Participation in the amazing 'Herodotus Marathon'!

What an amazing experience (and experiment) was the Herodotus Marathon (description)! From May 31 to June 2, an international team of readers gave a non-stop reading of all nine volumes of Herodotus's Histories in various languages and translations online. Despite technical challenges, the team from St. Andrews University pulled it off. A huge thanks to the team there: Prof. Thomas Harrison, Euan Bowman, Edward Armstrong, and Marco Gay! I enjoyed hearing Herodotus in Japanese, Hebrew, Ukrainian, and even Bärndütsch (my wife's language)!

Here's my reading from Book 7, chapters 14–21 on Xerxes and Artabanus's experiences with a phantom appearing in dreams. Their interpretation was that Persia must attack Greek (especially Athens). If they do not take this course of action, Xerxes and Artabanus would be punished severely by the gods. The rest of the Histories depicts the consequences of this decision. 

Donning proudly my Herodotus Helpline T-shirt, I also read from the ending of Book 8, chapters 141–144, which portrays some passionate speeches given by Athenians, Spartans, and a representative of Mardonius, a major commander of the Persian army. The result: Athens and Sparta are not going to give up but fight for their freedom. Book 9 recounts the stunning victory of the Greeks against all odds. Persia is pushed back, away from the traditional lands of the Greeks...but does not disappear, as told by later historians.  

Proofs of the Divine: Luke’s Use of Tekmhpion in Acts 1:3 in Light of Herodotus’ Description of the Battle of Mycale (Hist. 9.100.2)

Happy to share my article that compares uses of tekmêrion (proof or convincing proof) by Herodotus and Luke in relation to their beliefs--which were obviously different--that the divine was at work in the scenes they describe. 

The article can be found here (if you have access): 

Proofs of the Divine: Luke’s Use of Tekmhpion in Acts 1:3 in Light of Herodotus’ Description of the Battle of Mycale (Hist. 9.100.2): 

Here is the abstract:

In Acts 1:3, the author claims that Jesus had shown himself alive ‘by many proofs’ (ἐν πολλοῖς τεκμηρίοις). Phrases containing τεκμήριον (a NT hapax) qualified by πολύς have a long textual history. Reference works, however, do not discuss the closest rhetorical and theological parallel to the occurrence of τεκμήριον in Acts, which is found in Herodotus’ description of the battle of Mycale (Histories 9.100.2) in a metaleptic aside about proofs of divine intervention in human history: Δῆλα δὴ πολλοῖσι τεκμηρίοισι ἐστὶ τὰ θεῖα τῶν πρηγμάτων. Given the theologically charged nature of Luke–Acts and the Histories, this rich parallel illustrates well both projects and evinces plausible Herodotean influence on Luke’s historiographical erudition.

Mt 6 9 13 Lord's Prayer #Short

The Lord's Prayer is a beautiful prayer that still resonates today. It invites us to worship God and to seek his help for our daily needs. Here is a reading of the prayer as it is presented in the Greek New Testament (Nestle-Aland 28th edition). Try to memorize it! 

Mary praises God - ”The Magnificat” - Luke 1.46-55 #Shorts

Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners! Reading Mark 2.15-17 in New ...

On Tyranny and Tyrants - Echoes from Ancient Texts

It may seem strange to speak of tyranny and tyrants in the 21^st century. Unfortunately, the year 2022 is displaying a good number of tyrants and the damage is tragically manifest. For this reason, I’d like to dedicate this video to one of my students from Ukraine and to her family. 

 

Concerning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia, Krišjānis Kariņš, said this: “This is the new ‘usual’, so to speak, we have an aggressive neighbor who is interested in recreating an empire who believes in the right to subjugate others and has a disregard for national self-determination. This is a threat to all of us.” (Source: BBC World News, 23 Feb. 2022). 

 

When I heard this statement, it sounded like something I had read in a speech in one of the ancient histories or tragedies. As a form of rule, tyranny is ancient and very well documented in various types of literature. In this video, we’ll look at some ancient texts that help us to understand why it was attractive to some and why it was opposed by many. 

Some resources:

For definitions of ‘tyranny’ and ‘tyrant’:

 

τυραννίς in The Online Liddell-Scott-Jones Greek-English Lexicon

 

"1. τῠ́ραννος" in: The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, edited by: Franco Montanari. Consulted online on 05/04/2022 

<https://dictionaries.brillonline.com/search#dictionary=montanari&id=120347> First published online: July 2015.

 

Other resources cited in the text or found elsewhere:

 

Andrewes, A. The Greek Tyrants. London: Hutchinson University Library, 1956.

 

Austin, M., “Greek Tyrants and the Persians, 546–479 B.C.” The Classical Quarterly, 40(2), (1990), 289-306. doi:10.1017/S0009838800042889

 

Berve, H. Die Tyrannis bei den Griechen. München: C.H. Beck’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1967.

