Diplomat and bibliophile Joannes Gennadius donated his personal library to the American School of Classical Studies in 1926, and his books form the core of the Gennadius Library's collection today. Included among these titles are some 6,000 editions of Classical Greek authors, comprising by far the largest part of Gennadius's personal collection. Homer at the Gennadius Library showcases 39 exceptional treasures from this collection, reconstructing the Homeric universe from Gennadius's perspective as collector.

The material brings to light the routes and transformations of the primary Homeric texts as they reached new audiences. Unique treasures like the first edition of the Iliad and the Odyssey, published in Florence in 1488, and the earliest paraphrase of the Iliad in modern Greek, printed in Venice in 1526, are featured next to English, French, Italian, and Spanish translations, as well as John Flaxman's Homeric illustrations. These works showcase the wide dissemination and reinterpretation of the Homeric text-in both original form and translation-throughout Europe and North America.