Topic for Discussion

Topic for Discussion

The Kidnapping of the Swineherd Eumaios

Phoenician ship carved on sarcophagus. 2nd century AD. Credit: Elie plus at English Wikipedia [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons ~Medea and a Micronarrative Masterpiece from Odyssey 15~ The Hour 25 Book Club will host a discussion of Euripides’ Medea via Google Hangout on July 17 2015 at 2:00 p.m. EDT. Although this event is still several weeks away, members of our community have already begun to discuss major themes from… Read more

Topic for Discussion

A Most Dangerous Sea and the Beauteous Scarf

~ A guest post by Bill Moulton ~ Below is one of the pivotal scenes in Odysseus’ long journey home. He is near drowning on a storm-tossed sea. [It was as though the South, North, East, and West winds were all playing battledore and shuttlecock with it at once.] When he was in this plight, sweet-stepping Ino daughter of Kadmos, also called Leukothea, saw him. She had formerly been a… Read more

Topic for Discussion

Helen’s Handmaiden

~ A guest post by Bill Moulton ~ Aethra, the mother of Theseus, was a minor character in Greek mythology, but she was a minor character in several major events. This post is an attempt to highlight a mortal woman whose life was almost epic in scope. We will get a peek at her time after time as we follow her life along the mythic timeline. Aethra attended when Paris… Read more

Texts,  Topic for Discussion,  Word Study

Connections: Drugs, Roosters, and Asklepios

Jacques-Louis David, “The Death of Socrates”(1787), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons Many community members have been reading Gregory Nagy’s “The Last Words of Socrates in the Place Where He Died” on Classical Inquiries. In that post he explores the meaning of sacrificing a rooster to Asklepios. We are happy to share a curated selection of resources designed to help readers explore this topic in greater depth and make new connections. Primary Texts… Read more

Topic for Discussion,  Word Study

Connections: Dice Games, Ajax, and an Epic Loss

Achilles and Ajax playing a game, Exekias, circa 530 BC, [Public domain, CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia CommonsMany community members have been reading Gregory Nagy’s “A Roll of the Dice for Ajax” on Classical Inquiries, which explores how “Ajax dooms himself to an eternity of angry frustration over losing a chance to become the best of the Achaeans.”  We are happy to share a curated selection of resources designed to help readers… Read more