All about the odyssey with Justin Arft
Join us online via Zoom for a free talk on Tuesday, July 26, at 6 PM. This Symposium is open to the public— please register!
Inspired by the new temporary exhibition The Odyssey: A Retelling, Dr. Justin Arft will speak on the topics of Homer’s Odyssey and the ancient world.
VIRTUAL TALK TITLE:
Those Who Made the Epic: The Odyssey as Traditional Art
VIRTUAL TALK DESCRIPTION :
Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest and most famous stories that has been continually read and interpreted for well over two-thousand years. Despite this very long history behind the written epic we now possess, there was a centuries-long process of oral performance and singing in the ancient Greek world that shaped Homer's stories before they were ever written down. This talk takes inspiration from Lisa Bachman Jones' exhibit, The Odyssey: A Retelling, featured at the Nashville Parthenon and explores the traditional processes by which Homer's Odyssey was created as a form of art, exploring both the nature of oral poetry and how the ancient audiences played a role in the formation of the story of Odysseus we now possess. By considering the Odyssey as a kind of communal art that taps into cultural memory, we can begin to understand the epic's characters, scenes, and social contexts in a new way.
WANT TO LEARN MORE? CHECK OUT THESE RESOURCES:
The Odyssey by Emily Wilson, now available at the Parthenon Museum Store
Britannica entry: Odyssey
“Agnoēsis and the Death of Odysseus in the Odyssey and Telegony” by Justin Arft
Coming soon: The Queen and Her Question: Arete and the Odyssey’s Poetics of Interrogation by Justin Arft
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Dr. Justin Arft is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Tennessee. He has shared his research on Homer’s Odyssey in published articles and speaking engagements, and is nearing completion of his book manuscript, The Queen and Her Question: Arete and the Odyssey’s Poetics of Interrogation, which uses formulaic analysis to shed light on the very significant and highly under-appreciated role of Arete, the queen of the Phaeacians, in the Odyssey. His research interests include Homer and Archaic Greek poetry, comparative oral tradition, the ancient Greek epic cycle, manuscript traditions and textual transmission. He received his Ph.D. in Classical Studies from the University of Missouri.
SYMPOSIUM SPONSORS:
Archaeological Institute of America- Nashville Society
Centennial Park Conservancy
Vanderbilt University
Metro Nashville Parks and Recreation
NEXT SYMPOSIA:
August 23 at 6 PM: 20 Years of Gold on Athena — in person! RSVP coming soon
September 19 at 6 PM: Pandora & Polychromy on the Base of Athena