Tommaso Piroli, from John Flaxman: Funeral of Hector Achilles is “The Best of the Achaeans”[1], and Hector is the best of the Trojans. The Iliad starts with the anger of Achilles, but the last words belong to Hector’s funeral: Thus, then, did they celebrate the funeral of Hector, tamer of horses.Iliad 24.804[2] Biagio d’Antonio da Firenze: The Siege of Troy – The Death of Hector Achilles will eventually fall in… 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
The city of Thebes has always been of interest to scholars working within mythographical and literary traditions, precisely because its presence looms large in our corpus of extant textual and especially non-textual sources. Looming even larger is the absence of a monumental epic to encapsulate its story in the manner that the Iliad and Odyssey do for the Troy story. Myths set in Thebes or involving Theban characters occupy a… Read more
When I first heard that the British Museum was putting on an exhibition “Troy: Myth and Reality” I knew I had to go, and I was so happy that friends from the Kosmos Society were able to visit at the same time so we could share the experience with each other. In this post we continue our series of impressions and highlights. Upon entering the first part of the exhibition… Read more
We were excited to welcome Joel Christensen for an Open House. The title of the discussion is “Homer’s Thebes: Epic Rivalries and the Appropriation of Mythical Pasts,” based on his research and collaboration with Elton T. E. Barker. The event took place on Friday, March 6 at 11:00 a.m. EST. It was live-streamed and recorded. In preparation, you might like to read Iliad 4.1–421 and Odyssey 11.225–332, as well as… Read more