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Socrates’ Dream Woman of Phthia

by A.P. David Unlike Socrates, Plato wrote—and wrote and wrote. This was a man who said, on a rare occasion in the first person, that his theories could not be expressed in writing. Just as inner contradiction is a key to effective drama, where we call it ‘conflict’, contradiction appears to be the fount and

The Homeric Question: Who WAS Homer?

by Ed Whelan, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Homer is considered one of the greatest poets who ever lived. The literary and cultural influence of the Iliad and the Odyssey is incomparable. But who was Homer, exactly? The answer is a little bit complicated… You see, for many centuries scholars have questioned not just the identity,

Is it WRONG to be nostalgic?

Perhaps it’s most striking when you are a new parent. I remember clearly bringing home my baby girl from the hospital. She was a whopping 2 kilos/4.4 lbs (even after a month of NICU) and those first months were hard. Very hard. The sleep deprivation was real. Very real. The constant worrying… the fussing, the

Die Young & Famous or Live Long & Unknown?

The stunning Jodie Turner-Smith, playing “Queen”, was sitting on her car probably somewhere in Florida when the timeless question was brought up. Dusty lighting behind, the two actors discussed the conundrum which ambitious world changers have asked from the beginning of civilization.  I was thrilled to find such an excellent ancient philosophical discussion in such

Homer’s Real Story: The Truth Behind the ‘Iliad’

Written by John Martin, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom For the nearly three millennia since the Iliad’s creation, its grand story remains undiscovered. Homer’s masterpiece was a brilliant exercise in telling a new kind of story while letting his listening audience think that they were hearing another (more familiar, more easily accessible) one.  The blind poet,

What is Evil? Why are we so interested in it?

It’s hard to anticipate, to accept. The idea that you could actually know someone evil. That happens to other people, right? But there I was, staring at the photo in the newspaper of my former classmate, clad in the orange prison jumpsuit in front of the judge. The headline described the whole lurid affair: Eighth