The play Agamemnon is the hot topic in the community at the moment. If you know Aeschylus’ work you know this is the first play in a trilogy which leads to a showdown between the old goddesses of claw and fang versus the new goddess of the city. Having read the Agamemnon before and knowing where the trilogy takes us, I chose to change my perspective this time. Read more
Fatal Attraction in that Michael Douglas-Glenn Close movie I understand. But fatal attraction in the Iliad? Frankly, I’ve found the idea hard to grasp, and some of the explanations in The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours prompt me to ask some additional questions. What is fatal attraction? How do we know it exists? What kind of attraction? And why would anyone be attracted to one’s killer? Read more
Continuing our look at the etymology of proper names, it is interesting that the two women who jointly raised Odysseus have very similar names: Eurycleia means "broad fame," and Anticleia means "opposing fame." Do their names constitute a clue concerning their respective attitudes towards Odysseus' quest for kleos by joining the expedition to Troy? Read more
I was fascinated by the recent CHS Open House discussion about names as micronarratives, and in particular how the name of a son can reflect a main characteristic of the father. One example mentioned was Telemakhos “he who fights at a distance.” I was wondering what other examples the community could find, and maybe try to explore some of these questions: Read more
|1 That man, tell me O Muse the song of that man, that versatile [polu-tropos] man, who in very many ways |2 veered from his path and wandered off far and wide, after he had destroyed the sacred citadel of Troy. |3 Many different cities of many different people did he see, getting to know different ways of thinking [noos]. Read more
