The Hellenistic Epyllion and Its Descendants Adrian Hollis, Keble College, Oxford In a volume dedicated to the Greek literature of late antiquity and the early Byzantine period it may seem strange to start this contribution from Alexandria in the third century BC. Yet many have sensed a certain community of spirit between Alexandria and Constantinople, and my purpose here is to trace one of the most… Read more
Part Two. A preclassical Homer from the Bronze Age A working definition of the Bronze Age II§1 Just as I redefined the Dark Age in Homeric terms as a transitional phase leading up to a notionally terminal phase of Homer the Classic, I now redefine the Bronze Age as the corresponding initial phase. In Homeric terms, this initial phase of Homer the Preclassic is marked… Read more
Chapter Six: Variations on a theme of Homer II 6ⓢ1. Rival datings of Homer II§6 In the Life of Homer traditions we find explicit references to the dating of Homer, linked directly to the dating of the Trojan War. In Vita 3a (25–44), which draws upon Book 3 of Aristotle’s Poetics as its source (F 76 ed. Rose), it is said that Homer was conceived… Read more
Chapter Seven: Conflicting claims on Homer II 7ⓢ1. The tomb of Achilles and the topography of the Troad II§42 The Aeolians had their own motives for claiming the territory of Sigeion as their very own Iliadic space. The tomb of the hero Achilles was understood to be located in Aeolian territory, specifically in the environs of Sigeion. As we are about to see, the Aeolians… Read more
Chapter Eight: Homeric variations on a theme of empire II 8ⓢ1. Four festivals and four models of empire II§230 In the account of Herodotus, Miletus figures as the premier city in a federation of twelve cities that comprise the Ionian Dodecapolis. This privileging of Miletus reflects an early model of political dominance that shaped the later model that we know as the Athenian empire. To… Read more
Chapter Nine: Further variations on a theme of Homer II 9ⓢ1. Homer the federal hostage II§327 The time has come to ask this fundamental question about the festive poetics of federal politics. How could Homeric poetry express the idea of a federal society? Or, to put it another way, how could a poetic figure like Homer serve as a spokesman for such a society? The… Read more
Chapter Ten: Homer and the poetics of variation II 10ⓢ1. The sorrows of Andromache revisited II§373 We have seen how the technique of narrating the story about the presentation of a peplos to Athena in her temple at Troy corresponds to the technique of weaving the Panathenaic Peplos for presentation to Athena in her temple at Athens. And the occasion for presenting the woven Peplos,… Read more
Epilegomena: A preclassical text of Homer in the making Eⓢ1. Reconstructing Homer forward in time E§1 Till now I have been reconstructing Homer as a preclassic by working my way backward in time. Now I will attempt an overview by going forward in time. I start with the earliest possible point of departure, the so-called Bronze Age. E§2 For some, the Bronze Age is… Read more
Chapter Three: Homer and his genealogy I 3ⓢ1. The Homēridai of Chios I§141 I return to the cursory reference to Chios as the setting for a quadrennial thusia ‘festival’ honoring Homer in the narrative of Vita 2 (307–8). As we saw, this reference is pertinent to the context of a Homeric Hymn to Apollo to be performed at Delos. In other words, it is pertinent… Read more
Chapter Four: Homer in the Homeric Odyssey I 4ⓢ1. The festive poetics of an ongoing humnos in Odyssey viii I§188 When Thucydides quotes Homer, he imagines the Poet in the act of personally performing at the festival of the Delia in Delos. This historian’s view, as we have seen, is Athenocentric. To be contrasted is the view of Aristarchus, which is post-Athenocentric. For Aristarchus, the… Read more
