But this post is not about that . . .

No, this post, my dear friends, is in answer to the ongoing riddle, a revelation for all you questioners, you wonderers, you cryers of the cabal, you delvers into the Mysteries, you curious few who inhabit the joyous world today!

For… Read full post »

"A certain story came to mind, vulgar, a real pigsty of a story."  -Cratinus

"A hard man is good to find." -NYC subway graffiti slogan

Aristophanes' comedies are full of fantastic schemes and stratagems.  Fantasy action is the very reverse (sniff), the mirror image (sniffsniffle) of… Read full post »

In ancient Athens, a man of the prosperous or aristocratic elements of the community normally entered marriage after active military service, around age thirty.  (a fitting age to take a mate...)  His wife might be as much as half that age.  (ah, even more fitting...)  His ex… Read full post »

Herodotus,  it is commonly remarked, had an epic poet's sense of size.  Plato called him very much like Homer. (When he called him at all)  Consider the grand overview: all of Persia's dominions, the time set in the passage of almost a century, names and places spilling out to give eve… Read full post »