Lightning Talks #2: Greek Literature

A quick survey of scholarship on Penelope’s suitors reveals that some scholars consider Eurymachos to be their leader, while others consider Antinoos to be. In this talk, I will briefly summarize the limited evidence for each view (e.g., Od. 15.16–18; 22.48–59). I think the evidence ambiguous. I will invite discussion on whether and why it is.

Aristophanes’ Frogs opens with literal and metaphorical burdens. The distribution of such phrases as βαρέως/χαλεπῶς φέρειν, συμφορὰν φέρειν, etc., in earlier poetry,Thucydides, and Plato points to Pericles’ rhetorical tropes, especially (I would speculate) as employed in his lost Samian epitaphios. The play with these tropes early on sets the stage for this comedy’s nostalgia specifically for the Periclean past.

This paper presents a novel interpretation of mētis, “cunning intelligence,” by using contemporary theories of mind to demonstrate how Prometheus, Hermes, and Odysseus each display their mētis through their different strategies of thinking in and through things. Mētis thus emerges as a form of cognitive craftsmanship that can operate in a diverse array of material and bodily media.

This talk explores the evolution of literary and visual representations of female Centaurs, from monstrous figures to devoted wives and mothers in antiquity, and from coquettish brides-to-be to hyper-sexualized warriors in the modern day. Discussion will center on why portrayals of these anomalous creatures have changed so drastically over time and how they compare with those of their male counterparts.

Discussions of Sappho 58, the Tithonus poem, have not considered evidence from Attic vase-painting: in several red-figure paintings Tithonus holds a lyre as Eos abducts him (London 1836,0224.82, Boston 03.816, Cambridge GR 22.1937, Louvre G 348, Florence Museo Archeologico Etrusco 4428).A kitharodist Tithonus as object of Dawn’s desire could be paradigmatic for the chorus as well as the speaker.