The essays in this collection addresses questions of intense interest in Homeric studies today: the questions of performance and poet-audience interaction, especially as depicted in idealized performances within the Iliad and the Odyssey; the ways in which epic incorporates material of diverse genres, such as women's laments, blame poetry, or folk tales; how the ideological balance of epic can change and be influenced by 'alternative ideologies' introduced through the incorporation of new material; the implications of the continuity of tradition for etymological studies; and how the traditional nature of epic affects textual criticism. The essays differ in focus and method, but all share one fundamental approach to Homer: an understanding of the Homeric tradition as a poetic system that expresses and preserves what is culturally important and a view of the Homeric epics as instances of a cultural tradition which they attempt to explore through the epics themselves and through the comparative, anthropological, and linguistic evidence they bring to bear on these texts. A unique collection that explores Homeric poetry through a variety of tools and approaches--linguistics, philology, cultural anthropology, sociology, textual criticism, and archeology--this volume will be of interest to all scholars and students of oral poetry and Classical literature.

The tenth book of the Iliad has been doubted, ignored, and even scorned in Homeric scholarship. Using established methods for interpreting oral traditional poetry, however, Due and Ebbott illuminate many of the interpretive questions that strictly literary approaches find unsolvable, and they demonstrate how the episode shares in the oral traditional nature of the whole epic, even though its poetics are specific to its nocturnal ambush plot. True to their multitextual approach to the text, Due and Ebbott have included a series of critical texts of Iliad 10, including the tenth-century Venetus A manuscript and select papyri, and discuss these individual witnesses and the variations they offer. The essays and commentary explore Iliad 10 within the larger contexts of Homeric epic and the epic tradition. --Book Jacket.

These nine new essays on Homer's epics deal not only with major Homeric themes of time (honor), kleos (fame), geras (rewards), the psychology of Homeric warriors, and the re-evaluation of type scenes, but also with Homer's influence on contemporary film. Following the introduction and an essay which sets the historical background for the epics, four essays are devoted to fresh analysis of key passages and themes while another four turn to a discussion of the film Troy and Homer's influence on two other genres of American cinema.

This bilingual edition, with introduction and brief commentary, makes accessible for the first time in English a text of great importance for the history and interpretation of Homer. Although attributed to Plutarch, the Essay is probably the work of a grammaticus of the second and thirdcentury and is the single most valuable source of evidence for the nature of the teaching of Homer in the schools of the Roman Empire. Well represented in the manuscript tradition, the Essay was used as prefatory material by Renaissance editors of Homer, beginning with the editio princeps (1488), and so exercised a powerful influence on Renaissance and early-modern readers, who often refer to "Plutarch" as an authority on Homer. The newly edited Greek text is presented with facing translation.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Reading Homer's Odyssey is a book by book commentary on the epic's major themes. Each of the epic's 24 books are divided into sections to stress the length and the importance placed on specific topics and episodes. Footnotes are provided throughout to clarify and complete myths that Homer leaves unfinished, to explain certain terms and phrases, and to provide background information whenever necessary. Additionally, there is a bibliography on the Odyssey, as well as bibliographies that accompany each book's commentary.