#classics stuff

[local-queer-classicist]

WAKE UP BITCHES THEY FOUND NEW EURIPIDES FRAGMENTS

98 LINES, 80% COMPLETELY NEW MATERIAL

Uncovered Euripides fragments are ‘kind of a big deal’

CU Boulder Classics scholars identify previously unknown fragments of two lost tragedies by Greek tragedian Euripides.

[macabre-muses]

only thing italian middle school left in me is the ability to categorize characters in likes the iliad/likes the odyssey that shit starts in sixth grade for us and never leaves. luke would eat the odyssey up anakin would prefer it as a kid and then move onto the iliad then go back to the odyssey after rotj trust. i will not be elaborating cause i can't it's all vibe based and makes sense only to me.

[ihavedonenothingright]

So I think I either unintentionally made someone delete a post, or they chose to block me, which is fair either way, but if it's the former: sorry unknown Tumblr user! I didn't mean to scare or irritate you, I just thought I had some info you might find interesting.

The post in question was an AU idea in the Captive Prince tag based on the 19th century theory that Ancient Greek peoples lacked the genes to perceive the color blue (due to extant Homeric vocabulary lacking a specific term for it). Modern scholars do not believe this is the case, since nearby peoples had specific words for blue (and in fact, Ancient Greek does have some of its own, they simply don't appear in Homeric texts) and the theory seems to have fed into a wider narrative about Eastern Europeans evolving 'slower' than Western ones that was used to validate the exploitation of Greece. What likely is the case is that perception-wise, blue and violet were not perceived as separate colors, but shades of one another. Ancient Greek color descriptions tend to fall on a spectrum of light to dark rather than hue to hue, so that's why you get the classic description of the 'wine dark' sea; the depth and darkness of the color are prioritized.

Anyway, sorry about that. I do think your AU idea is cool and I hope you go on to write it! I just try to keep an eye out for classical misinformation since it's still pretty prevalent (see: a bunch of online articles swearing Romans cleaned their teeth with urine based entirely on a satirical poem written by Catullus.)

[sorrel-scribbles]

The Great Gatsby Characters as Things I Have Heard/Said in Art Class

Nick: I'm not going to get involved in this. Gatsby: But I AM better than you! Daisy: Yeah, I just, like secretly have a child and none of you know about it. Tom: *holding up a copy of Spandau* It's really good! Jordan: Ok, but what if Gatsby actually was a German spy? Wilson: You totally miss the apple and just nail him in the chest with [a knife] instead. Myrtle: I'm being ABUSED! Wolfsheim: 'Cause I'm, you know, just casually practicing cannibalism. McKee: I am so gay! Catherine: My hair is so pretty!

[intermundia]

What translations of Homer would you recommend to someone who can't read ancient Greek?

It depends on what experience you’re looking for! 

For what it’s worth; this is the Greek of the beginning of the Iliad if you want to read it out loud and get a sense of what two lines of the OG dactylic hexameter are like, and what they’re trying to match:

Mēnin aeide thea pēlēiadeō Akhilēos: oulomenēn, he muri' Akhaiois alge' ethēke

Probably Fagles (1990) is the best for everybody, it’s got probably the best flow (his translation of the Oresteia is also v. good). His translation looks like this:

Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,

Fitzgerald (1974) is another popular choice, he has good poetic feel:

Anger be now your song, immortal one, Akhilleus' anger, doomed and ruinous,

Lattimore (1951) is probably the most ~acccurate~ line-for-line translation, I would use it in place of a dictionary if I was in a hurry sometimes haha it’s that loyal to the Greek:

Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus' son Achilleus and its devastation, which put pains thousandfold upon the Achaians,

Or if you want to feel like Keats, you can go hog wild and hit up some Chapman from the 1600′s:

Achilles' banefull wrath resound, O Goddesse, that imposd Infinite sorrowes on the Greekes, and many brave soules losd

[ears-and-eyebrows]

Doing some research on Carthaginian gods for class and lemme tell you, Tanit is pretty cool

[augustaimperatrix]

so i kind of cosplayed sappho