Monday, April 21, 2014

Lunch

Here's a great moment from The Odyssey, translated by Butcher from book three; more here, and I believe 'mere' here is a noun that means boundary or lake/water. I love how the language is so interesting and fluid, it makes you want to walk through the ancient world, see their temples, their white tunics, their god honoring feasts:

Now the sun arose and left the lovely mere, speeding to the brazen heaven, to give light to the immortals and to mortal men on the earth, the graingiver, and they reached Pylos, the stablished castle of Neleus. There the people were doing sacrifice on the sea shore, slaying black bulls without spot to the dark-haired god, the shaker of the earth.

Nine companies there were, and five hundred men sat in each, and in every company they held nine bulls ready to hand. Just as they had tasted the inner parts, and were burning the slices of the thighs on the altar to the god, the others were bearing straight to land, and brailed up the sails of the gallant ship, and moored her, and themselves came forth. And Telemachus too stept forth from the ship, and Athene led the way. And the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, spake first to him, [...]

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