From anthropology to self-awareness through teaching Homeric epics in translation: Theory and practice

This workshop was provided by Dr. Andromache Karanika, Associate Professor of Classics at the University of California, Irvine, USA.

From the first half of the twentieth century onwards, when the theory of the oral origins of epic poetry gradually began to gain ground through studies examining the genre from a comparative perspective, the majority of researchers began to consider epic poetry as a medium of expressing complex social processes. Questionable human behaviors are recorded in homeric epic poetry. Exploiting the concept of game and gamification (παιδιά) we discussed how the examination of ancient Greek sources (e.g. the sixth rhapsody of Odyssey) can reveal to us an ancient game theory as long as concrete ways that help us to analyze more constructively the texts we teach in translation. On the other hand, we emphasized the perspective of enhancing creativity through ancient sources. We traced the process from reading to creation, from Homer to modern writers, who get inspired thematically and structurally from antiquity contributing to a modern renaissance in creative writing and imagery.