Gregory Nagy: Hero, Not Zero

Last week, when the Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature Gregory Nagy won the prestigious (well, if you’re a Classics concentrator, at least) Onassis International Prize, he also received the added perk of $200,000 prize money. Too bad he doesn’t actually get to spend it.

But for the popular professor of Literature and Arts C-14, “Concepts of the Hero in Greek Civilization,” whose proclaimed interests are archaic Greek literature and oral poetics, the award and recognition in Greece were enough. Plus, he got to be on TV with the President.

“Afterward, in the taxi I got into, the guy said, ‘Mr. President, I saw you on TV,’” says Nagy. “If I had known, I would have practiced my speech 20 times instead of 2, and I made my speech in Greek!”

Luckily, the speech was well received. Says Nagy: “If they had a machine called the clap-o-meter, I would have gotten a very high score.”

And about that prize money. Instead of going straight to his pocket, the $200,000 will go to Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C., which Nagy directs.

Even if he doesn’t get to blow the money on a trip to the Greek isles, at least Nagy’s prominence in the Greek world has risen exponentially.

But can we expect this philhellene to let down his metaphorical hair now that his position as leader of the classical world is truly solidified? In other words, will we be seeing him going Greek in a sheet at some upcoming toga parties?

Most definitely not—Nagy’s view of such ragers is simple: “They’re animal houses.”