In this latest post featuring Core Vocabulary from The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours[1] (H24H) and the associated Sourcebook[2] and our other primary texts, there are two related terms: paskhein [πάσχειν] ‘suffer, experience, be treated [badly or well]’; and pathos [πάθος] ‘suffering, experience’. When it comes to tragedy, the concept is central: In tragedy, the focus of attention was on the heroes, played by the actors. The hero, and… Read more
This latest exploration of Core Vocabulary terms from The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours[1] and the associated Sourcebook[2] is esthlos [ἐσθλός] “‘genuine, good, noble’; synonym of agathos.” The first thing I noticed is that it is far less frequent than agathos. In poetry I wondered if it was employed for metrical reasons (two syllables, starting with a long, as opposed to three syllables starting with two short) or whether… Read more
This latest post about Core Vocabulary terms from The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours[1] and the associated Sourcebook[2] is mantis [μάντις], glossed as “seer, prophet”. There are other words for this function which also feature in some of these passages; these are listed at the end. In the Iliad the mantis Kalkhas makes an appearance, when Achilles summons an assembly to try and resolve the plague that has been… Read more
This time the Core Vocab term—taken from terms listed in H24H[1] and tracked in the associated Sourcebook[2]— is kamatos [κάματος] which Gregory Nagy glosses as ‘ordeal, labor, pain’. This seems to convey a similar range of meanings to another Core Vocab term, ponos [πόνος], also glossed as ‘ordeal, labor, pain’ which was the subject of a previous blog article. So I looked initially at the dictionary entries to see what… Read more
This time our Core Vocab exploration, taken from terms listed in H24H[1] and tracked in the associated Sourcebook[2], is about ainos [αἶνος] ‘authoritative utterance for and by a social group; praise; fable’; and the related word ainigma [αἴνιγμα] ‘riddle’. In H24H 2§60, Gregory Nagy says: Here is my working definition of this word: an ainos is a performance of ambivalent wording that becomes clarified once it is correctly understood and then… Read more