The Odyssey is the hot topic for the summer of 2026. At Kosmos Society we have discussed the epic over the years, so here are just a few of the article posts, videos, and learning resources for those who wish to explore further. You can find a copy of the poem in the Text Library. Articles This is a selection of posts written by community members about aspects of the characters… Read more
“Dué argues that the attested multiforms of the Iliad—in ancient quotations, on papyrus, and in the scholia of medieval manuscripts—give us glimpses of the very long history of the text, access to even earlier Iliads, and a greater awareness of the mechanisms by which such a remarkable poem could be composed in performance. Using methodologies grounded in an understanding of Homeric poetry as a system, Achilles Unbound argues for nothing… Read more
We were pleased to welcome Gregory Nagy, the Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University, who joined members of the Kosmos Society on November 21 for an Open House discussion on “Looking Backward: Through the Lens of Odyssey 24.” You can view the recording on the Kosmos Society YouTube channel, or in the frame below. Odyssey 24 is the final “book” of… Read more
Victorious poet (inscribed “He is beautiful”) reciting (“As once in Tiryns…”) In Part 1 we looked at the role of aoidoi as depicted within epic poetry itself. Now we turn to later sources in which the word rhapsode comes into use. In that post, we touched on the performance of Achilles and Patroklos in relay. Gregory Nagy comments: 8§28…Homeric poetry was performed at the Panathenaia by rhapsōidoi, ‘rhapsodes’ … The… Read more
We were pleased to welcome Professor Christopher Brown, William Sherwood Fox Professor of Classics at Western University, Ontario, Canada, who joined members of the Kosmos Society for an Open House discussion on Ares, Aphrodite, and a Monkey’s Rump: Some Thoughts on Public Humiliation. Professor Brown revisited a passage in the Odyssey that he published as an article in 1989, the story of the adultery of Ares and Aphrodite (Odyssey 8.266–366).… Read more