A modern eidōlon of Helen
2016.05.02 | By Emily G. Shanahan For this rendering of Helen, I focused heavily on impressions gleaned from Euripides’s tragic play Helen, rather than better-known representations from Homer. Read more
Helen
Hélène et le chant rituel : « mythe » et performance poétique en Grèce archaïque (une perspective anthropologique)
2016.05.01 | By Claude Calame “In the vast treasury of the myths, the (Greek) poet chose in turn the legend more adapted to the ceremony he wanted to celebrate”—so Bruno Gentili in a study of 1966 with the title “Poeta—committente—pubblico.” The example of Helen as cause of the Trojan war through the abduction by Paris gives the best opportunity to illustrate the adaptation of the heroic narrative to the circumstances… Read more
Helen, Counter-Ambush Expert
2016.05.01 | By Mary Ebbott and Casey Dué In addition to her superlative beauty, Helen in the Iliad and Odyssey has exceptional talents. Here we will add two skills that she has not received enough credit for: Helen knows both how to spot an ambush in the making and how to tell a great ambush story. Read more
Introduction to “Helen and her Eidolon”
2016.05.01 | By Donna Zuckerberg Donna Zuckerberg, editor of the online journal Eidolon, introduces the Helen-focused collaboration between two publications that have both existed for a little over a year now. Read more
A variation on the idea of a gleam that blinded Homer
2016.02.25 | By Gregory Nagy In the posting for 2016.02.18, I quoted the text of a story told in a set of ancient myths about the life of Homer. In that story, Homer was blinded by a gleam of light that emanated from the shining bronze armor of Achilles. The telling of the story as I quoted it in that posting is immediately followed in the same text by the… Read more