#ancientgreece

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Ancient Greek Lyrics by Willis Barnstone, 2009

Ancient Greek Lyrics collects Willis Barnstone's elegant translations of Greek lyric poetry—including the most complete Sappho in English, newly translated. This volume includes a representative sampling of all the significant poets, from Archilochos, in the 7th century BCE, through Pindar and the other great singers of the classical age, down to the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods.





William E. McCulloh's introduction illuminates the forms and development of the Greek lyric while Barnstone provides a brief biographical and literary sketch for each poet and adds a substantial introduction to Sappho—revised for this edition—complete with notes and sources. A glossary and updated bibliography are included.

UC Berkeley: How Greek myths and Hollywood hits can help us understand AI today. “In her new book, UC Berkeley researcher Nina Beguš explores how art, history and literature provide a window into AI development, revealing a hopeful — and cautionary — path forward for humanity.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/12/03/uc-berkeley-how-greek-myths-and-hollywood-hits-can-help-us-understand-ai-today/

I was reminded today that Meta/Facebook's data center project is called Hyperion. Here are some facts about that name that may or may not be of interest.

Hyperion's name comes from two Greek words that together mean "watcher from above" or "he who goes above".

Hyperion was a Titan, the ancient Greek gods that preceded the Olympian gods like Zeus, Athena, etc. Prometheus, Atlas, and the word Titan itself are frequently used to name tech projects. A fun web search is "COMPANY_NAME Titan"; try it. It seems lost on these folks that the Titans were deposed by the Olympian gods and condemned to an eternity in Tartarus, a kind of hell. In other words they're the loser gods, if you want to be simplistic and vulgar about it.

It is believed that one of Hyperion's offspring, Helios, as well as all of Helios's offspring, were imagined as being black-skinned.

My …

Here’s Bellerophon in all his heroism!

This we recognise the glorious artistry of this second century CE mosaic that depicts Bellerophon riding Pegasus while killing the Chimera.

The Chimera was a monstrous fire-breathing creature from Lycia. It was often depicted as a lion with a goat's head protruding from its back and a tail ending with a snake's head.

Bellerophon was a Corinthian hero, the son of Poseidon and Eurynome, a Megarian princess who became a queen of Corinth. Bellerophon was known as one of the greatest hero and slayer of monsters, before the days of Heracles.

Description from Wikipedia: “The Bellerophon Mosaic is a 2nd century AD ancient Roman mosaic, discovered at Autun in 1830 and now in the musée Rolin. It shows Bellerophon mounted on Pegasus killing the Chimera.”

Have a courageous Day of Ares aka Mars' Day aka Tuesday 🗡️

"Sisyphos bound Thanatos (Death) fast, so that men ceased to die, until Ares came to the rescue, released Thanatos, and gave Sisyphos into his power."
Aeschylus, Sisyphus the Runaway (lost play)

🏛 Red-figure vase painting

Red-figure vase painting of Persephone overseeing Sisyphos and probably Ares leaving.

😴Hypnos, the personification of sleep💤

We’re celebrating all the delights of restful slumber with this beautiful bronze head of Hypnos (not sure about where the rest of the body may be!). Hypnos’ has a twin brother Thanatos and both these likely characters were thought to be the sons of Nyx (Night) and to live in the underworld with Hades!

Description from the BM: “Bronze head from a statue of Hypnos. Wings are shown sprouting from his temples, and his hair is arranged into a series of locks, some falling freely, others tied in a knot at the back of the head. Museum number: 1868,0606.9. © The Trustees of the British Museum.“

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜’𝗺 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴: "𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗼𝗴𝗼𝗻𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 & 𝗗𝗮𝘆𝘀" 𝗯𝘆 𝗛𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗱 -

Going way back now, one of Greece's earliest poets with the earliest versions of the Greek creation along with didactic verse of right behavior.

✨Perseus and Andromeda, the villa at Boscotrecase✨

This fresco captures moments from the myth of Andromeda and Perseus. Perseus is swooping in stage left to rescue Andromeda—trapped on a crag at centre stage—from the sea monster Kêtus. The monster takes up most of the lower left of the fresco panel. Perseus can be easily identified by his accoutrements: the winged sandals and lyre. The upper right of the fresco shows Perseus in conversation with Andromeda’s father, Cepheus, the king of Aethiopia. This part of the fresco seems to allude to the agreement on the marriage of Andromeda (without her input, which was standard in Greek myth).

From the villa of Agrippa Postumus at Boscotrecase, now held at the Met. Description from the museum: “Perseus is about to rescue Andromeda from the ketos, a snaky sea monster painted in a brilliant blue-green palette. The creature raises his head with gigantic open jaws and frightful teeth toward Andromeda, who stands with outstretched arms in the center of the panel. One hand appears to be chained to the crag; the other elegantly placed on the rocks. Perseus flies in from the left with his lyre in one hand, winged shoes on his feet, and a windblown cloak over his shoulder. In the upper right portion of the fresco, he is greeted by Andromeda's grateful father, a scene that alludes to the myth's “happy ending” the marriage of hero and princess.“

A Companion to Families in the Greek and Roman Worlds by Beryl Rawson, 2025 draws from both established and current scholarship to offer a broad overview of the field, engage in contemporary debates, and pose stimulating questions about future development in the study of families.

Provides up-to-date research on family structure from archaeology, art, social, cultural, and economic history

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781444390766

@bookstodon




Features illustrations of families, children, slaves, and ritual life, along with maps and diagrams of sites and dwellings. 2011 edition: https://archive.org/details/a-companion-to-families-in-the-greek-and-roman-worlds

replied to knizer's status

29/x EDIT jk, i went here, instead! I've got guests in town this weekend & this is extremely my jam, but not theirs, please go, its weird theatre, near home, and free:

Sun : x x - “Attack of the Byrds! a verse play by Gary Duehr adapted from “The Birds” by Aristophanes, will be presented as a reading on Sunday, August 10, from 3-4:30.
The reading is free and open to the public. The reading features original songs by Jane Burgess Harcourt, sung by Suzanne Boucher and accompanied by Peter Hoffman on guitar. This version mashes up the classic comedy with “The ” by Hitchcock and songs inspired by the ’60s band the . In rhymed couplets, the brisk verse punches up its wordplay. This adaptation uses the masks and …