Events & Services

Fall 2023 Saturday Seminars

Saturdays starting October 7. More information and registration.

Heroic Intersections: Achilles and Hamlet
October 7, 12 pm ET

Teaching the Odyssey with Visual Art
October 14, 12 pm ET

A Tale of Two Empires: East Roman Survival in the Fifth Century
October 21, 12 pm ET

Translating Ancient Texts: Orpheus and Eurydice
October 28, 10 am ET

Apollonius of Rhodes’ Ancient Readers in Alexandria and Beyond
November 4, 12 pm ET

Translating Ancient Texts: Curse Tablets
November 11, 12 pm ET

The Necessity of Dialogue: Phaedrus and the Purpose of Education
November 18, 12 pm ET

Ancient Roots of Modern Genres: The Ancient Greek Novels
December 2, 12 pm ET

Translating Ancient Texts: Homer’s Epic Women
December 9, 12 pm ET

More information and registration.

Fall 2023: Homer’s Iliad (Professor Eirene Allen)

Starts September 25.

The Iliad is typically cited as the first work of Western literature, the beginning of a long tradition. While this formulation accurately conveys the Iliad’s central inspirational function, the epic also marks the end of a long tradition of oral storytelling. In this sense, the Iliad is both alpha and omega. This course will explore the Iliad from both perspectives, its coded meanings and messages within its time and its appeal across time.

Online, Mondays, September 25-December 18 (no class November 20), 7-9 PM ET (NYC).

More Information and Registration.

Odyssey. The next Odyssey seminar will be held Winter 2024. Fall 2023 Saturday Seminars

Consultations. Teachers and schools can contact the Institute via email to set up a time to speak about their community’s particular needs and goals.

Discussion groups. Teachers are invited to join our moderated Discord server to discuss the texts, ask questions, and exchange resources. To join, Contact Us with a request.

Seminars for Libraries. The Institute for Classics Education provides online seminars to introduce library patrons to the classics of ancient Greece in translation. The seminars are hosted by the library, streamed online, and presented by the Institute’s Dr. Allen. More information is here.

Reading recommendations for teachers: translations and analytical works on ancient texts vary significantly. Click here for the Institute’s position on translation and here for overviews of recommended translations for the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Purpose

The ancient classics present a unique opportunity for readers to engage with profoundly foreign contexts and grapple with contrasting worldviews. Reading them can provoke us to recognize and better understand our expectations for literary texts, our aesthetic and moral values, and our most basic assumptions about truth. Yet even in moments when the world they portray can feel most alien, ancient texts can invite a deep sense of recognition of and connection to what it means to be human. 

Embracing ancient texts’ paradoxical elements is among the most challenging aspects of reading them. Cultural and linguistic contexts can enhance our experiences with these texts that can feel at once profoundly familiar and deeply strange. The Institute’s purpose is to provide, for educators and learners who teach and study Homer and ancient Greek classics in translation, a supportive community in which to explore these contexts .

Join the Community

The Institute’s Discord server aims to be a gathering place for teachers of ancient classics. Join the conversation to discuss the Iliad and the Odyssey, ask questions, and exchange resources for teaching the texts.

To join the Institute’s Discord server, contact us with the request.

About

The Institute for Classics Education is a U.S.-based 501(c)3 non-profit. Led by Dr. Eirene Allen, the Institute strives to promote critical thinking skills for the modern world by teaching the classics of ancient Greece. Fundamental to the Institute’s objectives is supporting educators who teach ancient Greek classics in English translation.

Dr. Allen earned her Ph.D from New York University, and she has taught at NYU. She usually leads the Institute’s discussion groups and seminars and is the general editor of the Institute’s publications. Her own blog is here: https://whyhomer.com/

To learn more about the Institute, its services and publications, Contact Us.

Contact Us

Contact Us with Questions or Requests.

Email us at: athena @ classicseducation . com (remove spaces).