Reference
- HomerSeveral locations for Homer's birthplace have been proposed. These include Smyrna, Ioma, Asia Minor, and elsewhere, but no certainty attaches to any of these possibilities. Scholars have generally rejected the suggestion that Homer was blind. More likely are claims that he resided for a long time in Chios and that he died on the island of Got. Certainty on any of these matters may never emerge...
- HomerAccording to tradition, Homer was the earliest and greatest Greek poet. Two epic poems were attributed to him: the Iliad and the Odyssey, which present certain events of the mythical Trojan War and its aftermath. These two works, totaling about 27,800 lines in dactylic hexameter verse, were fundamental references for myth in ancient Greece. Greeks of subsequent centuries looked to them for insight into the gods’ nature, for answers to moral questions, and for inspiration for new literature. The Athenian playwright Aeschylus (ca. 460 BCE) described his own tragedies as “crumbs from the banquet of Homer.” It is token of the Greeks’ reverence for the Iliad and the Odyssey that both these long poems survived antiquity. Each poem's division into 24 “books,” still used in modern editions, was made long after Homer's time by editors at Alexandria (1) in the early 100s BCE...
- The OdysseyThe Odyssey and the other epictraditionally attributed to Homer, The Iliad, are the earliest surviving epic poems in any western European language. Together, these works establish the expectations to which subsequent epics in the Western tradition usually aspire. Typically, the poet calls on the Muses for inspiration. The hero, Odysseus, endures a journey into the underworld. The action begins in the middle of the story and includes numerous flashbacks. The principal human characters are drawn from the ruling and military classes, while gods and demigods interest themselves in the activities of the human beings and smooth or impede their progress. The events portrayed are usually of national, international, or even universal importance. The language of Homer's presentation is lofty, and the verse form of the poem is dignified...
- The IliadOne of two epic poems attributed to the early poet-minstrel Homer, The Iliad, like its companion piece, The Odyssey, focuses on events that, according to tradition, had occurred during the Trojan War some 300–400 years before the composition of the Homeric poems. Whereas The Odyssey focuses principally on the long and difficult homecoming of its hero Odysseus and on events that involved members of his family on and near his home island of Ithaca, The Iliad examines events that occurred during the 10-year-long Greek siege of the city of Troy, or Ilium as it was sometimes called in honor of Ilus, the city's legendary founder. Like The Odyssey, The Iliad interweaves two principal series of events. (Throughout The Iliad, the Greeks are also called Danaans and Achaeans.)...
- AchillesAchilles (Greek Achilleus) occurs as a common masculine name in Greek documents as far back as the late Bronze Age. At that time a man so named may have become one of the main figures of the story of Troy, the outlines of which we know mainly from post-Homeric epics of the Epic Cycle (7th-6th cents. bce; only late summaries survive). The first author to flesh out the character was clearly Homer, who made Achilles the central figure of his Iliad (5.1: "Rage, Goddess—sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles," Fagles trans.). The Epic Cycle provides (fictitious) details of Achilles’ biography (including the love affairs so popular with later commentators, e.g., those with Deidameia, daughter of Lykomedes; with Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons; and with Polyxena, daughter of Priam). Homer, by contrast, concentrates on portraying Achilles’ character, in what W. Kullmann has called a "psychologization of the saga's events." In Homer's treatment Achilles becomes the embodiment of the ancient ideal of nobility—"to be always best in battle and pre-eminent beyond all others" (Iliad 11.784, Lattimore trans.)—and the symbol of a genuine hero, who prefers an early death with glory to a long but dull life (Iliad 9.410-416)...
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Homer’s Humanity: The Epic Experience
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In exploring the genius of Homer, learn first about the features and tradition of epic poetry. In key excerpts from the Iliad, grasp Homer’s great humanity and insight into the human condition. See how the Iliad functions as a meditation on mortality, war, idealism, and loss, and how the Odyssey comprises a journey of self-realization. Witness Homer’s enduring influence in the modern world.
Online Resources
- Homer: BiographyThe Greek poet Homer was born sometime between the 12th and 8th centuries BC, possibly somewhere on the coast of Asia Minor. He is famous for the epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, which have had an enormous effect on Western culture, but very little is known about their alleged author...
