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"Shepherds camping in the fields, wretched things of shame, mere bellies, we Muses know how to say many deceptive things looking like genuine things, but we also know how, whenever we wish it, to proclaim things that are true." (Th. 26-28)
I wonder if this is how the ancient Greeks felt just watching their lives get absolutely rag-dolled time and time again by their useless idiot gods
November 17, 2025 at 3:24 PM
"There they are, poised to descend from the topmost peak of snowy Olympus. That is where they have their bright dancing-places and their beautiful abodes. Near them the Kharites [Graces] and Himeros [Desire] have their abodes, amidst festivities."
Hesiod, Theogony 62-65
Stephen Halliwell "Greek Gods and the Archaic Aesthetics of Life"
YouTube video by Boston University
www.youtube.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Artist William Kentridge discussing Philip Guston's "The Studio" (1969):
"it's a double self-portrait. You've got the artist painting the artist, painting the artist. So it's a painting about what happens in the studio."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_0a...
William Kentridge responds to Philip Guston’s 1969 work, ‘The Studio’
YouTube video by Hauser & Wirth – Art Gallery
www.youtube.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Reposted by outis reading
"Kleio Play"
In Hesiod's catalogue of Muses in the "Theogony", the first Muse he names is Kleio. Her name derives from 'kleos' a term that denotes an account of significant events that a singer receives from the Muses (who witnessed it) and transmits to an audience (who imagines it).
November 13, 2025 at 1:42 PM
"When a year was up, and the seasons came round as the months were waning and the many days were coming to fulfillment, she [Mnemosyne] gave birth to nine daughters, all like-minded, who have song on their minds, in their breast. They have a thūmos without worries."
(Hesiod Theogony 58-61).
November 14, 2025 at 12:15 PM
"They [the Muses] were born to be the forgetting of misfortunes and the cessation of worries. For nine nights did Zeus the Planner lie coupled with their mother [Mnemosyne/Memory], entering her holy bed, remote from the immortals."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_My...
Lascaux Virtual Tour
YouTube video by Gaven borrego
www.youtube.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by outis reading
As threatened, here is a very non-slick video of Melpomene in action.
November 12, 2025 at 3:33 PM
"They are the Olympian Muses, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus. They were born in Pieria. The father was Zeus, son of Kronos. Their mother, who mated with him, was Mnemosyne [Memory], who rules over the heights of Eleuther."
(Hesiod, Theogony. 50-55)
November 12, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Reposted by outis reading
About bloody time.
November 10, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Reposted by outis reading
"The 2024 Oxford Ancient Languages Society performance of Euripides' Orestes. In the original Ancient Greek, with a freshly edited text and a complete new musical score, written in accordance with all that is known of Euripidean music."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4hk...
Euripides' Orestes (Complete Ancient Greek Tragedy)
YouTube video by Oxford Ancient Languages Society
www.youtube.com
October 21, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Reposted by outis reading
Lynda Barry on How the Smartphone Is Endangering Three Ingredients of Creativity: Loneliness, Uncertainty & Boredom
Lynda Barry on How the Smartphone Is Endangering Three Ingredients of Creativity: Loneliness, Uncertainty & Boredom
The phone gives us a lot but it takes away three key elements of discovery: loneliness, uncertainty and boredom.
www.openculture.com
October 14, 2025 at 6:46 AM
They sing how much he is the most important of the gods and the greatest in power. Then again, they sing of the genos of men and of the strong Giants, thus pleasing the noos of Zeus, who abides in Olympus.
Hesiod, Th. 49-50
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9dd...
The Gigantomachy on the Athena Parthenos Shield
YouTube video by ascsathens
www.youtube.com
September 24, 2025 at 12:55 PM
a matter of reverence, starting from the beginning, telling about who were generated from Earth [Gaia] and the vast Sky [Ouranos], and what gods, givers of good things, were born from them. Next, they sing of Zeus, father of gods and men, both when they begin and when they end their song.
(Th.44-48)
September 22, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Glad is the palace of father Zeus the loud-thunderer over the delicate voice of the Muses which reaches far and wide. It echoes against the peaks of snowy Olympus and the abodes of the immortals. And they send forth an immortal voice as they give kleos first to the genos of the gods
Hes., Th.40-44
Amalgamation Choir | Live at the Library - Nanourisma (Kato Italia)
YouTube video by Louvana Records
www.youtube.com
September 20, 2025 at 6:39 PM
They tell of things that are, that will be, and that were before, having their words fitted together as they sound forth. And their voice pours forth without ever being worn down, coming sweetly from their mouths.
(Hesiod, Th.36-39)
September 19, 2025 at 10:03 AM
But why should I care about those things that keep going around an oak or a rock? Listen! Let me begin with the Muses, who please Zeus the father with their song, pleasing his great nóos as he abides in Olympus.
(Hesiod, Th. 35-36)
September 18, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Foil Arms and Hog take the Roman citizenship test:
September 18, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Then they breathed into me a voice, a godlike one, so that I may make glory [kleos] for things that will be and things that have been, and then they told me to sing how the blessed ones were generated, the ones that are forever, and that I should sing them [the Muses] first and last.
(Th. 31-34)
September 16, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Reposted by outis reading
Aristophanes has come to BlueSky
September 15, 2025 at 9:28 AM
That is how they spoke, those daughters of great Zeus, who have words that fit perfectly together, and they gave me a scepter, a branch of flourishing laurel, having plucked it. And it was a wonder to behold.
(Hesiod, Th. 29-31)
September 15, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Shepherds camping in the fields, base objects of reproach, mere bellies! We [Muses] know how to say many deceptive things looking like genuine things, but we also know how, whenever we wish it, to proclaim things that are true.
(Hesiod, Th 26-28)
September 13, 2025 at 12:31 PM
The Muses taught me, Hesiod, their beautiful song. It happened when I was tending flocks of sheep in a valley of Helikon, that holy mountain. And the very first thing that the goddesses said to me, those Muses of Mount Olympus, those daughters of Zeus who holds the aegis, was this:
Hesiod, Th. 22-25
September 11, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by outis reading
Herewith the obligatory 'art-making process image sequence' (in reverse, as mandated by Article 15.6,32-a).
Image 1: Kleio Play
Image 2: planning drawing on wall and artwork in parts on workbenches
Image 3: a chorus of very fine objects singing discordant harmonies
September 11, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Theogony 1-21 imagery:
1. flowing water vs. feet moving rhythmically
2. coordinated group song and dance
3. obscuring mist becoming complete darkness
4. disembodied voices
5. visual 'flashes' like gold, arrows, earthquakes, eyes
6. Kronos who returned his offspring to the dark
7. celestial bodies
September 10, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Picasso Bug - Animal of the Week
YouTube video by Ben G Thomas
www.youtube.com
September 10, 2025 at 12:26 PM