What do we mean by “space” in the Iliad? The aim of this book is to offer a systematic and comprehensive presentation of the different types and functions of space in the earliest work of Greek literature. By adopting a twofold division between simple and embedded story space, the former pertaining to the actions of characters and the latter to their thoughts, Christos Tsagalis shows how character drawing and authority are deeply influenced by active spatial representation.
Similes and descriptive passages, in which space looms large, are also viewed in a new light as the author explores the relation between space designated in the similes and in the corresponding action of the main narrative. Given the importance in cognitive theory of the role of memory in an oral medium such as epic song, the book analyzes Homeric modes of visual memory, implicit knowledge, and mnemonic formats in order to better understand the composition and presentation of descriptive and ekphrastic passages, with special emphasis on the numerous prized objects and the monumental shield of Achilles.
Available for purchase in print via Harvard University Press.
Tsagalis, Christos. 2012. From Listeners to Viewers: Space in the Iliad. Hellenic Studies Series 53. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_TsagalisC.From_Listeners_to_Viewers.2012.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 3.0 License.
Friday, April 10, 2026
From Listeners to Viewers: Space in the Iliad
The Descent of the Goddess: Ritual and Difference in Sappho’s Prayer to Aphrodite
Online edition of a thesis presented to the Department of the Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts with honors, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 1990.
Use the following persistent identifier: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_TravisR.The_Descent_of_the_Goddess.1990.
Copyright, Roger Travis. Published here with permission of the author.
Demetrios of Scepsis and His Troikos Diakosmos: Ancient and Modern Readings of a Lost Contribution to Ancient Scholarship
Ancient scholarship had many faces, but most have faded away over time. Demetrios of Scepsis is one of the more shadowy of these lost figures, best known for his commentary on the Trojan Catalogue in Book 2 of the Iliad. Alexandra Trachsel’s work represents the first treatment dedicated to Demetrios of Scepsis in over a century. Because of the incomplete transmission of Demetrios’s work, Trachsel necessarily focuses on the way later readers understood the ancient author’s engagement with the Homeric text. Indeed, modern scholars have access to Demetrios’s analysis of the Trojan Catalogue only through their readings.
Trachsel’s work offers a thorough analysis of the ancient and modern reactions to Demetrios’s research into the Homeric text and the Trojan landscape, and it revisits the ongoing debate about the setting for Homer’s Trojan poem. Trachsel also provides new evidence about the impressively wide range of other topics Demetrios’s work may have contained.
Available for purchase via Harvard University Press.
Trachsel, Alexandra. 2021. Demetrios of Scepsis and His Troikos Diakosmos: Ancient and Modern Readings of a Lost Contribution to Ancient Scholarship. Hellenic Studies Series 85. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:TrachselA.Demetrios_of_Scepsis_and_His_Troikos_Diakosmos.2021.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 3.0 License.
Platon und die Seele / Plato and the Soul
Although Plato is considered by many to be the »founder« of psychology, it is controversial to what extent Plato's various statements on the soul can be combined to form an actual psychological theory. In this volume, which stems from the 2024 Tübingen Platon-Tage, thirteen international researchers examine various aspects of Plato's treatment of the soul that can be called »psychological« in a narrower sense, such as his theory of perception, desire, pleasure, or imagination (phantasia). Particular attention is paid to the question of the extent to which such phenomena are psychophysical, i.e., they concern not only the soul but also the body. In addition, there are contributions that seek to clarify what it means for Plato that the soul is a principle of life and also the ruler of the body and its dispositions and processes. Finally, several contributors address the question of the mathematical constitution of the soul in Plato and in the Ancient Academy. In doing so, the volume takes a fresh look at key Platonic texts that discuss phenomena of the soul, such as the Phaedo, the Theaetetus, the Timaeus and the Philebus, but also, for example, the Sophist. As a result, several main trends emerge: for example, that for Plato the question of the role of the soul is closely linked to the question of the role of the body, and that the problem later addressed by Aristotle is strongly influenced by Plato, not only with regard to the status of the soul, but also