5-week online course
Dr Eirene Allen has been teaching a course on Homer's Iliad for H.M. Classics Academy. Following on from this course, Eirene will continue in the summer term with a guided reading and study of the other Homeric epic, the Odyssey.
The Odyssey is often remembered as the story of a man who took ten years to return home to his wife, fighting off sirens, nymphs, and his and his companions’ bad decisions along the way. But beneath the vice and folly lies an exploration of the nature of storytelling, the limits of perseverance, the contours of faith, the inscrutability of death, and a quest to define and safeguard home.
Like the Iliad, the Odyssey is a paradox: a text of a poem composed orally in performance, an end product of a centuries-old tradition and the beginning of a new kind of storytelling. Reading two books per week (Anthony Verity’s translation recommended), we will explore the poem’s meanings and messages within a Homeric context and their appeal across time.
Classes will be conducted via Zoom on Mondays, 19:00-20:00 (UTC+1, UK time) on 25th April, 2nd May, 9th May, 16th May, 23rd May, 30th May, 6th June, 13th June, 20th June and 27th June 2022.
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