The city of Thebes has always been of interest to scholars working within mythographical and literary traditions, precisely because its presence looms large in our corpus of extant textual and especially non-textual sources. Looming even larger is the absence of a monumental epic to encapsulate its story in the manner that the Iliad and Odyssey do for the Troy story. Myths set in Thebes or involving Theban characters occupy a… Read more
For the March Book Club we will be reading poems by Tyrtaeus and Theognis. Tyrtaeus was composing around the middle of the seventh century BCE, in Sparta. The surviving poems and fragments are mainly elegies and war poems, and make reference to heroism and to hoplite warfare.[1] Theognis was an elegiac poet composing in the sixth century BCE in Megara, although many poems attributed to him are later additions. The… Read more
Should anyone here not know the art of love, read this, and learn by reading how to love. By art the boat’s set gliding, with oar and sail, by art the chariot’s swift: love’s ruled by art. Inspired by Valentine’s Day, our selection this month is The Art of Love, or Ars Amatoria, by the Roman poet Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso). As always, you can read any translation you like.… Read more
Let us here deal with Poetry, its essence and its several species, with the characteristic function of each species and the way in which plots must be constructed if the poem is to be a success; and also with the number and character of the constituent parts of a poem, and similarly with all other matters proper to this same inquiry; and let us, as nature directs, begin first with… Read more
There will be no Book Club in December, due to the holiday season, but we will resume in the new year when we will be reading ancient Greek and Roman texts with a focus on poetry. Here is a preview what is coming up: look out for announcements at the beginning of January, February, and March with details of the selections, links to free online versions, and the dates for… Read more