1. The Quest for a Definitive Text of Homer: Evidence from the Homeric Scholia and Beyond* 1§1 As of this writing, Homeric scholarship has not yet succeeded in achieving a definitive text of either the Iliad or the Odyssey. Ideally, such a text would encompass the full historical reality of the Homeric textual tradition as it evolved through time, from the pre-Classical… Read more
2. The Homeric Text and Problems of Multiformity* 2§1 The multiformity of Homeric poetry is a sign of its prehistory as oral traditional poetry. This insight stems from the work of Milman Parry [1] and Albert Lord. [2] Multiformity, according to Lord, is a basic feature of oral traditional poetry. [… Read more
3. Editing the Homeric Text: West’s Iliad* 3§1 Martin West’s edition of the Homeric Iliad (volume 1 / 1998; volume 2 / 2000) is not, and cannot be, the last word. Still, it serves its purpose in presenting a reconstruction of what one man deems to be the definitive text. The question remains, though: how do you define what exactly is definitive… Read more
4. Editing the Homeric Text: Different Methods, Ancient and Modern* 4§1 Martin West published in 2001 a book that supplements his 1998/2000 edition of the Homeric Iliad. [1] It serves as a vehicle for explaining (1) his overall editorial stance and (2) the differences between his edition and those of his predecessors. My essay here concentrates on… Read more
5. Aristarchean Questions: Emerging Certainties about the Finality of Homer’s Text* 5§1 The New Companion to Homer, edited by Ian Morris and Barry Powell (1997), is bad company, for the most part. [1] Such is the opinion of Richard Janko in his review of this book, which had been meant to replace A Companion to Homer, edited… Read more
6. The Name of Achilles: Questions of Etymology and “Folk-Etymology”* 6§1 In his book on the language of the Linear B tablets, Leonard R. Palmer explained the etymology of the name of Achilles, Ἀχιλ(λ)εύς, as a shortened variant of a compound formation *Akhí-lāu̯os, built from the roots of ἄχος ‘grief’ and of λαός ‘host of fighting men, folk’, morphologically parallel to such… Read more
7. The Name of Apollo: Etymology and Essence* 7§1 The etymology of Apollo’s name, Apóllōn, has defied linguistic reconstruction for a long time. [1] A breakthrough came with a 1975 article by Walter Burkert, where he proposes that the Doric form of the name, Apéllōn, be connected with the noun apéllai, designating a seasonally recurring festival—an assembly… Read more
8. An Etymology for the Dactylic Hexameter* 8§1 In his far-reaching survey of Indo-European poetics, Calvert Watkins remarks: “The origins of the Greek epic meter, the dactylic hexameter, are particularly challenging.” [1] His own contribution to the ongoing debate concerning the hexameter’s derivation is seminal. He writes: “I argued in passing in [Watkins] 1969 [p. 227] for… Read more
Chapter 4. Homeric Responses [1] The Shield of Achilles: Ends of the Iliad and Beginnings of the Polis Homer critics have begun to interpret the resolution of the Iliad in Book 24, at the end of the epic, as a reflection of a new spirit that emerges from the heroic tradition and culminates in the ethos of the City State or… Read more
Bibliography Andersen, Ø. 1976. “Some Thoughts on the Shield of Achilles.” Symbolae Osloenses 51:5-18. Austin, N. 1975. Archery at the Dark of the Moon: Poetic Problems in Homer’s Odyssey. Berkeley and Los Angeles. ———. 1991. “The Wedding Text in Homer’s Odyssey.” Arion (third series) 1:227-243. Bakker, E. J. 1997. Poetry in Speech: Orality and… Read more
