Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, was born of the severed genitals of the primordial sky-god Uranus when his son Cronus tossed them into the barren sea. Foam-born Aphrodite came to life among the gentle sea deities of the Aegean. Being born without a mother is not such an odd occurrence in Greek mythology. Athena sprang forth from Zeus’ brow fully-grown and fully-armed. Dionysus was born of his father… Read more
A few weeks ago I watched the coronation of a king. At one point I noticed the king holding in his hands not one but two scepters. The mental image of Agamemnon holding his scepter involuntarily jumped into my thoughts and disturbed me briefly. Although there is probably no direct link, I decided to explore certain symbols of royalty in Homeric and Hesiodic poetry. Scepters were used in the ancient… Read more
Who hasn’t dreamed of having a robot to accomplish certain tasks? For a long time people have conceived the existence and the possibility of having or creating such automatons, or robots, or androids or humanoids in their imaginary worlds, to replace them, or to do things in their place, or just to be with them. The word “robot” is recent (a 20th-century word), but the ancients used the word “automaton”… Read more
Having come across across references to trees and to wooden construction in the Iliad and Odyssey, my curiosity was piqued, and I decided to gather a few examples where wood and trees were mentioned, to try and better understand what these meant in Homeric and Hesiodic poetry. Are there any special associations with trees or using wood? What kinds of trees are mentioned? There are a number of similes with… Read more
A few thoughts about Orpheus, Musaeus and other poets. It is striking to see the order in which Plato in the Apology of Socrates enumerates four Greek poets, heroes, who were part of his literary or oral poetry or musical references, and with whom Socrates would like to engage in conversation [logos] in Hades. Who wouldn’t? If, when someone arrives in the world of Hādēs, he… finds…demigods [hēmi-theoi] who were… Read more