Classics Department to host "Homerathon" Feb. 16
"Homerathon," the annual reading of Homer’s Odyssey hosted by the Department of Classics, begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, in Murray-Aikins Dining Hall, second floor. Admission is open to all.
This Skidmore tradition has spanned two decades, according to Michael Arnush, department chair. “For over two decades the Classics Department’s students and faculty have devoted an evening every spring to reading aloud from Homer’s Odyssey, using Robert Fagles’s gorgeous translation,” Arnush explained.
He continued, “Fueled with pizza and cookies, starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, we enjoy the beautiful poetry of the ancient bard.” The College community is welcome to attend. Says Arnush, “You can read aloud or just listen, and we would love to have you be part of the fun. All you need do is show up!”
Arnush added, “Reading Homer aloud returns us to the original Greek practice of listening to poetry, rather than reading it. We slow down, listen to the cadences, and find new things in the epic. We become immersed in the story of Odysseus’ travels and, in a way, relive the excitement of hearing it for the first time.”
Reading ancient poetry never gets old, according to Arnush. “Over the years it has become clear just how much our students—Classics and others—love reading and hearing poetry. We’re fortunate to have Fagles’s elegant and eloquent translation, for it stands as its own form of poetry. They like the sense of community—that we gather as students of Homer and come to appreciate his genius, his achievement, with something 2,700 years old. By the end of the reading, it seems as fresh today as it must have been for those Greeks who heard it for the first time, and did so again and again."
