Ancient Greek: Serious and Playful Love in Early Greek Elegy *In-Person*

This class is centered around one collection of elegiac poetry: Theognis’ Book II of elegiac verse, sometimes called Musa Paedica. This is a remarkably modern sounding collection of 158 total verses of homoerotic love poetry whose controversial position in the Ancient Greek literary canon has inspired an unending font of strange theories from eminent clacissists of every age, from Charles Darwin to Friedrich Nietzsche. The aim of this lecture is to first introduce a lay audience to elegiac verse and its development by touching on the poet Archilochus whilst drawing on poetic forms well known to English speakers. Then it will present a substantial portion of the work in selected English translations with some references to the Ancient Greek where further clarity is needed. Finally, a discussion of the portrayal of desire and longing in these poems will be undertaken and some parallels identified with the poetry of Wilde in English and of Cavafy in the original Greek. Instructor: Emilio Saavedra

This class will meet in-person at CCAE with a limited student capacity. Our in-person class guidelines for the fall can be found at ccae.org/in-person-classes.

Cambridge Center for Adult Education (CCAE) offers online and in-person classes in subjects including: World Languages, Visual Arts, Food & Wine, Humanities, Performing Arts, Life & Wellness, & Business & Technology. All upcoming classes can be found at ccae.org.

View all Cambridge Center for Adult Education cooking classes in the Food & Wine Class calendar at https://ccae.org/food-wine-class-calendar.

View CCAE’s virtual summer catalog at  https://issuu.com/cambridgecenter/docs/ccae_summer_2022_catalog_final_apr_15_2_?fr=sZGIzYTM4MjM1

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