By Gregory Nagy

Song 44 of Sappho and the Role of Women in the Making of Epic

2015.02.27 | By Gregory Nagy At H24H 4§20, I formulate this “take-away” from that analysis: “Song 44 of Sappho is an example of epic as refracted in women’s songmaking traditions.” And I simply give a reference there to an earlier analysis that I had attempted, in a book entitled Homeric Questions (Nagy 1996). [The hyperlink directs to an open access version of the book on the CHS website.] I now think that the reference I… Read more

The Barley Cakes of Sosipolis and Eileithuia

2015.02.20 | By Gregory Nagy In what follows, I quote a passage in Pausanias that is relevant to my analysis in H24H 15§38 of the rituals connected with the worship of the goddess Eileithuia. In that analysis, I concentrate on the ritual offering of mazai ‘barley cakes’ that are kneaded in meli ‘honey’, as described by Pausanias 6.20.2. Read more

God-Hero Antagonism in the Hippolytus of Euripides

2015.02.14 | By Gregory Nagy In Hour 20 of The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours (H24H), I wrote about the hero as a mirror of men’s and women’s experiences in the Hippolytus of Euripides with a focus on the key word telos, ‘end, ending, final moment; goal, completion, fulfillment; coming full circle, rounding out; successfully passing through an ordeal; initiation; ritual, rite’. Read more