Stay of Prof. Jim Marks as a visiting scholar to discuss the ancient Greek epos and its genres, specially the Homeric hymns, as an adviser to the research project Archaic Greek Poetry: Poetical Traditions and Speech Genders in Homer and Hesiod"

Abstract

The invitation made to Prof. Marks aims at furthering the research project "Archaic Greek poetry: poetical traditions and speech genders in Homer and Hesiod" conducted by Christian Werner and financed by the CNPq (2012-15). This project seeks to compare apparently two archaic traditions of composition using hexametric verses (epea), the Homeric and the Hesiodic poetry, i.e., the genres (or sub-genres) attached to two figures that obtained a kind of pan-hellenic authority during the 8th-6th centuries b.C., Homer and Hesiod. Prof. Marks' assistance to the project will come about through different ways: by discussing two papers in progress of the leader of the project, already presented to the scientific community, in order to refine them so that they may result into versions in English and so be of a greater impact; by a graduate course on the Homeric Hymns to be held at the University of São Paulo, because these poems are a very important link in the investigation of the central issues of the project; by discussing papers and research projects of researchers and students of the research group "Poetical genders in ancient Greece: tradition and context", which aims at investigating, in order to interpret classical and post-classical Greek texts, how the poetical texts themselves point to certain generic elements, and how these elements were reappraised by ancient and modern critics; and finally by discussing the possibility of a cooperation with the research project "Kyklos: The Greek Epic Cycle project of the CHS, an intergenerational project", to which Prof. Marks and his team are linked. Besides that, Prof. Marks will be available to discuss with professors and graduate students of the Classics Programme and other Graduate Programmes at the University of São Paulo and other universities in order to assist their works. Many professors of the Classics Programme - USP have been conducting research projects that directly or indirectly refer to Greek epic poetry, most of them with grants from the Fapesp or national agencies. These meetings will be organized by the inviting professor and the Classics Programme and through contact with some other researchers, some of which have already been made. At last, the visitor scholar will conduct a seminar at the Archaeology and Ethnology Museum (MAE-USP) and hold a paper at the Institute for Language Studies (IEL-Unicamp) by invitation of their respective chairmen, which are themselves researchers on topics related to those investigated by Prof. Marks. (AU)