Hour 9. The return of Odysseus in the Homeric Odyssey The meaning of nostos 9§1. The key word for this hour is nostos, ‘return, homecoming; song about homecoming; return to light and life’. The last of these meanings is mystical, having to do with ideas about immortalization after death. Our first impression is that such ideas are foreign to Homeric poetry. When we take a second look, however, we will… Read more
Hour 8. The psychology of the hero’s sign in the Homeric Iliad The meaning of psūkhē 8§1. The key word for this hour is psūkhē, as used in the context of the key word for the previous hour, sēma. This word psūkhē can refer either to the life of someone who is alive or to the disembodied conveyor of someone’s identity after that someone dies. [1]… Read more
Hour 7. The sign of the hero in visual and verbal art The meaning of sēma 7§1. The key word for this hour is sēma (plural sēmata), meaning ‘sign, signal, symbol; tomb, tomb of a hero’. An important word that derives from this noun sēma is the verb sēmainein, ‘mean [something], indicate [something] by way of a sēma’. Modern words that derive from sēma include semantic and semiotic. 7§2. As… Read more
Hour 6. Patroklos as the other self of Achilles The meaning of therapōn 6§1. The key word for this hour is therapōn, ‘attendant; ritual substitute’. And the key passage comes from a climactic moment in the Iliad when Achilles, while praying that Zeus should preserve Patroklos from harm, uses the word therapōn in referring to his nearest and dearest friend: Hour 6 Text A |233 “King Zeus,” he [= Achilles]… Read more
Hour 5. When mortals become ‘equal’ to immortals: death of a hero, death of a bridegroom The meaning of daimōn 5§1. The key word for this hour is daimōn (plural daimones), which I translate for the moment simply as ‘superhuman force’. This word is used to refer to an unspecified god or hero intervening in human life. The word daimōn is to be contrasted with theos, ‘god’, which is used… Read more
Hour 4. Achilles as lyric hero in the songs of Sappho and Pindar The meaning of aphthito- 4§1. The key word for this hour is aphthito- in the sense of ‘imperishable’. And, by the time we reach the end of this hour, we will see that aphthito- can also be interpreted as ‘unwilting’ in some specialized contexts. We already saw this word when we were reading Text A in Hour… Read more
Hour 3. Achilles and the poetics of lament The meaning of akhos and penthos 3§1. There are two key words for this hour, akhos and penthos, and the meaning of both words is ‘grief, sorrow; public expression of grief, sorrow, by way of lamentation or keening’. A man of constant sorrow 3§2. The word akhos is connected with the name of Achilles in the Iliad. And the meaning of the… Read more
Hour 2. Achilles as epic hero and the idea of total recall in song The meaning of memnēmai 2§1. The key word for this hour is memnēmai, which means ‘I have total recall’ in special contexts and ‘I remember’ in ordinary contexts. The special contexts involve memory by way of song. I will get to the specifics later. Hour 2 Text A |527 I totally recall [ me-mnē-mai ]… Read more
Hour 1. The Homeric Iliad and the glory of the unseasonal hero The meaning of kleos 1§1. There are two key words for this hour. The first of the two is kleos, ‘glory, fame, that which is heard’; or, ‘the poem or song that conveys glory, fame, that which is heard’. We will turn to the second of the two words when we reach the paragraphs starting at §26. 1§2. Read more
Introduction to Homeric poetry 0§1. Before I delve into the 24 hours of this book, I offer an introductory essay that is meant to familiarize the reader with Homeric poetry, which is the primary medium that I will be analyzing in the first 11 hours. 0§2. Homeric poetry is a cover term for two epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The major part of this introduction will deal with the… Read more
