@philologistgrc.bsky.social
We will have more to say about newer work on Perseus but the Scaife viewer now has dictionary integration and a few commentaries. If not swarmed, it can be a nice reading environment
September 17, 2026 at 1:58 AM
We will have more to say about newer work on Perseus but the Scaife viewer now has dictionary integration and a few commentaries. If not swarmed, it can be a nice reading environment
thanks to Tom Elliott, Charles Pletcher installed Anubis and Scaife is (for now at least) back up. We will need to do more but this gets us moving at least for now!
September 16, 2026 at 6:20 PM
thanks to Tom Elliott, Charles Pletcher installed Anubis and Scaife is (for now at least) back up. We will need to do more but this gets us moving at least for now!
while we continue to do battle with bot swarms (and hope to agreed on a more advanced strategy with Tufts), this paper appeared. Useful as the Perseus DL can be as a website, our bigger contribution is probably providing data for many other projects. This only begins the story.
September 16, 2026 at 2:27 PM
while we continue to do battle with bot swarms (and hope to agreed on a more advanced strategy with Tufts), this paper appeared. Useful as the Perseus DL can be as a website, our bigger contribution is probably providing data for many other projects. This only begins the story.
Now Scaife is down. Ugh. it is difficult for an application at Tufts to use bot challenges. We are pushing to do something. This is our traffic as of Google Analytics.
September 15, 2026 at 8:23 PM
Now Scaife is down. Ugh. it is difficult for an application at Tufts to use bot challenges. We are pushing to do something. This is our traffic as of Google Analytics.
tinyurl.com/mrkx7z3j A short note on what the open data ecosystem of digital classics lets you do.
August 31, 2026 at 3:20 PM
tinyurl.com/mrkx7z3j A short note on what the open data ecosystem of digital classics lets you do.
now.tufts.edu/2026/08/18/w... BTW: the title should be "Founders"
Where the Founding Fathers Found Their Inspiration
The idea of an independent United States was inspired in no small part by Greco-Roman ideals, argues a classics professor
now.tufts.edu
August 18, 2026 at 1:21 PM
now.tufts.edu/2026/08/18/w... BTW: the title should be "Founders"
Here is an interesting case where the LLM makes a mistake and where there is a nice teaching point, i.e., we can show the reader why the LLM had the linguistic data it needed to get the gender (she vs. he) right. This was Deepseek. I have not tested others.
August 10, 2026 at 12:41 PM
Here is an interesting case where the LLM makes a mistake and where there is a nice teaching point, i.e., we can show the reader why the LLM had the linguistic data it needed to get the gender (she vs. he) right. This was Deepseek. I have not tested others.
people have complained that the gods being in disguise to check your behavior is a Christian addition the Odyssey. That is not true - consider, for example, this passage from the Odyssey.
July 30, 2026 at 3:03 PM
people have complained that the gods being in disguise to check your behavior is a Christian addition the Odyssey. That is not true - consider, for example, this passage from the Odyssey.
First pass at supporting Classical Persian: selections of the Shahnameh from Pizzi 1883. work of @farnooshamsian finally starts to surface. tinyurl.com/5n8yfh9v
July 24, 2026 at 4:21 PM
First pass at supporting Classical Persian: selections of the Shahnameh from Pizzi 1883. work of @farnooshamsian finally starts to surface. tinyurl.com/5n8yfh9v
Thanks to OAI Sol 5.6, we have a first version of the first vernacular translation, Segni, aligned to our other versions. It is not perfect but it is a start. 3 years ago, I would not even have tried to enter this. Amazing what we can do. tinyurl.com/3wetnhyf
July 24, 2026 at 2:17 PM
Thanks to OAI Sol 5.6, we have a first version of the first vernacular translation, Segni, aligned to our other versions. It is not perfect but it is a start. 3 years ago, I would not even have tried to enter this. Amazing what we can do. tinyurl.com/3wetnhyf
for those who have not studied Greek but want to deal with Homer: we have glosses and transliteration in the Homer Treebanks: glosses done with Qwen -- not as good as frontier models but we can run them at scale. tinyurl.com/59xcvjba
July 22, 2026 at 2:09 AM
for those who have not studied Greek but want to deal with Homer: we have glosses and transliteration in the Homer Treebanks: glosses done with Qwen -- not as good as frontier models but we can run them at scale. tinyurl.com/59xcvjba
A day after the one image that haunts me from Nolans
@odysseymovie
is Agamemnon -- surely designed to recall the Dark Night--appearing when the Greeks finally open the gates of Troy. Why does Nolan have Agamemnon echo the Dark Night? I will have to go back to the earlier movie.
@odysseymovie
is Agamemnon -- surely designed to recall the Dark Night--appearing when the Greeks finally open the gates of Troy. Why does Nolan have Agamemnon echo the Dark Night? I will have to go back to the earlier movie.
July 20, 2026 at 10:32 PM
A day after the one image that haunts me from Nolans
@odysseymovie
is Agamemnon -- surely designed to recall the Dark Night--appearing when the Greeks finally open the gates of Troy. Why does Nolan have Agamemnon echo the Dark Night? I will have to go back to the earlier movie.
