Homer and the Papyri: Letter

Homer and the Papyri handed over to the Center for Hellenic Studies

Gregory Nagy gratefully accepts Dana Sutton’s handing over of Homer and the Papyri

To Professor Dana Sutton
Professor of Classics
University of California, Irvine

Dear Dana,

I have received your letter of January 8, 2001. I treasure your words, quoting here your first and last paragraphs: “Dear Greg, As we discussed at the APA meeting in San Diego, I would like to hand over Homer and the Papyri to you, with an eye to its eventual integration into a larger hypertext site devoted to the text of Homer. Please inform me when you are ready to accept responsibility for it and to post it from your server (this can happen immediately, or at your leisure), at which time I shall delete it from mine and substitute a link redirecting readers to your URL. Homer and the Papyri is now entirely yours and you are of course free to make any additions, deletions, or corrections as you see fit. […]

I wish you and your staff the best of good fortune in maintaining Homer and the Papyri, and look forward with keen interest to see how you transform it by integrating it into your proposed Homeric site. If I can be of any assistance to you on this project, don’t hesitate to contact me.”

Dana, I am thrilled and honored by your words. I gratefully accept your handing over of Homer and the Papyri to me. I as Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies personally pledge to you my commitment to maintain this treasure-house that we know as Homer and the Papyri and, after my term as Director ends – to arrange for its maintenance at the Center, es aiei. To earn this responsibility from you is a true high point in my career as a Classicist.

I am thinking of a format where you are designated as Editor Emeritus; Casey Dué, Mary Ebbott, Dimitrios Yatromanolakis and perhaps others as Editors, while I will serve as Editor in Chief; plus a small board of three senior advisors, headed by you; I have two other names already in mind. In the meantime, any advice you can give us about how to proceed and about the upkeep of the site will be most appreciated.

Yours, with admiration,

Greg