My son Matthew and I went to the Louvre today, just the two of us. Above, the first rendering of the Greek goddess Pallas Athena that we found. It was hypnotic (and yes, she was rendered in purple stone). Hypnotic, not only because of her perfect beauty, but because I have been steeping myself in “The Odyssey” these past few weeks, and have come to love her. I have seen Greek busts before, but this one I saw through different eyes. It was not merely an object of aesthetic contemplation for me this time, but was an image of a person (a “person”) I have come to have great affection for, in reading an epic poem written by someone who believed she was real, for people who believed she was real.
And then we found the rooms with Greek ceramics. “Look, Dad!” said Matthew. “It’s Odysseus and Circe!” Indeed it was. Below, one side of a Greek vessel, on which appears the scene in The Odyssey in which Circe tries to bewitch Odysseus with her wand (I apologize for the blurriness; the light was low in the room):
Read Full Article »