“Realizing” the Classical Authors: Newman’s Epic Journey in the Mediterranean

What is the significance of Newman’s Mediterranean Journey of 1832–1833? This essay provides a triple-framed response: historically, Newman’s journey was a postlude to his removal as a tutor of Oriel College and a prelude to the Oxford Movement; existentially, his journey was a “realization” of geographical learnings and philosophical ideas that had previously been “notional”; analogically, his journey had fascinating parallels with the Oxonian classical “types” of Homer’s Odysseus and Virgil’s Aeneas.