Agamemnon, the Pathetic Despot

Andrew Porter, Harvard University Press (Hellenic Studies Series), 2019

Agamemnon plays a central role in “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey,” two epics by Homer, an Ancient Greek oral poet. Andrew Porter, associate professor of classics, Greek and Latin in the foreign languages and literature department of the College of Letters & Science, provides the first full-scale examination of Agamemnon’s characterization from the perspective of oral traditional studies. He shows the way ancient bards used specialized language and backstories when they sang to connect their audiences with ancient traditions about the Trojan War and its aftermath.