“北外伊莎白讲堂”

英美文学研究中心学术讲座No. 52

The Form of Classical Epic

讲座时间：2023年12月14日14:00-15:30

讲座地点：英语学院115会议室

演讲人：Charles Weiss 副教授（剑桥大学古典学系）

主持人：邵雪萍 博士（北京外国语大学英语学院）

讲座介绍：

This lecture will introduce you to the sound and rhythm of Epic poetry in Ancient Greek and Latin. Epic was the most important kind of poetry in Classical antiquity and it includes texts such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days, Vergil’s Aeneid and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. What did this poetry sound like and how was it composed? The form of Epic is called hexameter and its origins lie in a preliterate culture that reaches back to the Proto-Indo-European period of western antiquity. This lecture will include an introduction to the nature of Ancient Greek and Latin but no knowledge of these languages is required to enjoy the lecture.

讲座人信息：

Dr Weiss came from Atlanta, Georgia to study Classics at Columbia University (BA and MA) and Yale University (PhD), focusing on the languages and literatures of both Ancient Greek and Latin. He then went to Oxford to teach the subject for five years before taking a post (in 2003) with the Faculty of Classics at Cambridge. Dr Weiss is an Associate Professor in Classics at Cambridge and Fellow and Director of Studies in Classics for Clare College, Cambridge. Dr Weiss specializes in language pedagogy in both languages and teaches Classical languages and literature for Clare College. In 2012 he published a student’s introduction to Homer’s Odyssey for Cambridge University Press and is currently working on guides to Ancient Greek and Latin for English and Chinese students.