A Homer Commentary in Progress, an evolving, collaborative commentary based on the cumulative research of Milman Parry and Albert Lord, who created a new way of thinking about Homeric poetry, goes live! Read more
In his recent Classical Inquiries posting, Gregory Nagy focuses on Iliad rhapsody 12 and shares a sampling of selected comments with his readers. It can be said in general that the theme of heroic immortalization is central to myths and rituals related to hero cult, and so the use of the word hēmitheoi ‘demigods’ in this Hesiodic context is highly significant (BA 342-343): yes, all epic heroes must die, but then, by way of becoming cult… Read more
In his recent Classical Inquiries posting, Gregory Nagy focuses on Iliad rhapsody 12 and shares a sampling of selected comments with his readers. It can be said in general that the theme of heroic immortalization is central to myths and rituals related to hero cult, and so the use of the word hēmitheoi ‘demigods’ in this Hesiodic context is highly significant (BA 342-343): yes, all epic heroes must die, but then, by way of becoming cult… Read more
In his recent Classical Inquiries posting, Gregory Nagy focuses on Iliad rhapsody 8 and shares a sampling of selected comments with his readers. I.08.002 tagging: terpikeraunos ‘he whose bolt strikes’ occurrences of terpikeraunos ‘he whose bolt strikes’: I.01.419, I.02.478, I.02.781, I.08.002, I.11.773, I.12.252, I.16.232, I.24.529 anchor comment at I.08.002: terpikeraunos ‘he whose bolt strikes’ This compound noun terpi-kéraunos, interpreted here as ‘he whose bolt strikes’, is an epithet that applies exclusively to Zeus: a… Read more
In his recent Classical Inquiries posting, Gregory Nagy focuses on Iliad rhapsody 8 and shares a sampling of selected comments with his readers. I.08.002 tagging: terpikeraunos ‘he whose bolt strikes’ occurrences of terpikeraunos ‘he whose bolt strikes’: I.01.419, I.02.478, I.02.781, I.08.002, I.11.773, I.12.252, I.16.232, I.24.529 anchor comment at I.08.002: terpikeraunos ‘he whose bolt strikes’ This compound noun terpi-kéraunos, interpreted here as ‘he whose bolt strikes’, is an epithet that applies exclusively to Zeus: a parallel… Read more
~A guest post by Leonard Muellner~ The intellectual goal of A Homer commentary in progress is simple and at the same time most ambitious: of all existing commentaries on Homeric poetry, ours is the first and only such commentary that is based squarely on the cumulative research of Milman Parry and his student, Albert Lord, who created a new way of thinking about Homeric poetry. Both Parry and Lord taught… Read more
In his recent Classical Inquiries posting, Gregory Nagy focuses on Iliad Scroll 6 and shares a sampling of selected comments with his readers. Nagy’s commentary will be incorporated into a larger, forthcoming project: A Homer commentary in progress. I.06.289–292 tagging: variant readings; detours of Helen; pan-poikilo- ‘completely pattern-woven’ lemmatizing: παμποίκιλοι vs. παμποίκιλα There are variant stories about detours experienced by Helen after her abduction by Paris. A trip to Sidon in Phoenicia is… Read more
In his recent Classical Inquiries posting, Gregory Nagy focuses on Iliad Scroll 6 and shares a sampling of selected comments with his readers. Nagy’s commentary will be incorporated into a larger, forthcoming project: A Homer commentary in progress. I.06.289–292 tagging: variant readings; detours of Helen; pan-poikilo- ‘completely pattern-woven’ lemmatizing: παμποίκιλοι vs. παμποίκιλα There are variant stories about detours experienced by Helen after her abduction by Paris. A trip to Sidon in Phoenicia is one… Read more
