I suppose it isn’t a surprise, when you really think it through...

It’s been on my mind this week as we see the seasons begin to change: The leaves starting to alter their colors, and the wind feeling that little bit colder.

Or, depending where you are in the world, that little bit warmer!

Now we may tend to think of philosophy as something very interior: locked away in libraries with dusty old books… Yet nothing could be further from the truth.

The change in weather has made me realize how much of ancient philosophy is present in the natural world around us.

Life, death, purpose: we see these all around us in the blooming of flowers, the fall of chestnuts, and the coming of snow in winter.

After all, the Cynics and the Stoics both taught the importance of living in accordance with nature…

And Epicurus, of course, is closely associated with his famous Garden.

Epicurus famously challenged the conventions of his time, and yet across history he became one of the most misunderstood of philosophers.

So today’s Members article looks at what Epicurus really thought about the big questions of philosophy…

So read on to discover not only how we should approach death, but more importantly, how we should embrace life.

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It’s certainly a trend I can get behind... Over the last century or so, more and more historians and classicists have been taking a second look at important figures from the past. Reexamining the literary tradition and cross-referencing it with archaeological evidence, they are attempting to parse the truth from the story.

Can they determine whether the version we think we know is the real one?

If we are truly honest, there probably is no single real version...or, if there is, we may never know it. But often, a fresh set of eyes can reveal a completely different tale, while also exposing the biases of the writers who shaped the stories we inherited.

This has happened plenty of times to all sorts of men from the ancient world, from grand emperors like Nero to slaves and gladiators like Spartacus, and even to the warriors of celebrated city-states such as Thebes or Sparta!

But some might venture that it has happened even more often to the myriad women of the ancient world, many of whom have been warped into villains, flattened into caricatures, or slandered as sexually immoral.

Now, I’m not saying all these ancient ladies were actually angelic...or that some of them didn’t deserve the harsh treatment they received. I suspect people will be debating the morality of Rome’s first empress, Livia, for as long as her name is known.

However, there appears to be an even wider chasm between fact and fiction when it comes to foreign women. After all, they already fall outside so many familiar norms and customs, particularly in the eyes of the Greek and Roman writers describing them... You can see how they would become easy prey for defamation and misrepresentation.

(And I’m not saying that just because I’ve almost always been a foreign woman!)

Few women demonstrate this problem quite as well as Aspasia of Miletus. A foreign woman at the very heart of classical Athens, she became the partner of its most powerful statesman and was associated with some of its greatest intellectual figures. Ancient writers credited her with remarkable powers of rhetoric and even connected her with Socrates himself.

Yet those same ancient traditions give us a very different Aspasia as well: a courtesan (or worse) accused of sexual impropriety and blamed for exerting a dangerous influence over powerful men.

So who was the real Aspasia?

Today, we will look at a woman whose importance may have been absolutely extraordinary...a woman said to have influenced both the philosopher Socrates and the great statesman Pericles...

...or perhaps not.

Read our Member’s In-depth article to discover the history of Aspasia and decide for yourself whether she was really all that they say she was ...

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

P.S. A quick note to say a BIG THANK YOU to our wonderful Classical Wisdom community, especially our fantastic members who make all this possible. Your commitment and patronage to the Classics helps bring these ancient lessons to modern minds…

Moreover, you continue contribute to this wonderful group just by reading, liking, commenting each week! Thank you!

Not a member? Take a moment to check out our subscription options so that you can be a part of our wonderful community AND access all our resources, from exclusive podcasts with professors to members in-depth articles (like today’s exploration on Aspasia). Check it out:

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In Search of Aspasia

By Mary Naples, author of Unsung Heroes: Women of the Ancient World

Most scholars of the ancient world would likely agree that the only certainty regarding antiquity is its inherent uncertainty. Perhaps no individual exemplifies this paradox more than Aspasia of Miletus (470-400 BCE), a female philosopher known primarily as a rhetorician, dialectician, and philosophical educator as well as partner to the prominent 5th-century BCE Athenian statesman, Pericles.

Much of what has been attributed to Aspasia comes to us through the filtered lens of writers whose accounts reflect the gendered biases of the day.

Over the years, historians have frequently regarded these slanted narratives as established truths; yet, can ancient chroniclers, many of whom were comedic playwrights parodying Aspasia, have accurately recounted the life of a powerful woman without inherent bias?

So who was the real Aspasia?

While in a committed sixteen-year live-in relationship with Pericles, could she have been a courtesan running a brothel, as some authors insist?

In another sphere, was she a teacher to the incomparable philosopher Socrates?

And as Plato records in the same Socratic dialogue, did she assist Pericles compose his renowned funeral speech?

Though many today contend she wrote essays and treatises, like Socrates, she did not leave behind any writing. Stitched from whole cloth, Aspasia’s purported life

Read more

Memory can be a fickle thing. Those images, stories, songs, and feelings can often seem far away and faded. Like photographs bleached by the sun and washed over by the waves, they can be difficult to grasp firmly or see clearly.

Yet the memories that feel so sharp and vivid, almost visceral in their evocation, can often be shaped as much by reconstruction as by reality.

Indeed, we can rarely rely entirely on our memories...a fact demonstrated again and again in court cases, instances of mass hysteria, and the tragic consequences of trauma. When researchers, for instance, compared people’s memories of major events, such as the September 11 terrorist attacks, they regularly found that participants’ recollections, of which they were completely convinced, were often inconsistent with reality...or even with their own earlier accounts.

This is often the case in war. Military historians have long noted that soldiers interviewed immediately after the chaos of battle often gave strikingly different accounts of what had taken place. In many instances, they were only able to make sense of their own individual experiences after discussing the events with their comrades-in-arms, allowing them to place what had happened into a broader context.

This, however, could also result in memory conformity, where the memories merge...a phenomenon known as the co-witness effect.

Clearly, we conflate our experiences with those of others. We absorb other people’s stories and incorporate them into our own. Versions from the television, newspapers, or radio seep into our minds and mingle with the images in our heads.

Sometimes, what we think we remember... actually belonged to someone else.

And then we have to remember that we humans are storytellers... we always have been, and always will be. Our recollections weave and ramble in much the same way oral traditions evolve and morph. The fish gets bigger, the mountain steeper, the weather more extreme.

No doubt you’ve heard a friend, family member, or spouse recount a great adventure again, but this time with an extra flourish...

But just as our memories grow, so too are they prone to fade and fall away. They are not kept in one spot in the mind, forever encased in glass, to be looked at whenever we choose. No, we have to actively remember our memories; we reconstruct them again and again each time we bring them back to the fore.

Our memories are really just memories of a memory... a copy of a copy. So what happens when we don’t click reprint? What happens to those events, ideas, and places left in a dusty corner to dissolve and eventually vanish?

This can (and does) happen on a scale perhaps many aren’t aware of. In our modern world, many of us move away from once close-knit communities to unfamiliar places filled with people who never knew us when we were young. In these situations, we lose important opportunities to reinforce our memories. Indeed, one of the primary functions of autobiographical memory is social: we remember the past partly because we repeatedly tell stories to family and friends.

When those conversations stop, our memories receive far less reinforcement. So, if there are chapters of our lives removed from our daily experience, a time spent with people to whom we rarely, if ever, speak, then the words on those pages simply... fade away.

Memory, it appears, takes work. It is not a passive ability, but something to which we must dedicate time and effort... and often together.

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This was something the ancients knew all too well. Memory was a cornerstone of education, enshrined in religion, ritual, as well as everyday life. The Pythagoreans, for example, cultivated memory through daily discipline. They were expected to review each day’s words and deeds every morning and evening, while also committing their master’s teachings to memory before they were ever written down.

