Author Archives: KAmbroziak

Both Aesop’s fables and the Jataka tales have been adapted for children’s literature. The first clip is for a children’s animation of “The Golden Goose” and the second is Disney’s 1934 cartoon “The Tortoise and the Hare.” What do you think? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeZe2qPLPh0

Zeus and the Jar of good Things Zeus shut up all good things in a huge wine jar, which he left in the hands of a man. This man was curious and wanted to know what was inside. So he … Continue reading →

Mycenaean Age (1500-1200 BCE) Dark Age of Greece (1100-750 BCE) Archaic Age of Greece (700-500 BCE) Classical Age of Greece (490-323 BCE) Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides, Aristophanes Hellenistic Age (323-31 BCE) from the death of Alexander the Great, who conquered all … Continue reading →

From On Unbelievable Tales by Heraclitus (circa 1st-2nd century CE) They say that Medusa turned anyone who looked at her to stone and that when Perseus cut off her head a winged horse emerged. But here is how it was. Medusa … Continue reading →

In fact Greek Mythology is a shared fund of motifs and ideas ordered into a shared repertoire of stories. These stories link with, compare and contrast with, and are understood in the light of, other stories in the system. Greek … Continue reading →

My most favorite part in “The Odyssey” is when Athena encourages Telemachus. She tells him that he should go find his father Odysseus. This is my favorite part because before Athena arrives and encourages him, he is just helpless and … Continue reading →

Mnemosyne by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1881) The following link is to an amusing article written in The Wall Street Journal about the Muses. Where Have All the Muses Gone? Here’s a list of the ones we discussed in class: Kalliope (Epic Poetry) Kleio (History) … Continue reading →

  Hésiode et la Muse (1891) by Gustave Moreau Because we were running out of time at the end of class, I may have rushed Hesiod’s five races of men in his Works and Days. I want to make sure they are … Continue reading →

The 2007 movie Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan directed by Sergey Bodrov has a few interesting scenes about the 13th century Mongolian fear of lightning. I thought it spoke to the personification of the elements and the unexplained wonders that humans … Continue reading →

The first two stanzas of “The Great Hymn to the Aten” set the tone of the hymn because the greatness of the sun is known not only by its presence, but by its absence as well. The fear that arises … Continue reading →