The 4th Homeric Symposium

The Homeric Symposium is a conference run by postgraduates in the Department of Classics and Ancient History. The event brings together a wide range students and scholars to offer an inclusive and dynamic environment for the exploration of new perspectives in Homeric Studies and beyond.

Presentations will span intertextual connections with Near Eastern epic, Apollonius, and Virgil, as well as interdisciplinary approaches with philosophy, reception, and translation theory.

We are delighted to welcome two prominent Homeric and Hesiodic scholars: Athenassios Vergados (Newcastle), and Jenny Strauss-Clay (Virginia), who will be delivering our keynote lecture.

This event has received funding from the Durham Centre for Academic Development (DCAD), the Department of Classics and Ancient History (Stokes fund) and the Durham Centre for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy (DCAMP).

Join us for a stimulating exchange of ideas and scholarly discussion on the world of Homer!

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Saturday 10th May

14:30 : Coffee and Registration
14:50 : Introduction

Panel 1 : 15:30 - 16:00 Chair : Laura Everard
Dr. James Oakley (Durham): Maro in Homer and Nonnus
Jan Berssenbrügge (HU Berlin): Similes with ἐπεί and their relevance for the genesis of the Iliad
Prof. Athanassios Vergados (Newcastle): Apollonius and Homer
15-minute Q&A

Keynote speech : 16:05 - 17:00 Chair : Dr. Giulia Bernardini
Prof. Jenny Strauss-Clay (University of Virginia): Homer’s Divine Comedy

Sunday 11th May

12:00 : Coffee and Registration
12:20 : Introduction

Panel 2 : 12:30 - 13:00 Chair : Laura Everard
Elena Limongelli (Oxford): Gilgamesh and Achilles: How heroes live and die
Ben McCluskey (Durham): A fragment of Aristotle on Homer and Prophecy
Dr. Jurgen Gatt (L-Università ta’ Malta): Semantics and/ as structure in the Telemachy
15-minute Q&A

Panel 3 : 13:05 - 13:35 Chair : Bethan Greenwood
Emma Brandel (Durham): The origins and development of the name Odysseus
Valentina Lunardi (UCLA): Fainting episodes in the Iliad
Dr. Theodore Hill (Edinburgh): Character roles in the Iliad and Cycladic epics
15-minute Q&A

Lunch break

Panel 4 : 15:00 - 15:30 Chair : Dr. Giulia Bernardini
William Hines (Durham): Homer and Tolkien: Descriptions and ekphrasis
Lucy Smith (Durham): Homer in Aotearoa: Reception of the Iliad and Odyssey in the art of Marian Maguire
Dr. Pietro Dalmazzo (Durham): Ciro Poggiali & ‘Homeric kings’
15-minute Q&A

Panel 5 : 15:35 - 16:05 Chair : Roberto Di Tuccio
Dr. Chiara Blanco (Newcastle): [TBC]
Jonathan Honnor (Durham): Borges’ “versiones homéricas” and Odyssey Book VIII, I.579-580
Roberta Passaghe (Durham): Ethical approaches to translation: Domestication and foreignisation
15-minute Q&A