During the American Civil War they called it “soldier’s heart.” In the first half of the twentieth century the same condition was identified as “shell shock” or “battle fatigue.” After Vietnam we settled on the letters PTSD as a shorthand for describing the long-lasting effects of wartime combat on the body, heart, and mind of the returning warrior.

Homer’s Odyssey is a poem in 24 books that relates the homecoming or “nostos” of the battle-worn hero, Odysseus, after ten years of brutal fighting at Troy and an equal number of years of life-threatening trials and adventures at sea. To understand how Odysseus discovers the necessary resources to survive and prevail without losing his life in his quest to recover his wife, son, and father within his own home will be the principal aim of our reading and discussion of the Odyssey in Richmond Lattimore’s magnificent English translation.

The course will combine lectures and class discussion.