- Homer: BritannicaHomer, (flourished 9th or 8th century BCE?, Ionia? [now in Turkey]), presumed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Although these two great epic poems of ancient Greece have always been attributed to the shadowy figure of Homer, little is known of him beyond the fact that his was the name attached in antiquity by the Greeks themselves to the poems. That there was an epic poet called Homer and that he played the primary part in shaping the Iliad and the Odyssey—so much may be said to be probable. If this assumption is accepted, then Homer must assuredly be one of the greatest of the world’s literary artists... - Who was Homer?: British MuseumThe Iliad and the Odyssey are two of the world's most famous poems but very little is known about their creator, 'Homer'.
Historian and writer Daisy Dunn goes in search of the poet of the Trojan War, exploring who Homer was and whether he ever actually existed...
Perspectives
The Iliad
The great war epic of Western literature, translated by acclaimed classicist Robert Fagles, and featured in the Netflix series The OA A Penguin Classic Dating to the ninth century B.C., Homer's timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to the wrenching, tragic conclusion of the Trojan War. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox observes in his superb introduction that although the violence of the Iliad is grim and relentless, it coexists with both images of civilized life and a poignant yearning for peace. Combining the skills of a poet and scholar, Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, brings the energy of contemporary language to this enduring heroic epic. He maintains the drive and metric music of Homer's poetry, and evokes the impact and nuance of the Iliad's mesmerizing repeated phrases in what Peter Levi calls "an astonishing performance." This Penguin Classics Deluxe edition also features French flaps and deckle-edged paper. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. 9780140275360
Homer
This concise book is an ideal introduction to Homer - the poet and his two great epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Student-friendly introduction to Homer. Provides historical background and literary readings of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Makes use of the author's own original research. Assumes no prior knowledge of Greek.
The Odyssey
A New York Times Notable Book of 2018 "Wilson's language is fresh, unpretentious and lean...It is rare to find a translation that is at once so effortlessly easy to read and so rigorously considered." --Madeline Miller, author of Circe Composed at the rosy-fingered dawn of world literature almost three millennia ago, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty and power; about marriage and family; about travelers, hospitality, and the yearning for home. This fresh, authoritative translation captures the beauty of this ancient poem as well as the drama of its narrative. Its characters are unforgettable, none more so than the "complicated" hero himself, a man of many disguises, many tricks, and many moods, who emerges in this version as a more fully rounded human being than ever before. Written in iambic pentameter verse and a vivid, contemporary idiom, Emily Wilson's Odyssey sings with a voice that echoes Homer's music; matching the number of lines in the Greek original, the poem sails along at Homer's swift, smooth pace. A fascinating, informative introduction explores the Bronze Age milieu that produced the epic, the poem's major themes, the controversies about its origins, and the unparalleled scope of its impact and influence. Maps drawn especially for this volume, a pronunciation glossary, and extensive notes and summaries of each book make this is an Odyssey that will be treasured by a new generation of readers.
The Odyssey in Athens
A study in poetic interaction, The Odyssey in Athens explores the ways in which narrative structure and parallels within and between epic poems create or disclose meaning. Erwin F. Cook also broadens the scope of this intertextual approach to include the relationship of Homeric epic to ritual. Specifically he argues that the Odyssey achieved its form as a written text within the context of Athenian civic cults during the reign of Peisistratos. Focusing on the prologue and the Apologoi (Books 9-12), Cook shows how the traditional Greek polarity between force and intelligence informs the Odyssean narrative at all levels of composition. He then uses this polarity to explain instances of Odyssean self-reference, allusions to other epic traditions--in particular the Iliad--and interaction between the poem and its performance context in Athenian civic ritual. This detailed structural analysis, with its insights into the circumstances and meaning of the Odyssey's composition, will lead to a new understanding of the Homeric epics and the tradition they evoked.
Homer's Mythology: Tracing A Tradition
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowA complete discussion of the Homeric legend as the first significant record of Greek mythology. The program emphasizes Homer's relevance to modern literature, psychology, scholarship and popular culture. It analyzes the characters in the Iliad and The Odyssey and summarizes their myths and legends.