Finding Helen in texts is frustrating. Many contradictory facts may be encountered. Who was Helen? What about her life, her power, her birth, her beauty? Was she hated or was she loved? If we were to write a short biography, it might read like this: Helen was the daughter of Leda and Tyndareus/Zeus, and Clytemnestra, Castor and Polydeuces’ sister. Penelope was her cousin. She married Menelaos king of Sparta,… Read more
…He [Agammenon] took moreover the richly-wrought shield that covered his body when he was in battle—fair to see, with ten circles of bronze running all round it. On the body of the shield there were twenty bosses of white tin, [35] with another of dark lapis in the middle: this last was made to show a blank-eyed Gorgon’s head, fierce and grim, with Rout and Panic on either side. The… Read more
Marbled head of a veiled woman (500BCE)Metropolitan Museum of Art Andromache is a fascinating woman. Following her different bedfellows or husbands, we learn about her life. Andromache appears in many texts, among them the Iliad, Euripides’ play Andromache, the Aeneid, and the French play Andromache written by Racine who offers another perspective about Andromache. Her name means battle of a man, from ἀνδρός of a man and μάχη battle. How come,… Read more
The Center for Hellenic Studies is pleased to share Professor Leonard Muellner’s The meaning of Homeric εὔχομαι through its formulas, the 1976 landmark study based on his dissertation. This online publication is open to all and free of charge. Eukhomai had been glossed traditionally as “pray, long for, wish for; vow, promise; boast, brag, vaunt; profess, declare.” Muellner’s approach is to make a systematic analysis of the constraints in which this word is… Read more
We were pleased to welcome actor, writer, and educator Paul O’Mahony for an Open House discussion on ‘The Power of Performance: Mythology and Outreach Today’. He introduces the topic as follows: I would like to talk about our reception of classical texts and our approaches to performance—finding new and exciting ways to re-imagine them. I will use my own experience both creating and watching various shows (both tragic and comic).… Read more