Troy

Travel

Troy: Myth and Reality, The British Museum | Part 1: The judgment of Paris, signs, and the role of Helen

Meeting with several members of the Kosmos Society in London in February was a wonderful experience. We went together to the amazing exhibition “Troy: Myth and Reality” at the British Museum. The British Museum was packed with fans of Homeric poetry, so we were among people sharing similar enthusiasm. Now we offer some of our highlights. Kosmos Society members ready to enter the exhibition The Troy Exhibition at the British… Read more

Visiting Scholars

Open House | Thucydides on Early Greece and the Trojan War, with Jeffrey Rusten

We were pleased to welcome again Jeffrey Rusten of Cornell University, Department of Classics, for an Open House discussion on Thucydides on Early Greece and the Trojan War. For the Open House Jeffrey Rusten invites us to think about and discuss the following questions: How does Thucydides approach the Iliad and think it has historical value? Is his analysis flawed in any way? Is it anachronistic? Is it in any… Read more

Topic for Discussion

Helen

  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

Gallery

Gallery: Virgil and Augustan Period

Wall Painting, enthroned couple (50–40BCE)Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York  A few years ago, I went to an exhibition about Augustus at the Grand Palais. Virgil, who lived during the same era, wrote the Aeneid. This epic poem tells the story of the Trojan hero Aeneas and his adventures to found a new city in Italy and to start a new generation for the beginning of Rome. Augustus is cited… Read more

Topic for Discussion

Under discussion: Did Odysseus return to Troy?

~ A guest post by Laura Ford ~ Did Odysseus return to Troy after his initial departure? And if so, why? The Iliad, which ends before the fall of Troy, gives us no information about the sack of the city or the departure of the Greeks. But there are some scanty details offered in the Odyssey and in the summaries of the poems of the epic cycle. In Odyssey 3… Read more