Our next Book Club selections explore the Cretan Lies of Odysseus. Our readings are: Odyssey 13, 14, and 19, with particular focus on these passages: Athena 13.250–370 Eumaios 14.185–530 Penelope 19.163–348 Olga Levaniouk: Eve of the Festival, Chapter 1 'Beginning of the Dialogue: Setting up the Third Cretan Lie' Classical Inquiries post by Gregory Nagy: A Cretan Odyssey, Part I Read more
Below is one of the pivotal scenes in Odysseus’ long journey home. He is near drowning on a storm-tossed sea. "[It was as though the South, North, East, and West winds were all playing battledore and shuttlecock with it at once.] When he was in this plight, sweet-stepping Ino daughter of Kadmos, also called Leukothea, saw him." Read more
In this episode Gregory Nagy (Harvard), Leonard Muellner (Brandeis), and Douglas Frame (CHS) read, translate, and discuss Odyssey 1.44–62 in an accessible and informal way. Topics include an epithet of Athena, the mind of Odysseus and heart of Athena, associations between Kalypso and death, Atlas, the name Ithaka, Odysseus' relationship to Agamemnon, and much more! Read more
We were pleased to welcome Professor Joel Christensen (University of Texas, San Antonio) who returned for our first 2015 CHS Open House discussion, when we discussed the children of Odysseus, and multiformity in myth. To prepare for the discussion, participants might like to follow these links to posts in Sententiae Antiquae. Read more
We had seen in ‘Oinops and the Wide Open Sea’ that most of the examples of oinops occurred with pontos, and many of them had to do with that dangerous stretch of water that had to be crossed. However, there were two occurrences of oinops with the word βοῦς [bous], meaning ‘ox’. How could an ox be ‘wine-dark’? But as we have seen, the word can mean ‘wine-faced’. Read more
