About us
BCE is a literary conversation group where we read together “classic” texts in a broad sense, from before the Christian era, anything loosely before/during the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine I (272–337), his successor and son Constantius II and his nephew, Julian the Apostate, who rejected Christianity and promoted Neoplatonic Hellenism as a philosophy, and the worship of the traditional Roman gods as ritual practice.
BCE expects participants to have read the text and have formulated questions for discussion and have marked a few passages that we can read aloud and discuss. Participants have the same edition in front of them so they can create a common experience.
Examples of texts we can take on: Seneca, Lucan, the epic of Gilgamesh, the Hebrew book of Genesis, the plays of Aristophanes, Homer’s Odyssey, Ovid, Song of Songs, or the Egyptian Story of Sinuhe.
Upcoming events
2
123: Odyssey – The Nolan Film
·OnlineOnlineMatt Damon is Odysseus in a new film by Christopher Nolan, #TheOdysseyMovie, in theaters July 17, 2026.
Watch Nolan's new film in your local theater and post discussion points in the comment section below for our film discussion on August 9.
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Discussion questions for Christopher Nolan’s The OdysseyI. Overall Impressions
- What scene from the film stayed with you the longest, and why?
- Did the film feel more like an epic adventure, a psychological drama, or a meditation on homecoming?
- Which emotional moment was the film's strongest?
- How did seeing the film in IMAX affect your experience?
- Does the film reward viewers already familiar with Homer more than newcomers?
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II. Nolan's Interpretation of Homer
- Which departures from Homer's text were the most effective?
- Which changes weakened the story?
- Does Nolan portray Odysseus as primarily heroic, flawed, or tragic?
- How does the film reinterpret the meaning of nostos (homecoming)?
- Which omitted Homeric episode did you most miss?
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III. Characters
- How convincing was Matt Damon's portrayal of Odysseus?
- Does Anne Hathaway's Penelope possess more agency than in Homer?
- How is Telemachus' coming-of-age developed differently from the poem?
- Which supporting character gains the most depth compared with Homer?
- Which character did the film simplify too much?
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IV. Myth and the Gods
- How successfully does the film balance realism with mythology?
- How did the portrayal of Athena shape your understanding of divine guidance?
- Which mythical creature or supernatural episode was most memorable?
- Does the film make the gods seem morally different from humans?
- Should the divine machinery have been made more explicit—or less?
V. Cinematic Craft
- How does Nolan use landscape to convey the emotional stages of Odysseus' journey?
- Which sequence demonstrates Nolan's command of visual storytelling most effectively?
- How important is Ludwig Göransson's score in creating the film's mythic atmosphere?
- How does the film's pacing compare with Homer's episodic structure?
- Which technical achievement impressed you most—cinematography, editing, sound design, practical effects, or production design?
VI. Themes and Reception
- What does the film suggest about leadership and kingship?
- Does Nolan's adaptation ultimately celebrate intelligence (mêtis) more than physical strength?
- How does the film portray hospitality (xenia) as a moral test?
- In what ways does the film speak to contemporary concerns such as war, displacement, family, or identity?
- Compared with other major adaptations of Greek myth, where does Nolan's The Odyssey rank, and what new interpretation does it contribute?
- From the film reviews you have seen, which can you recommend to the group?
- Which other adaptations of Homer can you recommend?
For Students of Homer
- Which single scene is closest in spirit—not merely in plot—to Homer?
- How does Nolan handle Odysseus' tendency toward deception and storytelling?
- Does the film preserve Homer's ambiguity about whether Odysseus deserves admiration?
- Which scene would you choose to compare line-by-line with the corresponding Homeric passage?
- If Homer himself watched this adaptation, what do you think would most surprise—or delight—him?
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For this series on Homer's Odyssey we will be using the new translation by Daniel Mendelsohn: Homer: The Odyssey. Translated, with Introduction and Notes. University of Chicago Press, April 9th, 2025.Sessions devoted to Daniel Mendelsohn’s translation will alternate with meetings focused on a broader range of “Odysseiana,” materials that illuminate the transmission, reception, and interpretation of Homer’s poem across time. These companion materials will include ancient textual witnesses, archaeological and visual evidence, and modern thematic and analytical work that together situate the Odyssey within its cultural, historical, and performative contexts.
Textual materials
• Early manuscripts on papyrus and parchment from as early as the third century BCE, along with later medieval codices, show how the text of the Odyssey was copied, stabilized, and annotated over many centuries.
• A clay tablet from Roman-era Olympia, inscribed with verses from Book 14, offers one of the earliest substantial epigraphic attestations of the poem and illustrates its circulation in public and sacred spaces.
• Later printed editions, informed by Alexandrian scholarship and modern textual criticism, will serve as points of comparison for issues of wording, lineation, and commentary.Archaeological and visual materials
• Vase paintings and other images from Greek pottery that depict scenes associated with the Odyssey—such as shipwrecks, supplication, or women at the loom—will be used to explore how ancient artists visualized narrative moments and social practices found in the poem.
