In Defense of the Classics
Why study the classics? An abundance of books has appeared in recent years to answer this question. Many writers and teachers, especially those who are concerned with…
Rediscovering Theodor Haecker: “Vergil, Father of the West”
Father Anthony Giambrone begins his introduction of Theodor Haecker’s Vergil, Father of the West, republished in 2022 by Cluny Media, with a description of the modern West.[1]…
Above Troy
From here you look down On the whole spit that divides The harbour from the coast, And see the long ocean beach, The littleness of buildings In…
After Ithaka
Keep Ithaka in your mind as you head in the opposite direction, Whether by choice or chance or just the way the wind blows. If you are…
Athena as Founder and Statesman in the “Eumenides” of Aeschylus
The Oresteia develops upon three levels: the theological, the political, and the ethical. The theological development moves from divisiveness among the gods to the consolidation of the…
Plato’s Gorgias Is Still Worth Reading
As with The Republic, in The Gorgias Plato is trying to defend the idea that it is worth it to try to be a good person even…
Homer’s Song of Troy: Vincenzo Sanguineti’s “Clash of Cultures: A Psychodynamic Analysis of Homer and the Iliad”
Vincenzo Sanguineti. Clash of Cultures: A Psychodynamic Analysis of Homer and the Iliad. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2021. Homer is “the Bard of the West.” And “for…
Irony and the Meaning of Human Existence: The Wisdom of Classical Irony
“I have never done it before—stepping out of the life into the Alongside and looking at oneself living as if one were not alive. Do they all…
Why “The Oresteia” Still Matters
It is said that the Oresteia is the ancient world’s Divine Comedy, with some justification. Originally a four-part play, only three pieces of the movement survive: Agamemnon,…
Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity
How the Classics Made Shakespeare. Jonathan Bates. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019. Jonathan Bate is one of the world’s foremost authorities on Shakespeare. He is a…