Professor Edwin Floyd
Department of Classics
Friday, September 14, 2007
2 P.M.
3500 Cathedral of Learning
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to the Ionian poet Homer and commonly dated around 725 BC. It centers on the Greek hero Odysseus and his long journey home to Ithaca, following the fall of Troy. When Odysseus reaches home he is disguised as a beggar and encounters his wife, Penelope, testing her intentions and fidelity in his long absence. Some scholars believe there is evidence that Penelope already knows the true identity of the disguised Odysseus. How does one settle this suggestion? Today’s lecture will introduce you to the fascinating scholarship on exegesis of this ancient text. Professor Floyd’s areas of specialization are Greek poetry, Greek and Indo-European linguistics, and Sanskrit. All three of these areas are combined in his work on Indo-European poetic formulas in Sanskrit (Rig-Veda and
Mahabharata) and in Greek.
