Hillsdale Classics Department

Hillsdale alums - join the fun at this year's White and Blue Weekend - looking forward to seeing you there!

White and Blue Weekend 2024 Join me at White & Blue Weekend!

Fascinating frescos freshly found! (Also, this dog’s expression is infinitely meme-able) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pompeii-italy-volcano-new-roman-frescoes-uncovered-ancient-city-mount-vesuvius/

"The feat paves the way for artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to decipher the rest of the scrolls in their entirety, which researchers say could have revolutionary implications for our understanding of the ancient world."

First passages of rolled-up Herculaneum scroll revealed Researchers used artificial intelligence to decipher the text of 2,000-year-old charred papyrus scripts, unveiling musings on music and capers.

Hillsdale Classics Alumni! If you're planning on attending Homecoming this year (Saturday, October 8th), could you drop a comment on this post or shoot a message so we can get a sense for how many would like to meet at the Reading Room Saturday morning for some breakfast, coffee, and conversation with Iste Magister? Thanks! Also, if you're planning to come, be sure to register here:

Homecoming 2022Saturday October 8th Hillsdale College

If you happen to be in San Antonio this spring, consider visiting this exhibit on your way to the Alamo or River Walk!

Roman Landscapes: Visions of Nature and Myth from Rome and Pompeii - Upcoming Exhibition | San Antonio Museum of Art Relief with a herdsman and cow before a sanctuary, Roman, late 1st century B.C.-mid-1st century A.D., marble, 11 3/4 x 13 1/4 in. (29.85 x 33.65 cm), State Collection of Antiquities and Glyptothek Munich, Photograph by Renate Kühling

"She had named it 'Dennis Reynolds,' after a character from the comedy series 'It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.' Like that vain and narcissistic cad, the 52-pound marble bust was 'a very difficult, cold, aloof, emotionless man that caused some problems for me,' Ms. Young said."

Goodwill Sold a Bust for $34.99. It’s an Ancient Roman Relic. Its 2,000-year journey to Texas remains a mystery, but the buyer is returning it to the German state of Bavaria, its pre-World War II home.

Salvēte, Cārissimī Alumnī! On this, the first day of the new semester, we are welcoming back our students to our language classes. In that spirit, we would also like to invite you all back to the Classics as well. Previously, we offered you the opportunity to read some stories to keep your Greek warm. Now we'd like to make available the opportunity to (re)build your Greek and Latin vocabulary in a new and different way. For some of our classes we are creating electronic flashcards that come with sound files. If you swap out the definitions we provide with pictures of your own choosing which illustrate the word, you have at your fingertips a way to turbo-charge your vocabulary. All you need to do is to drop me a note, and I will invite you to either our intro Greek or our Latin vocabulary decks (or both). We will be updating them continuously. Our Vergil deck is nearly complete, and a Homer deck is in the works. Soon will come Cicero and New Testament Greek. After that, you'll have to download Anki to your desktop, which will allow you to download our vocabulary decks and edit them, inserting your own photos. The same app is also available for smartphones; for Android platforms, the app is free. For iPhone owners, the app costs about $25 (I have it, and it's worth it). Best and warmest wishes for the new year. Stay Mighty!

Hello, Classics Alumni! Have your languages (specifically Greek for the moment) declined a bit since you graduated and you'd like to get them back into shape? We'd like to help you out. As some of you may know, I am working on an intuitive introductory graded reader (much like Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata), except in Greek. I am only in the initial stages, but I have some introductory passages on a fictional Greek family, a simply paraphrase of some scenes from Hesiod's "Theogony", and some extended paraphrases of the "Iliad" through about Book 15. Ideally, the more that you read and reread them, the more you will understand and be able to progress through later readings. Any unfamiliar words are either glossed in Greek or illustrated with pictures, so there is no English in the book. If you would like to take a look at the readings and give the book a shot, drop me an email, and I'll send you an invitation. They are currently stored on Box (much like Google Docs). Once you sign in (only with an email and a password), you will have access to all of the stories I have written (about 180 or so). All that I ask is that you let me know if you spot any errors (and there will be plenty, trust me), and let me know if they are comprehensible and helpful to you. We will have more resources for you both in Greek and in Latin soon. Stay tuned for more announcements.

For our last of the semester and as we send out our seniors, here is Horace's Ode 1.3.
-F
Sic te diva potens Cypri,
sic fratres Helenae, lucida sidera,
ventorumque regat pater
obstrictis aliis praeter Iapyga,
navis, quae tibi creditum 5
debes Vergilium; finibus Atticis
reddas incolumem precor
et serves animae dimidium meae.
Illi robur et aes triplex
circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci 10
commisit pelago ratem
primus, nec timuit praecipitem Africum
decertantem Aquilonibus
nec tristis Hyadas nec rabiem Noti,
quo non arbiter Hadriae 15
maior, tollere seu ponere volt freta.
Quem mortis timuit gradum
qui siccis oculis monstra natantia,
qui vidit mare turbidum et
infamis scopulos Acroceraunia? 20
Nequicquam deus abscidit
prudens Oceano dissociabili
terras, si tamen impiae
non tangenda rates transiliunt vada.
Audax omnia perpeti 25
gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas;
audax Iapeti genus
ignem fraude mala gentibus intulit;
post ignem aetheria domo
subductum macies et nova febrium 30
terris incubuit cohors
semotique prius tarda necessitas
leti corripuit gradum.
Expertus vacuum Daedalus aera
pennis non homini datis; 35
perrupit Acheronta Herculeus labor.
Nil mortalibus ardui est;
caelum ipsum petimus stultitia neque
per nostrum patimur scelus
iracunda Iovem ponere fulmina.

