In the gloss provided by Gregory Nagy in H24H and the associated Sourcebook, mēnis is summarized as "superhuman anger, cosmic sanction". Following the Kosmos Society Book Club discussion about Leonard Muellner's The Anger of Achilles: Mênis in Greek Epic, we became interested in finding out how the word was used in other texts, so it seems appropriate to choose this for the next Core Vocab discussion. To whom is the… Read more
"The subject of the Iliad is the anger of Achilles, not Achilles himself. But what is this anger of his?" In this month's Book Club selection we will be reading how Leonard Muellner uses the insights of Albert Lord on epic themes, and looks at such anger not as a universal feeling but as culture-specific. "Ultimately, a wide-eyed journey into the world of epic and its mightiest feelings stands to… Read more
As you well know the first word of the poem, mēnis, indicates ‘anger’, as both Greg and Lenny have so carefully discussed. This first word establishes a tone or mode for the complete work as anger is exchanged through an economy of metaphors with violence, death, grief, lamentation, and ultimately with kleos itself as the final price of an heroic life: that is, the poetic medium of this narrative song.… Read more
Hour 25 members who have enjoyed our past discussions with Professor Leonard Muellner will be happy to hear that the Center for Hellenic Studies has added Muellner's The Anger of Achilles: Mênis in Greek Epic to its curated collection of free, online books. As in his first full-length volume, The meaning of Homeric εὔχομαι through its formulas, Muellner has focused this study on a single word and theme, but in… Read more
We are happy to share the following archive of posts written by Leonard Muellner during the second session of HeroesX. Muellner is the Chair of the Board of Readers for HeroesX and Professor of Classical Studies at Brandeis University. He has been collaborating with Professor Gregory Nagy for over four decades. Read more
