Athens

Gallery

The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours | Gallery: Part 5

The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours[1] is based on a course that Professor Gregory Nagy has been teaching at Harvard University since the late 1970s. The book discusses selected readings of texts, all translated from the original Greek into English. The texts include the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey; selected Homeric Hymns; the Hesiodic Theogony and Works and Days; selected songs of Sappho and Pindar; selections from the Histories of Herodotus;… Read more

Visiting Scholars

Open House | Euripides’ Erechtheus in context, with Lucia Athanassaki

We were pleased to welcome Lucia Athanassaki, Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Crete, for a discussion of Euripides’ Erechtheus in context. The event took place on Thursday, April 25th, at 11 a.m. EDT, and was recorded. In preparation you might like to read Lycurgus, Against Leocrates 98–101, available on Perseus. You can watch the event on our YouTube channel, or in the frame below: For further videos… Read more

History

Aegina and its enmity with Athens

Aegina is a Greek island not far from Attica; it is well known for the Temple of Aphaia, situated on an elevated site. Figure 1: Temple of Aphaia On the island, there is also a city named Aegina, at the northwestern end of the island, with a famous little harbor. The temple of Apollo was the main sanctuary in the town of Aegina. The remains of the foundations are still… Read more

History

The Classic Ship | Part 3: The Battle of Salamis

In the last days of September of the year 480 BCE, King Xerxes proceeded to Athens, after having had his victory at Thermopylae. Also his naval forces moved southward for the final stroke. Among the Persian naval contingent were 120 triremes from Thrace, 100 ships from Ionia, 60 ships from Aeolia including Lesbos and Samos, and an unspecified number of ships from the Greek islands, including the Cyclades, and lastly,… Read more

History

Law and Courts in Ancient Athens: A Brief Overview

When we investigate how the law and the courts of Classical Greece worked, the law of ancient Athens provides most of our source material. This overview will therefore focus on Athenian law in the fifth and fourth centuries, BCE.[1] Before that time, disputes were adjudicated by officials called archons. The archons may have heard testimony from parties and witnesses, may have questioned them, and perhaps the parties were allowed to… Read more