 

Ehrenberg, Victor, and P. J. Rhodes. "tyranny." In The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 2012. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199545568.001.0001/acref-9780199545568-e-6624.

 

Herodotus, Histories, translation by A. D. Godley, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920.

 

Lewis S. Ancient Tyranny. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006.

 

Theognis, elegiac poet, VIBCE, Θέογνις: in IEG 1; ALG 2; PLG 2; ed. D. Young, T 1971; J. Carrière, BL 1948; A. Garzya, Firenze 1958; B. A. van Groningen, b. I, Amsterdam 1966; M. Vetta, b. II, Roma 1980.

The Greek alphabet for reading ancient Greek / L'alphabet grec pour lire des textes en grec ancien

This bilingual video will help you to get started reading beautiful texts in ancient Greek!

--> Go to 1:34 to skip Introduction and begin instruction. 

--> Go to 14:15 for practice. To dig deeper, try these resources:

• http://www.drshirley.org/greek/textbook02/chapter01-alphabet.pdf 
• Duff, J., The Elements of New Testament Greek, 3rd ed., Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 11–20.
• Mounce W. D., Basics of Biblical Greek : Grammar, 4th ed., Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2019, p. 8–13.

You may want to explore oral approaches to learning Koine Greek, e.g., Christophe Rico's Πόλις book and other resources : https://www.polisjerusalem.org/language/ancient-greek/#book

++++++++++ 

Cette vidéo bilingue vous aidera à vous lancer dans la lecture de beaux textes en grec ancien !

--> Aller à 1:34 pour sauter l'Introduction et commencer l'instruction. 

--> Aller à 14:15 pour la pratique.

Pour approfondir:

• http://bibliques.com/weft/gr/glec01.php
• https://app.memrise.com/course/1334483/vocabulaire-grec-biblique-grammaire-letourneau/1/
• Duff, J., Initiation au grec du Nouveau Testament, traduction et adaptation de l’anglais par R. Burnet et D. Denjean, Paris, Beauchesne, 2005, p. 19–26.
• Letourneau, P., Initiation au Grec du Nouveau Testament : De l’alphabet aux phrases complexes, Sciences bibliques, Montréal, Médiaspaul, 2010, p. 11–18.
• Lukinovich, Alessandra, and Madeleine Rousset. Grammaire de grec ancien. 3e éd. revue et augm., Genève, Georg, 2002, p. 3–20.

Vous pouvez également explorer des approches orales pour apprendre le grec koinè, par ex. le livre de Christophe Rico, Πόλις : Parler le grec ancien comme une langue vivante : https://www.polisjerusalem.org/language/ancient-greek/#book 

ou le manuel de Danielle Ellul et d'Odile Flichy: Apprendre le grec biblique par les textes : https://www.editionsducerf.fr/librairie/livre/17703/apprendre-le-grec-biblique-par-les-textes

Herodotus' hermeneutical dilemma, prophetic voice, and an estranged child named Luke

Here is my presentation for the research network 'Herodotus Helpline'. 

I explain my research project that shows the similarities and differences between Herodotus, known as the father of Greek history, and Luke the evangelist who wrote history in his own way, combining elements of Jewish and Greek historiography. 

Was (is) Luke estranged from Herodotus’ legacy? 

If so, then by whom?

Estranged by time, place, culture, or religion? 

Estranged by scholarship? 

Estranged by Luke himself? 

Or there is some degree of rapprochement?

To see more presentations on Herodotus Helpline

What do you do with your democracy? (Herodotus strikes again!)

Introduction

Democracy: the rule of the people; or the rule that is partially in the hands of the people. Some people are struggling for democracy right now. Some people live in a democracy but don’t fully appreciate it, because they haven’t lived under other forms of government. Others appreciate democracy but don’t know how to live it effectively.

 

This raises a few questions: what is the best form of government? Does it make any difference? Interestingly, these questions are actually quite ancient. 

 

In this video, we are going to consider a brilliant text from antiquity written by Herodotus, a Greek historian from fifth-century BCE. In this text Herodotus describes a group of Persians who are debating about three types of government: monarchy[1], oligarchy, and democracy. 

You can find the text here: Herodotus’s Histories, Book 3, chapters 80-86. 

Which one is the best for Persia? Which one did they choose? Why did it matter to Herodotus? And what does it matter to us? 

 

For more, please watch the video. 

Other important texts mentioned in the video: See especially Plato, Rep. 1.338e; Books 6 and 8, specifically VIII.1–VIII.5. 543a–550c. Timocracy; VIII.6–VIII.9. 550c–555b. Oligarchy; VIII.10–VIII.13. 555b–562a. Democracy; VIII.14–IX.3. 562a–576b. Tyranny.

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[1] Synonyms: autocracy = a system of government by one person with absolute power. Tyranny = cruel and oppressive government or rule.

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