Literature Archive
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Heracles and the Foundings of Sparta and Rome
Posted on May 19, 2012 | No CommentsThe Greeks and Romans were as defined by their religion as they were by their language. Naturally, the objects of Greco-Roman theology, the gods, heroes, and stories that were told of them, were seminal for the political structure of the ancient world that they permeated. -
A comparison of the roles of the hero and the seductress in the Tain bo cuailgne and the Iliad: an honors thesis
Posted on May 4, 2012 | No CommentsThis paper attempts to redefine the role of the 'hero' in ancient Western epic poetry, focusing specifically on the Iliad of Homer and the Irish epic the Tain Bo Cuailgne, by focusing on the maintenance of a hierarchy of loyalties. -
Greek Rhetoric In Situ: Sites of Rhetorical Performance in Ancient Greece
Posted on April 11, 2012 | No CommentsLecture by Christopher Johnstone, given at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, on March 29, 2012 -
Criminal elements: the evolution of the outlaw in the ancient novel
Posted on April 9, 2012 | No CommentsIn the first to fourth centuries A.D., a literary genre developed unlike any the Graeco-Roman world had seen. -
Sappho and the World of Lesbian Poetry
Posted on April 8, 2012 | No CommentsWhen we speak of Sappho, the poet from the island of Lesbos, and her poetry, we are thinking of something very special, a transcendental kind of poetry which is somehow purer, fairer, lovelier than anything else in the Western world -
The Destiny of The World: A Study on the End of The Universe in The Light of Ancient Egyptian Texts
Posted on April 4, 2012 | No CommentsDid the ancient Egyptians have any notion about the end of the world ? Did they make up as complicated and rich myths about this notion as the ones they composed about the cosmogony and the beginning of the world ? The answer to the first question is easy:yes,the ancient Egyptians had, like contemporary people, a strong belief in the impermanence cf the world. -
The Empire’s Muse: Roman Interpretations of the Amazons through Literature and Art
Posted on March 21, 2012 | No CommentsFollowing the chaos and disharmony of the Roman Republic’s Civil Wars, the Amazon was a popular character in the Imperial age of Rome and was used to discuss the creation of identity for the Roman people, though that identity changed over time. -
‘Which of the Gods is this?’ Dionysus in the Homeric Hymns
Posted on March 19, 2012 | No CommentsOf all the gods in the Greek Pantheon, Dionysus stands apart as one of the most challenging divine figures in Greek mythology. Dionysus is celebrated as the god of wine, the bringer of revelry and ecstatic release. -
Greek Tragedy: A Rape Culture?
Posted on March 14, 2012 | No CommentsThis essay looks at rape in Greek tragedy through the lens of several moments of feminist theorizing and activism about rape. -
The Ancient Library of Alexandria: A Model for Classical Scholarship in the Age of Million Book Libraries
Posted on March 11, 2012 | No CommentsLike a karstic river, the library of Alexandria resurfaces time after time4, and not only in “high-culture”: in a recent best seller by Steve Berry, The Alexandria link, the library is hidden somewhere in the Sinai peninsula; in Clive Cussler’s Treasure, a rich collection of objects coming from the Museion is discovered near Rome, Texas...