homer

King Diomedes leader of the troops and unsung hero. Source: serhiibobyk / Adobe Stock.

2 December, 2019 - 14:04 B. B. Wagner

Diomedes, the Unsung Hero of Troy

Any Greek epic by the poet Homer should never be read quietly to one’s self but spoken out loud to all who wish to listen, especially if it has to do with the Trojan War. His epic poems sing praises...

Odysseus mosaic at the Bardo Museum in Tunis, Tunisia. (2nd century AD) (Public Domain)

11 November, 2019 - 23:23 Felice Vinci

Homer in the Baltic: Odysseus a Fair-Haired Dane?

Described by Homer and Pindar as ‘fair haired’, one can ask the perturbing question: Was Odysseus a Dane originating from the Baltic Sea and is Troy located on the Gulf of Finland? Since ancient...

Odysseus and the Sirens by Otto Greiner (1869–1916) (Public Domain)

13 September, 2019 - 16:49 Roberto Volterri

The Itinerary of Odysseus, an Ancient Treasure Map

Did Homer’s Odyssey contain a secret code, that would guide the Greeks to gain complete control over the Black Sea and the North Atlantic and access to the riches of precious metals and other...

Fresco of the battle of Troy. Credit: quasarphotos / Adobe Stock

24 August, 2019 - 17:15 Ed Whelan

Surprise Discovery Reveals Ancient City of Troy is 5,500 Years Old

The city of Troy has fascinated people for millennia. Once thought to be purely mythological, the lost city emerged as a real place in history when it was discovered in Turkey by Heinrich Schliemann...

23 August, 2019 - 20:50 Roberto Volterri

Odysseus, Off Course in the Baltic Sea

Homer’s Odyssey tells of the adventures of the ancient seasoned mariner, Odysseus, hero of the Trojan War, who offended Poseidon and as a result was cursed to sail the seas and prolong his journey...

Circe and her swine by Briton Rivière (1896)(Public Domain)

19 July, 2019 - 15:32 Roberto Volterri

Searching for the Lost Location of the Isle of Circe, Enchantress of Odysseus

"They breathe slight auras into the night while the moon shines in the sky, and everything Under the tremulous light the sea sparks. They then shave the nearby coasts of the land of Circe, where the...

Bird are the messengers of omens. Source: Yuriy Mazur / Adobe Stock

24 June, 2019 - 13:59 ancient-origins

Birds in the Ancient World: Messengers of Omens and Auguries

Translators regularly face the problem that the words and expressions of one language do not always translate exactly into those of another. In fact, a literal translation can sometimes seem...

Aeneas carrying his father Anchises from the burning city of Troy’ (1627-1664) by Daniel van Heil. Details in the Iliad cast doubt on the generally accepted location of Troy. Source: Public Domain

20 May, 2019 - 19:01 Bernard Jones

Homer’s Iliad Casts Doubt on the Aegean Location of Troy

Historian Bernard Jones has spent more than three decades researching the ‘Story of Troy’ and he maintains that Homer’s Iliad is the greatest reference work on the Bronze Age world. Homer describes...

2 April, 2019 - 01:55 Miriam Kamil

Aphrodite: The True Origins of the Greek Goddess of Love, Sex, and Beauty

Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, sex, and beauty and there are many tales of how she could entice both gods and mortals to lust after her. In one of the most famous images of the goddess, we...

16 March, 2019 - 20:29 Miriam Kamil

Helen of Troy, The Beauty Who Sparked the Trojan War

In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy is known as the woman whose beauty sparked the Trojan War. But Helen’s character is more complex than it seems. When considering the many Greek and Roman myths that...

Commandaria wine was served at King Richard’s wedding in Cyprus. He proclaimed that it was “the wine of kings and the king of wines”.

14 March, 2019 - 17:51 Caleb Strom

Commandaria: The Oldest Wine in Production, Praised By Homer, and Richard the Lionheart's "King of Wines"

The first evidence of wine making is from the Caucasus Mountains bordering Eastern Europe and Western Asia around 6000 BC. From there it spread throughout the ancient Near East to gradually become...

The Dance of the Muses at Mount Helicon by Bertel Thorvaldsen (1807). Hesiod cites inspiration from the Muses while on Mount Helicon.

2 November, 2018 - 15:32 Cam Rea

Hesiod’s Concerns About Economics and Polis During the Greek Dark Age

The Greek Dark Age fits between the Late Bronze Age Collapse - often alternately referred to as the Mycenaean Civilization Collapse, around 1200 BC - and the Greek Archaic Period, around 800 BC. The...

Ancients seemed to have problems seeing or recognizing the color blue.

18 September, 2018 - 23:02 ashley cowie

Investigating the Invisible Color that Ancient People Couldn’t See

We have all been told to be ‘careful what we wish for’ or that we ‘only see what we look for’ and maybe some of you have had past partners who claimed that you ‘took them for granted and made them...

A clay tablet with an engraved inscription has been discovered at the archaeological site of Olympia in Greece. It contains 13 verses of a rhapsody from Homer’s Odyssey.

10 July, 2018 - 22:53 Alicia McDermott

Clay Tablet Found at Olympia May Be the Oldest Excerpt from Homer’s Odyssey

Archaeologists excavating the ancient site of Olympia, one of the largest archaeological sites in Greece, have found a rare and important artifact – a clay tablet inscribed with 13 verses of a...

Triumph of Achilles in Corfu Achilleion.

1 May, 2018 - 14:01 Van Bryan

Death and Glory: Heroes in Search of Kleos

By Van Bryan/ Classical Wisdom It was the great philosopher, Woody Allen, who said, “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don’t want...

Scene from the movie, Troy, loosely based on Homer’s Iliad. (Troy)

21 April, 2018 - 13:56 ancient-origins

Toxic Masculinity Fostered by Misreadings of the Classics

Homer’s Iliad has been used by some men to hail the virtues of traditional masculinity in the 21st century. Typically, the famous work of literature serves as a sort of manual of manliness . Scholars...