Classical Continuum

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Yet another look at a possible Mycenaean reflex in Homer: phorēnai

This inquiry is about finding survivals of Mycenaean Greek in Homeric diction. I focus on the Homeric infinitive phorēnai (φορῆναι), which I argue belongs to a dialectal group commonly known as Arcado-Cypriote. The form itself is a linguistic innovation, but the innovation is old, very old. I can say this if I succeed in showing that this form φορῆναι is already very old in terms of Homeric diction. And my… Read more

The Aeolic Component of Homeric Diction

By Gregory Nagy | 2023.08.22 §0. This pre-edited standalone essay, Pamphlet 3 in a series of pamphlets published online and also in print (“on-demand”), is about Aeolic, dialect of the Aeolians, and how this dialect pervaded “Homeric diction”—to use wording applied by Milman Parry to the formulaic system generated… Read more

Greek: An Updating of a Survey of Recent Work, second edition

By Gregory Nagy | 2023.08.21 §0. This online book, published on the website of Classical Continuum and to be listed hereafter in bibliographies under the entry “Nagy 2023.08.21,” is a second edition that supersedes an earlier online version, Greek: An Updating of a Survey of Recent Work, cited as… Read more

Greek dialects in the late second millennium BCE

By Gregory Nagy | 2023.08.19 This standalone essay, re-edited online in Classical Continuum, is Pamphlet #1 (2024) in a series of pamphlets printed by the non-profit publisher ΕΠΟΨ in partnership with The New Alexandria Foundation. §0. This essay is about reconstructing the dialects of the Greek language as they… Read more

Visualizing Progress in Homeric Greek (Persian translation)

What follows is a Persian translation of Gregory Crane’s “Visualizing Progress in Homeric Greek”, available in English online at: https://sites.tufts.edu/perseusupdates/2022/04/19/visualizing-progress-in-homeric-greek-1/. The translation is made available here courtesy of Aylar Mahmoudzadeh Sarabi. مصورسازی  پیشرفت در حماسۀ هومری گرگوری کرین برگردان فارسی: آیلار محمود‌زاده… Read more

Leopardi’s Homer: Lost in Translation?

Leopardi’s Homer: Lost in Translation? Giacomo Leopardi and his 1816 translation of the first book of the Odyssey 2023.08.03 | By Aldo Paolo Bottino Tutto si è perfezionato da Omero in poi, ma non la poesia (“From Homer onward everything got better, except poetry” Z 58). As Franco D’Intino… Read more

The Pronunciation of Classical Attic Zeta

The Pronunciation of Classical Attic Zeta 2023.07.25 | By George A. Sheets Introduction This paper seeks to reopen consideration of a question that has been widely taken as settled: what was the normative pronunciation of classical Attic zeta?  Most modern authorities claim that Attic <ζ>[1] in the fifth… Read more