All designed for a general audience except for “A Lesson Plan,” which is intended for high school teachers. All are Eastern/NYC time. All are about one hour in duration.
A Lesson Plan for the Odyssey | Saturday, Oct. 22, 12pm ET
Patricia Vandigriff will present a lesson plan for the Odyssey incorporating the visual art series A Black Odyssey by Romare Bearden. This session is designed for high school teachers.
Homer’s The Odyssey continues to connect with readers through its transcendent themes of family and home. The Trojan war and quest to return home resonate with readers because the search for identity is the most important journey one undertakes. This session will share ideas and resources for encouraging active reading and personal engagement with Homer’s Odyssey.
Join the conversation to explore lessons for all students, that encourage active reading to engage students through multiple perspectives. Allow the Nine Daughters of Zeus to transport us to the Museum of ideas, art, music, and oral stories that map the journey of life through creativity and the wisdom of the immortals, and the resilience of the mortals.
Gods and Heroes in Greek and Roman Myths | Saturday, Nov. 5, 12pm ET
Dr. Eirene Allen will examine how Greek and Roman epic poets characterize gods and heroes.
Contemporary novels and myth anthologies tend to represent the gods and heroes of ancient Greece and Rome as if they belong to one continuous story. But the relationship between Greece and Rome is not that of a single culture but a complex relationship that includes homage, emulation, and appropriation. This session will explore what it means to write within a ‘tradition of storytelling’ in both Greece and Rome through each culture’s representation of superhuman forces in myths.
The Value of Lifelong Engagement with Homer: Q&A with Dr. Elton Barker and Dr. Joel Christensen | Saturday, Nov. 12, 12pm ET
Classical scholars Dr. Elton Barker (Open University U.K.) and Dr. Joel Christensen (Brandeis University) will join us for a question and answer session exploring what it means to engage with Homer across a lifetime. Participants are encouraged to submit questions in advance via email (athena-at-classicseducation.com), Twitter (@classicsed), or Instagram (@classicsed).
The Hero as Philosopher | Saturday, Nov. 19, 12pm ET
Lauren Heilman will present her research on how Socrates’ immortality of the soul and Homeric concepts of immortal fame intertwine.
Plato’s dialogue of Socrates’ last day emphasizes the role of song and even epic poetry within classical philosophy. With the background of Homeric epic, this dramatic dialogue on the immortality of the soul frames much of its discussion within Homeric constructs—elements which Socrates’ philosophy and Socrates himself embodies. This session will deepen participants’ understanding of the Homeric concept of immortal fame through Plato’s application of it.
Homer and the Lessons of War | Saturday, Dec. 3, 12 pm ET
In this session, we will explore what Homer and the classical Greeks can teach us about war.
A founding document of Greek identity, the Iliad concerns the Trojan war, a protracted and brutal war between neighboring peoples. The narratives around this war became a touchstone for poets, historians, and philosophers throughout the classical period and beyond. The enduring fascination of literature around the Trojan war speaks to its enduring relevance.
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