Sulky, brutal Achilles; vain, passive Helen. Have we misjudged these characters from the stories of the Trojan War? Susan C Wilson, author of Helen’s Judgement, argues that we need to go back to the Iliad to understand them, and appreciate the importance of the concept of shame, which drove the Ancient Greek heroes and heroines. […]
Motives of a Bronze Age murderess
What drove Queen Clytemnestra to murder her husband, Agamemnon? As Susan C Wilson writes, she had enough of a motive given the savage history of his family and his treatment of her children; enough to demand vengeance in Bronze Age society. What springs to mind when we consider Clytemnestra from Greek mythology? Adulterous wife of […]