A daylong community reading of portions of the “Iliad,” Homer’s epic poem about the Trojan War, was the spring 2025 event in the College of Arts & Sciences’ “Arts Unplugged” series.
“The Iliad in Ithaca: Re-Reading the Trojan War” kicked off at 4:30 p.m. March 12 with a virtual panel hosted by eCornell, featuring translator Emily Wilson in conversation with Cornell faculty and students. Wilson, professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, has also translated the “Odyssey.” Register for that free event here.
The main reading kicked off at 9 a.m. Thursday, March 13 in the Groos Family Atrium of Klarman Hall, with a “Greek chorus” of students and faculty reading the poem’s first few lines in Greek, followed by more than 7,000 lines of the text in English from more than 60 readers.
The reading continued until 4 p.m. and included faculty, staff and students from campus, as well as readers from the broader Ithaca community.
“We are so thrilled to listen as the Cornell community speaks Emily Wilson's version of this monumental work,” said Athena Kirk, associate professor of classics (A&S) and one of the organizers of the event. “The ‘Iliad’ is a story about anger, conflict, destruction and the failures of leadership, but it is also a reflection on solidarity, honor, reconciliation and compromise. Above all, the poem constantly reminds us of the crucial role of the narrative arts, without which we can enjoy neither memory nor renown.”
To complement the reading, visitors were able to view archaeological artifacts from the Bronze Age world behind Homer’s text. Alison Rittershaus, curator of the Cornell Anthropology Collections, presented a pop-up display of artifacts from the eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa, so that visitors could better understand the cultural interconnections of the ancient world.
Visitors also be viewed student exhibits and posters about the rediscovery of that world, as well as other storytelling media, including replicas of ancient Mycenaean weaponry and photographs from the excavations of Troy, in the atrium and in display cases in the Goldwin Smith Hall ground floor corridor. The artifacts from the Anthropology Collection were on display in the Klarman Hall atrium during the reading on March 13.
In the atrium, visitors also examined samples of historical textual media such as wax tablets and tried their hand at writing text on papyrus. And Odyssey Books from downtown Ithaca was on hand with copies of Wilson’s translations, as well as other related works, for sale.
There were also two pop-up displays for people to view outside of Klarman Hall:
- Laurent Ferri, curator of the pre-1800 Collections in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections (RMC) at Cornell, and Eirva Diamessis, senior manuscript processor at RMC, curated an exhibit of books and manuscripts relating to the medieval through modern reception of the “Iliad”and the “Odyssey.” These materials range from the Marquis de Lafayette’s personal copy of Pope’s “Iliad” (which was used to teach him English as a child);to the first published translation of Homer by a woman, in any modern language to 21st-century queer artists reclamation of the story of Achilles and Patroclus. This exhibit was available for viewing from noon-5 p.m. March 13 in the lecture room (2B48) at RMC.
- Jakub Koguciuk, the Lynch Postdoctoral Associate for Curricular Engagement at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, organized a display of modern visual art that engages with, draws inspiration from, or challenges the Homeric tradition. These artworks, drawn from the Johnson’s permanent collection, were open for viewing in the Sukenik Gallery of the Johnson Museum on March 13.
"In a way, the Homeric epics have always already belonged to multiple time periods. The ‘Iliad’ probably first took on something like its current form around the 8th century BCE,” said Caitie Barrett, professor of classics (A&S) and another faculty organizer. “But even before that, the poem as we know it seems to derive from a long history of earlier poems and oral traditions that had already been circulating – and changing in the telling – for hundreds of years. In the millennia since then, these stories have continued to inspire writers and artists in many different times, places and societies. We're excited to have a chance to participate in that history of telling, retelling and recreating here at Cornell.”
