Open House

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

History,  Visiting Scholars

Open House | Plato and the Tyrant, with Professor James Romm

We were pleased to welcome Professor James Romm, The James Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics, Bard College, when he joined members of the Kosmos Society for the Open House discussion (below) on Plato and the Tyrant: The Tale of the Platonic Letters.  Plato made three trips outside Athens during his life, all of them to the Greek city of Syracuse (in Sicily). His relations with two powerful tyrants there, a… Read more

Visiting Scholars

Open House | A Land Called Crete, with Andrew Koh

We are excited to welcome Andrew Koh, of the MIT Center for Materials Research and the Harvard Semitic Museum, for an Open House discussion entitled ‘A Land Called Crete: From Harriet Boyd Hawes to the Cretan Collections Project’. The event was streamed live on Thursday, October 24 at 11 a.m. EDT, and was recorded. To prepare for the event you could (1) read Odyssey 19.172–184, the context for which is… Read more

Visiting Scholars

Open House | Metus hostilis and fear appeals in 4th c. BCE rhetoric, with Maria G. Xanthou

We are pleased to welcome back Maria G. Xanthou for an Open House discussion on Metus hostilis: rhetorical configurations of fear in 4th century BCE rhetoric, focusing on Isocrates and Demosthenes. The event was streamed live on Thursday, January 31st 2019 at 11 a.m. EST, and was recorded. To prepare for the event, you might like to read the focus passages in this PDF handout: Xanthou Open House Fear Appeals… Read more

Visiting Scholars

Open House | Living Traditions of Vedic Ritual and Recitation in India, with Finnian M.M. Gerety

We were pleased to welcome Finnian M.M. Gerety (Yale University) for our next Open House discussion, ‘Living Traditions of Vedic Ritual and Recitation in India’, which was streamed live on Thursday, October 19, at 11 a.m. EDT, and was recorded. To prepare for this event, you might like to view the following short films made by Finnian Gerety about Vedic traditions in the South Indian state of Kerala: “Mantras 2… Read more