The Examined Life: Greek Studies in the Schools

THE EXAMINED LIFE is pleased to share our new brochure hot off the press—a project spearheaded by Stephen Anthony Guerriero MA, MEd to reflect the growing vibrancy of the program. And, the next step in our focused marketing outreach to a younger and more diverse group of teachers. The original artwork was commissioned from Flaroh Illustration with photography by Angelography Studios. The design and printing was done by Graphic Design students at Cape Cod Regional Technical High School. If you would like a copy of the new brochure sent to you — please send us a message, or visit our website for more information! #professionaldevelopment #greece #ancientgreece #socialstudies

We love to see the Homeric epics as relevant and meaningful now as they were to an audience almost 3,000 years ago! "Myths, Plagues and Battles, on the 12th Floor of The Times" A group of The New York Times employees are reading their way through Emily Wilson’s translation of the “Iliad,” the epic poem attributed to Homer. By Stefano Montali ❝Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. On a Tuesday afternoon in June, on a faraway continent, a war was underway. A queen had been abducted. A fickle god had started a plague. And a heavenly hero with a weak heel was heading into battle. The war might have been mythical, but on the 12th floor of The New York Times building in Manhattan, a reading group of Times employees was taking it very seriously. The club had gathered, as it had done many times before, to discuss Emily Wilson’s translation of the “Iliad,” a #Greek epic set during the Trojan War and composed around the eighth or seventh century B.C. by one or more poets we call Homer. (Some scholars argue that Homer was a group of people.) Members are reading the work over the course of a year.❞ Also, we just want to add that Milman Parry and Albert Lord pretty convincingly proved that the Homeric epics are products of 'oral composition' in verse. We highly recommend a companion reading of "The Singer of Tales," published by Lord in 1960. https://lnkd.in/e3r_iebK

Our thoughts are with our friends in Athens and Marathon, and we're hoping these wildfires come under control very soon! https://lnkd.in/eA-ApxU3

Visiting Greece in the summer months has become much more grueling in recent years - the volume of tourists and the temperature continue to soar. ❝The culture ministry had only announced the emergency shutdown of the 2,400-year-old Parthenon hours earlier. Tourists were barred from that site and other ancient masterpieces atop the UNESCO-listed archaeological site between noon and 5:00 pm local time. The closure -- the second in just over a month -- comes as Greece's national weather service predicted temperatures above 43º C (109º F) in parts of the country. It was the tenth consecutive day with temperatures.❞ https://lnkd.in/eEmvx_E3

This might be a tough sell ☕️ From Morning Brew: "Greece has given us some pretty good ideas in the past, like democracy and Euclidean geometry, but we’re hoping its latest innovation—namely, a six-day workweek—doesn’t catch on. New regulations that took effect in Greece this week extend the typical 40-hour workweek to 48 for private businesses providing round-the-clock services. The first-of-their-kind rules in the European Union are an effort to boost the Greek economy, which has only recently begun to rebound from a decade-long slump. Greece’s business-friendly government says the move is necessary to address a skilled worker shortage and combat unpaid overtime. Meanwhile, labor unions denounced it as “barbaric.” For some, it may not be much of a change. Greek workers already log more hours than those in any other EU nation—as well as more than employees in the famously workaholic US and Japan, CNBC reports. Workers in Greece averaged 1,886 working hours in 2022, compared to 1,811 in the US and 1,571 across the EU. Zoom out: The new Greek rules fly in the face of a broader trend toward shorter workweeks. The four-day week is gaining momentum, with trials showing it increases productivity. Almost one-third of US businesses are considering cutting their workweek down, according to a survey of CEOs by KPMG released in April." —by Abigail Rubenstein for Morning Brew https://lnkd.in/euryFNnu

The story of the 'Victorious Youth' is a cautionary tale of the looted antiquities market, and the importance of provenance research by museums of all kinds. In the 1960s a beautiful bronze sculpture of a young athlete was pulled up from the Adriatic Sea by fisherman off the coast of Fano, in southeastern Italy. Thought to be the work of an Athenian sculptor, the statue was estimated to be from about 400 BC. After some mysterious travel, the statue was purchased by the Getty Museum in Malibu. In the 1970s, oilman John Paul Getty endowed a museum in his name to be housed in a grand Roman-style villa in Malibu, CA. The museum had lots of money, but no collection. Over a few years, the Getty went on a buying spree - including purchases and accepted art donations that would later come back to haunt the institution and its leadership. Much of this is documented in 'Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum' by Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino Now, after decades of investigations, lawsuits, and arguments, the Italian court system has declared the statue the property of the State. It has long demanded the restitution of the Victorious Youth. As Adam Kuper writes for The New York Times, the context is a general focus on the role of museums in creating transparency around the provenance of its artifacts, and growing calls to decolonize collections: ❝This is a time of reckoning for museums. There is widespread agreement, even in museums, that questionable pieces in collections should be returned. But returned to whom? If a statue cast in Greece 2,000 years ago is discovered off the coast of Italy, is it part of the heritage of modern Italy? The Italian courts seem to think so. If a statue cast in Rome 2,000 years ago is discovered in Greece, Cyprus or Turkey, would it belong to one of those states, or would Italians have a claim over Roman antiquities on the ground that they share a culture — whatever that may mean — with ancient Romans? Is the modern Italian Republic the heir to the multiethnic Roman Empire, which spanned most of Europe, the Near East and parts of North Africa for more than four centuries?❞ In the meantime, the Getty is holding firm, and so if you want to see the young athlete, you'll need to travel to Malibu. But, who knows - maybe one day you'll have to go a little farther to see it, like maybe to Puglia. https://lnkd.in/eSPx2DJ4

