Congratulations to graduate student Colin Pang!
Congratulations to fifth-year graduate student Colin Pang, who delivered a paper on Saturday at the International Society for Late Antique Literary Studies annual conference at Haverford College. The paper, entitled ‘Quintus of Smyrna’s Critique of Homeric Arete’, focused on a fascinating text: the Posthomerica, an Imperial-age sequel to the Iliad. Colin argued that Quintus, long thought to mimic Homer, in fact uses Hesiod – Homer’s traditional rival – to critique and challenge views of war and heroism in the Iliad. While typically martial Homeric values do appear in the Posthomerica, they are often qualified by reference to ideas of Hesiod on peace and kingship. Through a sensitive combination of allusions to the poetic tradition, Quintus therefore creates an updated Iliad for the Imperial age.
The International Society for Late Antique Studies is now in its fourth year. Boston University hosted the second of its annual meetings in 2014, and BU Associate Professor James Uden and alumnus Steven Smith (now Associate Professor at Hofstra University) also delivered papers at the event.