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The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours

Gregory Nagy

1 reader recommends it across 1 discussion

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THE WORD OF MOUTH

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Original Hacker News comments, in the readers’ own words.

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"The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours" by Gregory Nagy, Harvard prof on greeks. Deepens your understanding of a different conception of a hero. According to Nagy, the heroes in Homeric poetry were not meant to be directly emulated like our modern Superman -- instead of a single character being the role model, you should take your inspiration from the whole story. All characters, all nuances, sequences of events, consequences and interactions. Also gives you a much richer vocabulary for so many concepts still central to the human condition. English and other modern languages don't allow us to explore these in the same way. In-depth, but provides a "civilizing experience" according to Nagy. And I suggest: don't read it as an engineer, so to speak. It's not code, or an academic paper. Read for inspiration and conceptual diversification. Broaden your toolbox for understanding the human condition.