Classical Continuum

An Open Access Rapid Publication Platform for New Research on ‘classical’ Civilizations sponsored by the New Alexandria Foundation

Variations on the idea of a gleam that blinded Homer

2023.09.29 | By Gregory Nagy This pre-edited standalone essay is dedicated to my dear colleague and friend  Pierre Judet de La Combe, on the occasion of a happy celebration, in Paris, of his radiant life and times. I start with a story told in a set of ancient myths about the life of Homer. In that story, Homer was blinded by a gleam of light that emanated from the shining bronze armor of… Read more

Signs of Hero Cult in Homeric Poetry

By Gregory Nagy | 2023.09.13 §0. This pre-edited standalone essay, Pamphlet 7 in a series of pamphlets published online and also in print (“on-demand”), is an updating of an earlier version (2020.11.03, listed under my name in the Bibliography), which was published online by the Center for Hellenic Studies, with… Read more

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