Homer’s Humanity: Moments of Grace in The Iliad
Basic Program instructor Cynthia Rutz examines glimmers of human connection in Homer's epic poem.
About the Event
Presented by Basic Program instructors and open to all, these lectures also complement the texts and ideas from our curriculum and always include a Q&A session.
Homer’s epic poem The Iliad, composed around 750 BCE, is set during the tenth year of the siege of the ancient city of Troy by a coalition of Greeks led by King Agamemnon. The poem seems to celebrate violence, for as it proceeds, bloody battle scenes predominate more and more. However, there are also moments of grace, times when characters connect with each other or with us. This lecture will focus on these moments of grace, times when we are lifted out of the incessant combat into a realm where human connection is possible, however briefly. By focusing on these scenes we will see how Homer, by taking us temporarily away from the violence of war, even more shows us its dreadful cost.
Who's Speaking
Cynthia Rutz
Basic Program Instructor
Cynthia Rutz received her PhD from the University of Chicago in 2013. Her dissertation topic is Shakespeare’s King Lear and its folktale analogues, a subject on which she has delivered several lectures. For several years, she worked with Mortimer Adler on his Paideia Project, an education reform project which encourages high school and elementary school teachers to help students think critically through Great Books seminars and coaching. Her academic interests include mythology, folktales, Milton, Willa Cather, and ancient Greek philosophy and literature. She joined the Basic Program in 1991, served as Staff Chair from 1999 to 2004, and is currently Director of Faculty Development at Valparaiso University.
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