Troy...A Reception of The Iliad

In Dr. Jenkins’ CLAS 3305 Modernity and Antiquity, I learned the classical reception is crucial in understanding the effects ancient texts have on the citizens of modernity. I even learned that “low” culture receptions of classical texts are just as crucial as “high” culture receptions. Indeed, in Dr. Jenkins class we read and watched an array of both “high” and “low” culture classical receptions ranging from Simone Weil’s “The Iliad, Or The Poem of Force” to some heavily “graphic” novels. While I agree that a myriad of doors have opened for the discipline of classical studies thanks to the infiltration of classical reception, and while I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Jenkins’ class, I sometimes worry if some of the “receptions” of classical texts are endangering the discipline. 

While I agree with Dr. Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos’ statement, “reception matters because it shows why the classical world is significant to people outside of our own field; because it explains how the ancient texts, images, and ideas have been reworked and refigured” (2), when we look at certain receptions, such as the 2004 film Troy, maybe we as classicists might not want to know “why the classical world is significant to people outside of our field.” If we take Troy as an example, after having freshly scrutinized the Iliad, the film seems nothing more to me than a manifestation that the reason “why” the classical world is significant to non-classists is because it has everything to do with war, sex, the exotic. Thus, while this classical reception teaches us classists “why” the world is significant to the average Joe, this truth is almost too tragic to sallow. The problem is that the average audience of Troy does not realize that the film is just a really “low” culture reception of Homer’s Iliad, most probably do not even know what the Iliad is, but the even sadder truth is that some think that the film is an accurate recreation of Homer’s poem. Indeed, quotes, or should I say the awful dialogue, from the film have been plastered on the internet citing Homer as their author!

While this blog post is surely sardonic, I do want to iterate that I think the study of classical receptions are important to classical studies in general. However, I do think that there should be a huge disclaimer, especially before a big blockbuster flop, saying “This is NOT Homer!!” Otherwise, we run the risk that “people outside our field” will think that Homer, the Greeks, and Trojans had some strange fascination with cousins. 

Works Cited

Nikoloutsos, Konstantinos. “The New Classics: Why Does Reception Matter?” Saint Joeshep’s University. 2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.