About us
BCE is a literary conversation group where we read together “classic” texts in a broad sense, from before the Christian era, anything loosely before/during the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine I (272–337), his successor and son Constantius II and his nephew, Julian the Apostate, who rejected Christianity and promoted Neoplatonic Hellenism as a philosophy, and the worship of the traditional Roman gods as ritual practice.
BCE expects participants to have read the text and have formulated questions for discussion and have marked a few passages that we can read aloud and discuss. Participants have the same edition in front of them so they can create a common experience.
Examples of texts we can take on: Seneca, Lucan, the epic of Gilgamesh, the Hebrew book of Genesis, the plays of Aristophanes, Homer’s Odyssey, Ovid, Song of Songs, or the Egyptian Story of Sinuhe.
Upcoming events
3
125: Odyssey Book 17 and 18 – Surveying
·OnlineOnline(I have moved this session two weeks out to avoid a conflict with Labor Day Weekend.)
Read Books 17 and 18 in the Mendelsohn translation of the poem. As you read, mark passages you would like to discuss together. Practise reading selected sections aloud so you are ready to contribute and can help one another appreciate the poem more fully during discussion. Prepare interpretive questions for the group and post these in the comments.
Book 17 – Beggar in the Hall
Telémakhos returns openly to the palace, greeted tearfully by Penelope. He conceals his knowledge of Odysseus’ fate but promises news. Meanwhile, Odysseus and Eúmaios head toward town. On the road they encounter Melánthios, an insolent goatherd who abuses the “beggar” and kicks him. At the palace gates, Odysseus sees his neglected old dog Argos, who recognizes his master, wags weakly, and dies. Inside, the suitors mock and threaten the stranger; Antínoös throws a stool at him, shocking some observers. Penelope summons the beggar, intrigued by rumors he may have news of her long-absent husband.Book 18 – Íros, Penelope, and Testing
Another beggar, Íros, bullies Odysseus and is goaded by the suitors into a boxing match for amusement. Odysseus, carefully concealing his strength, nonetheless defeats him with a single punch, earning wary respect and more hostility. Athena inspires Penelope to appear before the suitors, heightening her beauty. She reproaches them, elicits promises of gifts, and subtly manipulates their desires. Odysseus observes the behavior of servants and suitors, distinguishing loyal from disloyal. The maid Melanthô insults him; he responds with veiled threats. The suitors continue their feast, plotting and joking, while Odysseus patiently endures, storing up anger for revenge.****
For this series on Homer's Odyssey we will be using the new translation by Daniel Mendelsohn: Homer: The Odyssey. Translated, with Introduction and Notes. University of Chicago Press, April 9th, 2025.Sessions devoted to Daniel Mendelsohn’s translation will alternate with meetings focused on a broader range of “Odysseiana,” materials that illuminate the transmission, reception, and interpretation of Homer’s poem across time. These companion materials will include ancient textual witnesses, archaeological and visual evidence, and modern thematic and analytical work that together situate the Odyssey within its cultural, historical, and performative contexts.
Textual materials
• Early manuscripts on papyrus and parchment from as early as the third century BCE, along with later medieval codices, show how the text of the Odyssey was copied, stabilized, and annotated over many centuries.
• A clay tablet from Roman-era Olympia, inscribed with verses from Book 14, offers one of the earliest substantial epigraphic attestations of the poem and illustrates its circulation in public and sacred spaces.
• Later printed editions, informed by Alexandrian scholarship and modern textual criticism, will serve as points of comparison for issues of wording, lineation, and commentary.Archaeological and visual materials
• Vase paintings and other images from Greek pottery that depict scenes associated with the Odyssey—such as shipwrecks, supplication, or women at the loom—will be used to explore how ancient artists visualized narrative moments and social practices found in the poem.
• Museum collections, such as those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, provide objects like armor, textiles, and domestic furnishings that help reconstruct the material world of Odysseus and his contemporaries.
• These artifacts will help connect specific passages in Mendelsohn’s translation to ancient views of the gods, warfare, hospitality, and poetic performance.Thematic and analytical materials
• Scholarly discussions of themes such as cunning and intelligence, homecoming and estrangement, and the tension between order and disorder will frame close readings of selected episodes.
• Attention to the Odyssey’s origins in oral performance, including formulaic language, meter, and narrative framing, will complement Mendelsohn’s effort to reproduce the poem’s formal features in English.
• Companion texts from later epic and narrative traditions will be brought in to show how Homeric patterns are adapted, challenged, or echoed in subsequent literature.Mendelsohn’s translation is also available on Kindle and as an Audible audio book. About Daniel Mendelsohn read here.
12 attendees
126: Odyssey Book 19 and 20 – Omens
·OnlineOnlineRead Books 19 and 20 in the Mendelsohn translation of the poem. As you read, please mark passages you would like to discuss together. Practise reading selected sections aloud so you are ready to contribute and can help one another appreciate the poem more fully during discussion. Prepare interpretive questions for the group and post these in the comments.
