Online Lecture: Why Read Homer? Byzantine Scholars on the Value of Ancient Literature
The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture is pleased to announce the first lecture in our 2026–2027 lecture series.
September 23, 2026 | 12:00 PM (EDT, UTC -4) | Zoom
Why Read Homer? Byzantine Scholars on the Value of Ancient Literature
Baukje van den Berg, Central European University, Vienna
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and the heated debates it sparked this summer vividly demonstrate the enduring power of Homeric poetry over the art and imagination of later cultures. In this lecture, I explore Byzantine responses to Homer’s epics to consider the broader role of ancient literature in Byzantine society. Beyond serving as models of language and style, the works of Homer and other ancient poets stimulated reflection on moral behavior and the human experience more broadly.
By taking the oeuvre of the twelfth-century scholar Eustathios of Thessaloniki as my starting point, I will discuss different ways in which Byzantine scholarship made ancient texts relevant for new contexts. Eustathios’ engagement with the Iliad and the Odyssey—and that of other middle and late Byzantine scholars—reveals how he used ancient poetry to instruct students in ancient Greek, teach rhetoric and literary aesthetics, and draw moral lessons from the past. At the same time, his work formulates wider ideas on the relationship between the pagan literature of antiquity and the Christian world of Byzantium.
Baukje van den Berg is Associate Professor in the Department of Historical Studies at Central European University, Vienna. Her research concentrates on Byzantine education and literary thought, with a particular focus on the role of ancient literature in Byzantine culture. She is the author of Homer the Rhetorician: Eustathios of Thessalonike on the Composition of the Iliad (Oxford University Press, 2022) and John Tzetzes on Ancient Poetry (Dumbarton Oaks, forthcoming 2027).
Advance registration required. Register: https://maryjahariscenter.org/events/why-read-homer
Contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture with any questions.