And who could forget the bards themselves? The storytellers who famously recited tens of thousands of lines, weaving together poetry, music, and history itself? The oral tradition, of which we have written in the past, is an exemplary embodiment of the power of memory.

They didn’t do it casually; they developed exercises, mental techniques, and disciplines to strengthen their recall. The most famous of these was the Method of Loci, traditionally attributed to the poet Simonides and better known today as the Memory Palace.

My younger self describes it here (as well as its tragic origins), but essentially the process involves choosing a place you know well, such as a house, a room, or your neighborhood. You then decide upon a specific path through that place before assigning whatever needs memorizing to its different locations. The result is that you simply take your mental walk to remember each item or topic as you go.

This was but one tactic employed by politicians, rhetoricians, and philosophers who all trained their memories with admirable discipline, committing long speeches, arguments, and teachings to memory.

Of course, I hear you cry, they had to! They didn’t have teleprompters or iPads. They couldn’t have even imagined today’s smartphones, with their near-infinite space for photographs, movies, stories, articles, books, and more, all tucked away in our pockets. They didn’t even have the benefit of easily accessible sticky notes and spiral notebooks. Paper, as we know it, did not yet exist, and while papyrus was available, it was far too valuable to use casually.

Their ability was born out of necessity... surely.

Perhaps that is why today, at least culturally in the West, we no longer prize memorization in quite the same way. We tend to shun rote learning, recalling (ironically) our painful experiences with multiplication tables, and so often view the practice as a form of torture, something that stifles our creativity...

We applaud those who can recite quotes or poems with flourish, impressed by orators such as Harold Bloom or George Steiner, who could faithfully conjure the words of others at will... and yet we do almost nothing to cultivate that ability in ourselves or the next generation.

And yet, this is where we arrive at the truly confusing part...

If we lose those past experiences, are we the same person? It’s a frightening question for all of us as we age, especially if we spend time with friends or loved ones living with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. At its most extreme, characters such as Leonard in Christopher Nolan’s Memento demonstrate that without the ability to form new memories, life as we know it becomes almost impossible.

From the last meal you had to your favorite food as a child, how much do we need to remember? And considering the inherently reconstructive nature of memory, how many of those recollections can we trust?

At the end of the day, how much of who we are is our memory?

Discuss and contemplate the role of memory in the mind...and in the person...below.

But before you do and if it’s not too much trouble, please take a moment to ‘Like’ and ‘Restack’ this post. This small effort has a big impact in helping others find Classical Wisdom. If you think our modern world could do with a bit more ancient wisdom… help us spread the word with a click.

Thank you!!!

All the best,
Anya Leonard
Founder and Director

They’re more connected than people realize.

After all, the epics of Homer, the Odyssey and the Iliad, were originally sung by bards across Greece.

The world of Greek drama, the stages where mythology was reinvented and reimagined, was a world of music as well.

To the Greeks, music came from the gods. Yet it was through music their mythology developed, from which emerged the tales of the gods.

So this week, we looked at how music and mythology were intertwined with one another, and the role they played in ancient life.

Naturally, we also had a look at the philosophers who had a thing or two to say about it all as well…

And now, it’s time for the Weekly Wisdom Quiz!

As always, all questions are based on articles and resources published this week here at Classical Wisdom.

A full roundup of them all is available just after the quiz, alongside the answers, just in case you want to to revisit anything!

Are you ready?

1. Xenophanes originally came from which Ionian town?

a) Miletus
b) Ephesus
c) Colophon
d) Samos

2. What could Orpheus’ music supposedly do?

a) Predict the future
b) Summon Zeus from Olympus
c) Stop the passage of time
d) Move trees, halt fights and invigorate sailors

3. Which god is associated with the invention of the Kithara?

a) Hermes
b) Apollo
c) Dionysus
d) Hephaestus

4. According to Xenophanes’ famous thought experiment, what would horses depict their gods as if they could draw?

a) Perfect human beings
b) Horses
c) Winged creatures
d) Lions

5. How did Aristotle describe dance in relation to music and imitation?

a) It depends entirely on harmony
b) It cannot imitate emotions
c) It imitates character, emotions and action using rhythm alone
d) It requires sung poetry to have meaning

6. According to Anaximenes, the gods ultimately came from...

a) Fire
b) Water
c) Earth
d) Air

7. What happened when Orpheus was leading Eurydice out of ⁠Erebus?

a) He forgot to play his lyre
b) He turned around too soon
c) Eurydice refused to follow him
d) He challenged Hades to a musical contest

8. What instruments did Plato ban from his perfect Republic?

a) String instruments
b) Percussion instruments
c) Wind instruments
d) All musical instruments

Answers

1. C) Colophon (Gods of the Odyssey)

2. D) Move trees, halt fights and invigorate sailors (Is There Too Much Music?)

3. A) Hermes (If Music be the Food of Love, Play On…)

4. B) Horses (Gods of the Odyssey)

5. C) It imitates character, emotions and action using rhythm alone (If Music be the Food of Love, Play On…)

6. D) Air (Gods of the Odyssey)

7. B) He turned around too soon (Is There Too Much Music?)

8. C) Wind instruments (If Music be the Food of Love, Play On…)

The Wisdom Scale

🎵 0 - 2 Correct: Apprentice of the Lyre

You’re beginning to hear the music of ancient wisdom. Hermes has handed you the kithara; now you just need to work out how to play it.

🏺 3 - 4 Correct: Symposium Songster

Not bad! You know enough about gods, philosophers and music to hold your own at an Athenian symposium. Just don’t challenge Apollo to a musical contest.

🎼 5 - 6 Correct: Keeper of Ancient Harmonies

You’re finding harmony amid the philosophical discord. From Orpheus’ miraculous music to Xenophanes’ radical theology, your ancient knowledge is sounding decidedly tuneful.

🏛️ 7 - 8 Correct: Favoured by the Muses

The Muses clearly approve. Aristotle applauds your understanding, and Orpheus himself might even allow you to choose the evening’s entertainment

So, how did it go? As always, let us know in the comments below!

All the best,

Sean Kelly

Managing Editor

Classical Wisdom

The low rumble of thunder…. The crash of waves…

And a vision that might just be imaginary.

It’s one of the more controversial elements of the recent Odyssey film: the comparatively grounded, ‘realistic’ depiction of the supernatural.

So, no, there’s nothing as theatrical as Liam Neeson’s Zeus dramatically announcing “Release the Kraken!” in Nolan’s vision.

Although, that depiction of Zeus (from 2010’s Clash of the Titans remake) brings up a whole other set of other problems: first and foremost, the Scandanavian Kraken is not from Greek mythology!

So, what I’m saying is: depiction of the divine in Greek myth is pretty tricky. There’s plenty of scope to get things wrong, or leave people thinking it just wasn’t done right.

Yet controversy about the gods in Homer is nothing new.

Today’s Member’s article looks at how Xenophanes of Colophon famously decried even Homer’s representation of the Greek deities. He could not believe that the gods would be so selfish, so capricious, so… human.

So he developed his own ideas, and in the process, pushed philosophy forward.

Xenophanes’ thought represented a fundamental challenge to the conventions of his time, and propelled the understanding of myth, humanity and the divine into new territories.

Indeed, it is in Xenophanes’ work that the worlds of Greek philosophy, myth, and history all blend together.

Not A Member? Sign up today to unlock ALL of our resources, including the extended version of our recent podcast with Michael Satlow on ancient rituals, religion and beliefs… A fitting companion to today’s article.

