back Emily Allen-Hornblower Apostrophes in Homeric poetry—those instances where the poet addresses a character directly in the vocative—are “embarrassing” for the reader and critic. [1] The apostrophe disrupts the flow of the third-person narrative by bringing the poet, performer, and audience in direct contact with one of the characters. To what end? [2] In the Iliad, the overwhelming majority… Read more
back Anna Stavrakopoulou, Translated by Julia Dubnoff Ἀννα Σταυρακοπούλου Athens 2011 Αθήνα 2011 Και μην ξεγελαστείς ποτέ/And don’t ever fool yourself και πιστέψεις ότι εσύ ήσουν/ Into believing that is was you που ενέπνευσες όλα αυτά/who inspired all this τα ποιήματα και πεζά./poetry and prose. Ο συνομιλητής μου υπήρξε/My partner in conversation has been εξίσου αποκύημα της φαντασίας μου./A figment of my imagination,… Read more
Introduction to the book The readings 00§1. The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours is based on a course that I have taught at Harvard University ever since the late 1970s. This course, “Concepts of the Hero in Greek Civilization,” centers on selected readings of texts, all translated from the original Greek into English. The texts include the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey; the Hesiodic Theogony and Works and Days; selected… Read more
back Lucia Athanassaki, University of Crete Γρηγόρι’, ὦ φίλε, σοὶ Λουκία συνήδομ’ ἑταίρωι ὀγδoίης δεκάδος δοῦσα τόδ’ ἀρχομένωι 0§1 Euripides’ Ion is a play about identity, citizenship and leadership. These interrelated issues, fiercely debated throughout the play, receive an authoritative answer from Athena who appears ex machina and proclaims Ion the son of Apollo and Creusa, rightful ruler of Athens, progenitor of the Ionians, and half-brother of the… Read more
back Graeme Bird Dear Greg, A few words of explanation about the video, although I hope it can stand on its own. Needless to say, the video is a visual “transcript” of a performance that deals with performance, with all of its inherent spontaneity and unexpectedness (and a couple of goofy jokes!), but it also, I hope, conveys a sense of fun and creative energy. My young… Read more
back Thomas R. Walsh [The following remarks are meant as a contribution to a gift. I set aside much scholarly apparatus in the interest of presenting hypotheses that are worth exploring. In that spirit, I begin anecdotally, and then continue with a discussion of Greg Nagy’s solution to the problem of the duals in Iliad 9. I add some elaboration on why I think the solution is primarily an… Read more
back Laura Slatkin One of the works most widely circulated in antiquity was an extensive hexameter poem that since then has had few admirers or advocates—and not many critics, either. The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, largely because of the fragmentary condition in which it has survived to us, discouraged sustained attention, and certainly interpretive speculation, until recent decades. [1] Nothing about the Catalogue is… Read more
back Thomas E. Jenkins I think it’s commonplace for every teacher of Greek to say that they’ve learned Greek twice: once as a student, then again as the teacher, barely keeping one step ahead of the pupils. When I first accepted the position as Teaching Fellow in Greg’s flagship Core Course at Harvard—The Concept of the Hero in Greek Civilization—little did I realize that I would not only learn… Read more
