by beatriceotto | Dec 11, 2018 | triologisms
Old Nestor has a few choice words to say to his fellow Greeks for their unwillingness to take on the Trojan hero Hector. He compares their cowardice to his own ‘hard-enduring heart’ which fuelled his courage in his youth. ‘Wearing this armour he...
by beatriceotto | Dec 11, 2018 | triologisms
The Trojan Hector goes on the attack with his beautiful horses, bright-maned, a complement to the bright-patterned shield of Odysseus. Note also Hector’s Gorgon-eyed murderous stare. ‘… while Hektor, wearing the stark eyes of a Gorgon, or...
by beatriceotto | Dec 11, 2018 | triologisms
Here, the Trojan hero Hector addresses the Greek Ajax in friendship. There is a number of heart- prefixed triologisms in Homer, concerning hatred, hostility, and its effects. See also Hera’s kitting out for battle. ‘Come then, let us give each other...
by beatriceotto | Dec 4, 2018 | triologisms
I happen to love fine descriptions of things well crafted, chariots, ships, bridges, tables, pots… Particularly striking is the first of these chariot related triologisms, part of an unusual and involved metaphor for the way a man drops dead in a battle. Homer...
by beatriceotto | Dec 4, 2018 | triologisms
This expertly aimed spear casts a shadow as it flies through the air, and its reach is far. Surprising then that it fails to hit the target, deflected by a strong shield. ‘First of the two Alexandros let go his spear far-shadowing and struck the shield of...
by beatriceotto | Dec 4, 2018 | triologisms
Helen regrets her elopement with Paris after seeing him nearly killed by the husband she abandoned, only surviving because a goddess spirited him away in the nick of time. Hardly heroic. The quotation begins with a certain loveliness which doesn’t prepare you...
by beatriceotto | Nov 27, 2018 | triologisms
Three triologisms to describe the fine, fast, strong ships that brought the Greeks to Troy. I particularly like ‘sea-wandering’. May you be fast-running and strong-benched, wherever you wander. ‘… on that day when we went in our fast-running...
by beatriceotto | Nov 27, 2018 | triologisms
One goddess you should never cross, quick to rouse to wrath and terrible in her exactions. Divinely, drop-dead gorgeous, of course. There are several heart- prefixed triologisms in Homer, emphasizing the human pain, terror and sorrow of war and hostility; see, for...
by beatriceotto | Nov 27, 2018 | triologisms
The first time I read of the wine-blue Greek sea, I was baffled. However, I took a second translation to read in Mykonos. Sitting one morning in a blindingly white sunlit courtyard, I cooled my eyes by looking at the sea and suddenly realized what...
