The Center for Hellenic Studies

heroes

Curated Articles

Review of Robin Lane Fox, Travelling Heroes: Greeks and their Myths in the Epic Age of Homer (London: Allen Lane, 2008)

[This article is a draft of a review later published in Journal of Hellenic Studies 131 (2011) 166–169 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0075426911000127). Page numbers for that publication have been added in curly brackets. For instance, {166|167} indicates the break between pages 166 and 167.] For the author (hereafter LF), the ‘epic age of Homer’ is the 8th c. (here and hereafter, all dates are BCE). The word ‘travelling’ refers to… Read more

Curated Books

The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours

The ancient Greeks’ concept of “the hero” was very different from what we understand by the term today, Gregory Nagy argues—and it is only through analyzing their historical contexts that we can truly understand Achilles, Odysseus, Oedipus, and Herakles. In Greek tradition, a hero was a human, male or female, of the remote past, who was endowed with superhuman abilities by virtue of being descended from an immortal god. Despite their mortality,… Read more

Curated Books

The Best of the Achaeans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry

Despite widespread interest in the Greek hero as a cult figure, little was written about the relationship between the cult practices and the portrayals of the hero in poetry. The first edition of The Best of the Achaeans bridged that gap, raising new questions about what could be known or conjectured about Greek heroes. In this revised edition, which features a new preface by the author, Gregory Nagy reconsiders his conclusions in… Read more

Hellenic Studies Series

The Tears of Achilles

Warrior, hero, super-male—Achilles, by the protocols of Western culture, should never cry. And yet Homeric epic if full of his tears and those of his companions at Troy. This path-blazing study by Hélène Monsacré shows how later ideals of stoically inexpressive manhood run contrary to the poetic vision presented in the Iliad and Odyssey. The epic protagonists, as larger-than-life figures who transcend gender categories, are precisely the men most likely… Read more

CHS Learning Module, News

Experience Harvard’s “Ancient Greek Hero” MOOC!

New iteration of the popular online project now open for registration Registration is now open for the latest session of “The Ancient Greek Hero,” a groundbreaking open, online project from HarvardX that uses Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) technology to introduce participants to the literature and heroes of ancient Greece. The project is directed by Gregory Nagy, Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at… Read more

CHS Learning Module

CHS Essentials | The Suffering of Heroes

With the fifth version of the HeroesX project opening on Jan. 6, we would like to reflect upon the hero and heroic tradition. In the featured video, Gregory Nagy talks about the suffering of heroes in an attempt to elaborate on the choice of violent ends for heroes by Greek tragedians. Gregory Nagy comments that “if the hero is larger than life—and he or she is—then… Read more

CHS Learning Module, News

CHS Essentials | The Suffering of Heroes

With the fifth version of the HeroesX project opening on Jan. 6, we would like to reflect upon the hero and heroic tradition. In the featured video, Gregory Nagy talks about the suffering of heroes in an attempt to elaborate on the choice of violent ends for heroes by Greek tragedians. Gregory Nagy comments that “if the hero is larger than life—and he or she is—then the… Read more