• Museum collections, such as those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, provide objects like armor, textiles, and domestic furnishings that help reconstruct the material world of Odysseus and his contemporaries.
• These artifacts will help connect specific passages in Mendelsohn’s translation to ancient views of the gods, warfare, hospitality, and poetic performance.Thematic and analytical materials
• Scholarly discussions of themes such as cunning and intelligence, homecoming and estrangement, and the tension between order and disorder will frame close readings of selected episodes.
• Attention to the Odyssey’s origins in oral performance, including formulaic language, meter, and narrative framing, will complement Mendelsohn’s effort to reproduce the poem’s formal features in English.
• Companion texts from later epic and narrative traditions will be brought in to show how Homeric patterns are adapted, challenged, or echoed in subsequent literature.Mendelsohn’s translation is also available on Kindle and as an Audible audio book. About Daniel Mendelsohn read here.
12 attendees
124: Odyssey Book 15 and 16 – Father and Son
·OnlineOnline( I moved this session up four weeks to accommodate a rescheduling for Book 14)
Read Books 15 and 16 in the Mendelsohn translation of the poem. As you read, mark passages you would like to discuss together. Practise reading selected sections aloud so you are ready to contribute and can help one another appreciate the poem more fully during discussion. Prepare interpretive questions for the group and post these in the comments.
Book 15 – Telémakhos Returns
Athena visits Telémakhos in Sparta, urging him to leave immediately lest the suitors seize his inheritance or kill him. Menelaos and Helen send him off with generous gifts and good wishes. Back on Ithaca, the suitors plot an ambush at sea. Athena warns Telémakhos, who bypasses the trap, landing secretly and sending his companion Peíraios ahead with the gifts. Meanwhile, in the hut, the swineherd Eúmaios recounts his tragic childhood, stolen from his homeland and sold into Laertes’ household, deepening his pathos. Telémakhos finally reaches Eúmaios’ dwelling, where Odysseus, still disguised, awaits their fateful reunion.Book 16 – Father and Son
Eúmaios goes to the palace; Athena seizes the moment, briefly revealing Odysseus’ true form to Telémakhos. Overwhelmed, the young man first disbelieves, then embraces his father through tears and astonishment. Odysseus outlines his sufferings and proposes a daring plan to retake the house with only a few loyal allies. Telémakhos reports the suitors’ numbers and their ambush scheme. Odysseus resumes his beggar disguise. Back in town, Penelope denounces the suitors’ plots. The suitors Antínoös and Eurýmakhos pretend concern. That night, Telémakhos returns to the hut, carefully sending Eúmaios ahead as their double world—palace and farm—begins to converge.****
For this series on Homer's Odyssey we will be using the new translation by Daniel Mendelsohn: Homer: The Odyssey. Translated, with Introduction and Notes. University of Chicago Press, April 9th, 2025.Sessions devoted to Daniel Mendelsohn’s translation will alternate with meetings focused on a broader range of “Odysseiana,” materials that illuminate the transmission, reception, and interpretation of Homer’s poem across time. These companion materials will include ancient textual witnesses, archaeological and visual evidence, and modern thematic and analytical work that together situate the Odyssey within its cultural, historical, and performative contexts.
Textual materials
• Early manuscripts on papyrus and parchment from as early as the third century BCE, along with later medieval codices, show how the text of the Odyssey was copied, stabilized, and annotated over many centuries.
• A clay tablet from Roman-era Olympia, inscribed with verses from Book 14, offers one of the earliest substantial epigraphic attestations of the poem and illustrates its circulation in public and sacred spaces.
• Later printed editions, informed by Alexandrian scholarship and modern textual criticism, will serve as points of comparison for issues of wording, lineation, and commentary.Archaeological and visual materials
• Vase paintings and other images from Greek pottery that depict scenes associated with the Odyssey—such as shipwrecks, supplication, or women at the loom—will be used to explore how ancient artists visualized narrative moments and social practices found in the poem.
• Museum collections, such as those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, provide objects like armor, textiles, and domestic furnishings that help reconstruct the material world of Odysseus and his contemporaries.
• These artifacts will help connect specific passages in Mendelsohn’s translation to ancient views of the gods, warfare, hospitality, and poetic performance.Thematic and analytical materials
• Scholarly discussions of themes such as cunning and intelligence, homecoming and estrangement, and the tension between order and disorder will frame close readings of selected episodes.
• Attention to the Odyssey’s origins in oral performance, including formulaic language, meter, and narrative framing, will complement Mendelsohn’s effort to reproduce the poem’s formal features in English.
• Companion texts from later epic and narrative traditions will be brought in to show how Homeric patterns are adapted, challenged, or echoed in subsequent literature.Mendelsohn’s translation is also available on Kindle and as an Audible audio book. About Daniel Mendelsohn read here.
13 attendees
Past events
124
