“Mighty indeed are the marks and monuments of our empire which we have left. Future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders at us now. We do not need the praises of a Homer, or of anyone else whose words may delight us for the moment, but whose estimation of facts willContinue reading “What is civilization?”
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Immortality and its Discontents
“But the other gods who live for ever went off to Olympus, some of them angry, and some mightily triumphant, and sat down beside the father, god of the dark cloud, while Achilles continued to slaughter the Trojans and their single-hoofed horses” (Iliad 21.518-521, trans. Anthony Verity). One of the most captivating aspects of theContinue reading “Immortality and its Discontents”
The Shield of Achilles
“Sing, Muse,in a clear voice,sing of Hephaestoswho is famous for his skill. With Athena of the gleaming eyes,he taught human beingsall over the earththeir glorious crafts, people who beforeused to live in cavesin the mountainslike wild beasts.”—Homeric Hymn to Hephaistos, trans. Jules Cashford I can’t talk about Achilles’ shield without talking about the god whoContinue reading “The Shield of Achilles”
Translation vs. Transliteration
An intriguing topic that turns up obliquely in different translations is the impact of transliterating vs. translating. In English translations, proper names are typically tranliterated, with the result that some of the meaning and impact of those names are lost. One proper name that’s evoked often in the Iliad and whose meaning is lost inContinue reading “Translation vs. Transliteration”
Homeric heroes
What do you think of when you think of a hero? Where I might think of heroism as rooted in personal sacrifice and strength of character—running into a burning building to save those who are vulnerable without concern for your own life—the ancient Greeks did not characterize heroes in moral terms but in terms ofContinue reading “Homeric heroes”
Authority in the Iliad
“Now when Zeus has brought the Trojans and Hector to the ships, he left the fighters beside them to endure toil and misery without ceasing, while he himself turned his shining eyes away, looking far off to the land of the horse-breeding Thracians, and the Mysians, hand-to-hand fighters, and the splendid Hippemolgi, drinkers of mares’Continue reading “Authority in the Iliad”
Thoughts on translation
“My dear friend, if we two could escape from this war and were certain to live for ever, ageless and immortal, I would not myself fight in the first ranks, nor would I send you into the battle where men win glory; but now, since, come what may, death’s spectres stand over us in theirContinue reading “Thoughts on translation”
Achilles’ invulnerability
Here is Thomas Banks’ 1789 sculpture of Thetis dipping baby Achilles in the river Styx. (Photo by me back in Feb. 2020 at the Troy exhibit.) The myth of Achilles’ invulnerability seems to be a later addition to the myth, but we can’t be sure given how many ancient texts have been lost. Homer doesContinue reading “Achilles’ invulnerability”
Reciprocity in Homer
In my previous post, I mentioned that the Iliad is not a good guys vs. bad guys narrative. Why is this important to recognize? I would say that doing so allows us to consider that the Olympians, in the Homeric world, neither represent nor model moral truth in an absolute sense. Rather, the central conceptContinue reading “Reciprocity in Homer”
Zeus and the Trojan war heroes
The Iliad is saturated with allusions and references that we may overlook because we focus on parts of the poem that feel familiar and that fit with the popular narrative about what it means. One example from the first sentence that I wonder about is “the will of Zeus was accomplished.” Why would Zeus wantContinue reading “Zeus and the Trojan war heroes”