@odysseymovie
is Agamemnon -- surely designed to recall the Dark Night--appearing when the Greeks finally open the gates of Troy. Why does Nolan have Agamemnon echo the Dark Night? I will have to go back to the earlier movie.
LLMs unleashed a new wave of development, with individuals now able to produce reading environments that reflect the features that they consider important. Take a look at Brandon Lucas' lyceum.quest, e.g., his glossed Homer with code github.com/lyceum-quest
July 20, 2026 at 10:16 PM
LLMs unleashed a new wave of development, with individuals now able to produce reading environments that reflect the features that they consider important. Take a look at Brandon Lucas' lyceum.quest, e.g., his glossed Homer with code github.com/lyceum-quest
To complement the ballad Iliad of Newman that was released yesterday, we now have the 1911 Cotterill translation into English dactylic hexameter. tinyurl.com/bd7c2h6r
July 20, 2026 at 12:32 PM
To complement the ballad Iliad of Newman that was released yesterday, we now have the 1911 Cotterill translation into English dactylic hexameter. tinyurl.com/bd7c2h6r
on seeing the Odyssey: (1) I can't help it: "Its a very pretty movie, Mr. Nolan, but you mustn't call it Homer." (2) Could be a killer app to boost the study of Greek among a wider range of people speaking US English. Travis Scott as Homeric bard? Thank you!
July 20, 2026 at 12:31 AM
on seeing the Odyssey: (1) I can't help it: "Its a very pretty movie, Mr. Nolan, but you mustn't call it Homer." (2) Could be a killer app to boost the study of Greek among a wider range of people speaking US English. Travis Scott as Homeric bard? Thank you!
Low tech bilingual searching Homer: e.g., search for Greek μῆνις and see Greek/Eng at the sentence level: tinyurl.com/5fe4e6fw AT Murray archaic xlation (for now) but useful
July 19, 2026 at 4:05 PM
Low tech bilingual searching Homer: e.g., search for Greek μῆνις and see Greek/Eng at the sentence level: tinyurl.com/5fe4e6fw AT Murray archaic xlation (for now) but useful
It took a couple of days but I have now the 1856 Newman Iliad in ballad meter - which provoked Arnold's attack. I had identify 500 places where Newman's English skips line numbers. Gemini did a solid first pass job combining half lines scrambled by OCR. gregorycrane.github.io/persverscomp/
July 19, 2026 at 2:50 PM
It took a couple of days but I have now the 1856 Newman Iliad in ballad meter - which provoked Arnold's attack. I had identify 500 places where Newman's English skips line numbers. Gemini did a solid first pass job combining half lines scrambled by OCR. gregorycrane.github.io/persverscomp/
I encountered an unexpected move that I will definitely pair with the Odyssey when I next teach comparative epic. Love is the driver and it climaxes with the wrong returning husband against his enemies in a hall-like restaurant. And, of course, dancing and singing in Telugu.
July 16, 2026 at 3:26 PM
I encountered an unexpected move that I will definitely pair with the Odyssey when I next teach comparative epic. Love is the driver and it climaxes with the wrong returning husband against his enemies in a hall-like restaurant. And, of course, dancing and singing in Telugu.
Putting off other duties a bit more, I added the Cowper c. 1790 Iliad and Odyssey. Now you can go from Chapman->Hobbes->Pope->Cowper->Bryant. gregorycrane.github.io/persverscomp
July 15, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Putting off other duties a bit more, I added the Cowper c. 1790 Iliad and Odyssey. Now you can go from Chapman->Hobbes->Pope->Cowper->Bryant. gregorycrane.github.io/persverscomp
with all the translations we are adding, we have enabled 7 columns for comparison: gregorycrane.github.io/persverscomp/
July 14, 2026 at 5:53 PM
with all the translations we are adding, we have enabled 7 columns for comparison: gregorycrane.github.io/persverscomp/
In preparation for Nolan's Odyssey, we now have Chapman's Homer. You can use the treebank to compare Chapman, Hobbes, Pope, Bryant and other translations: gregorycrane.github.io/persverscomp/
July 14, 2026 at 12:27 AM
In preparation for Nolan's Odyssey, we now have Chapman's Homer. You can use the treebank to compare Chapman, Hobbes, Pope, Bryant and other translations: gregorycrane.github.io/persverscomp/
Just a reminder that people have been arguing about how to translate Homer for a long time. Matthew Arnold going at multiple translators and Francis Newman fighting back -- much to learn for those interested, even when we disagree.
July 10, 2026 at 3:48 PM
Just a reminder that people have been arguing about how to translate Homer for a long time. Matthew Arnold going at multiple translators and Francis Newman fighting back -- much to learn for those interested, even when we disagree.
Hobbes' Homer translations are much underrated. You can see for yourself, compare the with the treebank and other translations. Long url in next tweet.
July 10, 2026 at 3:45 PM
Hobbes' Homer translations are much underrated. You can see for yourself, compare the with the treebank and other translations. Long url in next tweet.