Platypus of Truth

 Has anyone else noticed that the one time Odysseus tells the truth, that Odysseus will return in a month, that he isn't believed? He even uses Achilles' phase: I hate as the gates of Hades that man who says one thing and hides another in his heart. Always something new to notice. 

 

  Tell me why are we so blind to see that the ones we hurt are you and me.  Listening to Gangsta's Paradise and thinking about the Iliad. You're watching a civilization fall apart. Judging from graves, a 23 year old Mycenaean warlord couldn't be sure he'd see 24. The number of wounds found on the bones and their violence are remarkable. They lived their lives for glory and to have their deeds retold in freestyle song. Later Greeks were convinced that their thug life brought complete destruction on their world. The songs of these heroes eere remembered by their descendants living in the ruins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Demeter searches for Persephone. Titan Quest? 

  Cassandra. Re-imagining of concept art for a 2002 production.

 

 

 

 

 Today I finished reading the Agamemnon in Greek, 23 years after first reading it in Fagles' stirring translation. "Sing the song of woe, but may the good prevail."

I finished reading the Iliad  today in the original Greek. It's taken about year to do with a year of prep work beforehand. What advantage was there in reading a book that I've already read in several English translations? First, there's the sound of the Greek and it's original meter. Second, the slow pace forces you to consider each section and even each sentence with greater care. Third, you begin to notice repeated words and phrases that don't carry over well in translation. Fourth, you begin to understand more fully what scholars and other readers of the language are talking about when they discuss the Iliad  or Ancient Greek writings more generally. Finally, I just scratched one thing off my bucket list. Hip, Hip, Huzzah!