Monday 26 July 2021

By way of an apology ...

I haven’t published any new pieces here for two months. I apologise. Some problems have got in the way of my writing very much recently — but I am still writing. This site isn’t giving up the ghost!

Several pieces are on their way: for example, ‘The dates of Jesus’; ‘The dates of Homer’; one on whether another ‘Rosetta stone’ could help decipher certain undeciphered languages; one or two on the relationship between what kind of relationship exists between Greek myth and the late Bronze Age. I’m also considering putting some old pieces into podcast format (I don’t think I’m cut out for having my face on screen).

You aren’t hanging on the edge of your seat, of course. Still, try and whet your appetite. For example, maybe it would be of interest to know that Justin Martyr and Irenaeus threw up their hands over the question of which year Jesus died — while just a short while later, Tertullian was terribly terribly confident that he knew it to the day.

See you soon.

10 comments:

  1. May all your problems go away and leave you in a better state than before...! we can wait... 😀

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  2. I'm glad to hear that you're still writing and I look forward to your future posts with great enthusiasm!

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  4. Hello Peter,

    I've just come across your site and it looks like you have some great content! I've just started looking into the origins of things like Judaism and Christianity, so the information that you have coming on the dates of Jesus and the dates of Homer look really interesting.
    I was wondering if you ever speak publicly on these kinds of topics?
    I live in Auckland so it would be great to be able come and listen if you do.

    Thank you!
    Andrew.

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  5. I hope you will post more when the time is right. Your posts from years ago show up on searches, so there's no rush. I am writing a story centered mostly around events in the Odyssey books 4-7, and had read Nagy's article on 'bronze' and that led to a few of your articles from several years ago on Homeric color terminology; all very helpful. If you have the time, I am trying to better understand a passage from Od. 5, the elided word καλλίπ' line 344, I believe, which my memory from some Homeric Greek I studied decades ago in graduate school cannot help me translate. Probably very easy but I am missing what it means or how it functions. I have read many translations but can't place this word. Would appreciate any help you have. Jim Highland. editor@sgpublishingteam.com

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    1. Thanks for your encouragement. Believe me the recent gap hasn't been for lack of desire!

      It's late here just now but I'll take a look at your query in the morning -- καλλίπ' should just mean 's/he left behind', as an apocopated form of κατέλιπε, but I take it there's something more complicated going on. I'll get back to you in the morning!

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    2. Thanks; it seems like there are more words in that phrase then usually get translated, so I'm wondering if it works with the word before it, φέρεσθαι, which I take to mean the bearing or carrying of his raft/ship, but I feel like I'm missing something grammatical.

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    3. OK so I now see κάλλιπ' is actually the imperative καταλίπε 'leave behind!', not κατέλιπε. The lines are

      εἵματα ταῦτ' ἀποδὺς σχεδίην ἀνέμοισι φέρεσθαι
      κάλλιπ', ...

      So, hyper-literally, this would run: 'After taking off these clothes, (you) leave behind the raft to be carried by the winds'. Does that solve your problem?

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    4. Yes, thanks so much! I wasn't seeing how all the words worked together, but now it's clear; thanks again.

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