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"The Iliad" is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences.
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APRIL IS POETRY MONTH.
Homer’s "Iliad" spans twenty-four books, fifteen-thousand lines, and a matter of weeks in the tenth year of the Trojan War. A quarrel between two of the Greek commanders, Achilles and Agamemnon, sets into motion a series of events that will eventually lead to the fall of Troy, though that fateful day remains just out of reach at the end of the poem. As a work of poetry, the Iliad has captivated and concerned listeners, readers, and scholars alike since antiquity. It looms large in the canon of Western literature for its age, its influence, and its incredible scope and breadth of content. It emerges from the transition between oral tradition and textual transmission, and has been the subject of debate, translation, and adaptation since the days when it was first sung on the Mediterranean. This presentation will provide an introduction to some of the major concerns for those engaging with the poem and of the poem itself, including the so-called “Homeric Question,” the transition from orality to literacy, and themes such as war, trauma, grief, and anger.
Presenter: Gabrielle Roehr is a PhD student in Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her B.A. (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) with high honors in Classics and a minor in Art History from New York University in May of 2020. Her senior thesis, titled “The Archaic Present: Nostalgia and Ideology in the Age of Augustus,” examined the intersection of art and politics and the creation and maintenance of ideology in Augustan Rome, with special attention paid to Vergil’s "Aeneid", Livy’s "Ab Urbe Condita", the "Forum Augustum", and the "Monumentum Ancyranum". She began the PhD program in Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania in September of the same year. Her research interests include topics of myth, memory, grief, trauma, and identity, with a particular focus on Greek and Latin epic poetry.
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https://www.projectoutcome.org/responses/67197
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