Hour 20

By Gregory Nagy, H24H

The Vow of Socrates

2015.04.17 | By Gregory Nagy In Plato’s Phaedo 118a, we read this description of the very last seconds before Socrates died from the poison that pervaded his body after he was forced to drink the potion of hemlock that the State had measured out for his execution: Then he uncovered his face, for he had covered himself up, and said—this was the last thing he uttered—“Crito, I owe the sacrifice… Read more

By Gregory Nagy, H24H

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