Join me in exploring the ancient “navel of the earth” (ὀμφαλὸς τῆς γῆς)!

If you want to use the last days of the year to improve your Greek, we invite you to join our free live webinar on December 28 at 8pm Central European Time (Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Warsaw). We will read texts from the Christian Christmas tradition (New Testament & Gregory of Nazianzus) as […]

Background info The story of Alexander and the Gordian knot is told by Arrian and Plutarch (see sources below). It can be interpreted in many different ways, depending on whether you see Alexander as a ruthless power seeker who does not care for religious traditions or as a smart guy who is thinking out of […]

In this video we take you to Carnuntum, a Roman military camp near Vienna (Austria) where Marcus Aurelius stayed for three years defending the borders of the Roman empire and, en passant, writing his famous „Meditations“ (Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν).

This story was written by one of my (Jenny’s) students just four months before his untimely death due to cancer: I am very glad that I had the honour to teach him ancient Greek during the short time we knew each other and I am especially grateful that he allowed me, before his death, to […]

Today is the equinox (ἡ ἰσημερία). While the English word “equinox” literally means “equal night” (Lat.: aequa nox) the Greeks actually say it the other way around: “equal day” (ἴση ἡμέρα).

A video on Pythagoras.

Mathematician, mystic, sect leader – Pythagoras is definitely one of my favorite philosophers. Take a look at his Golden Verses, a poem (probably) from Hellenistic times ascribed to him. Who else can spot some similarity with the Ten Commandments? 🤔 – Jenny

τὸ δένδρον, –ου – a tree. The „Word of the Week“ will be switching from animals to plants now, and we start with the most basic plant word there probably is: τὸ δένδρον, -ου – a tree. The illustration for this word is taken form Hieronymus Bock’s gorgeous „Kreüter Bůch“ (Strasbourg, 1546) (https://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/2015/09/29/a-german-botanical-renaissance/).

In this video we explain the beginning of the Odyssey in Ancient Greek.