When you're so great you become timeless...
Course in Humanities: Fortnight #3
Today I’m sharing my thoughts on the third fortnight of our adapted version of Ted Gioia’s Course in Humanities.
You can find previous parts of this course at the end of this post.
Now, we’ll discuss:
a) Ancient Greek architecture.
b) Beethoven’s 3rd (Eroica), 5th and 9th symphonies.
c) The Odyssey by Homer.
PS.: We are going to talk about greek lyrics briefly (Lattimore collection), which was supposed to come up in the previous post.
Ancient Greek Architecture
Similarly to what we discussed in Fortnight Two, Ancient Greek Architecture, like sculpture, was influenced by Egypt and the East.
However, they created a distinctive style, inspiring many people, particularly the Romans (and the Neoclassical movement).
The Greeks aspired to express order, beauty, proporcionality and geometric principles in their buildings. They often used stone (marble, which was easy to obtain) and prioritized open areas (the favourable climate played a huge role in social activities).
The most notorious examples of these principles are the temples, but we can also find plenty of open-air theatres, processional gateways, public squares, tombs and stadiums that survived the test of time (and invasions).
As for particular features, one cannot forget to mention Greek columns.
Ancient Greek architects established the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders, each of them with their own standards for public buildings, especially when it comes to their colums.
The Doric order is the most sturdy and simple of the three, with a plain capital and no base. Often linked with masculinity and strength.
The Ionic is slender and more elegant, with a scroll-like capital (volutes) and a base. It tends to be associated to femininity and grace.
The last order, Corinthian, is most ornate, usually decorated with acanthus leaves. It was more common in grand buildings.
But Ancient Greek Architecture is not a thing from the past — it’s still very much alive in the West (and parts of the East). The next time you take a stroll around the city, look at the buildings and you'll see it.
Next, music.
Beethoven’s 3rd, 5th and 9th
I honestly can't think of anything to say about Beethoven that hasn't already been said multiples times (and better).
He is one of the few artists in the history of our species (and very likely any species we might encounter out there) whose name is practically a synonym for high quality.
Even his worst pieces surpass what the vast majority of humans would be able to achieve on their best days or years.
So do yourself favor and listen to Beethoven. My favorite symphony out the three Ted recommended is the 5th (you might recognize it — Hollywood has been using it for a while).
Moving on to poetry.
The Odyssey
I will neither discuss Homer (already did that briefly in the previous post), nor any inconsistencies in the text (you’ll find a lot of academics doing that online way better than I could).
For those of you who have never read it, the Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus (Ulysses for the Romans) and his return home after the Trojan War.
The Greeks were punished by the gods for the cruel and impious behavior during the sack of Troy — many of them took years to return home or didn’t survive the journey back.
During 10 years, Odysseus was “lost at sea”/presumed dead and his son, Telemachus, who grew up without a father, spent many years watching unwanted suitors court his mother and eat away his inheritance.
Athena decides to help Ulysses, and the hero is finally reunited with his family after facing monsters, giants, a shipwreck, the loss of all of his crewmates and the wrath of the gods. He also kills the rude suitors and reestablish his household.
The poem's central themes are hospitality, loyalty, and vengeance.
Both the Odyssey and the Iliad stand in their own merits, but I can't help but to compare the two.
The Odyssey’s structure is not linear and feels more modern than the Iliad (or perhaps modern day storytelling was more heavily influenced by it).
The plot is gripping and the main characters are engaging. There is a good balance of dialogue, exposition and action. The content can get gruesome, but that’s nothing new for Homer.
Though Ulysses is a more compelling protagonist in comparison to Achilles, there is something off putting about him.
The homeric ideals of the inevitability of destiny remain — the agents are merely walking along the thread of life that is spun, measured, and cut by the three the Fates. But they feel more dinamic than the characters of the Iliad.
Most of them are more developed and well rounded too, especially the women.
Penelope is a loyal wife/loving mother and cunning. Calypso obeys Zeus command to set Odysseus free and calls out the (male) gods hypocrisy for telling her to let go of the object of her desire. Nausicaa is sure and well spoken.
The men are complex as well. Odysseus is an intelligent and competent hero, but also a liar who takes pride in outsmating and deceiving others. Telemachus is a devoted son, but a brat to his mother (like people his age often are).
Still, something makes me feel more drawn to the Iliad.
Maybe it’s the structure or the content. Maybe the Iliad fits my ideal of epic poetry better than the Odyssey. Maybe I haven’t gotten over my crush for Hector.
I really don’t know why and it might take me a few rereads to figure it out (which is fine by me).
Lastly, Greek Lyrics, selected by translator and editor Richmond Lattimore (second edition).
This book contains over 100 poems/fragments of seventh-and sixth-century BC Greek lyric, elegiac, and iambic poetry by authors such as Archílochus, Callínus, Semónides of Amórgos, Hippónax, Tyrtaéus, Mimnérmus, Solon, Phocýlides, Xenóphanes, Theógnis, Terpánder, Alcman, Stesíchorus, íbycus, Sappho, Alcaéus, Anácreon, Hýbrias, Praxílla, Corínna, Simónides of Ceos, Pindar, and Bacchýlides.
The number of poems varies depending on the poet (many of them have little more than fragments or quotes left), but there is a small biography for each author and enough entries to give you a taste of what is out there to research and discover.
I had never heard of Archílochus of Paros, so I was pleasantly surprised to come across poems 8, 9 and 10 and fragments 12 and 17 (according to Lattimore’s table of contents).
Check out poem 10, Eclipse of the Sun:
Nothing will surprise me any more, nor be too wonderful
for belief, now that the lord upon Olympus, father Zeus,
dimmed the daylight and made darkness come upon us in the noon
and the sunshine. So limp terror has descended on mankind.
After this, men can believe in anything. They can expect
anything. Be not astonished any more, although you see
beasts of the dry land exchange with dolphins, and assume their place
in the watery pastures of the sea, and beasts who loved the hills
find the oceabs’s crashing waters sweeter than the bulk of land.
Here are fragments 12 e 17:
Often along the streaming hair of the gray salt water
they pray for sweet homecoming in spite of the sea.
The fox knows many tricks, the hedgehog only one.
One good one.
I wrote about another poem featured in this book here.
Overall, I recommend it to beginners that would like to go beyond the famous epic or cosmogonic poems.
This is it for today, guys.