HarvardX: HUM2x The Ancient Greek Hero
Understanding Homeric Poetry
In this short introductory message, Professor Gregory Nagy explains the role of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey in Greek culture, and reinforces the importance of reading slowly. Below the video is an audio–only (mp3) version, which you may download and access at your convenience.
Professor Nagy on Homer, Greek Civilization, and Reading Slowly
Video transcript
GREGORY NAGY: If you really want to read a book about the background of
the Homeric Iliad, just read the Homeric Iliad-- and read it fast first
and then slowly afterwards.
The reason I say that is that in the 5th century BCE, a great thinker like
Herodotus, who today is considered the so-called Father of Ancient Greek
History, Herodotus actually said that in order to be civilized, you've got
to know Homer and Hesiod.
Herodotus is saying in this very important period of Greek intellectual
history that if you know the Homeric Iliad, if you know the Homeric
Odyssey, plus, let's say, two other poems, you're civilized.
You have the background.
You have what it takes.
So if we even read the Iliad fast, we already have a major chunk of what it
takes to be a civilized person as far as Herodotus is concerned.
The beauty of the art of reading slowly, if I can go back to what
Nietzsche said about philology, is that you can really apply
the art on your own.
Sure, with guidance at the beginning, but then you get more and more
confident, and then you become a slow- reading artist.
That's my ambition for you.
Here I am at my age, there's still some things that I haven't read
carefully in the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey.
It's, after all, the product of over 2,000, maybe 3,000, years of the most
highly refined performer-audience interaction.
It's one of the most beautiful, perfected systems of communication
that we can find in the history of civilization.
So for heaven's sake, let's not beat up on ourselves if we don't understand
something in the Homeric Iliad or the Homeric Odyssey.
They'll be plenty of that, including for me.
But the rewards of the experience of reading slowly will
just keep on coming.
It's a gift that really, seriously, keeps on giving.
Downloads and transcripts
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HOUR 0 READINGS
"Introduction to the Book" and "Introduction to Homeric Poetry" in The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours (H24H).
Slow reading in H24H: Hour 0 ("Introduction to the Book") Texts A through H (= 8 passages)
Fast reading in the Sourcebook: Iliad scroll 1
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