Category Archives: Willett

Translated by Steven J. Willett Red-figure vase of a ritual sacrifice with the priest pouring wine from a kylix (κύλιξ) while one assistant holds the flaming bull thigh and another plays on the pipes. Note: The seventh strophe is addressed … Continue reading →

Translated by Steven J. Willett The Goddess Tyche (Fortune) Holding the Baby Plutus (Wealth) in a Roman copy 2nd. Century AD from a Hellenistic Original, Istanbul Archeological Museum Note: The key issue in Parts 5 and 6 is the unexpected … Continue reading →

Translated by Steven J. Willett Poseidon, Apollo and Artemis in Parthenon Frieze Slab XIXX Note: In some pentameter periods, Hölderlin places on either side of the pause (||) words that are not naturally or equally stressed in recitation. Here are … Continue reading →

Translation of Hölderlin Brod und Wein 1. and 2. Black Figure column krater c.520BC of the 3-day (Feb. 19~21) Anthesteria Dionysus and Wine Festival. Note1: For a full discussion of the important Anthesteria Festival, I recommend Natalie Sofie Utheim, The … Continue reading →

Translated by Steven J. Willett The Gravestone of Friedrich Hölderlin Note: This ode is in the asclepiad strophe, an extremely difficult metrical form to translate, particularly due to the highly complex syntax Hölderlin deploys. It has long been one of … Continue reading →

Greek Anthology 7.195 and 7.196 Translated by Steven J. Willett Lychee and Cicada, sumi-e by Chao Shao’ang (1864~1957) A silver cicada fibula, Roman 3rd century AD Note: The cicada has a long history in Greek poetry that is matched by … Continue reading →

Translated by Steven J. Willett Minoan Spring Fresco from Akrotiri, Thera Note: Meleager of Gadara (now Umm Dais in Jordan) flourished in the 1st century BC and died at an advanced age, perhaps around 70. He was educated in Tyre … Continue reading →

Translated by Steven J. Willett Utagawa Hiroshige ( 歌川広重) 797 ~ 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. His best known collection of block prints in horizontal format is One Hundred Famous Views of … Continue reading →

Translated by Steven J. Willett This is a black-figure terracotta pinax (plaque) from the 2nd half of the 6th-century BC. It has holes for hanging in a temple and depicts a prothesis scene, the lying-in-state of the deceased surrounded by … Continue reading →

Translated by Steven J. Willett Propertius and Cynthia at Tivoli, Auguste Jean Baptiste Vinchon Note: This elegy concludes the sequence I.6~14 that deals with opposition to a true lover’s ratio vitae based on the poet’s own experience. The conventional wealth … Continue reading →