History and Literature: Ancient Epic, Homer and Virgil

While history encompasses many a fiction, fiction can also embrace much history. Homer, the earliest Western author whose work survives, shows this very clearly. His epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey, are literary tales steeped in historical realities, revealing much about life and times in early Greece. Many centuries later, another ancient author, Vergil who was the greatest of Roman poets, also preserves a complex and sophisticated picture of politics in his own day, even if his epic, The Aeneid, is on the surface a mythical saga. In sum, what-really-happened-in-the-past does not have to be packaged as history to deliver an accurate picture of life long ago.


Attributed to Mark L. Damen Professor of History and Classics,
Utah State University

[wendyparker]

I'm teaching a class on Greek and Roman art history, and this lecture is so helpful in providing my students with important background information without requiring them to have a lot of experience with Classical literature. Thanks so much for your hard work!

[AbbeyRoadkill]

These are some of the best lectures y'all have ever posted on this here channel.

[msvalkyrie]

Thoroughly well done and proof that you DON'T have to
be from Oxford or Yale in order to lecture on the Classics !🇬🇧 👍 .🇬🇧 !

[milica]

Thank you for the comparison with ex-Yu. There was a blind poet Filip Višnjić (Филип Вишњић) in 19th century Serbia and thanks to him our language reformist Vuk Karadžić was able to write down many epic poems.

[ianmcdougall]

Once I got used to the commentary this was very enjoyable Done Homer but Vergil here I come. What was enjoyable about this lecture was that it handled various topics in “bite sizes” that enabled you to build and see the greater picture. 😊

[mihjq]

The sound quality again discouraged me from watching the whole video. The problem is evidently digital, I mean it appeared after recording. I suppose somewhere in the audio settings a value of compression or 'kbps' was set too high or too low. I believe the problem would be easy to fix for someone who knows the stuff a little better than I do.
Please do something about it. A re-upload of affected videos would also be appreciated.

[bobbarker]

Yo yo yo my dude ... Beautiful Sunday .. hope all is well brother

[MendTheWorld]

Wow. This stuff is almost as good as Marvel.

[Ugloke]

Is it possible that Homer stands of the shoulders of others?

[nicbe]

Agamemnon murdered their daughter, he deserved what he got.