with regard to the contribution of the body to the explanation of mental phenomena. Together, these findings provide a basis both for pursuing larger questions about Plato's psychology as a unified theory and for exploring his influence on later traditions, from Aristotelianism to the modern era.Table of contents:Klaus Corcilius, Irmgard Männlein, Samuel Meister: Vorwort zur Reihe „Tübinger Platon-Tage" - Klaus Corcilius, Irmgard Männlein, Samuel Meister: Vorwort zum Band - Klaus Corcilius, Samuel Meister: Einleitung - 1. Mary Louise Gill: Plato on Perception and Judgment: Theaetetus 184-186 - 2. Béatrice Lienemann: Plato on the Role of Perception in the Acquisition of Knowledge - 3. Georgia Mouroutsou: The Analysis of Pleasure: Philebus and Timaeus - 4. Samuel Meister: Plato's Account of Desire in the Philebus - 5. Fiona Leigh: Phantasia in Plato's Sophist: an unAristotelian Precursor to Aristotle - 6. Andrea Falcon: Soul, Life, and Living Beings in Plato's Timaeus - 7. Riccardo Chiaradonna: Soul and Essence in the Phaedo: Socrates' Final Proof and Aristotle's Categories - 8. Peter Oxenknecht: On the Meaning of αἰτία and Bringing. Participation, Mereological Predication and Property Transmission in Plato's Phaedo 96A-105D - 9. Jan Szaif: The Philebus on the Source of Good Governance in the Soul - 10. Klaus Corcilius: Compensating for Fragmentation. Philosophical Methods in Plato's Later Dialogues in Light of the Timaeus - 11. Thomas Johansen: Motion in a Mathematical Cosmos. Plato's Timaeus on the Principles of Change - 12. Susanna Kinzig: Xenocrates and the Soul as a Self-Moving Number in the Ancient Testimonies - 13. Christoph Poetsch: Zum Konzept der Seele in der Alten Akademie. Ein VergleichAccess available
CC BY-SA 4.0
Thursday, April 9, 2026
The Origins of the Goddess Ariadne
Second, online edition of a thesis presented to the Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors, Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 27 March 1970.
Use the following persistent identifier: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_TeskeR.The_Origins_of_the_Goddess_Ariadne.1970.
Copyright, Robert T. Teske. Published here with permission of the author.
Plato’s Counterfeit Sophists
This book explores the place of the sophists within the Greek wisdom tradition, and argues against their almost universal exclusion from serious intellectual traditions. By studying the sophists against the backdrop of the archaic Greek institutions of wisdom, it is possible to detect considerable intellectual overlap between them and their predecessors. This book explores the continuity of this tradition, suggesting that the sophists’ intellectual balkanization in modern scholarship, particularly their low standing in comparison to the Presocratics, Platonists, and Aristotelians, is a direct result of Plato’s condemnation of them and their practices. This book thus seeks to offer a revised history of the development of Greek philosophy, as well as of the potential—yet never realized—courses it might have followed.
Available for purchase in print via Harvard University Press.
Tell, Håkan. 2011. Plato's Counterfeit Sophists. Hellenic Studies Series 44. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_Tell.Platos_Counterfeit_Sophists.2011.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 3.0 License.
In Her Own Words: The Life and Poetry of Aelia Eudocia
In Her Own Words: The Life and Poetry of Aelia Eudocia is the first full-length study to examine Eudocia’s writings as a unified whole and to situate them within their wider fifth-century literary, social, and religious contexts. Responsible for over 3,000 lines of extant poetry, Eudocia is one of the best-preserved ancient female poets. Because she wrote in a literary mode frequently suppressed by proto-orthodox (male) leaders, much of her poetry does not survive, and what does survive remains understudied and underappreciated. This book represents a detailed investigation into Eudocia’s works: her epigraphic poem in honor of the therapeutic bath at Hammat Gader, her Homeric cento—a poetic paraphrase of the Bible using lines from Homer—and her epic on the fictional magician-turned-Christian, Cyprian of Antioch. Reading her poetry as a whole and in context, Eudocia emerges as an exceptional author representing three unique late-antique communities: poets interested in preserving and transforming classical literature; Christians whose religious views positioned them outside and against traditional power structures; and women who challenged social, religious, and literary boundaries.
Available for purchase in print via Harvard University Press.
Sowers, Brian P. 2020. In Her Own Words: The Life and Poetry of Aelia Eudocia. Hellenic Studies Series 80. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_SowersBP.In_Her_Own_Words.2021.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 3.0 License.
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