opāōn

A Failed Understudy for the Role of Chariot Fighter: the Case of Koiranos, the King Who Never Was

2015.05.15 | By Gregory Nagy In the posting for 2015.05.08, where I studied the athleticism of heroic chariot fighting, I highlighted the example of Mērionēs in Iliad 17, who fights on foot in a situation where we might have expected him to be doing something else, which is, to be driving the chariot of Idomeneus, king of all the Cretans who fought at Troy. In the posting for 2015.05.20, I… Read more

Mērionēs Rides Again: An Alternative Model for a Heroic Charioteer

2015.05.01 | By Gregory Nagy The date for my putting together a posting for this week, 2015.04.30, coincides with the date of a special day set aside for celebrating the life and accomplishments of Ellen Bradshaw Aitken, whose premature death on 2014.06.14 deeply saddened me as her friend, colleague, and former teacher. But this day of celebration, at McGill University in Montréal, gives me the happy opportunity to tell about… Read more