The Center for Hellenic Studies

The Kosmos Society

Women in Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, part 1

Diogenes Laertius wrote in Greek in the third century CE. The piece of writing that has survived is his Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, a compilation of biographies. His anecdotes led me to read further, and to try to identify all the women Diogenes mentioned, leading to this series of blogposts. This first one presents some general points about Diogenes’…

Beauty in Homeric Iliad and Odyssey

Beauty: a concept of the mind that is intangible, culturally influenced, and fluid. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, say many. The realm of beauty is as old as humanity. The topic canvasses from philosophy to religion from natural to man-made. This is a huge topic, of which I will focus on the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey, and…

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History

Women in Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, part 1

Topic for Discussion, Word Study

Beauty in Homeric Iliad and Odyssey

Book Club

Book Club | September 2021: Strabo Geography

"If the scientific investigation of any subject be the proper avocation of the philosopher, Geography, the science of which we propose to treat, is certainly entitled to a high place" This month's selection is from Strabo's Geography. Discussion starts and continues in the Forum, and via Zoom on Tuesday, September 28 at 11 a.m. EDT. Read more

Gallery

Gallery : Flesh Eater

Greeks and Romans in antiquity loved mythology. They depicted images on pottery, on frescos. They decorated their villas and palaces and made these stories part of their daily lives. They loved these stories so much so that even in death they wanted to be reminded of them through beautifully engraved sarcophaguses. Read more

Book Club

Book Club | August 2021: Apuleius Metamorphoses VII–XI

"I was harnessed to what seemed the largest wheel of the mill: my head was covered with a sack and I was at once given a shove along the curving track of its circular bed." This month we will finish reading Lucius Apuleius' Metamorphoses, with ongoing discussion in the Forum, and Zoom on Tuesday August 31 at 11 a.m. EDT. Read more

History

The Punic Wars | Part I

The Punic wars were a series of conflicts encompassing 43 years of war over more than a century, from 265 BCE to 146 BCE. They led to the Roman Republic controlling much of the Mediterranean world, to the ruin of a great North African civilization, and to many modern people speaking a Latin-based or Latin-influenced language. Our main source for information about the Punic Wars is the historian Polybius Read more

Gallery

More Strange Births

"You were fated, fated to have a life full of pain, when Zeus begot you on your mother, shining through the air on the wings of a snow-white swan." Many strange births occur in Greek mythology. Read more

Topic for Discussion

Geryon of the Shambling Oxen

The key point in the lost Geryoneis by the poet Stesichorus seems to be whether our hero would prove a deathless god or a short-lived mortal in the fight to come with Hēraklēs. Read more

Book Club

Book Club | July 2021: Apuleius Metamorphoses I–VI

"I’d like to string together various tales in the Milesian style, and charm your kindly ear with seductive murmurs, so long as you’re ready to be amazed at human forms and fortunes changed radically and then restored in turn in mutual exchange, and don’t object to reading Egyptian papyri." We will read I–VI from Apuleius, Metamorphoses, discuss in the Forum, and meet via Zoom on Tuesday July 27 at 11… Read more

Gallery

Gallery: The Birth of Aphrodite

The subject of the birth of Aphrodite or Venus has always been a favorite in artwork. Since the goddess represents desire and physical attraction, and given the way the female form has often been objectified and sexualized, it is perhaps not surprising she has often depicted nude, but there are also modern examples of how her birth might be represented visually in a way that does not objectify women. Read more

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