The Homeric Question

About the lecture

In this module, we explore one of the most fundamental questions asked of the Homeric epics – was the Iliad the work of a single poet or of many? Indeed, how do we begin to understand the concept of ‘authorship’ in a society where poetry was composed and performed orally, as opposed to being written down?

About the lecturer

Richard Jenkyns was an undergraduate at Balliol College, Oxford. He was a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, from 1972 to 1981, Lecturer in Classics, University of Bristol, 1978-81, and from 1981 to 2010 he was a Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Lady Margaret Hall.

He became Professor of the Classical Tradition in 1999 and the University’s Public Orator in 2004. He was awarded a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship 2007-10.