O Tempora!

classics major | gemini | greek and latin | philosopher

[cicerooof]

Hi all! I’ve been gone for so so long! But I wanted to say I’m well. I finished my undergraduate degree as a triple major in philosophy, history, and classics, and I am beginning a masters program in philosophy in the fall.

But I wanted to say I’ve also been reading and just finished Dune! It was really quite good, and I highly recommend it.

[thoodleoo]

the latin student experience is seeing a word that starts with Q and immediately feeling your eyes sliding off the page and your brain shutting down

[cicerooof]

12-30-20

Yesterday I applied to six philosophy PhD programs. I feel so free to be done with the process. This last semester, and year, has taken so much out of my ability to think and be myself, and I almost lost sight of who I am, who I want to be. Philosophy isn’t a subject, it’s who I am. Now. I wait.

[artist-thomas-cole]

Roman Campagna, 1843, Thomas Cole

Medium: oil,canvas

[cicerooof]

5-10-20

Confession: I’ve never read the Iliad! Though I’m now a senior classics major, I have never read the Iliad from start to finish, so I’ve decided to read one book per day and really slowly enjoy it. Life has been busy and stressful this past semester, but I’m back! Finally.

[lionofchaeronea]

The goddess Diana.  Ancient Roman fresco in the Third Style from cubiculum W 26 of the Villa Arianna at Stabiae; now in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.  Photo credit: Mentnafunangann/Wikimedia Commons.

[catilinas]

i would ask if wikipedia was ok if roman naming conventions weren’t just Like That

[siegesquirrel42]

All righty it's time for a history meme

Cicero: Good morning Catiline, as you can see your assassins failed to kill me in the night and you must suffer yet another day of my shenanigans

[saintrouge]

anyone else feeling like university is not real & having no motivation anymore?

[cicerooof]

2-22-20

Today I planned out my schedule for tomorrow, my first day online learning for the rest of the semester. My uni decided to hold the rest of the semester online, so I’m going to have to do much more self motivating. It will be an interesting experiment, and I’m definitely happy to make my own schedule, like I really enjoying having a mid day run and late lunch. I’m going to get a lot of reading done in the coming months so I am actually excited for that. However, since all races are cancelled for the foreseeable future, I’m really training with no goal in sight. I love training, but it’s a very different feeling when you’re training without knowing when you’ll race again. Everything is nebulous, but having a schedule will help.

[neetols]

Beware the Ides of March 🔪

[cicerooof]

It just came to my area...

[interretialia]

Formatio Verborum Latinorum / Formation of Latin Words

Coronavirus -i n. “Coronavirus”   [virus (nomine) Corona “virus named ‘Corona’”]   [Coronavirus] as one word

ὁ Κορωνάιος -ου “Coronavirus”   [ἰὸς (ὀνομαζόμενος) Κορώνα “virus named ‘Corona’”]   [Κορωνάιος] as one word

[cicerooof]

3-7-20

three midterms and 43 miles run last week (Monday-Saturday), and a post long run (15 miles this morning) breakfast of banana, milk, granola and some coffee. My brain is tired, but I feel so content after having a good week. I also finished a book and an almost halfway through my next one about Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche.

next week I have a latin midterm, and I’m really getting the hang of participles now, although Greek participles are soooo much easier. I’m really getting a good hold on Greek, and reading Medea gets easier every day, so my professor was right, after reading a few hundred lines, you question how it was so hard for you before!

[cicerooof]

prepping for coronavirus by reading Pericles’s funeral oration

[cicerooof]

3-4-20

my midterm in Greek was today on one of Medea’s speeches, lines 364-409, in which she discusses her plans to kill Jason (and his bride and whatnot) and hoe to escape. She’s thinking out loud, more or less, and discussing it with the chorus of Corinthian women.

It’s one of the more clear passages in Greek. Euripides reflects the characters’ emotional states by how they speak, and Medea’s first few utterances and first speeches are scrambled, disjointed, off-putting, frantic--her speech is in the same weighted, depressed, and frenzied state she’s in. The 364-409 speech is more clear though, by now she’s attempting to figure out a plan of action and straighten out her intentions.

She speaks to the chorus of Corinthian women as well as to herself. This is where she reveals that she will kill Jason, his bride, and her father. She would like to kindle the palace in fire, or drive a sword through their livers, but she knows that if she gets caught, she will provide laughter for them. She does not want to be laughed at. Medea is clearly frustrated and vexed by the strong shame culture in Greece. She figures that killing them by drugs is the best course of action.

In this speech, Medea makes two statements on the nature of women. First that “we are by nature most clever (sophai)” (385) and “we are by nature, on the one hand useless in noble (rich, good) things, and on the other hand of all evils we are the cleverest craftsmen” (364). I’m really interested in answering the impossible question of how the audience of presumable all men would have responded to Medea’s proclamation as she speaks to the crowd (the chorus and audience). And the answer to that question helps us understand Euripides as well, what was his intention or perspective by having Medea say this in the theater to those people? We know Euripides was subversive and innovative, but just how much? Should this be read in a radically feminist/progressive way, with Euripides offering an almost ironic/satirical slap in the face to the audience? Or is that reading faaaar too optimistic? I’m not sure. But I love Medea.

And Medea did nothing wrong.

[alexandriad]

woman yelling at cat meme but make it ancient greek red figure pottery