#  Hellenic Studies Folio #5 from the Center for Hellenic Studies 

 





December 21, 2020

 

 

   ![Painting of Alexander the Great ordering to open the tomb of Achilles in order to pay homage to his legendary predecessor.](/sites/g/files/omnuum7151/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/chsgreece/files/589px-robertalexandreachille.jpg?itok=fYv10oYq) 

 

 "[Alexander before Achilles' Tomb](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RobertAlexandreAchille.jpg)" (circa 1754) by Hubert Robert (1733–1808); Louvre Museum Collection; Image via Wikimedia Commons. ##  Connections to ancestors

- How does the tomb of a hero serve as a focal point, both ritually and literarily, linking the past to the present and the present to the past?
- In what way did heroes connect the ancient Greeks to their ancestors?
- How does community give meaning to the ritualized practices found in ancient Greece? Can it be said that these practices are "religious"?

###  A discussion of Iliad 23 and Iliad 7

 Reference to tombs of unknown heroes; video of approximately 6 minutes (start at 06:29 and watch through 12:35).

Embed



 



###  A discussion of myth and ritual as communal phenomena

 Video of approximately 30 minutes.

Embed



 



###  "Extra credit" reading:

 [Read a comparative analysis of Pindar's Pythian 8 and poems by Allen Ginsberg and Walt Whitman](https://classical-inquiries.chs.harvard.edu/what-thoughts-you-have-of-me-and-what-thoughts-i-have-of-you-in-poems-by-walt-whitman-and-allen-ginsberg/); essay of approximately 2,000 words.



 

 

 



 

 

 Share on:- [     Facebook ](#)
- [     Twitter ](#)
- [     Linkedin ](#)