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Now, read on below to discover Xenophanes’ radical ideas about the gods, his dramatic life story, and how he was way ahead of his time.

All the best,

Sean Kelly

Managing Editor

Classical Wisdom

Xenophanes and Homer’s Gods

by Mariami Shanshashvili

Socrates often pointed out how Greece’s most beloved poets – Homer and Hesiod – depicted the gods as all too human, but the first ancient Greek thinker to make radical claims about this matter was Xenophanes of Colophon.

Although the appearance of the first philosophers in ancient Greece was all about the emergence of unconventional and nontraditional ways of thinking, Xenophanes could still be justifiably viewed as one of the most – if not the most – unorthodox and even scandalous figure of his era.

There were two things an ancient Greek would never doubt: first, that the gods are in charge of everything and everyone, and second, that we know this because they themselves disclosed it to us. The sun, rainbows, and the very earth we are walking on were believed to be gods and goddesses. Every natural phenomenon was ascribed to some property of a deity; every historical event and fate of an individual race or man was explained as the result of the will of the Olympians.

And how did they know? Muses told them so. Invocation of the Muses served as a traditional and commonplace poetic tool: when a poet wanted to authenticate the truth of his claims, he called on Muses so they would act as witnesses and provide assertion.

This is even how Homer opens both of the Iliad and the Odyssey: he addresses divine agency.

Read more

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been immersed in one of the oldest debates in the classical world.

Who should possess the Parthenon Marbles?

The discussion has been fascinating...not because everyone agrees (they certainly don’t), but because it reminds us that the ancient world is not finished. It still provokes, challenges an…

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I’ve got music on the mind…

I mean, I wrote about it on Monday, with regards to how the evolution of music production has affected our relationship with songs…

And I have been contemplating it more since the passing of the late great Dolly Parton… someone who brought out a love of music and books in many… something I think we can all appreciate!

Today, I marvel at all the ways music was found in the ancient world.

Indeed, it’s interesting to think that literature and poetry were always interconnected. Events such as philosophical debates, poetic recitals, dramatic festivals and elaborate rituals were not done in silence…they had a soundtrack. And a live one, at that!

I might even venture there is no better way to time travel to the ancient world than by recreating their music… or trying to understand how it all sounded.

We may sit down and read Homer, but this is a far cry from how the Greeks experienced it, even if we are watching the Odyssey in IMAX. (To his credit, Nolan deliberately replaced the traditional orchestra with the aulos, lyre and percussion to recreate something closer to the ancient soundscape.)

The lines of Homer were sung… the tragedies and comedies were performed with music… symposiums took place to the accompaniment of melody.

So today, let's explore the ancient world of music, from musical modes and mysterious instruments to philosophical debates about harmony, mathematics and the power of song.

Want to know more about ancient Music? Today’s column is the first piece in our Classical Wisdom Litterae Magazine dedicated entirely to Music from the ancient world.

Discover how music shaped education, philosophy, mythology and even mathematics… why Plato feared certain instruments while Pythagoras believed music revealed the hidden order of the universe…as well as the secret music cults in this exciting Member’s only edition, below:

Now… onto the muses, music and much more…

All the best,
Anya Leonard
Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom

If Music be the Food of…the Muses

By Stella Samaras

If music be the food of love, play on…

What a load of malarkey I can hear them saying in the agora. 

Music, the food of love, love alone? In whose century? Music was a gift of the muses and touched mathematics as well as poetry, science as well as philosophy. It permeated mythology, drama, ritual, athletics, dance, ethics, storytelling, and of course, love. 

A fully rounded education was one that both music, in this broad sense, and gymnastics in terms of physical prowess, were taught. 

Music in all of its ancient glory was inspiration. Everyone was taught to sing and play musical instruments. Until Pericles, all music was a combination of played instruments and sung lyrics. Then late in the 5th C BCE, instruments began to be played on their own, as music evolved from performing just a civic, martial, or religious role to include a secular one.

Music in the way we appreciate it – its melody, harmony and rhythm was not only listened to, it was competed over in dramatic festivals, its lyric beauty was enjoyed at symposiums, choristers were trained to sing it in choirs and music permeated social rituals.

How much a part of Ancient Greek life it was is witnessed by its presence on so many Grecian urns and in myths e.g., Orpheus and Eurydice; Hermes and the invention of the Kithara; Odysseus and the Siren’s song; Marsyas vs Apollo in competition, to name a few.

Like so many of the gifts of the gods, music was also philosophised over.

Read more

The fact that we make music is amazing. It’s simply astounding that melodies, with their tensions and resolutions, exist at all. How remarkable to be exalted by notes that soar high or grounded by trembling lows, to be swept along by tempo and moved by rhythm!

Of course, nature provides plenty of inspiration. Birdsong delights us with sweet melodies, repeated motifs, and distinct intervals. Indeed, some birds even produce notes that approximate the harmonic series, the simple mathematical relationships that help explain why certain combinations of sounds are pleasing to the ear. This is especially true of the unassuming state bird of Vermont, the hermit thrush, perhaps nature’s closest approximation to a musician.

Those who have the time and patience can also enjoy the long, haunting songs of the humpback whale, drifting through the seas, structured with melody rather than harmony. Gibbons perform duets, while crickets and frogs form a chorus, their rhythms accompanying evening’s arrival.

Even among rocks and caves, trees and ice, wind and water can produce resonances and repeating patterns. Sand dunes, too, can miraculously sing when millions of grains of sand synchronize with astonishing precision.

Yet music... real, fully formed melodies with beginnings and ends, that is the work of man alone.

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Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that music has always been celebrated and the power it wields appreciated. It occupied a sacred position, playing a critical role in every community. Indeed, there is no known society -past or present- that lacks music. It may even predate civilization itself, as the discovery of bone flutes more than 40,000 years old attests.

For what reason it first evolved, we can never fully know, but it soon became enshrined in ritual, religion, and myth. It provided the soundtrack for ceremony, the accompaniment to poetry, the rhythm to creation stories. The gods themselves were said to have given it to humanity: Apollo with his lyre presided over songs that men and women would sing...the very backbone of their beliefs.

No example better illustrates this than the story of Orpheus, the hero whose music could literally move the mighty oak and graceful linden, could halt fights and invigorate sailors, could even soften the hardened heart of the queen of the underworld, allowing him to walk the halls of Hades.

His is a tragic tale… He suffered the death of his beloved wife, Eurydice, not only once, but twice, when he turned too soon while leading her out of Erebus. Then came his own grisly end at the frenzied hands of the Maenads...

And yet, from his legend emerged a powerful religious movement that wove its way through the centuries: the Orphic Mysteries.

Amazingly, it wasn’t until the sixth century BC philosopher and polymath, Pythagoras, that we began to understand the universal mathematical principles underlying the music that moves us so. Through a series of experiments involving a stretched string and simple numerical ratios, Pythagoras (or his followers) demonstrated the mathematics behind musical harmony.

If you halve the length of a string, for instance, the two notes sound pleasing together, forming an octave (2:1). Other consonant intervals arise from equally elegant ratios, such as the fifth (3:2) and the fourth (4:3).

To the Pythagoreans, these mathematical formulas behind music revealed an underlying order to the cosmos, a rational explanation for the seeming chaos around us. Music and mathematics were intertwined... but the power of music was not merely intellectual; it was emotional as well.

Pythagoras, like Orpheus, was said to employ melody to invigorate and stimulate the senses, as well as to calm and soothe anguish or anger.

