We are pleased to share the news that CHS is broadcasting to the public a live stream of events from SapphoFest 2015, to be held on Friday, December 11–Saturday, December 12. Please follow this link for further details. Recent posts at Classical Inquiries have featured translations by Gregory Nagy of the newest Sappho poems and fragments. Here is a selection. Sappho Song 1.3–4 |3 Do not dominate with hurts [asai] and… Read more
Wall Painting, enthroned couple (50–40BCE)Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York A few years ago, I went to an exhibition about Augustus at the Grand Palais. Virgil, who lived during the same era, wrote the Aeneid. This epic poem tells the story of the Trojan hero Aeneas and his adventures to found a new city in Italy and to start a new generation for the beginning of Rome. Augustus is cited… Read more
“The poetry of Virgil, I take it as a given, rivals that of Homer. Historically, Virgil the Classic even displaced Homer the Classic in the Latin culture of the Roman empire (though not in the Greek) – already in the age of Virgil. But the question is: what is it exactly about the poetry of Virgil that made it rival the poetry of Homer in the first place – not… Read more
Our next Book Club selections explore the Cretan Lies of Odysseus. Our readings are: Odyssey books 13, 14, and 19, with particular focus on these passages: Athena 13.250–370 Eumaios 14.185–530 Penelope 19.163–348 Olga Levaniouk: Eve of the Festival, Chapter 1 ‘Beginning of the Dialogue: Setting up the Third Cretan Lie’ Classical Inquiries post by Gregory Nagy: A Cretan Odyssey, Part I We will meet for a live conversation via Google+… Read more
Come, take the Dorian lyre down from its peg, if the splendor of Pisa and of Pherenicus placed your mind under the influence of sweetest thoughts, when that horse ran swiftly beside the Alpheus, not needing to be spurred on in the race, and brought victory to his master, the king of Syracuse who delights in horses.[1] Dear readers, The Hour 25 Book Club will host a discussion on Pindar… Read more