In his dense 1967 monograph on Homer and the Bible , Cyrus Gordon argued that the Iliad was written not for the sake of art only but to inspire the imagination of a Greek nation: “it does not divide Greek from Greek. The Trojans and their allies are treated with as much decorum and honor as . . . . Continue Reading »
In the preface to his controversial Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization (The Fabrication of Ancient Greece 1785-1985, Volume 1) , Martin Bernal describes how he moved from Chinese studies, through study of Indo-China to a study of Judaism and Hebrew and finally to . . . . Continue Reading »
If there was any doubt before, it has become very clear in recent scholarship that Greek mythology is indebted to Ancient Near Eastern predecessors. The most massively detailed treatment of this point in recent years is ML West’s The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry . . . . Continue Reading »
In his introduction to Plato: Timaeus (Focus Philosophical Library) , Peter Kalkavage writes that Timaeus’ “likely story . . . depicts making, poiesis , as an activity that starts with the highest things and proceeds to the lower.” In that is contained all the pathology and pathos . . . . Continue Reading »
Summarizing the work of Martin Bernal, Assmann says that “the Philhellenic movement in German Romanticism was inextricably combined with Judeophobia and Egyptophobia. This new image of Greece was instrumental in shaping a new image of Germany. The ‘Aryan myth’ had a big share in . . . . Continue Reading »
It is often said that silent reading was virtually unknown in antiquity. Not quite true argued Bernard Knox. According to another scholar’s summary of his argument: “Knox adduced two examples from fifth-century Attic drama in which silent reading actually takes place on stage before the . . . . Continue Reading »
In his Discourses on Livy , Machiavelli notes that a great empire requires people to inhabit it, and goes on to explain the two methods for increasing populations: “This may be effected in two ways, by gentleness or by force. By gentleness, when you offer a safe and open path to all strangers . . . . Continue Reading »
In the thirteenth-century Nestorian work, The Book of the Bee , we find an account of Alexander’s battle with, among others, Gog and Magog. A nineteenth-century translation by Earnest Budge is available online, and the relevant section reads: “When Alexander was king and had subdued . . . . Continue Reading »
According to Plutarch’s Fortunes of Alexander (329b-d), Alexander wisely rejected the advice of Aristotle, which was “to treat the Greeks as if he were their leader, and other peoples as if he were their master; to have regard for the Greeks as for friends and kindred, but to conduct . . . . Continue Reading »
In 1943, Hendrik Bolkestein published his dissertation in a German translation, Wohltatigkat und Armenflege im vor-christlichen Alterlsum: Ein Beitrag zum Problem “Moral und Gesellschaft . According to the reviewer in The Classical Journal , Bolkestein’s thesis was that Greek and Latin . . . . Continue Reading »
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