A guest post by William Moulton One Saturday in July I arrived at the British Museum about 11:30, just in time for the free tour of the Nereid Monument. I always thought it was a nymphaeum—a shrine to the Nereids—but it isn’t. I discovered that it was the tomb of Arbinas the dynast of Lycia—a sort of a sub-king to the Persian king. For those who don’t know, after Alexander… Read more
In March 2017, the Book Club will be discussing Seneca’s Phaedra. This is the first of a series of posts which intend to illuminate the authors and works discussed as means of enriching the ongoing dialogue. A guest post by Georgia Strati Lucius Annaeus Seneca (known as Seneca the Younger) was, according to the standard biographical entries, a Roman philosopher, statesman, orator, and tragedian, living between c. 4 BCE (reign… Read more
A guest post by Elizabeth Howell I’m a science journalist by training and trade. In April 2016, I realized I had spent more than a decade working at my career, to the point where I forgot to have unrelated hobbies. So I stepped back from a few obligations and plunged myself into lifelong learning through my local library and online courses. This led me to reviving an old university interest… Read more
To visit Greece is an experience filled with emotions. Long ago, I traveled to the beautiful island of Aegina. The isle is in the Saronic Gulf, not far from Athens. The vision of the temple of Aphaia is amazing. I dedicate this post to Myrmidon, who is our talented Friday Café host, because the island of Aegina is where Myrmidons liked to train. According to Hesiod (Hesiod F 205… Read more
Image 1: Minoan larnax c 14th–12th century BCE In the discussion forum, we observed that Doric and Mycenaean elements came back quite openly in the geometric art of the Homeric age. The decorative band of alternating “triglyphs” [τρίγλυφος] and “metopes” [μετόπη] on the sides of the Middle Geometric kraters were recognized as a memory of the wooden constructions in ancient Doric temples. In a similar way the Mycenaean elements… Read more