This year's Homerathon event—usually an annual, marathon reading of classic literature from Homer—features the Euripidean play Trojan Women and is available via YouTube.
Chronologically between the Iliad and the Odyssey, the play focuses on the laments of Queen Hecuba of Troy after her city has fallen.
"The pandemic offers a unique lens for understanding the play's tragedies, making it an appropriate choice for this year," organizers Paige Jennings and David Fanta wrote in an introductory message. "Just as Hecuba learns the fates of all the Trojan women and must cope with their tragedies, so too has everyone had to adjust to and overcome the obstacles brought about by each wave of Covid."
Homerathon began as an in-person event in 2018 as the result of a Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experience (UCARE) project and switched to an online format in 2020 due to the pandemic. The organizers hope to presume the in-person event next year with the Iliad.
