This meeting centers around Homer’s two great epics: the Iliad and the Odyssey. These two works are not only literary legacies but also visual narratives. In this session, we will explore the structures, characters, and narrative patterns of both epics, while reconstructing their stories through Ancient Greek vases that depict key scenes. Narrative lives not only in words, but in images as well.

• The Iliad
  • Structure of the epic: the final year across 24 books
  • Achilles’ wrath (menis) – the opening theme
  • The context of the Trojan War and Homer’s focus
  • The gods’ roles on the battlefield
  • Character analysis: Achilles, Agamemnon, Hector, Priam
  • The death of Patroclus and Achilles’ return
  • The funeral of Hector – grief, honor, forgiveness
  • Scene-by-scene narrative with vase illustrations:
    • The encounter between Achilles and Hector
    • Priam pleading for his son’s body
    • War chariots and divine interventions

• The Odyssey
  • Framed narrative structure and the narrator’s position
  • Odysseus’ strategies of concealment and identity
  • The theme of nostos (homecoming) and memory
  • The figure of Penelope: not passive, but actively waiting
  • Divine guidance: Athena and Poseidon
  • Encounters with mythical figures:
    • Polyphemus (Cyclops) – wit vs. strength
    • Circe – magic and transformation
    • Calypso – desire and captivity
    • Scylla and Charybdis – navigating extremes
  • Vase depictions and visual storytelling:
    • Odysseus’ plan against the Cyclops
    • Encounter with Circe
    • Penelope’s weaving ruse