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2012 programs

Web lectures:

   - Professor Paul Cartledge
     Homer's Iliad - Apr 2 at 7pm ET (info/register free here)

Web reading groups:

   - Homer's Odyssey beginning May 2012 (register free here)
   - Herodotus' Histories beginning September 2012 (register free here) 

See our search and tags to the right for more information on previous books from Aristotle to Darwin and Shakespeare. 

Homer Odyssey Discussion Questions for Books 9-16

Hi Homer readers,
Here are the dates for our next two conference calls and discussion questions for our next call on June 4.  I hope you are enjoying the reading as much as I am.
Sincerely,
Andre

Discussion #2 (Lombardo translation pp. 125-255)
Books 9- 16 Reconciliations
9-12 Odysseus’ wanderings, “reconciling” Poseidon’s curse
13-16 Odysseus’ return to his native land, “reconciling” with Telemachus

Study Guide Questions  - Discussion #2

Books 9- 16 Reconciliations

9-12 Odysseus’ wanderings, “reconciling” Poseidon’s curse

1. Book 9 - wise leader?
Odysseus is often referred to as “wily, crafty and wise.”  How wise of  
a leader is he in the events of Book 9 concerning the Cicones (pp.  
126-127), Lotus Eaters (127), and Cyclopes (128-140)?  How much of  
these hardships are Odysseus’ own fault?  How much of these hardships  
are pre-determined by prophecy?

2. Book 10 - crew morale?
In Book 10, morale among Odysseus’ crew continues to decline.  How do  
the events of Aeolus’ bag of winds (pp. 141-143), Laestrygonians  
(143-145), and Circe (145-157) contribute to the decline in morale of  
the crew?  What do we learn about Odysseus’ leadership and his  
cleverness?  Just when Odysseus is able to rescue his crew from  
Circe’s bewitchment, he is notified of a very dangerous voyage he must  
make to Hades.  With Circe’s help, Odysseus must consult Tiresias the  
prophet.  Why? (see Books 10 & 11)

3. Book 11 - Hades
In Book 11, the shades/ghosts of many reveal themselves to Odysseus at  
Acheron, the entrance to Hades.  Before talking even to his mother  
Anticleia, Odysseus makes sure to talk with Tiresias first.  Then  
Odysseus allows himself to talk to his mother and other famous Greek  
women who appear.  What is the significance to the plot of mentioning  
these various Greek heroines (pp. 164-167)?  As Odysseus continues to  
tell of Agamemnon, Achilles and other famous Greek men, what does this  
panorama of shades suggest about the Greek concept of Hades?  of  
Odysseus’ own fears?

4. Book 12 - Odysseus alone
How do the series of adventures in Book 12 (Sirens, Scylla, Oxen of  
the Sun, Thunder & Lightning, Charybdis, Calypso) compare to the  
series of adventures (Books 9-10) before Odysseus’ trip to Hades (Book  
11)?  Book 5 opens with Odysseus alone and Book 12 ends with Odysseus  
alone.  Now that Odysseus has come full circle in his flashbacks, what  
is the relatonship between Odysseus and his crew?  How are Odysseus’  
feelings compounded by the lack of a crew?

13-16 Odysseus’ return to his native land, “reconciling” with Telemachus

5. Book 13 - Ithaka
In Book 13, Poseidon is not happy with the Phaeacians for conveying  
Odysseus home safely.  Given what happens to the Phaeacians in  
response to Poseidon’s feelings, how is this action just?  What does  
Zeus think about it?  Why does Zeus have anything to do with this?   
Athena appears to Odysseus as he wakes up on his own island.  What  
part does she play in helping Odysseus?  As clever as Odysseus is, why  
would Athena’s help be necessary at this stage of the epic?

6. Book 14 - Hospitality revisted?
In what ways does Book 14 illustrate the ancient custom of  
hospitality?  How does hospitality in this chapter compare with the  
hospitality of the Phaeacians (Books 8-13) or Nestor (Book 3) or  
Menelaus (Books 4 & 15)?  In Book 14, Odysseus tells two long tales  
about both his origin and an incident with a cloak during the Trojan  
War.  His stories are inspired by Athena, the goddess of wisdom.  How  
does Odysseus balance the level of fiction with the level of truth in  
his stories?

7. Book 15 - Piety
In Book 15, both Odysseus’ and Telemachus’ piety (i.e. duty to the  
gods) is revealed in auguries (or bird signs).  How do the auguries  
support the intertwining of Odysseus’ and Telemachus’ lives? How does  
Telemachus’ piety show with respect to Theoclymenus?  How does  
Eumaeus’ piety show with respect to Odysseus?  According to Greek  
thinking, is Telemachus’ and Odysseus’ reunion left to chance in any  
way?  In many ways, this book is about origins.  Why do you suppose  
Homer chose this moment to unveil Eumaeus’ origin, Theoclymenus’  
origin and even information about Odysseus’ father, Laertes and  
mother, Anticleia?  What do Eumaeus’ and Theoclymenus’ stories tell us  
about nobility as an inner quality or characteristic of a person?

8. Book 16 - Telemachus and Odysseus
As dawn breaks at the opening of Book 16, Telemachus arrives safely to  
the swineherd’s hut.  Before the day is over, he will be re-united  
with his father Odysseus.   Having been only an infant when Odysseus  
left for Troy, how does Telemachus recognize his father?  Why then  
does he still doubt his senses?  (see pp. 245-246).  How is Penelope’s  
character defined in this book?  Ignorant of Odysseus’ return, what do  
Penelope’s actions reveal about her situation with the suitors?  How  
does Eurymachus’ pretending contrast with Penelope’s honesty about the  
situation?  By the end of the day, Eumaeus returns to his hut and  
Telemachus asks about the plot against him by the suitors.  How do  
Telemachus’ and Odysseus’ pretending contrast with Eumaeus’ honesty  
about the situation?

