Visiting Scholars

Open House | Waste in Antiquity, with Dan-El Padilla Peralta

We welcomed Professor Dan-El Padilla Peralta of Princeton University for an Open House Discussions on Waste in Antiquity. The discussion took place on Thursday, November 10, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. EST, and was recorded. You may like to read the following focus passages in the Sourcebook to get ready for the event. Iliad 22.395–428 Iliad 23.770–785 Odyssey 17.280–300 You can watch the recording in the frame below, or on our YouTube… Read more

Open House | Odysseus and the Poetics of katábasis, with Stamatia Dova

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

Open House | Similes and Storytelling in Homer’s Iliad, with Deborah Beck

We were pleased to welcome Professor Deborah Beck of the University of Texas for an Open House discussion on “Similes and Storytelling in Homer’s Iliad.” You can watch the recording down below or on our YouTube channel. Deborah Beck shared these two focus passages: Homer Iliad 16.482–492 (translation by R. Lattimore) Two similes describe the Trojan fighter Sarpedon as he falls at the hands of Achilles’ companion Patroklos: [Sarpedon] fell,… Read more

Open House | Kinyras: The Divine Lyre, with John C. Franklin

We were pleased to welcome John C. Franklin who joined us for an Open House discussion on “Kinyras: The Divine Lyre” on Thursday, September 15 2016. Kinyras was a mythical priest-king of pre-Greek Cyprus, and John C. Franklin’s research draws on Greco-Roman material and Near Eastern evidence for the divinization of temple lyres, and seeks to illustrate the cultural interactions in the eastern Mediterranean. To prepare for this event, you… Read more

Open House | Sappho 44, with Gregory Nagy

We were pleased to welcome back Gregory Nagy of Harvard University for an Online Open House discussion about Sappho Song 44 and about his postings on Classical Inquiries. The process of remembering in ancient Greek song culture requires a special medium, song. When I say song here, I include poetry, even though the word poetry in modern usage is understood to be different from song. In the ancient Greek song culture, however, both poetry and song are understood to… Read more