Greek Literature

From Homer and the tragedians to Plato and beyond — explore Greek Literature with tailor-made sessions.

What’s on offer

• Epic: read Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey in the original or in translation, and trace the origins of Western literature at the very beginning of the tradition.
• Drama: explore the great tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and the biting comedies of Aristophanes, in the original or in translation.
• Prose and history: read the founders of history and philosophy — Herodotus, Thucydides and Plato — and see how Greek thought shaped the Western mind.
• Poetry and lyric: discover the lyric poets, from Sappho and Pindar onwards, whose songs of love, loss and victory still move us today.
• Reading and translation: build confidence in reading and translating original Greek texts, at a pace that suits you, from your first sentences to extended passages.
• Context and culture: understand the world behind the words — the myths, politics and ideas of classical Athens and beyond.

Iliad

From the wrath of Achilles to the battle of the gods, Homer’s Iliad is the oldest surviving masterpiece of Western literature — a sweeping epic of war, honour and grief that still speaks to readers almost three thousand years after it was first composed.

Set in the tenth and final year of the Trojan War, the poem follows the rage of Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors, when he is slighted by the commander Agamemnon and withdraws from the fighting — with devastating consequences for both armies. Through its vivid battle scenes and moments of extraordinary tenderness, the Iliad explores what it means to be mortal, the terrible cost of pride, and the bonds of friendship and family that endure even in the chaos of war.

What we can explore together

• Reading the text: study the Iliad in the original Greek or in translation, at whatever pace suits you.
• Story and structure: trace the shape of the epic — from the quarrel of the kings to the funeral of Hector — and see how Homer builds tension across all twenty-four books.
• Characters and themes: the wrath of Achilles, the heroism of Hector, the scheming of the gods, and the human tragedy at the heart of the war.
• Heroic values: unpack the Greek concepts of kleos (glory), timē (honour) and aretē (excellence) that drive the heroes forward.
• Literary context: Homeric epic and the oral tradition, and the Iliad’s enduring influence on later literature, art and culture.

Odyssey

From the walls of Troy to the shores of Ithaca, Homer’s Odyssey is one of the great adventure stories of all time — an epic of wandering, longing and homecoming that has captured the imagination of readers for nearly three millennia.

The poem follows the hero Odysseus as he struggles to return home after the fall of Troy, facing Cyclopes, witches, sea monsters and the lure of immortality, while back in Ithaca his wife Penelope and son Telemachus hold out against the suitors who have overrun his palace. Beneath the surface of its thrilling adventures, the Odyssey is a profound meditation on identity, cunning and endurance — and on what it truly means to find, and deserve, a home.

What we can explore together

• Reading the text: study the Odyssey in the original Greek or in translation, at whatever pace suits you.
• Story and structure: follow the epic’s famous non-linear structure — beginning in the middle of Odysseus’s wanderings before flashing back to his adventures — and see how Homer weaves the tale together across twenty-four books.
• Characters and themes: the cunning of Odysseus, the faithfulness of Penelope, the coming-of-age of Telemachus, and the role of the gods in guiding the journey home.
• Key ideas: explore metis (cunning intelligence), xenia (the laws of hospitality) and nostos (the longing for home) that shape the epic.
• Literary context: the Odyssey as the sequel to the Iliad, and its enduring influence on literature, from Virgil and Dante to Joyce and modern cinema.