Homer Rocks throughout the Ages

For nearly three millennia, Homer has been captivating Greek, Mediterranean, and Western societies. By tapping into the rich traditions of the ancient Near East and diving deep into tall tales of his own time, his epics struck more than one cord with his contemporary and future audiences. They advanced to a key element of Hellenic identity. But Homer’s fame was transformed in the Hellenistic age, when not only appreciation of his verses was spread throughout the Macedonian kingdoms on European, Asian and African soil, but understanding was fostered through a novel kind of Homeric scholarship, arguably the beginning of Classical Philology. Even more, in this period the First Poet even advanced to divine status, as Dr. Ivana Petrovic, Professor of Classics at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, richly illustrated in her talk on Homer Appreciation Day (April 24, 2026). Co-organized by WIHS and UW Classical Studies and hosted in St. Jerome’s Dragen Lab, the symposium fielded several academic papers and further opportunities for creative engagement. Contributions ranged from the reflection of Homer’s world all the way up to the contemporary reception of Odysseus, and beyond to exploring alternative plotlines and learning about sensory approaches to ancient necromancy in the modern classroom. The recordings of most presentations can now be streamed on the program page.