A guest post by Sarah Scott Gold: a precious metal that seems to shine like the sun, and does not tarnish or rust. No wonder it is associated with the gods. We see this when the gods meet: Now the gods were sitting with Zeus in council upon the golden floor while the goddess Hebe went round pouring out nectar for them to drink, and as they pledged one another… Read more
“The Argo,” Konstantinos Volanakis (1837–1907), [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Classical Inquiries has published an article by Gregory Nagy asking, “What is on Homer’s mind?” In that posting, Nagy argues that “all humans have on their minds both the ship Argo and the hero Odysseus.” A key word for Nagy’s argument is merimna, which he defines as a ‘care, concern, a troubled thought’, or even ‘a song that is on one’s mind’. We are happy to… Read more
In the forum we have previously discussed the ancient Greek Moirai in comparison with the Nordic Norns, so for this month’s Core Vocab I thought it might be interesting to look at the word moira (plural moirai), defined in the Core Vocab as ‘portion; portion of meat divided at a sacrifice; lot in life, fate, destiny.’[1] Just that range of meanings in the definition is intriguing. I am curious to… Read more
What better way to celebrate the end of another year and the start of the next with a group singing and dancing together! So this month’s Core Vocab word is khoros [χορός] which Professor Nagy defines as “‘chorus’ = ‘group of singers/dancers’”[1] As usual, I will start with Homeric usage. [590] The renowned one [= the god Hephaistos], the one with the two strong arms, pattern-wove [poikillein] in it [=… Read more
The Core Vocab word this time is aretē [ἀρετή] which Professor Nagy translates as ‘striving for a noble goal, for high ideals; noble goal, high ideals’[1]. There are several passages in the Sourcebook[2] where we can find this word; for example, during the Embassy scene Phoenix says: “Now, therefore, I say battle with your pride and beat it; cherish not your anger for ever; the might [aretē] and majesty [timē]… Read more