Category Archives: Daily

 Statue of Gilgamesh Map of Mesopotamia “The History Files” on Uruk The Flood Tablet (From Nineveh, northern Iraq, Neo-Assyrian, 7th century BC) Michael Sugrue on “The Epic of Gilgamesh”  (this Youtube presentation shows some nice images throughout)

Why do we read the Odyssey in a Great Works of Literature class? Please keep the length of your response paper to one double-spaced page, which means only tell me the most essential reasons why we read the epic. Your response … Continue reading →

From A Glossary of Literary Terms, M. H. Abrams and Geoffrey Harpham Epic similes are formal, sustained similes in which the secondary subject, or vehicle, is elaborated far beyond its point of close parallel to the primary subject, or tenor. For example, … 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? The Muses: Kalliope (Epic Poetry) Kleio (History) Erato (Love Poetry) Euterpe (Music) Melpomene (Tragedy) Polymnia (Hymns) Terpsichore (Dance) Thaleia (Comedy) Ourania (Astronomy)

  The Vestibule of Hell and Souls Mustering to Cross the Acheron By William Blake (1824-7)

From Homer’s Iliad: The immortals know no care, yet the lot they spin for man is full of sorrow; on the floor of Zeus’ palace there stand two urns, the one filled with evil gifts, and the other with good ones. … Continue reading →

  The Nine Muses Calliope, Clio, Euterpe, Erato, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, Urania

Wheatfield with Crows (1890)

Homer (8th century), the blind bard from Chios, was recognized by Plato and Aristotle, as well as the historian Herodotus (5th/4th century BCE) as the poet who composed the Iliad and Odyssey. Zeus starts the Trojan War to bring an … Continue reading →

Greek mythology has gradations of credibility. For instance, the myths about the Trojan War are not historically factual, even though a city called Troy (Ilium) existed and a war is believed to have taken place at its location. It was regarded … Continue reading →