"Oh to clasp your tender limbs, a mother’s fondest [most philos] joy! Oh to breathe your fragrant breath! ... Kiss your mother now for the last time, nestle to her that bore you, twine your arms about my neck and join your lips to mine!" Recent Book Club discussion prompted me to think about how human emotions were depicted in some of the readings from Greek antiquity. 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 first gallery covers Hours 1–4. Read more
We are excited to welcome back Gregory Nagy of Harvard University, Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature and the Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington, DC. The topic of the discussion is "Homo ludens at play with the songs of Sappho: experiments in comparative reception theory." The event was streamed live on Thursday, March 14, and was recorded. Read more
"But the mane of the other one, my kinswoman Hagesikhora, blossoms on her head like imperishable gold" How did the ancient Greeks view women's hair? In this second post of the series, we are looking at physical descriptions of women's hair: is it depicted as an object of attraction for others, and how do women themselves use it as a means of seduction? Read more
Finding Helen in texts is frustrating. Many contradictory facts may be encountered. Who was Helen? What about her life, her power, her birth, her beauty? Was she hated or was she loved? If we were to write a short biography, it might read like this: Helen was the daughter of Leda and Tyndareus/Zeus, and Clytemnestra, Castor and Polydeuces' sister. Penelope was her cousin. She married Menelaos king of Sparta, was… Read more