Learn how the ancient world still shapes us… from music and myth to history and philosophy, the lessons of the past are all around us, if we only know where to look!

Bring Classical Wisdom into your inbox and into your life. Subscribe Today:

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This understanding of music’s power was woven throughout the ancient world, from the driving beat of war drums and the ritualized chants of religion to the stirring sounds of the symposium and the dramatic performances of the theatre. Music was ubiquitous... and everyone was involved.

The lowly slave might be commanded to play, just as an elite free-born boy was expected to pluck the lyre. There were professional musicians and everyday singers. Music was simply part and parcel of ancient life.

And yet, despite its ubiquity, music was never effortless. It always required another human being, someone to make it. Every performance was unique, existing only for the performer and the audience gathered to hear it. It rose and faded, then was gone. This remained true for thousands of years. Even those fortunate enough to hear the greats, Mozart, Beethoven and Liszt, knew that once the music stopped, only memory remained to preserve it.

That was... until Edison’s phonograph in 1877.

All of a sudden, music could be repeated exactly, ad infinitum. It could be heard by someone who would never meet the musician. The social aspect, the human connection, no longer had to be present, and for the first time the individual could decide what music to hear, and how often.

But still, we had to have a record, a CD, a tape, something physical to pick up and associate with a song... until streaming. Now, there is no arc of an album, no thread to the tangible. We can simply click a button and are immersed in continuous music. A playlist with no end, music now fills every crook and cranny of our minds. Our empty mental spaces swim with sounds chosen by an algorithm to play next. Music was an event, but now it’s the environment... it has become the default, making silence something we must seek.

Does music still move us? Of course, and now we understand more than ever how it does.

Faster tempos, strong rhythms, and major chords are often used to evoke joy and triumph, while minor keys and descending melodies tend to suggest sadness. Dissonance creates tension, resolution brings relief, suspended chords evoke mystery, while low frequencies can provoke fear.

This is happening to us all the time, at the movies, in the diner, and on the radio. We feel compelled to dance, sing or cry, and yet we often don’t even choose the music!

Which brings me to today’s question, my inquiry into our relationship with music. By liberating it from the musician and recording it for mass consumption, have we made the magic of music available to everyone? Or have we diluted our experience of it? Have we become disconnected from its power?

Pythagoras believed music shaped the soul...but what happens when the soul is never without it?

Can there be such a thing as too much music?

Discuss below, and let’s bring the conversation about music to the fore.

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

P.S. Dear Reader, it takes time and effort to put together our issues here at Classical Wisdom. If you’re enjoying our work… and you believe good writing deserves to be paid… please take a moment to join our members here, today…

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We’re not ones for shying away from controversy here at Classical Wisdom…

And this week was no exception!

We looked at ancient views on the morality of eating meat, as well as an infamous yet mysterious Roman scandal, involving Augustus, one of his family members, and the poet Ovid.

And for our Members, we looked at another perspective on the history of the Parthenon marbles, a charged issue that’s still a topic of passionate debate.

Not a Member? Sign up today to unlock ALL our resources, including exclusive podcasts, e-books, magazines and more.

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But what have you learned from all these controversies? It’s time to find out with the Weekly Wisdom Quiz!

As always, all questions are based on articles and resources published this week here at Classical Wisdom.

A full roundup of them all is available after the quiz, alongside the answers, just in case you want to revisit anything (or missed it first time around).

So, are you ready?

Let’s go!

1. What Latin phrase did Juvenal use to characterize Odysseus as a storyteller?

a) Homo novus
b) Vox populi
c) Mendax aretalogus
d) Princeps civitatis

2. What belief provided the principal philosophical reason for Pythagorean abstinence from eating animals?

a) Animals were sacred exclusively to Apollo
b) The transmigration of the soul
c) Meat prevented mathematical reasoning
d) Animal sacrifice was prohibited by Greek law

3. Which member of Augustus’ own family was famously charged under his morality laws?

a) Livia
b) Julia
c) Tiberius
d) Octavia

4. For how much did Elgin eventually sell the Parthenon sculptures to the British government?

a) £15,000
b) £25,000
c) £35,000
d) £50,000

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5. Which author’s vivid portrayal particularly helped establish Pythagoras’ later reputation as a champion of vegetarianism?

a) Virgil
b) Cicero
c) Seneca
d) Ovid

6. When did Augustus exile Ovid?

a) 8 AD
b) 2 AD
c) 20 BC
d) 14 AD

7. Around what period did the Orphic religious movement spread through Greece?

a) The second century CE
b) The first century BCE
c) The sixth century BCE
d) The fourth century CE

8. Later in his reign, Augustus increasingly presented himself as...

a) An elder statesman, priest and family man
b) A rebellious military adventurer
c) A philosopher withdrawn from public life
d) A champion of aristocratic extravagance

Answers

1. C) Mendax aretalogus (The Parthenon Marbles: A Counterpoint)

2. B) The transmigration of the soul (Is Eating Meat Moral?)

3. B) Julia (Image of an Emperor: Augustus and Propaganda)

4. C) £35,000 (The Parthenon Marbles: A Counterpoint)

5. D) Ovid (Is Eating Meat Moral?)

6. A) 8 AD (Image of an Emperor: Augustus and Propaganda)

7. C) The sixth century BCE (Is Eating Meat Moral?)

8. A) An elder statesman, priest and family man (Image of an Emperor: Augustus and Propaganda)

The Wisdom Scale 🏺

0 - 2 correct: Novice of the Agora 📜
You’ve just stepped into the great conversation. The scrolls await - there’s much wisdom to uncover!

3 - 4 correct: Seeker of Wisdom🔍
You’ve grasped the basics and show a thirst for deeper understanding. Keep exploring the ancient paths.

5 - 6 correct: Scholar of the Classics 🏛️
You walk confidently among the philosophers and poets. Your knowledge bridges myth and reason.

7 - 8 correct: Sage of the Ancients 🌟
Wise as Athena, eloquent as Cicero - you hold the torch of wisdom high. Lead on, enlightened one!

So, how did it go? As always, let us know in the comments below!

All the best,

Sean Kelly

Managing Editor

Classical Wisdom

Learn all about this integral, yet mysterious facet of…

Read more

I’m slightly late with this one…

You see, just two days ago, on August 19th, it was the 2,012th anniversary of the death of Augustus, Rome’s first emperor.

I know, I know, it’s easy to lose track of these things!

Yet there’s something fitting about Augustus, the master of Roman political theater, dying in August: the month named after himself.

Of course, Augustus was keenly aware of the importance of what nowadays we might call optics, or even propaganda.

So in today’s Members article, we’re looking at the power of image in Augustus career. Discover below how his shifting political image was communicated to the people of Rome, from statues to poems, and how it all almost came undone through a family member…

And a mysterious scandal that even enveloped the poet Ovid.

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Of course, Augustus’ legacy is enormous.

He’s the man who transformed a Republic to an Empire. He famously “found Rome a city of bricks, and left it a city of marble”.

But could he transform himself? Or at least how he was perceived?

Read on below to find out…

All the best,

Sean Kelly

Managing Editor

Classical Wisdom

Image of an Emperor: Augustus and Propaganda

by Ben Potter

The Augustus of Prima Porta, the magnificent 6’7” statue of the man who irreversibly altered the political make up of Rome, is perhaps the most iconic and impressive of all the depictions we have of the son of Julius Caesar. The date of the statue is disputed; some arguing it was from as early as 20 B.C., some considering it to be a posthumous sculpture commissioned by Augustus’ heir, Tiberius. Observing this image of the oversized warrior, the commander, the hero of Rome, we are awed and inspired.

