Among the Ancients

In episode two of Among the Ancients, Tom and Emily turn to Homer’s Odyssey. They discuss the twisting, turning nature of both the narrative and its hero, the poem’s complex interrogation of the idea of ‘home’, and the violence Odysseus brings with him on his return from the Trojan War.

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Further reading in the LRB:

David Quint: Poor Cyclops

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v31/n12/david-quint/poor-cyclops

Barbara Graziosi: Where’s the Gravy?

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v31/n16/barbara-graziosi/where-s-the-gravy

Colin Macleod: Homer's Gods

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v03/n14/colin-macleod/homer-s-gods

Emily Wilson is Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and translator of the 'Odysse'y and the 'Iliad'. Thomas Jones is an editor at the London Review of Books and host of the LRB Podcast.

Readings by Hazel Holder

Get in touch: [email protected]

In their first episode of Among the Ancients, Emily and Tom begin with a beginning, Homer's Iliad: its depictions of anger and grief, of capricious gods and warriors’ bodies, and the sheer narrative force of Homer’s epic of the Trojan War.

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Read more in the LRB:

James Davidson: Like a Meteorite

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v19/n15/james-davidson/like-a-meteorite

Edward Luttwak: Homer Inc.

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v34/n04/edward-luttwak/homer-inc

Colin Burrow: The Empty Bath

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n12/colin-burrow/the-empty-bath

Emily Wilson is Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and translator of the 'Odysse'y and the 'Iliad'. Thomas Jones is an editor at the London Review of Books and host of the LRB Podcast.

Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones introduce their series on the great works of Greek and Roman literature, from Homer to Horace, and discuss some of the themes and preoccupations running through the twelve episodes.

The authors under discussion in this series will be: Homer (Iliad and Odyssey), Sappho, Sophocles, Euripedes, Aristophanes, Catullus, Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, Ovid and Seneca.

To listen to the full series, and to all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:

Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq

In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings

Emily Wilson is Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and translator of the 'Odysse'y and the 'Iliad'. Thomas Jones is an editor at the London Review of Books and host of the LRB Podcast.