Ovid as imagined in the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493. (Image: Michel Wolgemut/Public domain)
Ancient Literature

Virgil and Ovid: Poetry in the Golden Age of Rome

December 1, 2017

The reign of Augustus has often been called the Golden Age of Rome. This was the age of many great cultural achievements including the writing of Roman poetry by the master poets Virgil and Ovid. […]

Ancient Literature

How Did Constantine Alter the Course of the Roman Empire?

June 18, 2017

In the course, Books That Matter: The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Professor Leo Damrosch examines this great work from multiple perspectives; as a vast historical chronicle, as a compelling masterpiece of literature, as a sharp commentary on cultural mores, and as a cautionary tale to Enlightenment Europe. […]

Painting featuring Odysseus and other people
Ancient Literature

Odysseus, Master of Schemes

December 23, 2016

Odysseus was a legendary king of ancient Ithaca, an island in the Ionian Sea. Look at Odysseus as the awed Greek hero celebrated in Homer’s Odyssey and other poems related to the Trojan War. We’ll pay particular attention to the ways in which Odysseus’s scheming and lies lead to heroic triumphs—and nearly kill him. […]

Odysseus talks to the cyclops by a flock of sheep
Ancient Literature

How Odysseus Fooled a Cyclops

December 19, 2016

By David J. Schenker,PhD, University of Missouri–Columbia Odysseus’s adventures with the Cyclops Polyphemus reveal much about the character of Odysseus and the complexities facing a […]

Dante and Beatrice speak to the teachers of wisdom in Dantes Paradise
Ancient Literature

Dante’s Paradise: The Sphere of Wisdom

December 14, 2016

By William R. Cook, Ph.D.,  State University of New York, Geneseo & Ronald B. Herzman,Ph.D., State University of New York, Geneseo On their journey through Paradise, […]