαγαγεῖν τε τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ ὄμμασιν, καὶ παραθέσθαι [ἣ] παρὰ τὴν κόμην· ὁ δὲ ἐπιβὰς νεὼς… Read more
In a dialogue of Plato, Ion, the character Ion is a famous rhapsode. He is just coming back from a famous festival in Epidaurus where he performed Homeric poetry. [1] Plato’s dialogue dates from the late 5th century BCE [2], but it is not easy to find specific information about rhapsodes from the archaic period. The word rhapsōdos [ῥαψῳδός] itself is not used in Homeric or Hesiodic poetry. The word used… Read more
In part 1 we looked at female captives, slaves, servants, and non-family members of the household as depicted in Homeric epic. In this post we look at their male counterparts. Ulysses Conversing with Eumaeus 1805 John Flaxman 1755-1826 Purchased as part of the Oppé Collection with assistance from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund 1996 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T11209 We start with Eumaios, whose story provides an example of how a… Read more