I’ve always been warned not to read highly technical books late at night, especially after a day in which I was trying to work out what best to attend at PDC. I was reading some thick tome about ASP.NET MVC and TDD. One moment I was reading it and thinking ‘this is all Greek to me1‘. The next moment my head hit the book, and I was dreaming that Microsoft were promoting, with their usual ‘smoldering underpants’ hyperbole, the study of ancient Greek literature. The PDC was coming and they were blogging away. In my dream, it went something like…….

The thrill of  Ancient Greek Poetry (MSAGP) at PBC

It will soon be the PBC and the excitement is building.  We have a ton of work to do between now and then and the team is heads down getting ready for this major event.  If you look at the PBC breakout sessions already announced, it is incredible that we will have 26 sessions on Ancient Greek Poetry (MSAGP) and 6 sessions related to Readings from Homer, Thamyris and Hesiod. You can see Bill and Ben’s interview with a geek in jeans here, where he looks thoughtful, but avoids talking much about anything.2  Unfortunately he cannot talk much about it, but I can assure you coming to PBC this year will be well worth it.  In my mind this is as big and maybe bigger than when Moses announced the Ten Commandments.  Reciting Ancient Greek Poetry is a major event and you will get to see and hear from the guys driving this fascinating process that is causing a buzz in the Homeristae community.

That is as much as I can say about our Readings from Homer.  Specifically, I am psyched to say that we have scheduled 3 readings from the Iliad and Odessy, 1 talk about the finer details of the the metrical ictus and the Uranus-Cronos conflict, and another 3-4 talks on Homer’s influence on the Theogony of Hesiod.  So here are the key talks and a brief outline of what you can expect from these talks at PDC.

1. Thamyris’s Gnomic verse and the agrarian crisis in mainland Greece – Demetrius Manutius.  Demetrius has been through it all.  If you ever wondered aboput iambic hexameters in Horace’s satires and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, you do not want to miss this talk.  Demetrius’s talk will set the stage for all the talks to follow on data and tie them together.  So this has to be a must attend talk for you if you care about iambic hexameters

2/ Under the Hood: Substituting enjambed spondees for dactyls in Greek verse. 
Man what can I say.  These guys are going to take the lid off Homer’s poetry and really dive under the hood and talk about how these verses were built.  If you want to write stuff like Homer did, you cannot miss this talk.  It will demystify what Homer wrote.  This is the first time we will go this deep.  These guys are real rock stars and I will not be upset if you miss my talk BUT DO NOT MISS THIS ONE. 

Obviously there will be the Keynote from Homer Simpson to set the stage for this wave and you cannot miss that.  I also hear Hyperion and Theia are cooking up something about the decipherment of Hittite mythical texts.  These 2 guys have always lit up PBC and I do not think you will be disappointed this time around.

I awoke covered in sweat, and heart pounding, thanking my saviour that such  hyperbole and overstatement is the stuff of dreams!

1‘For mine own part, it was Greek to me’ Julius Caesar, I.ii 132 [288]

2‘Besides, tis known he could speak Geek,
   As naturally as pigs squeak,
   That PowerShell as no more difficile,
   than to a blackbird is to whistle.’  Samuel Butler Hudibras l51 (adapted)