Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey
An Online Five-Week Humanities Course
September 26 – October 24, 2020
$400/person
This fall, let's read the Iliad and the Odyssey together. It has been said that all literature is a footnote to Homer. They were composed in the eighth or ninth century BCE. Back at Oxford University I read much of the Iliad in ancient Greek (a glorious struggle about which I write in my latest book, Bring Out Your Dead).
I find it amazing that the first two pieces of ancient literature are still among the best. Sometimes we do things for the pure joy of it. But Homer was also amazingly influential, beginning with the Roman poet Virgil's Aeneid. The great characters include Achilles, Nestor, Agamemnon, and Helen of Troy, who gave Christopher Marlowe the line, "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilion?" Think of the place in our culture of the Cyclops, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, faithful Penelope, the Land of the Lotus Eaters, the descent into Hades, the Achilles heel, Myrmidons and Mentors, Nestor and nubile Nausikaa. Everyone should read the Homeric epics. Undertaking this most fundamental reading in the western tradition is a much richer experience as a group.
During this online course, we'll spend most of our time analyzing the two great epics, but we will also talk about the epic tradition, Homeric archaeology, Heinrich Schliemann, the Shield of Achilles, Odysseus vs. Achilles, Homeric similes, filmic adaptations, and more. We'll gather for five discussion sessions over Zoom:
Saturday, September 26: The world of Homer: oral tradition, the "Homeric Question”, and the similetic universe.
Saturday, October 3: The Iliad Books I-X.
Saturday, October 10: The Iliad Books XI-XXIV.
Saturday, October 17: The Odyssey I-XI. The search for Odysseus' travel itinerary.
Saturday, October 24: The Odyssey XII-XXIV. The influence of Homer.
We'll also have informal "office hours” midweek for those who wish to engage in more casual discourse about Homer and much else.
Note: If you are age 35 or younger, have an interest in participating, and are experiencing economic difficulties preventing your ability to pay the course fee, please contact us at dakotaskyeducation@gmail.com for information on scholarship opportunities.
