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Join us for a four-week course on Homer and in Shakespeare: Stories of the heroic world and its survival
The Iliad and the Odyssey are concerned with exploring two very different heroes: Achilles and Odysseus.
In the Iliad there is a running reflection on, and sometimes direct critique of, the ‘heroic exchange’ of exertion and danger for glory and immortal fame; in the Odyssey we see a man whose experiences may have made him insensible of, or inured to, guilt and responsibility. Homer's epics reflect on manhood, the cost of war, women both as powerful and as victims, and the cost of returning to a postwar world.
In Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida the heroes of the Iliad are living in a shabby post-heroic world, where value depends on how people regard you, and story of Troy can be reduced to ‘wars and lechery’. Shakespeare’s Odysseus (Ulysses) urges Achilles to ceaseless performance of heroic action, as the means of staving off the banality and squalor of ‘real life’. Shakespeare explores, with some urgency, what survives of the heroic world.
Lecture list
• 23 February 2027. Jan Parker on the Iliad
• 2 March 2027. Jan Parker on the Odyssey
• 9 March 2027. Fred Parker on Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra
• 16 March 2027. Fred Parker on Shakespeare, Othello; Troilus and Cressida
With Dr Fred Parker and Dr Jan Parker, University of Cambridge.
Tuesdays, weekly, 23 February to 16 March 2026, live online
6.00-8.00 pm British Time (GMT)
7.00-9.00 pm Central European Time
Morning or lunchtime in the Americas
Please check the time in your time zone.
Each session includes a 1-hour lecture, followed by a seminar. Live online.
Course fees (prices include 20% VAT) for the course of four sessions
£210 full price
£190 students on low income
£190 CAMcard holders
£105 Shakespeare lectures only
£105 Euripides lectures only
Recordings
Each lecture will be recorded live and will be available to participants throughout the course to listen again. The seminars are not recorded.
Zoom link
We will send you a Zoom link by email no later than 24 hours before the course begins. If the link does not arrive, please let us know by email in good time, at least an hour before the session begins, so we can re-send.
Terms and conditions
We can’t usually refund course fees if you can’t attend, but we might be able to transfer your booking fee to another course. Please email us to discuss.
Join us for a four-week course on Homer and in Shakespeare: Stories of the heroic world and its survival
The Iliad and the Odyssey are concerned with exploring two very different heroes: Achilles and Odysseus.
In the Iliad there is a running reflection on, and sometimes direct critique of, the ‘heroic exchange’ of exertion and danger for glory and immortal fame; in the Odyssey we see a man whose experiences may have made him insensible of, or inured to, guilt and responsibility. Homer's epics reflect on manhood, the cost of war, women both as powerful and as victims, and the cost of returning to a postwar world.
In Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida the heroes of the Iliad are living in a shabby post-heroic world, where value depends on how people regard you, and story of Troy can be reduced to ‘wars and lechery’. Shakespeare’s Odysseus (Ulysses) urges Achilles to ceaseless performance of heroic action, as the means of staving off the banality and squalor of ‘real life’. Shakespeare explores, with some urgency, what survives of the heroic world.
Lecture list
• 23 February 2027. Jan Parker on the Iliad
• 2 March 2027. Jan Parker on the Odyssey
• 9 March 2027. Fred Parker on Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra
• 16 March 2027. Fred Parker on Shakespeare, Othello; Troilus and Cressida
With Dr Fred Parker and Dr Jan Parker, University of Cambridge.
Tuesdays, weekly, 23 February to 16 March 2026, live online
6.00-8.00 pm British Time (GMT)
7.00-9.00 pm Central European Time
Morning or lunchtime in the Americas
Please check the time in your time zone.
Each session includes a 1-hour lecture, followed by a seminar. Live online.
Course fees (prices include 20% VAT) for the course of four sessions
£210 full price
£190 students on low income
£190 CAMcard holders
£105 Shakespeare lectures only
£105 Euripides lectures only
Recordings
Each lecture will be recorded live and will be available to participants throughout the course to listen again. The seminars are not recorded.
Zoom link
We will send you a Zoom link by email no later than 24 hours before the course begins. If the link does not arrive, please let us know by email in good time, at least an hour before the session begins, so we can re-send.
Terms and conditions
We can’t usually refund course fees if you can’t attend, but we might be able to transfer your booking fee to another course. Please email us to discuss.