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
The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours is based on a course that Professor Gregory Nagy has been teaching at Harvard University since the late 1970s. The book discusses selected readings of texts, all translated from the original Greek into English. This series of galleries attempts to illustrate each Hour with visual art. This third gallery covers Hours 9–12. Read more
His story starts in a cave far from the company of the blessed gods in the care of a daughter of the Titan Atlas. His story often ends in a cave too. In between, he slays a giant shepherd with an unusual number of eyes, is connected with the slaughter of sacred cows, smells the aroma of broiling steak but does not partake, and is involved in meals with appropriate… Read more
"When she [= Kalypsō] had thus spoken she led the way rapidly before him, and Odysseus followed in her steps; so the pair, goddess and man, went on and on till they came to Kalypsō’s cave, where Odysseus took the seat that Hermes had just left." What is the significance of this line? After all, to sit in Hermes’ seat implies, to me, that Odysseus is taking Hermes’ place within… Read more
In this segment Douglas Frame (CHS), Leonard Muellner (CHS), and Gregory Nagy (Harvard University) discuss Odyssey 1.203–212, part of a speech by Athena (disguised as Mentes) to Telemachus. Topics include how to translate tosos ["τόσος] so great" in context; and the use of the particle dē [δή]. Read more
