In the museum or the university, the story remains the same. On the one hand, an institution’s strong physique is measured in outsized philanthropy and thick endowments, as administrators make public-facing boasts of rich collections and academic excellence. On the other hand, internal messaging is one of dispossession and precarity, from cuts and layoffs to […]
Moving past our time-based posts so far this year, we were going to write about names and roles today. We were specifically intent on contrasting Trump’s infantile name-calling of ex-FBI Director James Comey (“Showboat” “Nut job”, “Slime ball”), with the latter’s focus, in his new book A Higher Loyalty and his recent interviews, not on names, […]
The hardy Trojans feel a cold shiver go through them, Their prince from the depths of his heart beseeches The god: “Phoebus, you always had pity for Troy And her troubles, it was you who steadied Paris’ aim and directed the arrow Into Achilles, you who were pilot As I entered sea after sea, skirting […]
The Trojans would have kept standing, fascinated By all on display, except that just then Achates, Who’d been sent on ahead, came back accompanied By the Sibyl, Deiphobe, daughter of Glaucus, priestess Of Diana and Phoebus. Who addressed the prince: “This is no time to be standing staring here. It would be better now to […]
And now they pause on that hill where Dedalus, At the end of his flight, first fluttered to earth: He had risked himself to the sky, away and afloat To the north, through the cold air, unprecedented, Rowing with wings—which he then dedicated To you, Phoebus Apollo, there on the spot Where he landed, and […]
In tears as he speaks, Aeneas loosens out sail And gives the whole fleet its head, so now at last They ride ashore on the waves at Euboean Cumae. There they turn round the ships to face out to sea. Anchors bite deep, craft are held fast, curved Sterns cushion on sand, prows frill the […]
Come on let me out or I’ll explode…I am Noman…of Ithaca, son of Runawayhorse… – Philocleon in Aristophanes’ Wasps Our three Athenians living in Kassel have just finished their daily performance for documenta 14 and they are feeling especially happy and content with their day’s work. Since returning from their act of defiance and resistance, […]
If any lover runs up to him to complain because he is furious at seeing the object of his passion derided on the stage, he takes no heed of such reproaches, for he is inspired only with honest motives and his Muse is no pander. – the Chorus of wasps in Aristophanes’ Wasps Far from […]
I think we’ll win ourselves a name among the Greeks as those who brought an end to warfare. – Lysistrata in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata Previously on Three Athenians in Kassel: After Alexis was kidnapped and nearly eaten and Nina was attacked and had her head shaved, our three Athenians went in search of answers. They visited […]
Your drunken trick has proved a source of blessing for us. – Glycera in Menander’s Perikeiromene The events of yesterday hung over our three Athenians like a cloud. After the cannibals kidnapping Alexis and now some animal-masked, Bob Dylan-quoting gang shaving Nina’s head, they were all very much on edge. They needed some advice and […]