Curated Books

Rhythm without Beat: Prosodically Motivated Grammarisation in Homer

In this study, the author argues that syntactical development beyond the autonomy of single words or word groups was facilitated by an aspect of Homeric prosody that differs from the metrical surface structure, though it is realized together with meter. The focus will be on the strength of metrical boundaries as phonetically realized pauses. This work will deal, in other words, with the combination of metrics and phonetics. The hypothesis… Read more

Anthroponymica Mycenaea: e-ti-me-de-i (dat.) /hEnti-mēdēs/ ‘(the one) who accomplished his plans’, Homeric ἐξήνυσε βουλάς

back José L. García Ramón (Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington, DC) 1. The Pylian man’s name e-ti-me-de-i (dat.) occurs in PY Fn 324.1 (S324, Ciii), a tablet of contributions of barley (HORD, with indication of the quantities) beside a series of names.* Some of them, all in dative, are surely Greek, [1] among others a-ka-ma-jo .4 /Akmaiōi/ or /Alkmaiōi/ (:… Read more

The Origins of the Goddess Ariadne

Second, online edition of a thesis presented to the Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors, Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 27 March 1970. Read more

The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition

Margaret Alexiou’s The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition, first published in 1974, has long since been established as a classic in several fields. This is the only generic and diachronic study of learned and popular lament and its socio-cultural contexts throughout Greek tradition in which a great diversity of sources are integrated to offer a comprehensive and penetrating synthesis. Its interdisciplinary orientation and broad scope have rendered The Ritual Lament in Greek… Read more

Heat and Lust: Hesiod’s Midsummer Festival Scene Revisited

J.C.B. Petropoulos examines the description of midsummer in Hesiod’s Works and Days, explores modern Greek agrarian practices and relevant folk beliefs, proverbs, symbols, and songs, and cautiously attempts a ‘backward extrapolation’. With the help of comparative ethnographic models, readers will not only better appreciate the seasonal settings of Hesiod’s harvest and its midsummer aftermath, but also will obtain a provocative sidelight into the local song traditions and general lore that… Read more