We see flashes of his immense deeds (defeat of Antony and Cleopatra), his divine roots (descent from Venus), and the cultural nod to Classical Greece (which, in turn, conjures up images of Alexander the Great). Lastly, the personal divinity signified by his bare feet serve to overpower the senses and spirit.

Bold, brave, godlike: This was how this Machiavellian man chose to present himself to the public. During his reign, however, Augustus began to shy away from the image of warrior, conqueror and demi-god…

And sought to change his public image to something else.

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Will There Be “Crazy” People?

This is one of the first questions asked about our trips, including this year’s Classical Wisdom expedition: “Enchanting Islands and Iconic Ancient Sites”. 

I was surprised to hear this was a worry because all the other details have been covered... 

It’s an exciting itinerary with lots of different options for side trips so it can be tailor made for your interests...

The renowned philosophy professor, Angie Hobbs, is extremely knowledgeable about both Greece and Turkey...

And the brand new ship (aptly named Blue Zephyr) is state of the art and extremely comfortable. 

So the unknown surely would be the other folks on the boat, right?

Well, this I can assure you is actually one of the greatest features of Classical Wisdom trips... because I’m honored to report that our readers (your good self included) are fantastic people.

Not only have I experienced this first hand after many, many years of live discussions, webinars, symposiums and even a few in real life meetups, it was a recurring highlight mentioned by our previous voyagers:

“The 9 couples were all fascinating conversationalists, as well as extremely cordial, world travelers and I enjoyed every minute that I spent with them. Some I have corresponded with since the cruise.” - Joe

“The other tour members were interesting and sympatica.” - Martha

“The cruise was great! We really loved the intimate atmosphere and getting to know the other participants.” - James 

And I agree! I so enjoyed all the fantastic conversations last year when my little family joined the trip. It was a pleasure and privilege to hear the amazing perspectives of those in the group, including their own interesting histories and interests.

I mean, how often do you get to go into a room and enjoy talking to other people who love learning about history, philosophy, literature and travel? Imagine discussing cool archeological sites and fascinating historical figures with others who also enjoy learning and discovering the past? 

It’s like a modern symposium on the sea...  

Now, please remember, our allotment is filling up. So, if you are interested in our next voyage, departing April 12th, please check it out here: 

Join Our Symposium on the Sea

I hope you can join what will certainly be a great group!

All the best,
Anya Leonard

Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom 

P.S. Please remember, once our allotment fills up, that’s it! Once they are gone, they are gone. You can find out more about the trip here:

Learn More Here

You can also email the reservations team directly here (just make sure to mention you are with the Classical Wisdom Group): reservations@thalassajourneys.com 

I really struggled with today’s article. I have contemplated it, worried about it, and have discussed it to no end. It has consumed much of my mind...and our dinner table conversation...to which my poor husband and dear daughter can attest.

And it’s not only because it is such a controversial topic.

You see, a few weeks back our regular contributor, , having recently returned from a trip to Athens, wrote an impassioned article about the Parthenon Marbles. Immediately after publication, I received an email from the classical archaeologist Dr Mario Trabucco della Torretta, wishing to submit a counterpoint.

As someone who has spent years advocating that we suspend judgment, open our minds to both sides of an argument, and practice steel-manning our positions, I eagerly welcomed the opportunity to put my words into action.

(After all, who are we really if not the sum of our actions?)

However, when reading the first submission, I realized that parts of it ventured into aspects of modern Greek politics and cultural history that sit well outside my own expertise. As I am not well versed in either the cultural or social significance of many of the people and events discussed, particularly for our Greek readers, I felt uncomfortable publishing it as it stood.

Much to Mario’s credit, and very much to my gratitude, we went back and forth through many versions, trying to find a compromise that got to the heart of his argument while still maintaining the style in which he wished to make it.

But what began as an ongoing conversation about the history of the Parthenon Marbles gradually evolved into a completely different philosophical discussion:

How should we make our point?

Is being intellectually challenged the same as being emotionally provoked? Do we need to be pushed beyond our comfort zone, to be shaken into paying attention? Can persuasion be achieved through hard facts alone, or does it require rhetoric as well? And how should we examine the evidence before us?

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Well, this was a rich vein of thought indeed!

And I would certainly be remiss in my Classical Wisdom duties if I did not invite you, dear reader, into that conversation. So it was with this framing in mind that I decided to publish Mario’s article below.

Now, I would like to add one caveat. Mario and I did not ultimately come to complete agreement, so I am publishing his latest revision together with the following editorial note:

Editor’s Note: The Parthenon Marbles inspire passionate, and often deeply personal, debate, not least because of what the Parthenon represents to Greece and to the wider classical world. Classical Wisdom has previously published arguments in favor of their return. But an intellectual conversation is richer when we are willing to seriously consider arguments with which we may disagree. With that in mind, classical archaeologist Dr Mario Trabucco della Torretta presents a counterpoint. His conclusions and interpretations are his own, and we offer them here in the spirit of open inquiry: not as the final word, but as another perspective for our readers to consider, question and discuss.

So... with that said, I invite you to delve into today’s article and join the discussion below...not only about the fate of the Parthenon Marbles, but also about the nature of debate itself.

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

Of course the very best way to get to the heart of any discussion is to live it … Journey to the Parthenon with famed philosopher Angie Hobbs to discover the ancient world, to understand the history, culture and ideas that have shaped generations.

This April 2027, we invite you to join us on the Blue Zephyr to sail the wine dark seas from Turkey to Greece. Together we will explore the island of Pythagoras and the hometown of Heraclitus, as well as the birthplace of the twins Apollo and Artemis. We’ll marvel at Parian marble, walk the Venetian town in Syros, and celebrate in the domain of Dionysius. It is an opportunity to fully immerse yourself in the Classics!

Check out our exciting itinerary and expert guide here:

Join Us for the Journey

Historical Truth is an Odyssey

Dr Mario Trabucco della Torretta

While we are all mesmerised by the new Nolan retelling of the tale of Odysseus, the debate rages on matters of historical truth, the limits of storytelling, and poetic licence.

Hollywood’s most cerebral director is a natural match for literature’s most cerebral hero, especially when we consider Odysseus in his role of narrator of his own adventures to an audience thirsting for adventure. The central section of the Odyssey — Books 9 to 12, in which Odysseus recounts to the Phaeacians his encounters with Cyclopes, sirens, enchantresses, and winds in a bag — is not, on any careful reading, a factual account.

Homer signals as much at the very outset: the hero’s crew was destroyed, he tells us, because they heedlessly devoured the sun-god’s cattle. But that is strikingly different from what Odysseus says happened. The two accounts contradict each other, and Homer’s comes first.

By the time Odysseus opens his mouth to the court of Alcinous, the alert reader has already been told that what follows is not the whole truth. Juvenal, writing in the early second century AD, identified the mechanism precisely: Odysseus stirred his listeners to anger and laughter alike as a mendax aretalogus — a lying virtue-signaller, to use a translation our own age might find disconcertingly contemporary — before naming the decisive reason he could get away with it.

The Ithacan’s tale was all his own, with none to bear him witness.

No surviving companions, no contradicting testimony, no check on the account except the credulity of his hosts. Lucian was blunter still: the Phaeacians were simple folk, and Odysseus fooled them to the top of their bent.

Odysseus is not merely the founding hero of Western literature. He is its founding unreliable narrator. And the particular form of his unreliability turns out to illuminate, with uncomfortable precision, two centuries of the most consequential cultural argument in the modern world.

