The Return of Ancient Epic

Ancient epics and myths inhabit our world like ghosts or half-forgotten dreams. Is there a place for these works in the modern world? What can ancient stories tell us about contemporary existence?

In collaboration with a cohort of scholars from UC Berkeley, Clio's is thrilled to present seven conversations, in parts judgmental and strange, between past epics and the present world. The series insists that these texts still speak to us today, despite their time-bound formation in hoary antiquity.

We begin on Thursday, January 29th, with Anthony Long discussing Homer's Iliad. What makes the Iliad a poetic miracle? How can the oldest work of European literature still be a best seller? Tony will share some responses to these questions with readings from Richard Lattimore's classic translation to exemplify the poem's emotional impact.

Additional epics to be discussed over the course of the spring session include Genesis, the David story, Gilgamesh, Egyptian myths, the Rāmāyaṇa, and Jewish appropriation of Greek myth. Please join us, and bring the kids (they get in free)! This is going to be...epic.

Tony Long is an emeritus professor of classics and philosophy at UC Berkeley. His books include Hellenistic Philosophy and Epictetus, How to be Free.

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