We are pleased to share this segment in our series on reading Homeric epic in ancient Greek. In each installment we read, translate, and discuss a small passage in the original Greek in the most accessible way. If you’ve ever wanted to read Homer in ancient Greek, here is your chance to do so with teachers who have spent a lifetime studying these works. Together they help even new readers… Read more
After we finish reading the last scroll of the Iliad, we might wonder what happens in Troy after Hector’s funeral. We have parts of what happens next in the Odyssey, in tragedies, and in fragments and plot-summaries. However, in his Description of Greece Pausanias writes an interesting description of a painting which depicted “Troy taken and the Greeks sailing away” (Pausanias 10.25.2)[1], and which was still at Delphi when he… Read more
To say my mother was “a force of nature” is an understatement! As Hilda Doolittle wrote, she [Helen] is “the admitted first cause of all time and all history.” She was, is, and will always be “the destroyer of worlds,” well at least the world before my birth. I can’t begin to tell you how inhumanly beautiful she was. The effect the very sight of her had on men and… Read more
Beauty: a concept of the mind that is intangible, culturally influenced, and fluid. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, say many. The realm of beauty is as old as humanity. The topic canvasses from philosophy to religion from natural to man-made. This is a huge topic, from which I will focus on the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey, and explore how people in antiquity thought about beauty. I have… Read more
We are pleased to share this video interview with Bettina Joy de Guzman, about her project to sing the entire Iliad in ancient Greek, accompanying herself on a replica period lyre. She shares with us her process of research and preparation, audience reaction, engagement with those working in other fields, and her favorite episodes. You can watch the video in the frame below, or on our YouTube channel. Related posts… Read more