Happy National Poetry Day!

I learned this morning that this is also World Octopus or Cephalopod Day, so here is an octopus from a reconstruction of Nestor's Palace in Homer's 'sandy Pylos' in the western Peloponnese. We visited this remarkable site five years ago. Over 1000 Linear B tablets came to light on this place alone.

And now for a little poetry. Alexander Pope may not be in vogue these days, but his rhymed version of The Odyssey gives a flavour of the storyline in the old epic (and it is a version that is out of copyright). What follows (in blue) are three excerpts from Pope, concerning the arrival of Odysseus' son, Telemachus, at Nestor's Palace. Telemachus is anxious for news of his father, who left his island home of Ithaka to fight in the Trojan War. Nestor is making animal sacrifices on the beach when his visitor arrives. 

Reconstruction of Nestor's Palace floor in the Chora Museum - octopus motif

Now on the coast of Pyle the vessel falls,

Before old Neleus’ venerable walls.

There, suppliant to the Monarch of the Flood,

At nine green theatres the Pylians stood.

Each held five hundred (a deputed train),

At each, nine oxen on the sand lay slain ...

Reconstruction of the Megaron floor in Nestor's Palace, Museum at Chora

Full for the port the Ithacensians stand,

And furl their sails, and issue on the land.

Telemachus already press’d the shore . . .

The Throne Room, with a huge central hearth

The youth of Pylos, some on pointed wood,

Transfix’d the fragments, some prepared the food:

In friendly throngs they gather to embrace
      
Their unknown guests, and at the banquet place.

Pisistratus was first to grasp their hands,

And spread soft hides upon the yellow sands;

Along the shore th’ illustrious pair he led,

Where Nestor sate with youthful Thrasymed.


from Alexander Pope's version of The Odyssey Book III. You can read the whole chapter here. 

Reconstruction of Nestor's Palace

Nestor's Palace - as it is now

• If I was suggesting a good modern translation of The Odyssey, it would be the one by Richard Lattimore. 
• You might be interested in Adam Nicolson's book, The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters, which I have just started to read.
• And, of course, the poem, 'Ithaka' by Cavafy is one of my all time favourites. 
• More octopuses! John Pinsent (1922-1995), a Classical scholar and Reader in Greek at Liverpool University, wrote a study called 'The Iconography of Octopuses: a First Typology' (BICS 25, 1978) about the development of octopus representations in late Mycenaean vase painting. I remember him giving a fascinating lecture on the subject in Newcastle when we were undergraduates. 

Drama: a Dramatisation of The Iliad in Cambridge

Projected words by Keats

We had a fascinating time last week in Cambridge last week at the annual Greek play. This year's production was called 'Achilles: the end of his wrath' and constituted a dramatisation from Homer's Iliad (Books XVI-XXIV).

The performance was in Classical Greek and was produced and directed by Emeritus Professor Patrick Boyde, who has now directed ten of these plays.

The performance took place in the Cambridge University Divinity School Theatre, pictured above. There were not only projected subtitles (for those of us whose Greek is a bit rusty), but also carefully selected images from archaeological artefacts such as figurative pottery, enabling the audience to follow the action a little more easily. The acting was complemented by exquisite music from two accomplished violinists. 

Unlike the levels of gratuitous noise in movies like Troy, you could have heard a pin drop. We were all caught up in the plot and were drawn in not only to the stark horrors of the war, but also to the very real issues facing the gods, the heroes and the humans. And what an experience it was!   

I read a child's version of the Odyssey as a youngster, and have been fascinated by Odysseus and the nature of the Homeric epic ever since. The images below are reconstructions from Nestor's Palace near 'sandy Pylos', which features in the Odyssey. We visited the site a couple of years ago. The image immediately below shows a reconstruction of the palace floor (complete with octopus motif) from the museum, and the lower image shows a reconstruction of the palace itself.    

Fiesta Time (13): The Olympic Torch on Ipswich Waterfront

16.20 pm ~ I arrived as the stewards were being briefed ...

... there were a few people sitting outside Theta on the UCS forecourt ...

... the water was full of boats ...

... and flags ...

