The ancient Greeks’ concept of “the hero” was very different from what we understand by the term today, Gregory Nagy argues—and it is only through analyzing their historical contexts that we can truly understand Achilles, Odysseus, Oedipus, and Herakles. In Greek tradition, a hero was a human, male or female, of the remote past, who was endowed with superhuman abilities by virtue of being descended from an immortal god. Despite their mortality,… Read more
Brandeis University [This work was originally published in Homeric Contexts: Neoanalysis and the Interpretation of Oral Poetry, eds. Franco Montanari, Antonios Rengakos, Christos Tsagalis, pp.197-220. Berlin and Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2012.] My point of departure is the scholarly work of my late friend and colleague, Steven Lowenstam. His book, As Witnessed by Images: The Trojan War Tradition in Greek and Etruscan Art, which was published posthumously by Johns… Read more
[This article was originally published in Classical Philology 96(2):109–119 (2001).] In this on-line version, the page-numbers of the printed version are indicated within braces (“{” and “}”). For example, “{69|70}” indicates where p. 69 of the printed version ends and p. 70 begins. These indications will be useful to readers who need to look up references made elsewhere to the printed version of this book. Multiformity, according to Albert Lord,… Read more
Sports Society and Culture: Exploring Excellence Fourth International Scholars’ SymposiumJuly 6–July 9, 2015Ancient Olympia, Greece The International Olympic Academy (IOA), in cooperation with Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies (CHS), is organizing the Fourth International Scholars’ Symposium on “Sports, Society, and Culture” in Ancient Olympia, July 6–9, 2015. As in the past years, the Symposium will host scholars from around the world and bring together more than a hundred students and… Read more
Description of Greece: A Pausanias Reader, Scrolls 1–10 Translation based on the original rendering by W. H. S. Jones, 1918 (Scroll 2 with H.A. Ormerod), containing some of the footnotes of Jones.The translation is edited, with revisions, by Gregory Nagy [*] [ back ] Scroll I. Attica {1.1.1} Belonging to the Greek mainland [ēpeiros], facing the Cyclades Islands… Read more
Bibliographical Abbreviations ABV = Beazley, J. 1956. Attic Black-Figure Vase Painters. Oxford. BA = Nagy, G. 1999. The Best of the Achaeans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry. Rev. ed. with new intro. Baltimore (available online). DELG = Chantraine, P. 2009. Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots. Ed. J. Taillardat, O. Masson, and J.-L. Perpillou. With a supplement Chroniques d’étymologie grecque 1–10. Ed. A. Blanc,… Read more
2015.03.01 Introduction The original version of this article, Nagy 1994-1995, “A Mycenaean reflex in Homer: phorēnai” (Nagy 1994-1995), was published in Minos 29-30 (1994-1995) 171-175. The new online version published here, Nagy 2015, is a second edition, and that is why it has a new title: “A second look at a possible Mycenaean reflex in Homer: phorēnai.” Part I replicates the content of the original text, except for corrections. Part… Read more
[Originally published 2007 in Classical World 100:151–157, 10.1353/clw.2007.0017. Second edition, published online 2015.] In this on-line version, the page-numbers of the printed version are indicated within braces (“{” and “}”). For example, “{69|70}” indicates where p. 69 of the printed version ends and p. 70 begins. These indications will be useful to readers who need to look up references made elsewhere to the printed version of this book. §1. Almost… Read more
Poetry of Sappho Translated by Gregory Nagy Sappho 1 (“Prayer to Aphrodite”) 1 You with pattern-woven flowers, immortal Aphrodite, 2 child of Zeus, weaver of wiles, I implore you, 3 do not devastate with aches and sorrows, 4 Mistress, my heart! 5 But come here [tuide], if ever at any other time 6 hearing my voice from afar, 7 you heeded… Read more
[This article was originally published in Homeric Contexts: Neoanalysis and the Interpretation of Oral Poetry (eds. F. Montanari, A. Rengakos, and C. Tsagalis) 165–173 (Walter de Gruyter, 2011).] In this paper I wish to suggest some of the possibilities offered by a new approach to interpreting Iliad 10, the so-called Doloneia. I have recently completed a series of essays and a commentary on Iliad 10 with my colleague Mary Ebbott (Dué and… Read more
