A painting of Homer by William Blake

“Tell Me about a Complicated Man”: A Homer Reading List

The amount of scholarship on Homer and his works can be daunting. We've created this introductory reading list to help guide your explorations.
An illustration from the cover of Grendel by John Gardner

The Question of Race in Beowulf

J.R.R. Tolkien’s seminal scholarship on Beowulf centers a white male gaze. Toni Morrison focused on Grendel and his mother as raced and marginal figures.
A row of blurry houses lit from within

Do We Have to Tell Them the House Is Haunted?

On the law and mythologies of haunting, from antiquity to today.
Seven Against Thebes

“Thoughts and Prayers” in Greek Tragedy

With national tragedies now as frequent and predictable as sunrises, no phrase has lost consolatory power more swiftly than “thoughts and prayers.”
Nero Burning Rome

Bring Your Own Applause: What Donald Trump and Roman Emperor Nero Have in Common

A claque is a centuries-old showmanship technique that has been used by entertainers and politicians since the Roman Empire.
University of Virginia

Should the Government Pay for a Classical University Education?

Questions about what sorts of higher education the government should pay for are nothing new.
Thomas Couture - Horace and Lydia

Two Enemies Bound by the Poet Horace

How Horace brought to enemies together during WWII and what role the poet played in the post-war cultural identity of Europe.

Hermathena

Selected items from Hermathena, a scholarly journal of classics from Trinity College, Dublin.