 ... David was busy tweeting ...

... as a float came past ...

... and then a balloon seller ...

... People arrived from nowhere, and soon the Waterfront was hopping ...

... We finally got a brief glimpse of the Olympic torch as it headed on towards Christchurch Park ...

... 18.45 pm, and somebody was still tweeting away in the sunshine! 

There has been much publicity about Poetry Parnassus, running in tandem this year with the Olympic Games. I will throw a link back to this previous post on poetry and Olympia ... here.

Click on photo to enlarge.

Archaeological Avenues (3): David Gill's BSA book, update

Just an update on David's book to say that you can now read more on the Swansea University website here. (There only seems to be a cached page available at present). 

• Previous post on publication of book here ...

Archaeological Avenues (2): David's book, hot off the press

Gill, D. W. J. 2011. Sifting the Soil of Greece: the early years of the British School at Athens (1886-1919).  

Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Supplement, vol. 111. London: Institute of Classical Studies.

Hooray! 

David's book (pp. 474) has just arrived from the publishers - and is dedicated to me. 

The cover shows the Methana peninsula of Greece, 

which I visited during one of David's archaeological field survey seasons in the area.  

For further details of the book and how to order, please click here.  

A snippet ...

For other independent travellers in Greece, Ellen Bosanquet's advice was to engage the services of a dragoman who 'takes you wherever you wish to go, finds the mules or carriages, takes beds and a cook (or cooks himself), and arranges a comfortable lodging at the end of each day's journey.'

p.131, Chapter 5 - Women at the BSA

Window on Wildlife (14): Caretta caretta

My 'turtle' photo

I was writing one of my 'turtle' cards this afternoon when I came across the term, 'Caretta caretta', in the latest issue of The Dawntreader (Indigo Dreams Publishing).

I was delighted when I found this poem, 'The Lost Egg of Caretta caretta', on the web. The ecological forum belongs to the Katelios Group, which concerns itself with sea turtles, the environment and volunteers in Kefalonia (of 'Mandolin' fame). 

I thought you might like to take a look at my turtle photo, which graced the card I was writing earlier. The picture was taken a little way round the Peloponnesian coast from Pylos (of Homeric fame). The strange thing is that I was pretty convinced that the Caretta caretta sea turtle had eluded us on our week-long Greek Odyssey. . . until I uploaded the photo above on our return to Wales.

Do YOU see a turtle there? Sometimes I wonder if there are two . . .

Publications (2): OUP Notes and Queries

Cast of the 'Horse of Selene'
British Museum

I mentioned in my last post that I had been paying a visit to the British Museum. It was good to see this cast of the 'Horse of Selene'. The original horse comes from the east pediment of the Parthenon. Benjamin Robert Haydon was one of the first artists to study the anatomical details of the marbles once they arrived in London. He described the 'Horse of Selene' in these words:

'a perfect example of what the highest genius will do,
when curbed and guided by science.'

David (Gill) and I have just been told that our joint piece, HMS Belvidera and the Temple of Minerva, was published on 20 April 2010 via the Oxford University Press 'Notes and Queries Advance Access' scheme.

You can login via Athens if you are part of an academic community. The print journal is due out in June, and will be available to all. We consider the iconographical details on a marble book, and link these to HMS Belvidera and the Parthenon around 1832, when King Otto was crowned ruler of Greece.

• D.W.J. Gill and C. Gill, 'HMS Belvidera and the Temple of Minerva', Notes and Queries, 57 (2010): 199-210

On your bus: the Minotaur Muse

Left: shadow

One of the first myths (after the story of Odysseus) to appeal to me was the story of Theseus - and the Minotaur who lived in the Minoan labyrinth.

My eye has just alighted on the BBC feature on 'labyrinthine' poems, which are to appear inside the Unibuses in Kent. Jeff Saward was responsible for creating the Canterbury labyrinth as an inspirational pathway. I would like to adapt the idea (since I do not have a labyrinth in my area), and have a go at trying to write a poem in motion i.e. as I walk about.

• The labyrinth at Clitheroe Catle, Lancashire
• Crete and the Minotaur
• Troy Town by Matt Merritt