Homer’s Iliad: A Slow Reading and Panel Discussion

Hi Folks,

Please join to watch our panelists discuss Homer's Iliad. Note, there is no way to participate or interact in this, it is a live view-only webinar where you can watch pre-selected panelists discuss the reading.

### 📖 About Homer's Iliad

Composed nearly three thousand years ago, the Iliad remains astonishingly relevant. Through the story of Achilles and the Trojan War, Homer explores enduring questions about anger, honor, friendship, mortality, leadership, suffering, and the search for meaning in the face of death.

The poem is incredibly important as:

• The starting point of the Western literary tradition and the most influential epic ever written
• A timeless meditation on glory, suffering, mortality, and what it means to live a meaningful human life
• A source of inspiration for countless writers and thinkers, from the tragedians of ancient Greece to modern philosophers and novelists

Although the poem is set during the Trojan War, it is not primarily about battles. Rather, it is a study of human character under extreme circumstances. Homer examines how individuals respond to loss, ambition, loyalty, grief, and fate. The result is a work that continues to speak powerfully across cultures and centuries.

### 📖 About The Panelists

Panelists were selected via an application process before the start of this reading series. Selection was based on their academic background, articulation skills and willingness to commit to the reading. If you want to join the panel mid-way you can still apply here:
https://forms.gle/cX6Ct1Txnkg3hSzy5

It will take me a week or so to reach out to you and meet you to see if you are a good fit for the Panel. If you do join, you'll need to catch up on the reading and commit to joining each week.

### 📖 Participation

This event will combine a slow reading of the text with a recurring panel discussion.
Each week for 24 weeks, participants will read approximately one book of the Iliad (roughly 20–30 pages). During the meeting, the panel of readers will discuss the assigned text.
Audience members can observe via Zoom Webinar. Audience members cannot interact or participate other than viewing the webinar.

### 📚 Reading Schedule

Panelists will read the text slowly and carefully, approximately one book per week, over roughly six months. This isn't a live reading, the panelists will need to read in advance. Panelists will spend about an hour per week completing the reading in advance of each discussion.
I will be using Robert Fagles’ translation of the Iliad (Penguin Classics), with Bernard Knox’s introduction and notes. You can read any translation you like, it may be fun to have differing versions. A reading schedule is here.

### 📬 Contact

Have questions or feedback? Feel free to send me a Meetup message.

Kind Regards,
Ryan