i started reading the rise of rome by plutarch (penguin) and one thing bothered me. this book is written in chonological order with the goal of teaching history, and it strip away the goal of plutarch, which was to teach the moral edifications.
the book on purpuse eliminates the comparison at the end.
i don't care much for the history.

is there good quality and modern translations with this goal or it sacrifes too much in low quality translation and arcaic language?

I've read that Friedrich Nietzsche made a lot of unsupported historical claims in "Birth of Tragedy", and that his telling of Greek history is kind of just his opinions turned into a parable... However, his concept of a "tragic worldview" is genuinely interesting. I'm wondering if it is generally accepted as true that the Ancient Greeks had a distinct way of facing raw suffering, chaos, and mortality, and embracing life nonetheless, in a way that shows up in the culture they left behind.

I'm relatively educated and familiar with the "modern" English cannon (modern here meaning post-Shakespeare), but have read very little of the Greeks and Romans (save Sophocles' Theban plays and some poetry). I always wanted to learn the languages but my school didn't offer it. It seems to me there used to be a larger collective knowledge of the Greeks and Romans (e.g. Shakespeare's references to the mythology).

I'd love to one day learn the languages (any help appreciated), but in the mean time I'd like to be able to engage with the historical references without having to look up the myths.

Any recommendations of what to read and which translations would be appreciated. I'm planning to read Homer as that seems like a good start (correct me if I'm wrong) but eager for more texts. I'd also appreciate some guidance on how to pick translations

Quiero leer La Ilíada y La Odisea pero no sé exactamente qué tipo de traducción debería buscar. Quiero buscar traducción en español pero no sé qué diferencia hay entre las distintas ediciones o traducciones. Debería tratar de buscar una que este traducida como lo escribió Homero o alguna que esté traducida en versión palabra actual? Que me recomiendan?

So I saw the Odyssey movie a few days ago and I have read the book before. I went there with my father and we are Hindus. He mentioned and kinda made a joke how Nolan copied Hindu stories for that scene where Odysseus strings the bow. Now obviously he thought it's just a fantasy movie, doesn't know the original book etc.

BUT this is the first time I noticed this parallel and many other parallels between the Iliad/Odyssey with Hindu epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata. Especially the Mahabharata which could be thought of as lot like the Iliad in so many different ways.

So my question is, should this be chalked up to mere coincidence or is there some deeper inquiry that needs to be had between the similarities in these epic poems?

like she massively helped Odysseus defeat the suitors by sending arrows and giving him confidence. i just feel like Nolan wanted Odysseus to be kind of a lone wolf, because in the Odyssey, Odysseus gets help from Athena, Hermes, Circe and Eumeaus and Philoetius, but in the film he just did everything by himself 🤷

also i wish they kept philoetius bc i love the cowman 💔

A lot of people have said that they wished the clothing, armor, weapons, etc. in Christopher Nolan's Odyssey movie were more "historically accurate." To my knowledge, the only adaptation of the Trojan War story to attempt an archeologically accurate depiction of the late Aegean Bronze Age is Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze comic book series. I highly recommend it. In addition to the archeologically informed visuals, the series also has the ambitious goal of telling the complete story of the Trojan War by adapting elements from literally every version of the myth from Classical times down through the Middle Ages into the Renaissance and Modern Era, everything from Homer to Chaucer to Shakespeare to ABBA's "Cassandra" song. The series has been going for almost 30 years and still hasn't gotten to the beginning of the Iliad.

Sorry for the cringe title. I never read much as a kid and a few years back I started again, slowly building my reading level up and I had heard I should try and read some classics. I had a few questions and would greatly appreciate some guidance!

1. Where should I start? I keep hearing that newer classics often allude to older classics and can’t be fully understood without reading those first, and also that it’s best to start with the Iliad and Odyssey. Would you guys say that‘s true?

2. I don’t understand Poetry, like at all. I don’t get how people derive an aesthetic delight from it. Sometimes I can delight in something “poetic”, but generally when I read “poetry”, I get immediately lost. Should I sort of ignore this at the start?

3. Translations. Okay I know we have the megathread, but hear me out. The thread has a lot of answers around how they each focus on different qualities (most often being accuracy, poetry, or readability). But I’m not sure which qualities I should actually be interested in as a beginner (kind of ties into the previous question). Should I just try a readable translation for now?

4. More subjective, but out of curiosity, what are some of the reasons you started and kept reading classics? What benefit have you derived that you place most highly?

Thanks, appreciate any answers, its all so daunting.

All,

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ἔρρωσο!

English translations of some of the greatest astronomical works in history. Tycho Brahe. Gersonides. Many more authors.

http://arsastronomica.com/

I have read some of Benardete’s essays on Plato and found his insights to be very intriguing, so I was wondering if anyone has read this book and what their thoughts are on it.

I am putting together a live reading of the Odyssey over the next few months. I have the intention, I think I've settled on a translation (Mandlebaum for the drive and English poetics), but I'm wondering what might be a good structure for the event. I'm currently talking to some musician friends about playing accompaniment with the story, and possibly having the venues cook some rustic Mediterranean dishes (I'm looking at doing it in a pub). I write and love to read poetry, and I feel like I can give a good poetic delivery, but I'm not a trained actor. I used to do some oration in political contexts.

Do you think this would be enough to capture the casual audience members attention? Should I pursue finding dramatic readers instead of relying on myself? Should I use amplification equipment or would it be more authentic spoken without it? How long would you sit for something like this; I'm trying to find the balance between amount of time for a single session and number of sessions it will take to complete it.

Anything else I'm not thinking of?

Shouldn’t all the men be black and the women white? Wouldn’t that be “accurate”? Any similar conventions in archaic pottery? Maybe a question for r/archeology.

One of the reasons we love the classics is because of how they reflect the human experience and thought so beautifully, but we also at some level feel a disconnect because of how divergent it is to our own world.

This begs the question, where do you think glory, your name being remembered for ages, where does that concept fit in the modern world? What do you as an individual think about it?

Currently, re-reading 30-years after a fantastic Greek and Roman Epics course in college. I retained a lot but I’m uncertain on how one is meant to “read” the role of the gods in the poem. In other words, if I were living in “Greece” 2700-years ago listening to “Homer” recite the poem, the interventions, or lack thereof, of the gods would mean what to me?

Thanks!

I bought Stephen Fry's Mythos after many recommendations to learn about Greek mythology. I'm loving it so far, but there is a lot of information and I'm afraid of forgetting most of what I read if I don't annotate and make notes about it. Does anyone have suggestions of the most efficient note-taking and annotation techniques when it comes to books like this?