CITY DIONYSIA AND GREEK TRAGEDY
Greek tragedies were performed in a festival of Dionysus. When was that festival established and how does it relate to Athenian democracy and ideas of freedom?. Double click on the title above for a discussion that seems more relevant than ever. FEAR
In a Pandemic and in Thucydides "We must re-learn how to fear." Can two types of fear in Thucydides help us? A discussion with a dozen friends and scholars, plus some second thoughts of my own. INSPIRATION AND INTERPRETATION: A TEST CASE,ARISTONICE, A PYTHIA.
Inspiration and Interpretation are two sides of the same coin. They can'' be understood separately., as the story of the Pythia Aristonice shows. Click above to see. |
POLITICALLY SPEAKINGDo we have the vocabulary we need to think through what is happening to us in a time of political crisis? My hunch is that we have it, but aren’t using it, at least as much as we should.
Case in point: demagogue and “demagogy. These ancient and uncompromising terms have to a large extent been displaced by the neologisms, “populist” and “populism.” They aren’t synonyms. In an essay called “A Vacuum at the Center” in a recent issue of American Scholar I explored a political dynamic that can best be understood by calling a demagogue a demagogue, Hyperbole is another case in point. It’s not the same as a harmless exaggeration or a deliberate lie, even though it overlaps with them. It too has a dynamic of its own – one that demagogues often understand better than the rest of us. I explored that dynamic in “When Hyperbole Enters Politics” in the Spring 2019 issue of Arion. And what about plutocracy? It’s not the same as the concentration of national wealth in the top few percentages of the population. Once again, it’s a Greek term that has fallen by the wayside in recent political discourse. Does it too have a dynamic that we need to understand in our present distress? I’m trying to write about plutocracy right now, and welcome instances, passages, examples and ideas from old friends and new readers. Let me hear from you. I appreciate your help. Bob Connor wrconnor1@gmail.com .
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Reading the Lord's Prayer as Greek Poetry![]() Most New Testament scholars and translators now recognize that the Lord’s Prayer as transmitted in Matthew ch. 6 is poetry – Greek poetry. This essay derives from an effort to read it as a challenging Greek poetic text. By looking closely at its sound, structure, grammar, tone and imagery one can see the poem in fresh light and understand it in a new way. |
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THE CLASSICS NOW
What is the evidence about the current situation of the Classics and what are the opportunities for the field right now? This is a revision of an article published in Classical World in Spring 2016. ![]() THE THINKING GREEK PROJECT:
I've been trying to think about thinking --specifically how ordinary Greeks, of the classical period thought. How they thought, not what they thought; not what the high powered philosophers and other intellectuals thought, but what patterns they shred with ordinary people. Below are some probes at these issues. Suggestions are much appreciated! We live in a time of dominant hyperbole, not least in American politics. How does this ancient and enduring speech pattern work and what can be done to counter it? Witchcraft in Fourth Century Athens?
The Case of Theoris Theoris, an immigrant from Lemnos into Attica, in the fourth century BCE, was indicted by Demosthenes, tried, convicted, and put to death, along with her whole family. Can this be best understood by comparing it to a witchcraft trial? THE WHEELER PRINCIPLE APPROPRIATED FOR THE CLASSICS
" ... a
guiding principle. It works ...because it keeps the focus on what
is distinctive in our fields, and hence on what Classics’ distinctive
contribution to can be. "
SKIN SLURS; BLACK AND WHITE
" Some friends who read my essay SKIN noted that
while it had a lot to say about body piercing and cutting, it said almost
nothing about skin color. Is it
possible, one of them wondered, that we picked up from the Greeks our practice of
using skin pigment as a sign of racial inferiority? Can we blame the Greeks for this?
SKIN -- A Probe into Greek Ways of Thinking
"... Among the ancient Greeks ... skin was used to mark important contrasts, Greek v. non-Greek, male vs female, animal vs. human, inner vs outer. ... the Greeks observed strict restraints on any form of bodily penetration or cutting. ..."
WHEN THE LOIN CLOTH DROPPED
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MYSTERIOUS VEILED WOMEN AND THE MEN WHO WROTE ABOUT THEM |
A recurring image in ancient Greek texts - a veiled woman, often likened to a bride,a nymphē - points to a mode of thought that persisted in various forms from Archaic Greece to the second century of our era. It is often associated with breath, pneuma, that is, with inspiration understood in a physical sense. The authors discussed include Hesiod (Theogony), Parmenides, The Shepherd of Hermas, and The Revelation to John in the New Testament. These texts, all by male writers, reflect a view of reality as something just barely glimpsed, but they also raise the question whether these men found in this image a way to move beyond modes of thinking deeply rooted in the male’s sphere of activity, and accessing another way of comprehending - associative, visual, and evocative. CLICK HERE TO READ THE TEXT |
The Chronology of Athletic Nudity among the Greeks
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" Classics is well positioned to respond to this shift in discourse. It’s a field where many high-impact practices are standard operating practice, and where it is relatively easy to be more systematic about them. ..." |