You might know that Perkins School for the Blind was the first school for the blind in the United States. Even 175 years ago, their founders were committed to opening the doors to education, literacy and independence for people who are blind, visually impaired and deafblind. That was in 1829. Their groundbreaking approach to instructional technology, literacy, and empowerment of visually impaired learners through assistive technology like raised print has been emulated throughout the US and the world. But, did you know one of those founders fought in the War for Greek Independence? 🇬🇷 ⚔️ Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe (1801-1876) served as the founding director of what would become Perkins School for the Blind. He was born in Boston and trained as a surgeon. An admirer of Lord Byron, Dr. Howe left Boston for Greece to volunteer his services, and later fight, for the Greek independence efforts in 1824. He fought and earned the gratitude of the Greek leadership for his enthusiasm, skill, and commitment. He distinguished himself and built a reputation as a reliable ally of Greece. He even had a helmet of Lord Byron's in his Boston home. Upon his return to Boston in 1827, he continued his efforts to support the nascent independent Greece by raising and sending money and supplies from here in the US to Greece. He brought a number of Greek refugee children back to Boston, as he continued his work to advance his political and social work. He gained prominence later as an abolitionist, and he and his wife spoke, published, and supported the antislavery movement. His last trip to Greece was in 1866/1867 when he supported the Cretan Revolution, and spoke eloquently about the role of Crete as a birthplace of one of the world's oldest civilizations. Truly an amazing life, as Dr. Howe lived his ideals and his work speaks loudly for itself. He died in 1876 at 74 years of age. He and his wife are laid to rest in Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. #greece #greekindependence #boston https://lnkd.in/enVbQTht More information from a 1909 retrospective of Dr. Howe's life published in the New York Times: https://lnkd.in/eh85wfC5

A fascinating look at how the legacy of Alexander the Great is still having an impact on diplomatic and political discourse in Southern Europe. To be clear - Alexander III, King of Macedon, son of Phillip II, spoke Greek, came from an area that is now part of Greece, and considered himself Greek. Yet that hasn't stopped some politicians in the country of North Macedonia from trying to claim that legacy, and the imagery, of Alexander. And even Northern Macedonian historians take issue with that. And what gets lost in this ahistorical legend-building? The actual rich, long historical legacy of Northern Macedonia itself. From the article: ❝The problem, though, is that most of the history on display is claimed by other countries. Present-day North Macedonia, birthed by the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, has no real connection to Alexander the Great, who lived 2,000 years ago down the road in what is now Greece, and many of the other historical figures honored with statues are Bulgarian. Slavica Babamova, the director of the national archaeological museum, has spent her career digging up and displaying ancient artifacts and has no problem focusing on the past. But she said she was unsettled by the plethora of statues, erected by her country in an effort to build a state and national identity. “We have such a rich history of our own — and so many things to say. But I don’t see any need to push all this overdone marketing,” she said, gesturing toward the Alexander the Great statue during an interview. More important for North Macedonia and indisputably part of its history, she added, are the golden funeral mask and other stunning artifacts that predate Alexander and were found in an ancient necropolis near the village of Trebenishte in North Macedonia.❞ #greece #history https://lnkd.in/e6svKJRb

🥁 It's official . . . We're official! After a rigorous application process, we are now an approved professional development provider and now listed in the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's database! We are now able to provide PDPs to teachers who participate in our professional development work, and are certified to provide training and education in the area of History/Social Sciences - especially within our primary fields of expertise: #Greek history, #Civics, and mythology. #PD #ProfessionalDevelopment #teachers Check out our official listing on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts DESE website: https://lnkd.in/e_VeePaw

2,500 years later and Pythagoras is still in the news - Well, his theorem at least. 📐 ❝Teens come up with trigonometry proof for Pythagorean Theorem, a problem that stumped math world for centuries Bill Whitaker: So tell me, what was this bonus question? Calcea Johnson: It was to create a new proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. And it kind of gave you a few guidelines on how would you start a proof. The seniors were familiar with the Pythagorean Theorem, a fundamental principle of geometry. You may remember it from high school: a² + b² = c². In plain English, when you know the length of two sides of a right triangle, you can figure out the length of the third. Both had studied geometry and some trigonometry, and both told us math was not easy. What no one told them was there had been more than 300 documented proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem using algebra and geometry, but for 2,000 years a proof using trigonometry was thought to be impossible, … and that was the bonus question facing them. Bill Whitaker: When you looked at the question did you think, "Boy, this is hard"?❞ https://lnkd.in/e2qAYS-8