Author: Discentes

The Poe-Meric Hymn to Apollo
Apr 19

The Poe-Meric Hymn to Apollo

Hymn to Apollo 331-342
By Tim Hampshire

In this passage, Lines 331-342 of the Hymn to Apollo, Hera makes an appeal to the Gaia and Ouranos, along with the Titans, to be granted the ability to bear a child on her own. The child ends up being Typhon.

In the Bryn Mawr commentary, there is a note for χειρὶ καταπρηνεῖ indicating that such a gesture often describes appeals to chthonic beings. When I read it that way, her prayer to the primordial gods of the earth feels dark and ghoulish in a way that I am not used to thinking of her…

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“Ther nys a bettre knight”: Hector as a Medieval Knightly Ideal
Apr 19

“Ther nys a bettre knight”: Hector as a Medieval Knightly Ideal

“Ther nys a bettre knight”: Hector as a Medieval Knightly Ideal
By William H. Weiss

Introduction
In his famous work recounting the Hundred Years’ War, Chronicles, Jean Froissart writes of two interesting episodes that any reader could easily overlook. The first appears in Book III where he details the Battle of Otterburn. He mentions how, during the bloodshed, Earl James Douglas “saw that his men were falling back” so in response he charges into the fray…

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The Limits of Ancestral Wealth and Power in Ancient Greece
Apr 19

The Limits of Ancestral Wealth and Power in Ancient Greece

The Limits of Ancestral Wealth and Power in Ancient Greece
By Shiri Gross

Though historians have often argued that hereditary power and wealth played a critical role in defining an individual’s prospects in Ancient Greek society, there is ample evidence against this conclusion. The prevalence of old archaic noble families is  disputed, and hereditary transfer of political power, where proven to exist, appears short-lived, limited, and insecure…

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Homeric Hymns: A Light Exercise in Translation
Mar 31

Homeric Hymns: A Light Exercise in Translation

Hymn to Aphrodite 184-190 and Hymn to Hermes 260-266
By Maggie Danaher

καί μιν λισσόμενος ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα:
αὐτίκα σ᾽ ὡς τὰ πρῶτα, θεά, ἴδον ὀφθαλμοῖσιν,
ἔγνων ὡς θεὸς ἦσθα: σὺ δ᾽ οὐ νημερτὲς ἔειπες…

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The Ethics of Excess: Food and Satire
Mar 31

The Ethics of Excess: Food and Satire

The Ethics of Excess: Food and Satire
By Clare Kearns

Food and eating have always figured prominently in the work of satirists. That food plays upon the somatic realism of satire is evident, but the relationship between food and satire’s moral criticism is more slippery. What, if anything, makes food consumption an appropriate vehicle for the satirist’s moral commentary, rather than other forms of consumption and excess?

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A Window’s View into Egyptian Society
Mar 31

A Window’s View into Egyptian Society

A Window’s View into Egyptian Society
By Maria Murad

This window featured in the Penn Museum was once cemented in the walls of the Palace of Merenptah. The palace, along with the window, was built during Merenptah’s reign from 1213 to 1204 BCE in the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt’s New Kingdom. In order to understand the significance of the images and function of the window, it is important to consider the context in which the window was created…

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A Night of Tea and Translation with Sarah Ruden
Mar 30

A Night of Tea and Translation with Sarah Ruden

A Night of Tea and Translation with Sarah Ruden
By James Nycz

High up in the attic of College Hall, Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania’s Classics Department, Sarah Ruden, treated students to an engaging collaborative lecture in the historical halls of the Philomathean Society. Sarah Ruden is a translator and poet who has taught English, Latin, and writing at Harvard, Yale and the University of Cape Town…

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Travel Diary: the Tennessee Undergraduate Classics Research Conference
Mar 29

Travel Diary: the Tennessee Undergraduate Classics Research Conference

Travel Diary: the Tennessee Undergraduate Classics Research Conference
By Rachel Winicov

Earlier this semester I had the opportunity to experience the study of Classics outside the walls of Penn. With the support of the Penn College of Arts and Sciences Travel Grant program and the University of Tennessee Knoxville Classics Department, I traveled to Knoxville, TN on February 22nd, for the Eighth Annual Tennessee Undergraduate Classics Research Conference (TUCRC).

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A New Home for Discentes
Feb 13

A New Home for Discentes

The Editorial Board

Welcome to Discentes, the Classics Magazine of the University of Pennsylvania. Where Discentes previously existed as a printed volume of select undergraduate work, we now publish work on our new online platform on a rolling basis.

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