Troy and Ancient Epic

No cycle of myths has had a stronger grip on the western imagination than the saga of the Trojan War and its aftermath. Originating in ancient Greece over 3,000 years ago, the stories concerning Achilles, Helen, Odysseus (a.k.a. Ulysses) and Priam, Aeneas, Dido and other great figures resonate today in art, film and stage adaptations as well as in ever-forthcoming translations of Homer’s vast epic poems Iliad and Odyssey (eight-seventh centuries BC) and Vergil’s Roman epic Aeneid (first century BC) — three poems which remain among the very greatest and most influential literary works of all time. Homer's Iliad (nearly 16,000 lines) profoundly explores the nature of heroic warfare and it costs for combatants and civilians alike, affording insights into the human condition. The Odyssey (over 12,000 lines) tells of the ten-year return of the Greek hero Odysseus to his native Ithaca during which he encounters fantastic monsters and sorceresses only to face an even greater challenge awaiting him in his own home. Vergil's Aeneid (c. 10,000 lines) tells of the Trojan hero Aeneas who, with fellow refugees from Troy, travels to Italy to establish the origins of Rome, becoming an exemplar of Roman virtues in the process. Students who complete this course will come to see that the Iliad, Odyssey and Aeneid in all their grandeur, passion and intensity are epic in every sense of the word.