Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller)

Brown tortoiseshell cat lying on a chest of drawers with books behind her.

Zora
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#CatsOfBlueSky

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an ethnic group in Siberia and Mongolia that are considered the descendants of the historical Mongols - attaches his household or personal gods - his "Ongon" to a post or pillar. It is latter moved to a forest once the Buriat has died.

“Each Buriat, as soon as he marries and has a home. must set up in the field one of these posts or pillars and place images of his gods in it. The Shaman assists him. When a man dies the box containing his Ongons is removed from the pillar, carried to the forest and hung high up on a tree, and there it remains till it rots away. The person carrying the Ongon from the pillar to the forest must not look back; should he do so it would bring grave misfortune to the family of the dead man.” Jeremiah Curtain, The Mongols

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I've been off on a Mongolian/Eurasian Steppe tangent with my reading lately. This is a description from the late 1800s-early 1900s of the ritual by which a newly married Buriat -
#folklore #ritual #history #Mongol

For such was the passion of love that coiled itself beneath my heart and poured thick mist across my eyes, robbing me of my tender senses."

Archilochus is one of many Greek poets whose work only survives in fragments.

#poetry #classics

"By a deeper apprehension, and not primarily by a painful acquisition of many manual skills, the artist attains the power of awakening other souls to a given activity."

Started rereading some of Emerson's essays this week and forgot how fond I am of his work.
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by the work of James Frazier and--I say with somewhat less certainty--Robert Graves. As well as a sizeable helping of the Arthur of Malory and the chivalric age.

A nice quick read. If you haven't read Kay before, his prose is unbelievably fluid. 2/2

The three described books

My most recent fantasy read was The Fionavar Tapestry by @guygavrielkay.bsky.social in these beautiful editions by @grimoakpress.bsky.social 🪐📚💙 This short series may resonate with fans of myth. In addition to nods to LOTR and Narnia, Kay's world-building seems to have been deeply influenced 1/2

Brown tortoiseshell cat on lap

Big gray cat on tower with perturbed look

Morning cuddles vs morning glare.
A Tail of Two Kitties
🐈‍⬛📷 #CatsOfBlueSky

but I'm usually impressed with their professors.

Not sure why, but there doesn't really seem to be much out there besides the mythic texts themselves and NG's book. (saw your comment below). If you have Amazon Audible, I notice that the Great Courses lectures on Norse Mythology is showing up for me as $0. Not sure if I've listened to that one

The diver in the sea of Destiny extracted the pearl of my father’s life from the shell of his existence. All his property became mine; and having sat down in the depository of my father’s welfare and ease, I spread like him the carpet of the self-same employment and occupation. The tree of greediness for money had struck deep roots in my heart; and worldliness had obtained such a complete dominion over me that I was deprived once for all of the reins of self-control. In lucrative speculations and mercantile transactions I took dishonesty and fraud into my partnership; and, although I endeavoured to cover the reproving eye of conscience with the sleeve of prohibition, I was unable to cope with my insatiable greediness

I love the over-the-top prose used by the 19th century translators of folklore. I admit it can get old after a bit, but a small dose is delightful.

#folklore #prose 📚💙

Shoutout to all of the websites that have let me keep the same password for 15+ years.

An adorable big gray fluffy cat with puppy dog eyes.

Chaucer watching the consumption of chips and queso.
#Caturday 🐈📷

Tabby cat in a box with mouth open

#Caturday in a box, featuring Izzy, our smallest but loudest kitty.
🐈‍⬛📷 #tabby

Large gray cat sprawled out on human lap

Frustrating morning, but enjoying some therapeutic cat cuddles with Chaucer at the moment.
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but bridles his desires lest he be disappointed and rendered unhappy. 3/3

each of which has its own peculiar attractions; but a man who should spend all his time in the contemplation and enjoyment thereof, to the neglect and disregard of his daily avocations, would injure his own interests. Therefore he is prudent who runs not after every fleeting illusion,

It is necessary to guard oneself from the wiles and snares of our fellow-beings, and not to trust implicitly in persons whose character is neither known nor tried. Whoever walks among thorns must do so with great care and precaution. This world resembles a picture-gallery with many apartments, each of which has its own peculiar attractions; but a man who should spend all his time in the contemplation and enjoyment thereof, to the neglect and disregard of his daily avocations, would injure his own interests. Therefore he is prudent who runs not after every fleeting illusion, but bridles his desires lest he be disappointed and rendered unhappy.

