Sunday, 28 June 2015

The Shield of Archilochus

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Workers are seen at a coke plant in the town of Avdiyivka near Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. Situated close to the 'contact line' between Ukrainian government forces and well-armed rebels, the Avdiyivka Coking Plant outside the rebel-held regional capital, Donetsk, has been hit by about 230 rocket and artillery attacks since hostilities erupted over a year ago. The Avdiyivka plant, owned by industrial tycoon Rinat Akhmetov's Metinvest group, is one of Europe's biggest coking plants and provides the fuel for the steelmaking industry, itself a vital branch of Ukraine's economy

...................................................................Workers at a coking plant that has been under heavy rocket fire because it is situated close to the 'contact line' between government and rebel forces near Donetsk, eastern Ukraine: photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters, 23 June 2015

That good shield I threw away
beside a bush is making
some Thracian proud.
.............................To hell
with both of them.
.........................I'm here
and I'll get me a better one.

Archilochus (active on the island of Paros, mid-seventh century BC): Fragment 6, translated by Barriss Mills in The Soldier and the Lady: Poems of Archilochus and Sappho, 1975


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.................................Tehran. A child looks on as Iranian mourners attend the funeral of Mohammad Hamidi, Hasan Ghafari and Ali Amrai, killed in Syria fighting against Islamic State jihadis: photo by Atta Kenare/AFP, 25 June 2015


ἀσπίδι μὲν Σαίων τις ἀγάλλεται, ἣν παρὰ θάμνῳ
ἔντος ἀμώμητον καλλίπον οὐκ ἐθέλων,
αὐτὸν δ’ ἐξεσάωσα. τί μοι μέλει ἀσπὶς ἐκείνη;
ἐρρέτω· ἐξαῦτις κτήσομαι οὐ κακίω.

Archilochus: fr. 6: text from Elegy and Iambus, ed. J.M. Edmonds, vol. 2 (1931)


A woman walks past a graffiti by Greek street artist Cacao Rocks in Athens...A woman walks past a graffiti by Greek street artist Cacao Rocks in Athens, Greece, June 26, 2015. Greece failed again to clinch a deal with its international creditors on Thursday, setting up a last-ditch effort on Saturday to avert a default next week or start preparing to protect the euro zone from financial market turmoil. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis
 A woman walks past a graffiti by Greek street artist Cacao Rocks in Athens...A woman walks past a graffiti by Greek street artist Cacao Rocks in Athens, Greece, June 26, 2015. Greece failed again to clinch a deal with its international creditors on Thursday, setting up a last-ditch effort on Saturday to avert a default next week or start preparing to protect the euro zone from financial market turmoil. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

 A woman walks past a graffiti by Greek street artist Cacao Rocks in Athens. Greece failed again to clinch a deal with its international creditors on Thursday, setting up a last-ditch effort on Saturday to avert a default next week or start preparing to protect the euro zone from financial market turmoil: photo by Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters, 26 June 2015

Workers are seen at a coke plant in the town of Avdiyivka near Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. Situated close to the 'contact line' between Ukrainian government forces and well-armed rebels, the Avdiyivka Coking Plant outside the rebel-held regional capital, Donetsk, has been hit by about 230 rocket and artillery attacks since hostilities erupted over a year ago. The Avdiyivka plant, owned by industrial tycoon Rinat Akhmetov's Metinvest group, is one of Europe's biggest coking plants and provides the fuel for the steelmaking industry, itself a vital branch of Ukraine's economy

....................................................Workers at a coking plant that has been under heavy rocket fire because it is situated close to the 'contact line' between government and rebel forces near Donetsk, eastern Ukraine: photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters, 23 June 2015

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3 comments:

  1. billoo28 June 2015 at 08:29

    Tom, is it over for Greece? Is it the kind of Europe they'd want to be in anyway?

    ReplyDelete
  2. TC29 June 2015 at 04:38

    Perhaps a tentative yes to the first question, an emphatic no to the second?

    Meanwhile in Athens (Vassilis Zambaras: Web)

    ReplyDelete
  3. TC29 June 2015 at 04:42

    (... although "out" is maybe not quite the same thing as "over"...)

    ReplyDelete