Classical Inquiries

Mount Olympus
By Gregory Nagy

Comments on comparative mythology 6, trifunctionality and the goddess Hērā

2020.03.20 | By Gregory Nagy §0. In Classical Inquiries 2020.03.13, where I was testing the idea of trifunctionality in the Homeric retelling of the Judgment of Paris, I analyzed aspects of the goddess Hērā that point to her third function, which is fertility, to be distinguished from her first function, which is sovereignty. Here in Classical Inquiries 2020.03.20, I will analyze further such aspects pointing to the third function of… Read more

By Gregory Nagy

Thinking comparatively about Greek mythology III, Hēraklēs compared to a hero of the Mahābhārata

2019.08.08 | By Gregory Nagy §0. So far, I have been comparing Greek myths about the hero Hēraklēs with Old Norse myths about the hero Starkaðr, concentrating on details that these myths have in common. Now I add to the comparison some further details to be found in an Indic myth about the hero Śiśupāla as featured in the Sanskrit epic known as the Mahābhārata. This Śiśupāla is antagonistic with… Read more

By Gregory Nagy

A Mycenaean background for Hēraklēs as a model for athletes

2019.07.19 | By Gregory Nagy §0. As I argued in the previous posting, Classical Inquiries 2019.07.12, the name of Olympia as a setting for the myth about the founding of the Olympics by Hēraklēs is linked with the name of Mount Olympus as the setting for the myth about the immortalization of this hero after death. In the present posting here, 2019.07.19, I take the argument further: the various different versions… Read more