--- title: "Gods without good: Regius Professor of Greek Tim Whitmarsh to explore morality in the Odyssey" date: "2026-09-23T14:20:10+01:00" modified: "2026-09-23T16:44:57+01:00" url: "https://humanists.uk/2026/09/23/gods-without-good-regius-professor-of-greek-tim-whitmarsh-to-explore-morality-in-the-odyssey/" post_id: 198390 categories: ["News"] --- # Gods without good: Regius Professor of Greek Tim Whitmarsh to explore morality in the Odyssey ![](https://i0.wp.com/humanists.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026-09-15-v2-IS-Morality-in-the-Odyssey-1920x1080-1.png?resize=1200%2C675&ssl=1)Tim Whitmarsh, Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge, will join Humanists UK Chief Executive Andrew Copson to ask how a 3,000-year-old poem works out what a good life looks like in a world where the gods are no moral guide at all – and what survived the journey to Christopher Nolan’s $1.7 billion adaptation. **Gods without good: morality in the Odyssey** will take place online on Tuesday 10 November, 19:30–21:00, and [tickets are available now](https://humanists.uk/events/gods-without-good-morality-in-the-odyssey/). The *Odyssey* may be the first great story in Western literature about living well without divine instruction. Its gods intervene constantly, but on no principle anyone could actually live by. Odysseus is favoured because a goddess enjoys his cleverness, not because he deserves it. The afterlife the poem describes hands out no rewards for a life well lived. And its hero is offered immortality and turns it down, to go home to a wife who will grow old and die. What the poem honours instead are human virtues, practised by people towards one another: hospitality, loyalty, endurance, and wit. Professor Whitmarsh and Andrew Copson will trace Odysseus’ journey home and ask where a poem written long before anyone had a word for humanism found its moral compass – what it values once the gods are taken out of the equation, what Nolan’s film kept and what it left behind, and why a story about a man trying to get back to his wife still moves people who expect no divine rescue. [Book now](https://humanists.uk/events/gods-without-good-morality-in-the-odyssey/) Tim Whitmarsh works across Greek literature and culture, with a particular focus on the Greeks under the Roman Empire and on religion and atheism in the ancient world. He is the author of *Battling the Gods*, which was shortlisted for the Runciman Award, the London Hellenic Prize, and the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize, and has been translated into Dutch, Greek, and Chinese. Andrew Copson read Classics at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating with a first in Ancient and Modern History. **Humanists UK Chief Executive Andrew Copson said:** > ‘The poem’s audience noticed very early on that the gods in Homer’s *Odyssey* are powerful without being good, and it worried some of them a great deal – Plato thought stories showing the gods as flawed and capricious had no place in the education of the young. The poem, however, seems untroubled, and its admiration goes to what people do for each other instead. > > ‘3,000 years later, I look forward to joining Tim to ask what a poem and a film whose dead envy the living can teach us about making the most of the one life we have.’ Tim Whitmarsh’s presentation will be followed by discussion with Andrew Copson – and there will be plenty of time for audience questions. Tickets can be [booked now](https://humanists.uk/events/gods-without-good-morality-in-the-odyssey/). #### Notes For further comment or information, media should contact Humanists UK Head of Press and Campaign Communications Nathan Stilwell at or phone 0203 675 0959 (media only). Humanists UK is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people. Powered by over 150,000 members and supporters, we advance free thinking and promote humanism to create a tolerant society where rational thinking and kindness prevail. We provide ceremonies, pastoral care, education, and support services benefitting over a million people every year, and our campaigns advance humanist thinking on ethical issues, human rights, and equal treatment for all. [![Event image: Gods without good: morality in the Odyssey | with Tim Whitmarsh and Andrew Copson](https://cdn.humanists.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026-09-15-v2-IS-Morality-in-the-Odyssey-1920x1080-1.png?width=800)](https://humanists.uk/events/gods-without-good-morality-in-the-odyssey/)##### [Gods without good: morality in the Odyssey | with Tim Whitmarsh and Andrew Copson](https://humanists.uk/events/gods-without-good-morality-in-the-odyssey/) Online **10 November 2026, 19:30** *Online: Zoom* Christopher Nolan’s film put Homer in front of hundreds of millions. Join Tim Whitmarsh and Andrew Copson on what the Odyssey values once the gods are no moral guide – and what the adaptation left behind. [More info](https://humanists.uk/events/gods-without-good-morality-in-the-odyssey/ "More info")[Register now](https://humanists.uk/civicrm/event/register/?id=3213&reset=1 "Register Now")