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
A guest post by Sarah Scott I was reading Gregory Nagy’s translation of the Sappho ‘Brothers’ poem, and it made me think of Works and Days, and then I got to wondering about brothers—or sisters for that matter. I do not mean those who form a pair, as in the ‘twin’ myths discussed with us by Douglas Frame for example, where the two are complementary. Rather, I mean those siblings… Read more
We are pleased to share the news that CHS is broadcasting to the public a live stream of events from SapphoFest 2015, to be held on Friday, December 11–Saturday, December 12. Please follow this link for further details. Recent posts at Classical Inquiries have featured translations by Gregory Nagy of the newest Sappho poems and fragments. Here is a selection. Sappho Song 1.3–4 |3 Do not dominate with hurts [asai] and… Read more
Many community members have been reading Gregory Nagy’s recent commentary about Song 44 of Sappho and the role of women in the making of epic on the Classical Inquiries website. Below are some resources for additional study inspired by that post. Primary Texts Sappho (trans. Gregory Nagy), on the CHS website. Also, see Sappho 44 below. Epic Barbara Graziosi, “Homer and the definition of epic, Classics@Issue 3 Gregory Nagy, “Epic” Shubha Pathak, Divine yet Human Epics: Reflections… Read more
|1 You with pattern-woven flowers, immortal Aphrodite, |2 child of Zeus, weaver of wiles, I implore you, |3 do not devastate with aches and sorrows,|4 Mistress, my heart! |5 But come here [tuide], if ever at any other time |6 hearing my voice from afar, |7 you heeded me, and leaving the palace of your father, |8 golden, you came, |9 having harnessed the chariot; and you were carried along… Read more