Hercules and Corona Borealis as depicted in Urania’s Mirror, by Sidney Hall, c. 1825 (Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain) According to many multiforms of the Ariadne myth, Dionysus places Ariadne’s garland in the sky as immortal compensation and memory for the heroine. Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.176-182 (trans. C. Filos) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) Desertae et multa querenti amplexus et opem Liber tulit; utque… Read more
CIC 2014: The Odyssey in the Modern College Classroom The Center for Hellenic Studies would like to express their thanks and appreciation to all those who participated in this summer’s Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) seminar. It was a treat to watch as professors worked together to better understand the Odyssey and discover new ways to teach it to college students across the country. Read more
CIC 2014: The Odyssey in the Modern College Classroom The Center for Hellenic Studies would like to express their thanks and appreciation to all those who participated in this summer’s Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) seminar. It was a treat to watch as professors worked together to better understand the Odyssey and discover new ways to teach it to college students across the country. This… Read more
The Sleeping Ariadne in Naxos by John Vanderlyn (Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain) In a recent post we shared a description of Ariadne as offered by Philostratus the Elder: But look at Ariadne, or rather her sleep. Her breasts are bare to her navel, her neck is back and her soft throat, and her armpit, the right one, is all visible. Her left hand lies upon her… Read more
Opera, like ancient Greek lyric and epic, is a highly visual art capable of mesmerizing audiences with spectacles of joy, shocking humor, and the depths of grief. The current Glimmerglass production of Ariadne in Naxos sets the Ariadne myth in modern times. Below are renderings of Bacchus and Ariadne by designer Erik Teague for this beautiful production. Costume renderings by Erik Teague for The Glimmerglass Festival’s 2014 production of… Read more
CHS Director Gregory Nagy has long been interested in comparative work on ancient Greek poetry and the modern mediums of film and opera. For many years now, Nagy has been using the 1951 film adaptation of Jacques Offenbach’s opera The Tales of Hoffmann to introduce new readers to concepts related to ancient Greek heroes. In fact, Nagy has developed detailed, almost frame-by-frame commentary on this cinematic masterpiece. This work led Nagy and the Center… Read more
The Center for Hellenic Studies is pleased to feature the following books and articles, all of which are freely available on the CHS website. Casey Dué and Mary Ebbott Iliad 10 and the Poetics of Ambush: A Multitext Edition with Essays and Commentary Iliad 10 has historically been the epic’s most doubted book and the book least likely to be judged “Homeric.” In the course of… Read more
June 19-July 3, 2014 Over the next few weeks, teams of undergraduate researchers and faculty mentors will convene at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC for the 2014 Homer Multitext summer seminar. The seminar will provide an introduction to fundamental ideas about the oral composition and transmission of the epics, and basic training in editing digital texts. The seminar will focus on manuscripts of the Iliad with scholia that… Read more
Becoming a Citizen and Leader in Ancient Greece and Modern America August 1-2, 2014 This two-day workshop will introduce those with an interest in civic participation and leadership to aspects of democracy, one of the ancient world’s most lasting legacies. We will focus on the type of democracy, which the Athenians developed and practiced during the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. No prior knowledge of the… Read more
Kyklos@Classics@ is a program devoted to new and developing scholarship concerning the Greek Epic Cycle. Its primary purpose is to foster a new generation of classical scholars by offering them, at an early stage in their academic careers, an opportunity to test their ideas in an international environment. The program consists of graduate students, under the supervision of scholars from their home institutions, producing essays, notes, or comments on… Read more
