Re: Boris Johnson & Iliad
Owen Cramer <[email protected]>
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It's standard schoolroom sing-song Greek; British of course, but Americans aren't usually better. The hexameter makes constant sense-destroying ictus-emphases. The smirk on the face is distracting, but the scene, thanks to Homer not Boris, is compelling. Boris actually gets his teeth into Agamemnon's "emon lechos" line -- Chryseis's fate in bed with the king, which is pretty much in character for an erotic miscreant in real life playing the aoidos/rhapsodos playing Agamemnon. Also the priest Chryses' prayer "teiseian ema dakrua soisi belessi" -- there is retribution coming, always for Boris and the Brits as well as Agamemnon and the Achaeans. In a larger sense the scene is a study in terrible leadership: Agamemnon willing to publicly contrast this young woman with his wife and hold onto her rather than making an enterprise-saving deal with Chryses (a deal that's popular with the rank and file -- "enth' alloi men pantes epeuphemesan" like so much that our current American and British leaders won't act on). And his needlessly aggressive ("krateron muthon") language makes things worse.
If Boris would wipe the smirk of his face and deal with the implications of what he's reciting we might not be in this mess!
OC
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From: Classical Greek and Latin Discussion Group <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Andrew Calimach
Sent: Sunday, July 28, 2019 6:07 AM
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Subject: Re: Boris Johnson & Iliad
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Add to his many lapses that of speaking Homeric Greek with a British accent.
Andrew Calimach
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On Sun, Jul 28, 2019 at 12:54 AM Greg Kindall <[email protected]>
wrote:
> Boris Johnson at the Melbourne Writers Festival has occasion to recite
> a good chunk of Homer:
>
>
> https://www.
> abc.net.au%2Fnews%2F2019-07-25%2Fboris-johnson-recites-extracts-of-the-iliad-in%2F11338290%3Fpfmredir%3Dsm&data=02%7C01%7COCramer%40COLORADOCOLLEGE.EDU%7C22b9528fcc754aafd30f08d71354379f%7Ccfc7b13c12964387b3085de08fd13c99%7C1%7C1%7C636999124756928852&sdata=WTb7vSAQl05jQmRQBjs7luK03aEr4DF82DLqoIGc8Rs%3D&reserved=0
>