From Homer to Hollywood: “The Odyssey” Takes Over Campus

Classical Studies is having a moment.  

Stores carry merch decorated with amphorae and Greek gods. Newspaper articles debate the nuances of a myth. Online forums bubble with opinionated fans arguing about translated epics. But at Duke’s Department of Classical Studies, students can go beyond the noise and learn directly from world-leading experts.  

This academic year, the department is hosting the Year of The Odyssey — a series of events celebrating the enduring power of Homer’s 3,000-year-old epic poem.   

The series will explore how “The Odyssey” continues to shape literature, art, film and popular culture. It will include a campus-wide read-a-thon, a conversation with acclaimed translator Emily Wilson, and free film screenings throughout the academic year.    

The celebration begins with The Odyssey Read-a-Thon on Sept. 23. Instructor in the Department of Classical Studies Alexander Karsten will lead students, faculty, staff and friends in reading aloud the complete translated 24-book poem.   

Participants are invited to sign up for a reading slot, but no passage will be assigned in advance. Instead, each reader will begin wherever the previous reader left off. (Sign up here.) An on-site coordinator will be available throughout the day to answer questions and help with pronunciation.   

A week later, on Oct. 1, the Duke community will hear from one of the country’s foremost authorities on “The Odyssey” at Translating the Homeric World: A Conversation with Emily Wilson. Wilson, professor and chair of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, has translated both “The Odyssey” and “The Iliad.” Her 2017 translation of “The Odyssey,” where she worked to recapture what she describes as Homer’s “nimble gallop,” was the first complete published English translation of the poem by a woman.  

Wilson will discuss the challenges and pleasures of translating Homer’s epics and how modern expectations can transform our understanding of the ancient world. A question-and-answer session and reception will follow. The event is free, but tickets are required and seating is limited.   

The fall lineup continues with a film screening of two silent movies, “The Mysterious Island” (1905) and “L’Odissea” (1911) on Oct. 19. Students from the Music Department will provide live accompaniment. The series continues on Nov. 12 with “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” This 2000 film offers a Depression-era reimagining of “The Odyssey,” following three escaped prisoners on a strange and comic journey through the American South. More films — including the new 2026 film adaptation of “The Odyssey” written and directed by Christopher Nolan, and inspired by Wilson’s translation — are planned for the spring.  

For the Department of Classical Studies, “The Odyssey” is much more than a renewed popular phenomenon — it’s an integral part of their curriculum. Homer’s Odyssey: Then and Now (CLST 205), a new course taught by Associate Professor of Classical Studies and department chair Clare Woods, examines the epic in its ancient performative, archaeological, literary and artistic contexts before turning to its modern afterlives in literature, art and film.  

“‘The Odyssey’ is a story of epic adventure, self-discovery, home and the people we encounter along the way,” Woods said. “These themes are as relevant today as they were in the ancient world. Studying the poem in its original contexts — and tracing how it has been reimagined over thousands of years — helps students explore both what has changed and what continues to connect us.” 

Together, the course and events showcase the everlasting value of Classical Studies, a department that connects the ancient world to big ideas shaping life today. Through small classes taught by renowned scholars and with resources such as Rubenstein Library’s papyri and manuscripts, and the Nasher Museum’s antiquities collection, the department offers students an expansive way to encounter the past — and see its continuing influence on the present.