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 Two: Homer outside his poetry I 2ⓢ1. Homer in the Life of Homer traditions I§55 So far, we have been considering the concept of Homer as defined by the Homeric Hymn to Apollo and by the epics attributed to Homer. Now we will see that there is further definition to be found outside this poetry, in a body of narratives known as the Lives… Read more
Chapter One: Homer and the Athenian empire I 1ⓢ1. The Athenian empire I§13 I offer here an overview of what we know about the Athenian empire in the era of the democracy in the fifth century BCE. The basic facts can be found in the history of Thucydides, who highlights what gradually happened to Athens as a world power in the period extending from the… Read more
Part One. A preclassical Homer from the Dark Age A working definition of the Dark Age I§1 Thinking my way backward from the classical period of the fifth century BCE, I confront a preclassical period that I divide into two ages, the Dark Age and the Bronze Age. I start here in Part I with the Dark Age. Then, in Part II, I will proceed… Read more
Introduction Introduction §1 This book Homer the Preclassic, which is based on the Sather Classical Lectures of spring 2002, covers the preclassical era of Homeric reception. It is complemented by a twin book, Homer the Classic (2009), which covers the classical era. Between the two of them, Homer the Classic and Homer the Preclassic cover six ages of Homeric reception. Here are the six ages, arranged… Read more
Preface [In this on-line version, the page-numbers of the printed version are indicated within braces (“{” and “}”). For example, “{69|70}” indicates where p. 69 of the printed version ends and p. 70 begins. These indications will be useful to readers who need to look up references made elsewhere to the printed version of this book.] There are two different publication dates for this book: 2009… Read more
Bibliography Abrahams, R. 1970. Deep Down in the Jungle, Rev. ed. Chicago: Aldine. ———. 1976. “The Complex Relations of Simple Forms.” In Ben-Amos 1976, pp. 193–214 ———. 1983. The Man-of-Words in the West Indies: Performance and the Emergence of Creole Culture. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press ———. 1985. Review of Jeff Opland, Xhosa Oral Poetry. Poetics Today 6, 553–58. Adkins, A. 1960. “‘Honour’… Read more
The Poet as Hero: A Conclusion {231} Contact and distance. In these terms, I have approached Homer’s Iliad, in an attempt to overcome the long years in which the poem has been a text, to regain some sense of the poem as performance. I have claimed that the poet had a word for “performance” in the sense of authoritative self-presentation to an audience. I used this word—… Read more
Chatper 5. The Expansion Aesthetic {206} The changes made in formulaic patterns by the addition of words, or by melding with other patterns, can be seen at a number of points in Achilles’ longest speech. I shall concentrate on a few groups of lines that offer the best examples of the technique. Then, the expansions can be related to the rhetoric of the speech as a whole… Read more
Chapter 4. The Language of Achilles: Language, Formula, and Style {146} Every hero is a performer. That is the essence of the dictum Peleus entrusts to Phoinix, who in turn reminds Achilles to be a speaker of words and a doer of deeds. [1] Between the two concepts no distinction is drawn. Both are performances. The poetry anticipates Austin and Searle in… Read more
