Hour 25, recently re-named Kosmos Society, published a guest post by Elizabeth Howell, a HeroesX former participant and a science journalist from Canada who is learning Classics in her spare time. Howell shares her experience with The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours and the HeroesX community.
“When I first signed up for HeroesX in August 2016, the project was daunting due to the amount of reading, as well as the thinking required. Our first two major texts were the Iliad and the Odyssey, which I’d read before. But Professor Gregory Nagy had a different approach. I found his multiple-choice questions daunting in the first third of the project. How was I supposed to think like an ancient Greek when I had little experience in the field?
Every one of the project’s thousands of participants must have a different answer, but here was mine: I hooked into universal experiences. Every human goes through a birth and a death. When we reach a certain age, we become familiar with rituals, whether they are weddings, graduations or holiday celebrations. Since we share the concept of rituals with the ancient Greeks, this helped ease my confusion somewhat. Through Professor Nagy’s videos, I then learned about how heroes and rituals intersect.”
Howell talks about the significance of community through her journey and shares practical tips for success to HeroesX. Read the entire post on the Hour 25 website!
Image credit: Elizabeth Howell
Featured picture: Composite of images from the HeroesX project