Book 19 – Night Talk and the Scar
Odysseus and Telémakhos remove the palace’s weapons, pretending to secure them from smoke and brawls. Later, Penelope questions the disguised stranger. Odysseus weaves another intricate Cretan identity, describing Odysseus’ clothing and retinue with intimate accuracy, moving Penelope to tears. He assures her Odysseus will soon return. Eurykleía washes the guest’s feet and recognizes the old boar-hunt scar, nearly betraying him before he silences her. Penelope recounts her frustrating dream and announces her plan to hold an archery contest the next day: whoever can string Odysseus’ bow and shoot through twelve axe-heads will win her hand.Book 20 – Omens Before the Storm
Sleepless, Odysseus worries about overcoming so many enemies. Athena reassures him. He witnesses the disloyal maids sneaking out to the suitors. At dawn, he prays for a sign; Zeus answers with thunder from a clear sky. A servant woman also utters a prophetic wish. In the hall, more ominous portents appear—meat bleeding, laughter turning wild—as a seer predicts disaster for the suitors, who mock him. Telémakhos controls his temper amid further insults to his father. The atmosphere thickens with foreboding as the feast continues, setting the stage for imminent, divinely sanctioned retribution.****
For this series on Homer's Odyssey we will be using the new translation by Daniel Mendelsohn: Homer: The Odyssey. Translated, with Introduction and Notes. University of Chicago Press, April 9th, 2025.Sessions devoted to Daniel Mendelsohn’s translation will alternate with meetings focused on a broader range of “Odysseiana,” materials that illuminate the transmission, reception, and interpretation of Homer’s poem across time. These companion materials will include ancient textual witnesses, archaeological and visual evidence, and modern thematic and analytical work that together situate the Odyssey within its cultural, historical, and performative contexts.
Textual materials
• Early manuscripts on papyrus and parchment from as early as the third century BCE, along with later medieval codices, show how the text of the Odyssey was copied, stabilized, and annotated over many centuries.
• A clay tablet from Roman-era Olympia, inscribed with verses from Book 14, offers one of the earliest substantial epigraphic attestations of the poem and illustrates its circulation in public and sacred spaces.
• Later printed editions, informed by Alexandrian scholarship and modern textual criticism, will serve as points of comparison for issues of wording, lineation, and commentary.Archaeological and visual materials
• Vase paintings and other images from Greek pottery that depict scenes associated with the Odyssey—such as shipwrecks, supplication, or women at the loom—will be used to explore how ancient artists visualized narrative moments and social practices found in the poem.
• Museum collections, such as those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, provide objects like armor, textiles, and domestic furnishings that help reconstruct the material world of Odysseus and his contemporaries.
• These artifacts will help connect specific passages in Mendelsohn’s translation to ancient views of the gods, warfare, hospitality, and poetic performance.Thematic and analytical materials
• Scholarly discussions of themes such as cunning and intelligence, homecoming and estrangement, and the tension between order and disorder will frame close readings of selected episodes.
• Attention to the Odyssey’s origins in oral performance, including formulaic language, meter, and narrative framing, will complement Mendelsohn’s effort to reproduce the poem’s formal features in English.
• Companion texts from later epic and narrative traditions will be brought in to show how Homeric patterns are adapted, challenged, or echoed in subsequent literature.Mendelsohn’s translation is also available on Kindle and as an Audible audio book. About Daniel Mendelsohn read here.
8 attendees
127: Slavery in Homer's World
·OnlineOnlineOdysseus says, in Mendelsohn’s translation:
“Countless were my slaves, countless the other possessions
That help a man to live well: the reason they call him wealthy.”
Odyssey: 17: 422-3.In this session we will be looking into slavery in Greek Antiquity and how this shows in the Odyssey.
Readings TBA
****
For this series on Homer's Odyssey we will be using the new translation by Daniel Mendelsohn: Homer: The Odyssey. Translated, with Introduction and Notes. University of Chicago Press, April 9th, 2025.Sessions devoted to Daniel Mendelsohn’s translation will alternate with meetings focused on a broader range of “Odysseiana,” materials that illuminate the transmission, reception, and interpretation of Homer’s poem across time. These companion materials will include ancient textual witnesses, archaeological and visual evidence, and modern thematic and analytical work that together situate the Odyssey within its cultural, historical, and performative contexts.
Textual materials
• Early manuscripts on papyrus and parchment from as early as the third century BCE, along with later medieval codices, show how the text of the Odyssey was copied, stabilized, and annotated over many centuries.
• A clay tablet from Roman-era Olympia, inscribed with verses from Book 14, offers one of the earliest substantial epigraphic attestations of the poem and illustrates its circulation in public and sacred spaces.
• Later printed editions, informed by Alexandrian scholarship and modern textual criticism, will serve as points of comparison for issues of wording, lineation, and commentary.Archaeological and visual materials
• Vase paintings and other images from Greek pottery that depict scenes associated with the Odyssey—such as shipwrecks, supplication, or women at the loom—will be used to explore how ancient artists visualized narrative moments and social practices found in the poem.
• Museum collections, such as those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, provide objects like armor, textiles, and domestic furnishings that help reconstruct the material world of Odysseus and his contemporaries.
• These artifacts will help connect specific passages in Mendelsohn’s translation to ancient views of the gods, warfare, hospitality, and poetic performance.Thematic and analytical materials
• Scholarly discussions of themes such as cunning and intelligence, homecoming and estrangement, and the tension between order and disorder will frame close readings of selected episodes.
• Attention to the Odyssey’s origins in oral performance, including formulaic language, meter, and narrative framing, will complement Mendelsohn’s effort to reproduce the poem’s formal features in English.
• Companion texts from later epic and narrative traditions will be brought in to show how Homeric patterns are adapted, challenged, or echoed in subsequent literature.Mendelsohn’s translation is also available on Kindle and as an Audible audio book, read by the translator. About Daniel Mendelsohn read here.
8 attendees
Past events
126
