The Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens will launch its 2023-24 Thalia Potamianos Annual Lecture Series, featuring esteemed classicist and translator of Homer's "Odyssey," Emily Wilson. The three, separate lectures will be free, both live and live-streamed, in Athens, Greece, on October 3, 2023, in Washington, DC, on January 24, 2024, and in New York City on May 8, 2024.
 

2023–2024 Schedule for The Myth, Magic and Mystery of the Ancient Greeks

Lecture I: The Vulnerability of Heroism
Tuesday, October 3, 2023 - 7:00 p.m. EEST / 12:00 p.m. EDT (US)
Cotsen Hall, Athens, Greece

Lecture II: Destiny, Tradition, Choise
Wednesday, January 24, 2024 - 6:00 p.m. EST (US)
Gaston Hall, located inside the Healy Hall Building, 37th & O Streets, NW
Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

Lecture III: The Wisdom of Stories
Wednesday, May 8, 2024 - 6:00 p.m. EDT (US)
St. Bartholomew’s Church, 352 Park Avenue, New York City

 


 

The Thalia Potamianos lectures are being made possible by a generous grant from Phokion Potamianos, an Overseer of the Gennadius Library. Mr. Potamianos named the series in memory of his grandmother, a distinguished Greek doctor, academic, and philanthropist.

ABOUT EMILY WILSON

Emily Wilson has dedicated her career to investigating the profound and varied influences of ancient Greek and Roman literature on later cultures, to uncovering surprising new angles on canonical works of ancient poetry and philosophy, and to making these complex texts available to contemporary audiences. She has been instrumental in shedding new light on the works of ancient writers and promoting an inclusive and diverse perspective in classical studies.\

She is, perhaps, best known for her critically acclaimed translation of The Odyssey (2017) into English, providing a fresh, unique translation of Homer's work in iambic pentameter. Wilson's Odyssey was named by The New York Times as one of its 100 notable books of 2018, and it was shortlisted for the 2018 National Translation Award. In 2019, Wilson was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship “genius grant” for her work bringing classical literature to new audiences.

At the University of Pennsylvania, Emily Wilson is a professor in the Department of Classical Studies and serves as the Chair of the Program in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory. Her highly anticipated translation of the Iliad is set to be published this September by W.W. Norton & Company.

ABOUT THE LECTURE SERIES

The Thalia Potamianos Annual Lecture Series commenced in 2021 with inaugural speaker, Dr. Peter Frankopan, a Professor of Global History at Oxford University and the Stavros Niarchos Director of the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research. A world-renowned historian and award-winning author, he presented his series of lectures on “Global Greece: A History.”

Each year, the Potamianos Lecture Series seeks to create a stimulating environment to draw both the academic community and public to the Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Every year, a highly distinguished, internationally renowned scholar is selected to conduct research and develop programs on a topic relevant to the Gennadius Library. The research will culminate in a minimum of three annual public lectures, which will be delivered in Athens and the United States.

Please click here to learn more about this lecture series.