Olympic Muse: Poems in Greek and English about the ancient Olympic Spirit (The Hellenic Muses) - Softcover

The poems of this collection, published in Greek and English on facing pages, turn around the Hellenic concept of arete or excellence, which is personified and mythologized since antiquity as Arethusa or Aretousa, in a more popular way. For the Ancient Hellenes, the concepts of arete and athleticism were closely connected and cultivated intensely for honor and for victory. In this spirit, athletes of any kind of virtue and competition are called upon to come and take part in this poetic symposium for an aesthetic and sensuous feast. With virtuous Aretousa as their inspirational leader and the Hellenic poet as their cheer-leader, they are invited to train together, to compete vigorously, and to celebrate the symbolic and poetic crowning of victorious athletes of Hellenic arete.