Homer's Odyssey Books 1-8 audio recording May 7, 2012

(download)

Here's the audio recording for Andre's group.  Listen online or download the mp3 file and listen to it as a podcast on your mp3 player.

Reading Odyssey Annual Report - 2011

We have created our first annual report in order to keep our growing community apprised of where we’ve been and where we are going.

You can download or read it here:

Click here to download:
ReadingOdyssey-AnnualRpt2011.pdf (899 KB)
(download)

The report details a number of things. We had a great year in 2011 - and reached thousands of adults around the world with our programs. 

We have great plans in store for the future and in the report we describe how we are testing a new marketing strategy to reach adults: we are providing a free platform for *high schools* to run reading groups with the *parents* of their students, and also, for *libraries* to run groups with patrons.

As for help - we need all the help we can get to ignite more curiosity and lifelong learning.  

Would you like to help us?

If so, you can assist in any of the following ways.

- Get a Reading Odyssey test reading group going at a school or library near you

- Help us launch more books (we need more scholars in science and literature to lend a hand)

- Donate $2.50 or $25.00?
It's been about 2,500 years since the first great books began to appear and you can make a tax-deductible contribution in an amount to commemorate that. You will fund our global volunteer efforts to help more adults read important, challenging books:
http://www.readingodyssey.com/pages/donate

You can also join one of our virtual reading groups this year - we are reading Homer's Odyssey in May (http://odyssey2012.eventbrite.com) and Herodotus starting in September (http://herodotus2012.eventbrite.com). We also have a question and answer session on Iliad with Professor Paul Cartledge Monday, April 2 at 7pm New York time. Please join us for that -http://iliad2012qa.eventbrite.com

If you have any questions or want to find out more about how to help, please get in touch. I look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks,

Phil Terry
Founder and Chair, Reading odyssey

 

Tagged Annual Report

Some Iliad Follow-ups

Here are a few of the questions that came up during my reading group's last call. Any good ones I missed?

·         Are there any lost books that were part of the Iliad cycle?

·         Is there an anti-monarchical message embedded in the portrayals of the kings and their families?

·         Did the ancients see the gods as behaving as horribly as most of us would see them today?

·         In ancient Greek theology, how powerful are the gods? Is fate stronger than they are? Why the did the gods need to protect destiny from the Greeks overreaching it?

·         Was all the gore partly included for entertainment? For realism? For an anti-war message?  How was it perceived by contemporary audiences?

·         Were there two or more authors? 

·         How was the Iliad performed? How would changes of scene have been handled?

·         What’s up with the horses crying amid the slaughter?

 

And if you're ready to sign up to read the Odyssey, here’s the link:

http://odyssey2012.eventbrite.com/

Finally, Andre Stipanovic shared this story from the New York Times about the location of Odysseus’ home:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/kristof-odysseus-lies-here.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

The story is another fine example of a non-academic’s contribution to classical studies.

The Iliad, Visualized

Gods_achaeans_and_troyans

The names of so many heroes and gods fly by when you're reading or hearing the Iliad read aloud. One of the challenges (and joys!) of the Iliad is the concentration it asks of you in making an effort to balance all those characters amid so much action. One way to simplify the crush of names is to visualize them. Data designer Santiago Ortiz came up with these two ways to analyze Iliad names. One harnesses the names to a time stream and sizes them by the amount they are present on the page. The network chart (and adjacent treemap) shows all of the relationships among the characters based on their co-occurence. Diaz used this translation by A.S. Kline. and loaded the data here for the name-stream and network charts.  

Network_cap_of_iliad

Here is a hi-res image of the word map

Source: http://moebio.com/iliad/

Homer Iliad1 Books 17-24 audio recording Mar 2012

(download)

Here's the audio recording for Andre's group.  Listen online or download the mp3 file and listen to it as a podcast on your mp3 player.

Homer Iliad1 Feb 2012 Books 9-16 audio recording

(download)

Here's the audio recording for Andre's group.  Listen online or download the mp3 file and listen to it as a podcast on your mp3 player.

Homer Iliad1 Feb 2012 Books 9-16 audio recording

Here's the audio recording for Andre's group.  Listen online or download the mp3 file and listen to it as a podcast on your mp3 player.

Aching for the Iliad on Super Bowl Sunday

Hope you enjoy the Super Bowl (or not as the case may be).

And whether or not you believe there is something to the Hector-Achilles-like duel between Brady and Manning, you might enjoy this tidbit from the New York Times "1-page" magazine (page 9 of the print magazine).

Madeline Miller is very very briefly interviewed about her recent novel "The Song of Achilles", which re-imagines the Iliad as a love story between Achilles and Patroclus. I haven't read her novel so I can't comment on it, but I'm always glad to see the Iliad in popular culture. This 2,500+ year old story continues to resonate - as Reading Odyssey members well know from their current reading of the Iliad.

We will be getting questions out to the many reading groups tomorrow or Tuesday in advance of the next meetings around the country Monday, February 13 discussing Iliad Books 9 - 16.

Go Greeks (I mean Giants),

Phil 

I Can't Quit You, Achilles
By Maud Newton

 

“I stole it from Plato!” Madeline Miller jokes, when asked how she came to interpret the “Iliad” as a love story between Achilles, the half-god warrior, and Patroclus, whose death he insists on avenging even if doing so ensures his own. Her novel, “The Song of Achilles,” is drenched with longing not seen since “Brokeback Mountain,” and, as the writer Donna Tartt says, conjures the goddess Thetis with “the true savagery and chill of antiquity.”

via nytimes.com
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