Dr. Scott Amos, assistant professor of history at Lynchburg College, was among only 23 faculty selected nationwide to participate in the seminar, "Homer Across the Curriculum: the Homeric Hymns and the Poetry of Hesiod," sponsored by the Council of Independent Colleges and the Center for Hellenic Studies of Harvard University in Washington, D.C. July 14 to 18.
The seminar was led by Gregory Nagy, the Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and professor of comparative literature at Harvard University, and by Kenneth Scott Morrell, associate professor and chair of Greek and Roman studies at Rhodes College. Dr. Amos was nominated for this seminar by Dr. Julius Sigler, vice president and dean for academic affairs at Lynchburg College.
Of the poetry of Classical Greece, the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer are the best known works, but this has obscured the importance of the poems known collectively as the Homeric Hymns, as well as the poems of Hesiod (particularly Theogony and Works and Days).
The seminar furnished the opportunity for intensive study of these important works under the guidance of two leading scholars in the field, and explored how faculty from across the disciplines could integrate these poems into the courses they teach.