Perhaps I’m simply becoming provocative for the sake of provoking; or maybe I’m losing my mind; but in the process of writing this book on mathematical Pythagoreanism and its supposed progenitor Hippasus of Metapontum (fl. early-mid 5th Century BCE), I am beginning to see mathematical Pythagoreanism everywhere. And I mean… Read more
We all know that Typical Euripides likes gods at the end of his plays and he likes etiology. But that guy, Typical Euripides, doesn't really exist and too often obscures the real playwright underneath. Such is the case for the end of that other Hippolytus play, Euripides' Hippolytus Veiled. Read more
I didn’t want to leave things on anything like a negative note (with the student riots and all), as my visit to Chancellor College and Malawi has been thoroughly productive and enjoyable. By way of thanks to the Department and University for hosting me (and to the CHS for sponsoring me), and to all the wonderful people I met on my two visits here, I post below some additional photos,… Read more
One of the most exciting points for classicists who have got some knowledge about Eastern matters consists in inquiring where so many similarities between Greece and Mesopotamia, Iran or India come from. Thereabout three hypotheses basically seem to be considered: 1) a direct influence; 2) a shared inheritance (especially for… Read more
Hello again, I’m just back from giving papers at Bryn Mawr and Yale, which is why this blog is a little late. In between preparing for those papers, I have been grappling with an interesting passage from the Chronicle of Ptolemy III. This is an Akkadian text that describes Ptolemy’s… Read more