Consider another captivating narrator: Byron.

Lord Byron — poet, philhellene, and the most eloquent prosecutor of Lord Elgin ever to take the stand — is routinely invoked as a kind of disinterested moral witness: the conscience of the age, catching a Scottish earl red-handed on the Acropolis. It is a flattering role, and Byron, never a man to undersell himself, was happy to play the part of the hero-narrator.

But no part of his tale survives contact with the actual history of those events, or, for that matter, with Byron’s own candid words about himself.

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I didn’t eat any meat until I was 18. My parents weren’t part of a cult or hippies or anything like that... nor did I have some especially virtuous moral position, like a teenager with a cause. And while we had plenty of pets growing up, it was mostly because I was just picky. I thought meat was too chewy, and over time the label of vegetarian became so entwined with my identity that it was hard to shake.

You have to remember, of course, this was before vegetarianism became the thing it is today. I didn’t know a single other veggo. At McDonald’s I could eat the buns and fries. That was it. Most restaurants had -maybe- one meat-free option, if they had any at all.

I was outright laughed at when I lived in foreign countries (which, to be fair, was pretty understandable in Kazakhstan... being a nomadic culture and all).

I was only able to explore my culinary options once I went to college and just... didn’t tell anyone. Nonetheless, by eschewing meat, along with beans and a number of other healthy foods, I ended up much shorter than everyone else in my family (including my Depression-era grandmothers), and I’m scrawny to a fault.

Now, of course, I live in the land of meat consumption and enjoy ojo de bifes with quite some regularity…

So I won’t lie: my relationship with meat is a little... complicated.

Perhaps because of that, it’s hard for me to be entirely unbiased in this debate…one that has grown considerably over the last few decades: the morality of eating meat.

I thought about this when speaking with , who has been very vocal about his thoughts on whether or not we should consume those who fly, trot or slither. He argued that we think ourselves so moral today, but perhaps in a hundred years our descendants will look back on us as horribly bestial for eating animals.

The interesting thing, of course and as always in these humble pages, is that this isn’t a new debate. Far from it. The ancients, the world over, wrestled with the morality of eating animals and arrived at very different conclusions.

It will come as no surprise to anyone with even a passing familiarity with the Indian subcontinent that some of the earliest sustained philosophical arguments for vegetarianism emerged in the East. Beginning around the 8th and 6th centuries BCE, Parshvanatha and Mahavira, the 23rd and 24th tirthankaras of Jainism, revived and championed ahimsa, the ancient Indian principle of nonviolence toward all living beings.

Jainism, with its uncompromising commitment to nonviolence, is not the only tradition to advocate vegetarianism. The ancient Indian work Tirukkural, generally dated to the early centuries CE, explicitly and unambiguously praises abstaining from meat and condemns killing as virtues for ordinary people…not merely monks or ascetics.

Moving westward to the Hellenes, we find the Orphics, a popular and mysterious religious movement that spread through Greece around the sixth century BCE. Many sought to live an ascetic life, free from spiritual contamination, and abstained from eating animals as part of their religious practice.

They shared much in common with another famous philosophical movement of the time, including, according to some ancient sources, an aversion to those icky broad beans.

At this point, there are no doubt many of you thinking of the most famous ancient vegetarian of them all: Pythagoras!

In fact, before the word vegetarian was coined, vegetarians in English were often referred to simply as Pythagoreans.

Unfortunately for anyone hoping for a clear answer, the ancient sources don’t entirely agree. Some record Pythagoras as participating in animal sacrifice, while others insist he abstained from killing altogether. Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 400–350 BCE), quoted by Porphyry, wrote:

“Pythagoras was distinguished by such purity and so avoided killing and killers that he not only abstained from animal foods, but even kept his distance from cooks and hunters.”

It is this image of Pythagoras that ultimately won out. Thanks in large part to Ovid’s vivid portrayal, he has come down to us as antiquity’s great champion of vegetarianism, a reputation reinforced by generations of later Pythagoreans who continued to live by the same ideals.

Of course the main reason Pythagoras championed abstinence from animal consumption was their belief in the transmigration of the soul. He was lampooned for his ideas regarding reincarnation, described as recognizing his friend in a dog’s bark.

So yes... you probably wouldn't want to eat an animal if there was even a chance it was your late uncle.

Vegetarianism also appears in the ancient world beyond Greece. Around the first century BCE and CE, the Moesi, a people living in the northern Thracian region (roughly modern-day Serbia and Bulgaria), were described by ancient writers as subsisting on honey, milk, and cheese, while abstaining from meat.

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Not everyone agreed, of course.

For instance, Aristotle considered that animals existed, at least in part, for the sake of us humans. He argued that while they possessed perception and sensation, they didn’t have reason, a capacity unique to mankind.

Likewise, the Stoics came to a similar conclusion, albeit for different reasons. Only rational beings can participate in concepts like justice or moral community, and therefore humans owe a duty to each other… but not to animals.

Interestingly, beneath this question of diet lay a much larger one… which is: what, exactly, separates human beings from the rest of the animal kingdom?

So, with our very brief (and by no means exhaustive) tour of ancient vegetarianism concluded, let’s return to the debate at hand... should we -or should we not- eat meat?

While this is, at its heart, an ethical question about the value of an animal’s life, it has also become fertile ground for today’s culture wars, especially when it comes to sustainability, climate change, food production, and population growth. Those concerns, at least in their modern form, would have been largely foreign to the ancients.

So where does this leave us, dear reader? Should we eat meat? Is it moral?

And does that answer change in light of what we now know about nutrition, animal cognition, and the technologies we now possess?

Join us in the comments and take part in a conversation that has been unfolding for millennia.

All the best,

Kind Regards,
Anya Leonard

Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom

I have to say it.

Going over this week’s posts, I feel a bit like I’m in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or something!

Lots of talk of mystical rituals, amulets, higher beings, and all kinds of mysteries…

So if you want a dive deep into the “enchanted world” world of ancient gods, spirits, and religious practices, check out this week’s episode of Podcasts with Professors, featuring Anya discussing spiritual beliefs in the ancient world with Michael Satlow.

It’s a fascinating exploration of how ancient society integrated their day-to-day lives with a vivid, fully-realized conception of the supernatural… and what we can learn from them today.

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So, now is the time to see if you can tell the truth from the phantoms in this week’s Weekly Wisdom Quiz.

As always, all questions are based on article and resources published this week at Classical Wisdom. A full roundup of them all is available just after the quiz, alongside the answers.

And if you’re looking for another challenge, this week we also had a special guest post from Etymon, offering a fun Classically-themed brain teaser, also available in the roundup.

Now, are you ready?

