Ithaca and Sappho (unrelated!)

Edited to add: There were some troubles when posting last night. Apparently, this post was showing but wasn't really there (i.e. you couldn't comment or even edit), and the previous post on the Smithsonian lectures had disappeared altogether. I think it's all been fixed, but there's a chance some ghost posts might show up. Hopefully not.

First, there was a lovely article posted on Classics-L today about the discovery of Odysseus' Ithaca.

Another link was also posted about the book. Lots of good stuff there.

I personally think it's a really exciting find, and I hope to see more about it!

Secondly, Ralph Hancock posted his own verse "version" of the new Sappho poem on Classics-L list today. I'm copying it here with his permission:

My children, seize the lovely gifts
The fragrant Muses bring
Carried within their violet skirts;
The lyre with clear-toned string.

I was as lithe as you; since then,
Old age has taken toll:
My hair has turned as white as snow,
That once was black as coal.

My heart is heavy in my breast,
My knees are stiff and sore.
Once I could dance like a young fawn;
Such times will come no more.

Though I may groan about my lot,
There's nothing I can do.
Time passes, and it takes with it
The lives of me and you.

Think of Tithonus, loved by Dawn;
Clasped in her rosy arms
She bore him to her distant bed,
Enjoyed his youthful charms,

Won him the gift of endless life;
Yet he grew old and grey
Beside her, as she sadly passed
Her endless youth away.

For the Greek, see here.

For other translations, see here. For the original Sappho posts and links to the original TLS article, see here.

Oh, and don't any of you forget that Buy a Friend a Book Week, started by Debra Hamel at blogographos, is SOON upon us! In fact, it starts tomorrow (or likely, by the time you read this, today)! So go forth and find that perfect book for a friend! :-D