We were pleased to welcome David Elmer of Harvard University to discuss ‘epaineîn and the Poetics of Consent in Homer’.
To prepare for the discussion, David Elmer suggested participants might like to read the following focus passages:
- Iliad 1.9–25
- Iliad 3.455–461 through Iliad 4.1–67
- Iliad 18.249–313
- Iliad 23.532–542
- Iliad 24.723–776
These passages, with additional key terms, are included in the following PDF file for reference:
Open House David Elmer-Focus Passages (PDF)
Selected titles mentioned during the discussion:
Donna F. Wilson: Ransom, Revenge, and Heroic Identity in the Iliad
You can watch the discussion on our YouTube channel, or in the frame below:
Members can start and continue the conversations associated with this event in this Forum thread.
For further videos please visit the Watch page.
David Elmer
A member of Harvard’s Classics faculty since 2007, David Elmer holds a PhD from Harvard’s Department of Comparative Literature. He is Associate Curator of the Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature and a member of the Standing Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology. He teaches a broad range of courses on the history and interpretation of Greek literature at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Topics of current research include the Homeric poems, the ancient novel, and South Slavic oral epic song. His first book, The Poetics of Consent: Collective Decision Making and the Iliad, was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in early 2013.
Picture credit
Heroes of Iliad by J.H.W. Tischbein, public domain, Wikimedia Commons