1. How does Michael Satlow describe the supernatural beings of Late Antiquity?

a) As forces encountered only by priests
b) As existing within a kind of hierarchy
c) As metaphors invented by philosophers
d) As essentially identical beings with equal power

2. Modern-day Etruria corresponds primarily with which three Italian regions?

a) Sicily, Calabria and Campania
b) Lombardy, Veneto and Piedmont
c) Apulia, Basilicata and Molise
d) Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio

3. What was probably the most popular function of ancient amulets?

a) Keeping evil demons or bad spirits away
b) Guaranteeing victory in battle
c) Predicting political events
d) Producing wealth

4. According to the story related by Herodotus, which brothers led the forefathers of the Etruscans out of Lydia?

a) Romulus and Remus
b) Castor and Pollux
c) Tyrrhenus and Tarchon
d) Agamemnon and Menelaus

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5. How are we best to interpret what is traditionally labelled “spells” in the ancient world?

a) As meaningless superstitions
b) As prayers or powerful requests
c) As scientific experiments
d) As theatrical performances

6. Who declared that “Etruria is the originator and mother of all superstition”?

a) Massimo Pallottino
b) Herodotus
c) Virgil
d) Arnobius the Elder

7. Which Egyptian pharaoh defeated the Sea Peoples at the Battle of the Delta?

a) Akhenaten
b) Ramesses III
c) Thutmose III
d) Tutankhamun

8. What is one of the problems associated with use of the term “pagan”?

a) Because of its derogatory associations
b) It referred exclusively to Roman soldiers
c) It described only Greek religion
d) It did not exist before the Middle Ages

Answers

1. B) As existing within a kind of hierarchy (Can We Return to an Enchanted World?)

2. D) Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio (Did Odysseus Found Rome?)

3. A) Keeping evil demons or bad spirits away (Can We Return to an Enchanted World?)

4. C) Tyrrhenus and Tarchon (Did Odysseus Found Rome?)

5. B) As prayers or powerful requests (Can We Return to an Enchanted World?)

6. D) Arnobius the Elder (Did Odysseus Found Rome?)

7. B) Ramesses III (Did Odysseus Found Rome?)

8. A) Because of its derogatory associations (Can We Return to an Enchanted World?)

🏺The Wisdom Scale: Etruscans & Enchantment Edition✨

🌫️ 0 - 2 Correct: Lost in the Mist

The Etruscans remain mysterious, the spirits invisible, and the amulets aren’t helping. Fortunately, every journey into the ancient world has to begin somewhere.

✨ 3 - 4 Correct: Enchantment Initiate

The invisible world is coming into focus. Gods, spirits, prayers and rituals are starting to look less like isolated “superstitions” and more like part of everyday ancient life.

🕯️ 5 - 6 Correct: Walker of the Enchanted World

The boundaries between the spiritual and everyday worlds have all but disappeared. You understand why Late Antiquity could truly be described as an “enchanted world.”

🦉 7 - 8 Correct: Master of Mysteries

From the Sea Peoples to supernatural hierarchies, very little escapes you. You’ve navigated antiquity’s more mysterious landscapes with formidable skill.

So, how did it go? Did you get lost in the labyrinths or emerge victorious? Let us know in the comments below!

Until next week…

All the best,

Sean Kelly

Managing Editor

Classical Wisdom

I’ve deliberately not talked about it too directly…

But it’s been out a while now!

And if you’re reading these pages, I think it’s safe to assume you’ve probably seen Christopher Nolan’s recent adaptation of the Odyssey by now.

So, fair warning: I’m going to talk about the ending.

I have to admit, the closing sequence featuring Odysseus sailing off into exile in the west struck me as a little… confusing. It didn’t happen like that in Homer!

I honestly wondered if it was supposed to echo the story of Aeneas in some way, and his journey to found Rome. Which really doesn’t quite fit…

But given the story Nolan’s telling, maybe there’s actually something to it.

After all, Nolan (rightfully or wrongly) presents Odysseus and his crew as the historical Sea Peoples, or at least their inspiration.

And, well, the ancient Greeks theorized that it was from the Sea Peoples that the Etruscans emerged.

The Etruscans were truly essential in the formation of the emerging Roman identity: influencing their culture, religion, and society. Yet they also held a distinct mysticism of their own that has managed to endure beyond the civilization itself.

So today’s article looks at this most crucial and mysterious of ancient societies.

They were the dominant power in the region before Rome, and their influence was strongly felt in the later Roman culture that still shapes the world today.

Indeed, it was only when the vivid culture of the Etruscans declined that the Romans were able to rise.

So I guess there’s a fitting ending after all…

An ending that is also a beginning.

All the best,

Sean Kelly

Managing Editor

Classical Wisdom

P.S. If you want to hear another interesting interpretation of the ending of the Odyssey, I’ve just posted a video of Stephen Fry discussing Homer’s original ending over on our YouTube channel. Be sure to like and subscribe to our channel for more videos!

The Legacy of the Mysterious Etruscans

By Benjamin Welton

For hundreds of years they were the predominate power in Italy.

They bequeathed to the later Roman Republic not only its founding myth (the Greco-Etruscan house of Tarquin and the legendary kings of Rome), but also much in the way of religion and scholarship.

They left an indelible mark on Roman history, and therefore a mark on the entirety of Western civilization.

Yet, despite this legacy, their language and origins are still up for debate.

Nowadays, Etruria corresponds with the Italian states of Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio. Its name comes from the Greek and Latin word for its inhabitants – the Etrusci, though they are known today as the Etruscans.

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Your cabin aboard our 2027 Blue Zephyr Mediterranean journey is still reserved... but only for another 24 hours.

Picture waking up on the Aegean, Homer’s wine dark seas stretched out before your window...

Imagine pulling into port around lunchtime, the ancient ruins towering above the stonewashed town, the smell of sizzling lu…

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What did the ancient world actually believe with regards to gods, angels, demons, spirits, and powerful forces?

Was the line between Jews, Christians, Greeks, and Romans really as sharply drawn as we often imagine?

And should we return to the ‘enchanted world’?

This month’s Podcast with Professors is with Michael Satlow, professor of Judaic studies and religious studies at Brown University and author of An Enchanted World: The Shared Religious Landscape of Late Antiquity.

We explore late antiquity...a period that sits at the fascinating crossroads between the classical world and the Middle Ages, when many religions were flourishing, diminishing, and intermingling. However, instead of discussing theological disputes or political conflicts, we examine how everyday people actually lived their religion....

How did they cope with illness? Seek protection? Form relationships with divine beings, and find meaning in an uncertain world?

We delve into the fascinating realm of amulets, prayer, so-called “magic,” local cults, and why the lived religious experiences of ancient Jews, Christians, Greeks, and Romans often had far more in common than the official doctrines suggest.

We also ask: have we lost something by becoming so thoroughly “disenchanted,” or are there aspects of the ancient worldview that are still worth recovering?

Classical Wisdom Members, you can enjoy the full podcast and transcript above as well as the audio only below. Have a listen and let me know if you agree or not... and if you see the ancient world (and perhaps even our own) a little differently by the end...

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

P.S. Classical Wisdom Members, you can download the audio below!

Not a member? Discover the enchanting world of the ancients by joining Classical Wisdom. Membership gives you FULL access to our resources, including our exclusive podcasts with professors, like today’s in-depth discussion with Professor Michael Satlow.

Bring the wisdom of the Classics into your life and take part in our thriving community of lovers of the ancient world:

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This week, we’re doing something a little different... You know, to keep things fresh…

Think of it as archaeology for words.

You see, somewhere beneath layers of Greek, Latin, reformers, philosophers, prophets, and the occasional religious insult lies a single English word…

Your task is to excavate it.

With each clue, the mystery narrows. Will you uncover the answer after the very first hint, or will you stubbornly insist on reading all six “just to be sure”?

Either way, in this specially created puzzle by Etymon, prepare to discover that the history of a single word can be every bit as dramatic as the history of an empire….

Enjoy!

All the best,
Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

P.S. Discover how much the Classics have influenced our here and now… from the ancient inspired words we use today to the ideas and people who have shaped knowledge itself.

Bring the wisdom of the past into your today:

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The Etymology Challenge: Can You Guess the Word?

Etymon has created a bespoke puzzle exclusively for Classical Wisdom subscribers. One word hidden behind six clues drawn from its etymological history.

Each of the clues narrows the field, moving from era and origin through linguistic path, literal meaning, cognates, historical or geographical context, and word length toward the answer.