It is necessary to guard oneself from the wiles and snares of our fellow-beings, and not to trust implicitly in persons whose character is neither known nor tried. Whoever walks among thorns must do so with great care and precaution. This world resembles a picture-gallery with many apartments,

Lots of books with one shelf containing a cat.

Anyone else have a dedicated cat shelf in their home library?
#CatsOfBlueSky 🐈📷
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“Though the deceitful bride of the world may look at you from the corner of her eye, and may try to bias your mind by her coquettish movements, lose not the reins of self-possession from your hands, because worldly prosperity is unsubstantial as the mirage, and the honey of its favour leaves only the bitterness of deception.”

Quote from a folktale where the protagonist is beset with a series calamities and tragedies.

#folklore

“The man who has seen the rising moon break out of the clouds at midnight, has been present like an archangel at the creation of light and of the world.”

“The man who has seen the rising moon break out of the clouds at midnight, has been present like an archangel at the creation of light and of the world.”
Emerson, "History"

White text over a black and white photo of Cape Sounion in Greece: "“Every revolution was first a thought in one man’s mind, and when the same thought occurs to another man, it is the key to that era.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, History

"Every revolution was first a thought in one man's mind, and when the same thought occurs to another man, it is the key to that era."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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two volume "Tyrants of Syracuse" by Penn & Sword Press, and for a change, the other powers become the guest stars, coming in and out of the picture as the narrative focuses on the island and its principal ancient city - Syracuse.

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it's the setting for the middle act of the Peloponnesian War.

If you read about Carthage or Ancient Rome, Sicily again will come in and out of view as both of those civilization wage wars against Greeks and against each other on the island.

In contrast to usual side role of Sicily,

Covers of the books "The Tyrants of Syracuse" War in Sicily volume 1 and 2 by Jeff Champion.

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The island of Sicily often plays a "guest star" role in histories of the Ancient World. At some point in a history of Greece, there will inevitably be a chapter on Greek colonization of Italy and further, and then in the 5th century,

#History 📚💙

“But no Locrians followed the hearty Little Ajax. They had no love for stand-and-fight encounters— had no crested bronze helmets to guard their heads, no balanced shields in their grasp, no ashen spears, only their bows and slings of springy, twisted wool. Trusting these, they followed their chief to Troy, shooting with these, salvo on pelting salvo., they tore the Trojan battle lines to pieces. So the men in heavy armor fought at the front, they grappled Trojans and Hector helmed in bronze while Locrians slung from the rear, safe, out of range.” —Homer, Iliad, XIII.823 Translated by Robert Fagles

Spear and shield wielding heroes get most of the attention in Homer's Iliad, but the poet also gives a description of the Locrians who fight with bow and sling.

#Classics #Mythology

Brown tortoiseshell long haired cat in front of a shelf of books.

Happy #Caturday from Zora
#CatsOfBlueSky
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🎨 Lu Mingshan (鹿溟山)

In the myths of ancient China, deep in the land of the Baimin, dwells the Cheng Huang, a horned, fox-like beast with yellow fur, etched into the Shanhaijing.
Fierce and untamed, it’s no docile mount. Yet those who ride it gain a staggering gift: 2,000 extra years of life.
🎨 Lu Mingshan
#mythology

“Weighing it all, heart and soul, as on they came, waves of Trojan shields men crowding him tighter, closing in on their own sure destruction… like hounds and lusty hunters closing, ringing a wild boar till out of his thicket lair he crashes, whetting his white tusks sharp in his bent, wrenching jaws and they rush in to attack and under the barks and shouts you can hear the gnash of tusks but the men stand firm— terrible, murderous as he is—so the Trojans ringed Odysseus dear to Zeus, rushing him straight on.” —Homer, The Iliad, XI.487 Translated by Robert Fagles

More from the Fagles translation of Homer's Iliad.

#Classics #Myth 📚💙