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
For October, we will be reading Andrew Porter’s 2019 book Agamemnon, the Pathetic Despot: Reading Characterization in Homer, available at the Center for Hellenic Studies website. That page provides an overview of his approach to the subject: Agamemnon led a ten-year-long struggle at Troy only to return home and die a pathetic death at his wife’s hands. Yet while Agamemnon’s story exerts an outsize influence—rivaled by few epic personalities—on the… Read more
We were excited to welcome back Laura Slatkin for an Open House entitled “Teaching and Learning the Greek Classics in Prison.” The event took place on Friday, January 22 at 11:00 a.m. EST and was recorded. In preparation for this event, you might like to read these passages. You can find the passages in the Sourcebook. Iliad: Rhapsody 16 lines 823–867, and Rhapsody 22 lines 90–166. Libation Bearers 881–930 You… Read more
We were excited to welcome Kevin McGrath for an Open House entitled “The Narrative Form of the Odyssey.” The event took place on Friday, August 14 at 11:00 a.m. EDT and was recorded. To get ready for the event you can read the passages below from the Homeric Odyssey which are also included in the first of the two handouts, “Moral Odysseus”: Handouts: Moral Odysseus (PDF) Homeric Odysseus (PDF) You… Read more