Some puzzlers achieve Solved in 1. More reach the answer at Solved in 4 or Solved in 5. Some work through to Solved in 6. You can guess after any clue. How many do you need?

When you are ready, the Answer Card button at the bottom of this post will reveal the puzzle’s hidden word, etymology, and modern use on the Etymon Substack website.

Clue # 1 ~ Era and origin

The word entered English in 1548, in a translation of the writings of Martin Luther, the German friar whose challenge to Rome began the Reformation, and it arrived as an insult.

Luther aimed it at the Pope himself, mocking him for boasting that all laws were held in the coffer of his heart. Its earliest English sense was a false claim of divine inspiration, the delusion of those who believed God spoke to them directly, without scripture.

Behind the English lay German, behind German lay Latin, and behind Latin lay Greek.

Clue # 2 ~ Linguistic Path

Formed first in Greek, naming the state of being possessed by a god, a frenzy that certain kinds of music were believed to produce.

Plutarch, the Greek biographer and essayist writing around 100 AD, described it as the state of prophets and prophetesses ravished with divine fury when the god was believed to speak through them.

The Bacchanals, the frenzied worshippers of Bacchus, ran through the streets filled with their god. Latin borrowed the word in the third century for inspiration and frenzy, and by the early sixteenth century it was used to describe a writer’s inspiration.

Only then did it reach English, through German, carried in the Reformation’s war of words.

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Clue # 3 ~ Literal meaning

Behind the Latin lay the Greek adjective entheos, meaning ‘possessed by a god’, built from en, meaning ‘in’, and theos, the Greek for ‘god’. The person in this state had, quite literally, the god within.

The Greek verb formed from it was reshaped along the way by the pull of another verb, the word for offering a sacrifice.

Theos itself descended from a Proto-Indo-European root, *dhes-, which formed words for religious concepts, possibly an extension of an older root meaning ‘to set, put’. The same root gave Latin festus, ‘festive’, and feriae, ‘holidays’, and through them the English feast, festival and fair.

Clue # 4 ~ Cognates

FANATIC and ATHEIST share the same ancient root as this word. FANATIC came from Latin fānāticus, from fānum, meaning ‘temple’, naming a person possessed by the frenzy of a temple’s god, though the temple word’s link to the deeper root is not certain.

It entered English in 1533 meaning frenzied or mad, and in the spring of 1660 the historian Thomas Fuller recorded its newest use, a noun coined within a few months as an insult for the sects of the age, in the same weeks that Samuel Pepys was writing in his diary that the Phanatiques held up their heads high.

ATHEIST came from Greek atheos, meaning ‘without a god’, and reached English in the 1580s, and in 1659 a single hostile list yoked the two together, Papists, Atheists, and fanatic persons. One word named the person with too much god in them, the other the person with none.

Clue # 5 ~ Historical or Geographical Context

In religion the word remained an accusation for two centuries. Henry More, the Cambridge philosopher, warned in 1660 that if Christianity were ever exterminated, this would be its exterminator.

In 1708 the philosopher Lord Shaftesbury drew the line plainly, defining inspiration as a real feeling of the divine presence, and this word as a false one. In 1766 Horace Walpole watched John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, preach, and sneered that he acted a very ugly form of it.

Yet the softening had already begun, and in a letter of 1839 Charlotte Brontë could name it her besetting sin, the reason she dared not say what she thought of the sea. By 1972 the New York Times used it to describe the latest fad, mouse racing, expanding rapidly in popularity across Australia.

Clue # 6 ~ Word Length

Ten letters.

Answer Card

Reveal the puzzle’s hidden word, etymology, and modern use on the Etymon Substack website.

Reveal Answer Card

How did you do? How far did you get? Feel free to share in your Notes (and don’t worry, it won’t give anything away..)

I suppose, in a way, they’re alike… Even if it doesn’t seem like it at first.

When you think about it, both mythology and mathematics are cornerstones of how humanity has tried to understand the world.

And the ancient Greeks made a massive contribution to them both.

Now, let me set your mind at ease; there’s no tricky sums in this week’s Weekly Wisdom Quiz.

This week we did, however, look at the life and legacy of the philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras, as well as the daily rituals of his followers…

Plus, for our Members, a look at one of the ancient world’s most important mythological texts: Hesiod’s Theogony, the origin story of Greek mythology.

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So, now it’s time to see if you know Pythagoreans from your Prometheus, and test your knowledge with the Weekly Wisdom Quiz.

As always, all questions are based on articles published this week at Classical Wisdom. Answers are available right after the quiz, along with a roundup of the week’s resources, just in case you missed something or want to revisit anything!

Are you ready?

1. How did a Pythagorean disciple begin the day?

a) With a communal breakfast
b) With a solitary walk
c) With wrestling exercises
d) With a religious sacrifice

2. According to a popular legend, whom did Hesiod defeat in a singing contest?

a) Homer
b) Pindar
c) Sappho
d) Stesichorus

3. Approximately when was Pythagoras born?

a) 470 BCE
b) 370 BCE
c) 670 BCE
d) 570 BCE

4. What reportedly inspired Pythagoras to investigate the mathematical relationships underlying musical harmony?

a) Listening to a lyre competition
b) Studying Egyptian hymns
c) Hearing hammers striking anvils at a blacksmith’s shop
d) Watching soldiers march in rhythm

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5. Why was a Pythagorean disciple not supposed to speak to anyone during the morning walk?

a) The disciple had to memorize mathematical formulas
b) The soul first had to be made sedate
c) Speech was forbidden before midday
d) The gods could only be approached in silence

6. Which of the following does Hesiod’s Theogony provide?

a) Instructions for constructing temples
b) A detailed code of Greek law
c) A history of the Persian Wars
d) A comprehensive account of the gods and how they came to be

7. What did Pythagoras prove about a right-angled triangle?

a) The square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides
b) Its sides must form whole-number ratios
c) Its area always equals half its perimeter
d) All three angles are equal

8. Hesiod was a native of which region of Greece?

a) Attica
b) Thessaly
c) Boeotia
d) Laconia

Answers:

1. B) With a solitary walk (A Day in the Life of a Pythagorean Disciple)

2. A) Homer (The Origin Story of Greek Mythology)

3. D) 570 BCE (Our Mathematical Universe)

4. C) Hearing hammers striking anvils at a blacksmith’s shop (Our Mathematical Universe)

5. B) The soul first had to be made sedate (A Day in the Life of a Pythagorean Disciple)

6. D) A comprehensive account of the gods and how they came to be (The Origin Story of Greek Mythology)

7. A) The square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides (Our Mathematical Universe)

8. C) Boeotia (The Origin Story of Greek Mythology)

🏛️ The Wisdom Scale

🚶0 - 2 Correct: Solitary Wanderer

You’re taking those first quiet steps toward wisdom. Just remember: no talking until you’ve brought your reasoning powers into harmony!

📜 3 - 4 Correct: Student of Hesiod

Halfway to Olympus! You’ve learned enough mythology to hold your own when the conversation turns to gods, poets, and the Theogony.

🔺 5 - 6 Correct: Pythagorean Disciple

Numbers are beginning to reveal their secrets. You’ve earned a place among Pythagoras’ disciples

🏺 7 - 8 Correct: Keeper of the Theogony

Gods, cosmic origins, mathematical ratios: you’ve got an impressive command of the ancient world. The Muses approve.

So, how did it go? As always, let us know in the comments below!

All the best,

Sean Kelly

Managing Editor

Classical Wisdom