Hour 18. Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus and the power of the cult hero in death The meaning of kolōnos 18§1. The key word for this hour is kolōnos, which means a ‘tumulus’ or ‘elevation’ in a local landscape. As we will see, kolōnos means also the whole landscape itself, which is a garden or grove […]
Hour 17. Looking beyond the cult hero in the Libation Bearers and the Eumenides of Aeschylus The meaning of tīmē 17§1. The key word for this hour is tīmē, plural tīmai, ‘honor; honor paid to a superhuman force by way of cult’. So far, we have seen situations where cult heroes as well as gods […]
Hour 16. Heroic aberration in the Agamemnon of Aeschylus The meaning of atē 16§1. The key word for this hour is atē, the meaning of which can be interpreted as ‘aberration, derangement, veering off-course; disaster; punishment for disaster’. In Homeric poetry, as we saw in Iliad XIX 91 as quoted in Hour 1 Text C, […]
Introduction to tragedy III§1. In considering the traditions of tragedy, it is important to keep in mind that the medium of tragedy in particular and of drama in general was the central context for the evolution of traditions in poetry, song, and dance in Athens during the classical period of the fifth century BCE and […]
Hour 15. What the hero ‘means’ The meaning of sēmainein 15§1. The key word for this hour is sēmainein, which means ‘mean [something], indicate [something] by way of a sēma’. In Hour 7, the key word was sēma (plural sēmata), meaning ‘sign, signal, symbol; tomb, tomb of a hero’. The verb sēmainein is a derivative […]
Hour 14. Longing for a hero: a retrospective The meaning of pothos 14§1. The key words for this hour are the noun pothos and its variant pothē, which both mean ‘longing’ or ‘yearning’ or ‘desire’, and the verb derived from this noun, which means ‘long for’ or ‘yearn for’ or ‘desire’. As we will see, […]
Hour 13. A crisis in reading the world of heroes The meaning of krinein 13§1. The key word for this hour is krinein, the “middle voice” for which is krinesthai, and the meaning of which is ‘judge, distinguish, make distinctions’. Here are words that derive from it: krisis, ‘judgment, crisis’ kritērion, ‘criterion’, for judging, distinguishing, […]
Hour 12. The cult hero as an exponent of justice in Homeric poetry and beyond The meaning of dikē 12§1. The key word for this hour is dikē, which means ‘justice’ long-term and ‘judgment’ short-term. In ancient Greek poetics, a primary metaphor for dikē is a flourishing field or garden or orchard or grove or […]
Hour 11. Blessed are the heroes: the cult hero in Homeric poetry and beyond The meaning of olbios 11§1. They key word for this hour is olbios, which as we will see means ‘blessed’ or even ‘blissful’ for those who are initiated into the mysteries of hero cult but simply ‘prosperous, happy’ for […]
Hour 10. The mind of Odysseus in the Homeric Odyssey The meaning of noos 10§1. The key word for this hour is noos. A simple translation could be ‘mind’ or ‘thinking’, though these words are too broad in meaning to fit many of the Homeric contexts of noos; other translations could be ‘perception’ or even […]