love

Love and passion

"Those in love are in pain. And so are we. They forget to eat. So did we. They can't sleep, and neither can we. They seem to be on fire, and fire is upon us...." What is love? Pleasure or pain? And apart from desire, what other types of love are there? We have selected a few passages to illustrate the range of love and passion. Read more

Aphrodite who excites desire

I had not previously paid much attention to the shorter Homeric Hymns. I became curious to look at examples to examine the wording more closely and to see if there were clues about the sort of stories that might have been associated with them, or at least formulaic phrases that occur in epic or in the longer hymns, and I chose to look this time at the Homeric Hymns to… Read more

Book Club | February 2020: Ovid’s The Art of Love

"Should anyone here not know the art of love, read this, and learn by reading how to love. By art the boat’s set gliding, with oar and sail, by art the chariot’s swift: love’s ruled by art." Inspired by Valentine's Day, our selection this month is Ovid's The Art of Love, or Ars Amatoria. Discussion will start and continue in the forum, and we will meet via video link on… Read more