We are excited to welcome Andrew Koh, of the MIT Center for Materials Research and the Harvard Semitic Museum, for a Center for Hellenic Studies Online 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. Read more
My first port of call was Iraklio/Herakleion, the capital of Crete. The city’s top attraction is undoubtedly the Archaeological Museum, one of the greatest archaeological collections in the world, with pride of place going to the best Minoan artifacts. It is an excellent preparation for the visit to Knossos, the so-called Minos’s Palace which lies just outside the city. Read more
The Homeric Odyssey takes some time to describe to us the construction of an improvised craft that will carry Odysseus on an eighteen-day journey from Ogygia. The story tells how Kalypsō selects the trees. Odysseus then cuts the trees and axes them smooth. He bores holes in them. He configures them into a raft that is as wide “as the beam of a large vessel.” We compare the description of… Read more
We are pleased to welcome Gloria F. Pinney, Professor Emerita of Classical Archaeology and Art at Harvard University, for a discussion on 'The Legacy of Minos'. The event will be at 11 a.m. EST on Thursday, December 13, and will be recorded. You can download a handout of focus passages. Read more
"But he [Kinyras] made a gift of a breastplate for Agamemnon, who was not present; and vowing to send fifty ships, he sent one ... And molding the rest out of clay, he launched them into the sea." This story of modeled ships starts with Kinyras, a King of Cyprus; then continues with evidence of votive offerings in Crete. Read more
