Tag Archives: Odyssey

The Sirens: A Symbol of Fear

By Jocelyn Hitchcock, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom “For with their high clear song, the Sirens bewitch him, as they sit there in a meadow piled high with the moldering skeletons of men, whose withered skin still hangs upon their bones.” Odyssey. 12: 39-54 The elusive Sirens of the Aegean have been cornerstone characters in Greek

Written on May 22, 2019 at 9:37 am, by Jocelyn Hitchcock

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Categories: Monsters

Tags: Etymologiae, Greek Mythology, Odysseus, Odyssey, Sirens

12 Ancient Greek Terms that Should Totally Make a Comeback

Learning Ancient Greek can be… challenging. For one thing, there are competing dialects (as was discussed in our Podcasts with Professors Episode with the Professor of Linguistics at the University of Cyprus.) As such, there are times when we aren’t even sure how the word is pronounced. There are also like 5 different translations for

Written on May 14, 2019 at 9:40 am, by plato

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Categories: Culture

Tags: Aidos, Apatheia, Arete, Aristotle, Ataraxia, Doxa, Episteme, Eudaimonia, Homer, Kleos, Nostos, Odyssey, Oikos, Stoicism, xenia

Xenia for a Better World

Today’s Classics Challenge delves into the importance of Xenia… and how resurfacing this concept can make for both better individuals and society as a whole. But first… What is Xenia? Watch the video below to learn of this critical part of Ancient Greek (and indeed modern Greek) culture: While this was an essential part of

Written on January 8, 2019 at 4:49 pm, by plato

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Categories: Culture

Tags: Ancient Greece, foreigner, Homer, hospitality, Odyssey, xenia, xenophobia

The Bloodless – but perhaps Most Clever – Greek Tragedy Ever Written

By Ben Potter and Anya Leonard Sophocles’ Philoctetes, first performed in 409 BC, isn’t a typical tragedy, certainly not in the more modern perception of the genre. There is no high death toll and no evil, underhand conniving that leaves characters bitter and crushed. In a word, there is no blood. In fact, as far

Written on October 2, 2018 at 8:05 pm, by plato

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Categories: Theater

Tags: Ancient Greek theater, Euripides, Lemnos, Neoptolemus, Odysseus, Odyssey, Philoctetes, Sophocles, Tragedy

Voyage To The Moon

Considering the strange nature of this tale, we simply can’t launch into this without a little background information. The sheer insanity of the story might permeate through your computer screen and cause you to question your own grasp on reality. Let’s take a few baby steps, shall we? Lucian’s True History is a blatant parody

Written on April 14, 2014 at 5:16 pm, by Socrates

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Categories: Literature

Tags: iliad, Lucian, Moon, Odyssey

The Odyssey: Be Our Guest with Xenia

If your mother taught you say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, to not sit down until offered a chair, to bend over backwards to make guests feel welcome, and to always wipe your feet before before going in, then she might have picked up on the theme of xenia (hospitality) in The Odyssey. However, it is

Written on April 19, 2013 at 7:39 am, by Ben Potter

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Categories: Literature

Tags: Guest, hospitality, Odysseus, Odyssey, Penelope, Telemachus, xenia

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