Odyssey

Visiting Scholars

Open House | Exchanges in the Odyssey’s Underworld, with Nancy Felson, Laura Slatkin, and Maša Ćulumović

We were pleased to welcome our guests for the final Open House discussion of the Spring 2018 session: Laura Slatkin (NYU Gallatin), Nancy Felson (University of Georgia), and Maša Ćulumović (Center for Hellenic Studies). They joined us for a discussion of exchanges in the underworld from the Odyssey. This event took place on Wednesday, May 9, at 11 a.m. EDT, and was recorded. Before watching the event you might like… Read more

Reading Homer

Homeric Greek | Odyssey 1.149–155: Desire for food and drink, and Homeric stringed instruments

We are pleased to share this segment in the series on reading Homeric epic in ancient Greek. In each installment we read, translate, and discuss a small passage in the original Greek in the most accessible way. If you’ve ever dreamed of reading Homer in the original, here is your chance to do so with teachers who have spent a lifetime thinking about this poetry. With their guidance even new… Read more

Announcements

From Scheria to Ithaca

Departure of Ulysses from the Land of the Phaeacians, Louvre Museum   Douglas Frame attended a conference hosted by the Center for Odyssean Studies in August of 2017. The topic of his presentation was the “homecoming” of Odysseus, concentrating on “nostos as taking place in a wholly imaginary world.” The notion of a nostos as a “return to life” is deeply imbedded in the Odyssey. I have traced its origins to… Read more

Visiting Scholars

Open House | Homer and the Epic Cycle on (Mis)Recognition with Justin Arft

We were pleased to welcome Justin Arft, University of Tennessee, for an Open House discussion entitled “A Cyclic Odysseus is a Dead Odysseus: Homer and the Epic Cycle on (Mis)Recognition.” It took place on Thursday, November 16, at 11:00 a.m. EST, and was recorded. In preparation, you might like to read the following passages from the Odyssey: Hermes recognizes Calypso: 5.44–80, especially 76–80 Penelope does not recognize Odysseus: 23.1–110, especially… Read more

Topic for Discussion

Dogs for the ancient Greeks

[1] Anger [mēnis], goddess, sing it, of Achilles, son of Peleus— 2disastrous [oulomenē] anger that made countless pains [algea] for the Achaeans, 3 and many steadfast lives [psūkhai] it drove down to Hādēs, 4 heroes’ lives, but their bodies it made prizes for dogs [kuōn, pl.] [5] and for all birds, and the Will of Zeus was reaching its fulfillment [telos]. Iliad 1.1–5 In this very familiar passage we see the… Read more