In view of last week's section of poetry, here is part of the scene where Penelope is reunited with Odysseus in the Odyssey for .
-Ϝ

ὣς φάτο, τῆς δ᾽ αὐτοῦ λύτο γούνατα καὶ φίλον ἦτορ,
σήματ᾽ ἀναγνούσῃ τά οἱ ἔμπεδα πέφραδ᾽ Ὀδυσσεύς:
δακρύσασα δ᾽ ἔπειτ᾽ ἰθὺς δράμεν, ἀμφὶ δὲ χεῖρας
δειρῇ βάλλ᾽ Ὀδυσῆϊ, κάρη δ᾽ ἔκυσ᾽ ἠδὲ προσηύδα:
‘
μή μοι, Ὀδυσσεῦ, σκύζευ, ἐπεὶ τά περ ἄλλα μάλιστα 210
ἀνθρώπων πέπνυσο: θεοὶ δ᾽ ὤπαζον ὀϊζύν,
οἳ νῶϊν ἀγάσαντο παρ᾽ ἀλλήλοισι μένοντε
ἥβης ταρπῆναι καὶ γήραος οὐδὸν ἱκέσθαι.
αὐτὰρ μὴ νῦν μοι τόδε χώεο μηδὲ νεμέσσα,
οὕνεκά σ᾽ οὐ τὸ πρῶτον, ἐπεὶ ἴδον, ὧδ᾽ ἀγάπησα. 215
αἰεὶ γάρ μοι θυμὸς ἐνὶ στήθεσσι φίλοισιν
ἐρρίγει μή τίς με βροτῶν ἀπάφοιτο ἔπεσσιν
ἐλθών: πολλοὶ γὰρ κακὰ κέρδεα βουλεύουσιν.
οὐδέ κεν Ἀργείη Ἑλένη, Διὸς ἐκγεγαυῖα,
ἀνδρὶ παρ᾽ ἀλλοδαπῷ ἐμίγη φιλότητι καὶ εὐνῇ, 220
εἰ ᾔδη ὅ μιν αὖτις ἀρήϊοι υἷες Ἀχαιῶν
ἀξέμεναι οἶκόνδε φίλην ἐς πατρίδ᾽ ἔμελλον.
τὴν δ᾽ ἦ τοι ῥέξαι θεὸς ὤρορεν ἔργον ἀεικές:
τὴν δ᾽ ἄτην οὐ πρόσθεν ἑῷ ἐγκάτθετο θυμῷ
λυγρήν, ἐξ ἧς πρῶτα καὶ ἡμέας ἵκετο πένθος. 225
νῦν δ᾽, ἐπεὶ ἤδη σήματ᾽ ἀριφραδέα κατέλεξας
εὐνῆς ἡμετέρης, ἣν οὐ βροτὸς ἄλλος ὀπώπει,
ἀλλ᾽ οἶοι σύ τ᾽ ἐγώ τε καὶ ἀμφίπολος μία μούνη,
Ἀκτορίς, ἥν μοι δῶκε πατὴρ ἔτι δεῦρο κιούσῃ,
ἣ νῶϊν εἴρυτο θύρας πυκινοῦ θαλάμοιο, 230
πείθεις δή μευ θυμόν, ἀπηνέα περ μάλ᾽ ἐόντα.

We are back again after a week hiatus, mea maxima culpa, with . Here is the beginning of Penelope's letter to Ulysses from the Heroides by Ovid.
- Ϝ
Haec tua Penelope lento tibi mittit, Ulixe
nil mihi rescribas attinet: ipse veni!
T***a iacet certe, Danais invisa puellis;
vix Priamus tanti totaque T***a fuit.
o utinam tum, cm Lacedaemona classe petebat, 5
obrutus insanis esset adulter aquis!
non ego deserto iacuissem frigida lecto,
nec quererer tardos ire relicta dies;
nec mihi quaerenti spatiosam fallere noctem
lassaret viduas pendula tela manus. 10
Quando ego non timui graviora pericula veris?
res est solliciti plena timoris amor.
in te fingebam violentos Troas ituros;
nomine in Hectoreo pallida semper eram.
sive quis Antilochum narrabat ab hoste revictum, 15
Antilochus nostri causa timoris erat;
sive Menoetiaden falsis cecidisse sub armis,
flebam successu posse carere dolos.
sanguine Tlepolemus Lyciam tepefecerat hastam;
Tlepolemi leto cura novata mea est. 20