The Foundation for the Hellenic World The Center for Hellenic Studies is a partner with The Foundation for the Hellenic World, a not-for-profit cultural institution based in Athens, Greece. The Foundation uses state-of-the-art, cutting-edge information and computer technology in its pursuit of the research, awareness and understanding of Hellenic history and culture. Visit The Foundation for the Hellenic World… Read more
The Stoa Consortium The Center for Hellenic Studies is a partner with The Stoa Consortium, a leader in refereeing electronic scholarly publications in the humanities and developing new models of scholarly collaboration. Along with the Stoa Consortium, the Center enthusiastically promotes such models of electronic publication. The CHS offers to contributors mutually non-exclusive rights of electronic publication of all material on the web site. That… Read more
The Milman Parry Collection The Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature is the largest single repository of South Slavic heroic song in the world. It comprises the following separate collections. All of these are currently housed in Harvard University’s Widener Library, Room C: 1. The texts and recordings of oral literature, including epic, lyric songs, and ballads, some stories, and conversations with singers and others,… Read more
External Resources for Research in the Classics Please visit the following links for more information about The Center for Hellenic Studies, CHS affiliates, and other useful Hellenic and Classical Studies websites. Regional Organizations American Classical League American Philological Association AAH Association of Ancient Historians AIA Archaeological Institute of America… Read more
Collaboration The Center For Hellenic Studies collaborates with several partners to promote Hellenic Studies and the electronic publication of scholarly works. Click on the links following each overview to read more about CHS partners. The Milman Parry Collection The Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature is the largest single repository of South Slavic heroic song in the world. It comprises the following separate collections. All of… Read more
Lecture Four Champions of dikê (justice) A) Odyssey xix: “Lady;” answered Odysseus, “who on the face of the whole earth can dare to chide with you? Your fame [kleos] reaches the firmament of heaven itself; you are like some blameless king, who upholds righteousness [= good dikê], as the monarch over a great and valiant nation: the earth yields its wheat and barley, the trees… Read more
Lecture Three Part 1 This brief segment explores the Odyssey and its “captain” Odysseus as a metaphor for governing the Greek city state. On the surface the Odyssey is a story about a voyage and homecoming, but the subtext has to do with the agenda of the city state. The Greek word for captain, kubernêtes, becomes the Latin word gubernator and our word “gubernatorial. Part 2 The ainos as Key… Read more
Lecture Two Part 1 A) from Odyssey i: [1] Tell me, O Muse, of that many-sided hero who traveled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the people with whose customs and thinking [noos] he was acquainted; many things he suffered at sea while seeking to save his own life [psukhê] and to achieve the… Read more
Lecture One A. Here is an essential fact about ancient Greek religion (for a working definition of this general term, see item B): not only were the gods worshipped. Heroes too were worshipped. The worship of heroes was very much like ancestor worship. (Compare similar customs in other traditional societies, including the Japanese.) A1. Besides the word worship, we may use the word cult. As… Read more
Background Lecture For this series, we have provided an on-line text of the Homeric Odyssey, translated by Samuel Butler and revised by Gregory Nagy and Timothy Power. This revised translation includes glosses of key Greek words in the text. The entire Odyssey can be found here (or by using the button on the menu to the left). You may also use another translation if you prefer. Relevant facts about… Read more
