When Hour 25 opened its doors in 2013, it was envisioned as a community-driven companion project to “The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours,” the edX/HarvardX MOOC directed by Gregory Nagy, which is also known as HeroesX. The idea was that Hour 25 would allow participants to go beyond the 24 Hours of HeroesX by providing a friendly, safe, and stimulating environment for community members to continue learning in an open-ended way with others who shared their passion for close reading and the ancient Greek world.
Over the years, our community has expanded and progressed beyond its initial goal. We are reaching out to wider audiences beyond HeroesX, using a wider variety of content. Our new mission is to provide an online community that fosters Humanistic study with a focus on the the classical world and its rich connections to our modern lives. The name Hour 25, while very fitting to our origins, does little to express our goals to expand in these new ways.
So, in the coming weeks, Hour 25 will have a new beginning as The Kosmos Society: An Online Community for Classical Studies.
We will continue to work in collaborative partnership with the Center for Hellenic Studies and with dedicated community members to provide access to a growing collection of resources and an international community of learners who participate in close readings.
We welcome new members who are interested in learning while engaging in a respectful and friendly dialogue on a wide variety of topics in Classics—and beyond. To join in the conversation, please email hero@mail.chs.harvard.edu.
Please spread the word!
Image credit: Aaron Logan, “Statue of Atlas at Doges Palace,” Creative Commons CC BY 2.0