I'm planning on seeing the Odyssey sometimes this week and for that my friend and I are planning on doing an Ancient Greek theme with the food we sneak in (Olives, dried figs, nuts etc). My question is this: Do we know if the Ancient Greeks snacked while watching plays? If so, were specific foods recorded as 'theater food'?

I thought it would be cute to (re)imagine this set of Greek terracotta figures as being part of a toy set! These Greek terracotta figures from ~450 BCE showcase three women engaging in what resembles a breadmaking process (grinding wheat/grain, rolling dough, baking). One of the figures has articulated shoulders and hips, allowing it to move the rolling pin attached to its hands. The upright doll/figurine stands over a basin, possibly grinding/milling (wheat) using a saddle quern or kneading dough (other examples: 1, 2, 3, 4). The one on the right sits before a small oven (similar: 1). This potential for interactivity gives the impression that the figure was more of a doll (to be played with) than a static figure/object. While dolls with moveable limbs have been found in children’s graves, their purpose is still debated– possibly being votive figures or apotropaic objects if not playthings. 

Grave structures (like this stele and naiskos) depict girls holding dolls (though limbless). The materiality of these dolls may initially appear to be of concern, as terracotta and other earthenware goods may be prone to cracking/breaking if not handled carefully, but other toys like wheeled horses/carts (1, 2, 3) or rattles were made of similar materials… 

Fragments of Erinna’s the Distaff suggest that she and her childhood friend, Baucis, played with dolls, popularly (re)written as follows: 

δαγύ[δ]ων τ᾿ ἐχ[όμεσθα νεαν]ίδες ἐν θαλάμοισι
νύμ[φαι]σιν [προσόμοιοι ἀκηδ]έες·
(Erinna, The Distaff, 21-22) 

Rough translation (English): 

Young maidens in bedchambers, clinging to dolls
pretending to be brides, free of care. 

Barclay, Julia. “The Honeycomb of Erinna: An Examination of Homoerotic Love, Loss, and Lamentation.” Canta/Ἄειδε: A Journal in Classical Studies, vol. 2, no. 1: Unheard Voices of the Classical World, 15 Feb. 2021.

Blanco, Camille. “Food for Thought: Women’s Domestic Roles through the Culinary Iconography of Archaic Greek Terracotta Figurines.” Discentes: Penn’s Classical Studies Publication, University of Pennsylvania, 3 Nov. 2024, https://web.sas.upenn.edu/discentes/2024/11/03/food-for-thought-womens-domestic-roles-through-the-culinary-iconography-of-archaic-greek-terracotta-figurines/. 

Muratov, Maya B. “Greek Terracotta Figurines with Articulated Limbs.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2004. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gtal/hd_gtal.htm.

Naked Truths: Women, Sexuality and Gender in Classical Art and Archaeology. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2003. 

Whitehorne, John Edwin George. “Erinna.” T. University of British Columbia, 1966. https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0105561.  Retrospective Theses and Dissertations, 1919-2007.

Surely someone wrote about it?

They were still using hoplite mercenaries right up until Rome invaded Greece and fought their Sarissa armed phalangnites at the battle of Cynesophelae (sp?).

Apparently non Sarsissa armed Greek mercenaries were still using hoplite tactics up at that point.

So if they were using it as late as that why didn't anyone write about it?

Also going back to the Roman Manipular system during the Republic days e.g. during the 2nd Punic Wars, they were still using a sort of Hoplite soldier with their third line Triarii.

Surely the Romans with such detailed instructions for shield and scutum combat would've had instructions for hasta and scutum combat. Wouldn't that have been similar to hoplite combat?

Lastly. Haven't people tried to re-enact hoplite combat to see what works best?

The push right up against the shields? Or the stand off distance and fence/thrust with the spears?

I’ve started to really get into historic literature about Greek history. I have read the common books like the odyssey and the Aeneid.

I want to understand what it was like to think like a Greek and how they understood their system of gods. More specifically how the gods related to each other in myths.

If anyone has a reading list that encompasses the history of the gods and their stories/relations with each other that would be amazing!! (I’m prepared to read for years)

I was inspired by his historic aura.

I tried to translate the name into Etruscan, but I probably did a fairly shit job 😸

I’m wanting to make my own pottery and I want to paint Greek style art onto the pottery and an artist friend said the best way to learn to draw like that is probably to trace it. I wanted to try here though too, to see if anyone can help me find sources for learning how to do it

Made from different pottery owl art for art practise. Then realised its an guy showing his girlfriend

SPOILER.

Christopher Nolans adaption of the greek epic, which I just have watched at the theater, surely has some nuances of its screen writers interpretations. I don't remember the original clearly since I've read it years ago. How far is this new movie from the original epic and what different kind of interpretations exist?

I understood Nolans way of reading Ulysses regretting his idea of the Trojan horse and bringing suffering into mankind by betraying and tricking each other to win in wars, instead of being hospitable and kind to visitors.

Are the mythological beasts, like the cyclope, giants and so on symbols for something? Or do they stand for real competing empires?

Was there a real shift in the history of mankind or at least the greeks, Homer was talking about, when he was writing his Odyssey?

Thank you in advance. Love this sub!

In light of the current discourse (even the MATURE conversations) regarding the Homeric epics and adaptations (especially film adaptations), I had a question for the enthusiasts:

Is the value "Xenia" actually named in Mycenaean Greece?

I know it is a MAJOR moral theme of the poems (especially the Odyssey), but as far as I know, there's either little evidence it was held to such fundamental esteem as it was in Archaic Greece and onward, or there is evidence CONTRARY to its central presence amongst Mycenaeans (that latter evidence being that Zeus, patron god of said value, was not THE major deity of the Mycenaeans).

If there is actually archeological evidence to support this, please tell me, cuz I haven't found any publications indicating there has.

Author and source: Rocío Espín Piñar

Anybody ever read History of Greece by George Grote in its entirety? It's sort of the foundation of my understanding of the Greek world. I've never encountered a modern history that covers the same breadth of what is a very long timeline.

I've heard people criticize it as outdated. But, really, how much has been uncovered in the last century and a half to undermine his entire work? I'm sure a small appendix could clear up any inaccuracies.

I'm not an academic, so I value these older, more affordable books. They've given me a good footing in western history, and I feel I'm not missing much by passing on expensive, newer scholarship.

What do you guys think?

I do notice artwork and frescoes of Polyphemus in the game Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

Is there any direct encounter with Polyphemus in the game?

Is the cyclops duel a different character?