Homer

Visiting Scholars

Open House | Looking Backward: Through the Lens of Odyssey 24, with Gregory Nagy

We were pleased to welcome Gregory Nagy, the Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University, who joined members of the Kosmos Society on November 21 for an Open House discussion on “Looking Backward: Through the Lens of Odyssey 24.” You can view the recording on the Kosmos Society YouTube channel, or in the frame below. Odyssey 24 is the final “book” of… Read more

Topic for Discussion

Performance of epic | Part 2: Rhapsodes

Victorious poet (inscribed “He is beautiful”) reciting (“As once in Tiryns…”) In Part 1 we looked at the role of aoidoi as depicted within epic poetry itself. Now we turn to later sources in which the word rhapsode comes into use. In that post, we touched on the performance of Achilles and Patroklos in relay. Gregory Nagy comments: 8§28…Homeric poetry was performed at the Panathenaia by rhapsōidoi, ‘rhapsodes’ … The… Read more

Visiting Scholars

Open House | Ares, Aphrodite, and a Monkey’s Rump: Some Thoughts on Public Humiliation, with Prof. Christopher Brown

We were pleased to welcome Professor Christopher Brown, William Sherwood Fox Professor of Classics at Western University, Ontario, Canada, who joined members of the Kosmos Society for an Open House discussion on Ares, Aphrodite, and a Monkey’s Rump: Some Thoughts on Public Humiliation. Professor Brown revisited a passage in the Odyssey that he published as an article in 1989, the story of the adultery of Ares and Aphrodite (Odyssey 8.266–366).… Read more

Video

Interview | Teaching and learning Greek, with Joel Christensen

We are pleased to share this video interview with Joel Christensen, of Brandeis University, in which he talks about his experiences in teaching ancient Greek and Classics. You can watch the video in the frame below, or on our YouTube channel. Related topics Interview | Teaching and learning Greek, with Suzanne Lye Interview | Teaching and learning Latin, with Bettina Joy de Guzman Beyond Translation: Decoding Ancient Greek Dictionary Entries,… Read more

Ancient Greek language,  Reading Homer

Greek dialects in epic: the cake of Homeric poetry

In this video, Gregory Nagy, Douglas Frame, and Leonard Muellner have an informal discussion about the functioning of Greek dialects in Homer, focusing on the role of multiple parallel grammatical forms in the system. First published March, 6,2018 You can watch the video on the CHS YouTube channel, or in the frame below. Related topics Greek dialects and the poetic super-language Greek dialects in the language of Homer: Mycenaean, and… Read more