Tag Archives: #ancientgreece

“Shaker of the earth, you would have me be as one without prudenceif I am to fight even you for the sake of insignificantmortals, who are as leaves are, and now flourish and grow warmwith life, and feed on what the ground gives, but then againfade away and are dead. Therefore let us with allContinue reading “Authority and Epic”

“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?”

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”

“Wrath—sing, goddess, of the ruinous wrath of Peleus’ son Achilles,that inflicted woes without number upon the Achaeans,hurled forth to Hades many strong souls of warriorsand rendered their bodies prey for the dogs,for all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished;sing from when they two first stood in conflict—Atreus’ son, lord of men, and godlikeContinue reading “Anger and the ancient Greeks”