This time the Core Vocab word—taken from terms in H24H [1] and the associated Sourcebook[2]—is koros: ‘being satiated; being insatiable’. The word is not discussed in the book, so I wondered how negatively koros was presented in the texts, and whether there was any difference between genres. And what kind of satiation is referred to? Not surprisingly, Hesiodic Works and Days has something to say about this: The hōrā for… Read more
In part 1 we looked at female captives, slaves, servants, and non-family members of the household as depicted in Homeric epic. In this post we look at their male counterparts. Ulysses Conversing with Eumaeus 1805 John Flaxman 1755-1826 Purchased as part of the Oppé Collection with assistance from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund 1996 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T11209 We start with Eumaios, whose story provides an example of how a… Read more
In Homeric poetry, apart from family members there are other members of the household [oikos] who are described by many different Greek words, and carry out differing roles. We were interested in understanding what those words would have meant and how servitude was portrayed, in the context of ancient Greek song culture of the Iliad and Odyssey. We start our exploration with female slaves/servants. Some were captured in war, as foreseen… Read more
This time the Core Vocab word, taken from terms in H24H[1] and the associated Sourcebook,[2] is ekhthros [ἐχθρός], glossed by Gregory Nagy as ‘enemy [within the community], non-philos.’ The plural form is ekhthroi; and the associated noun is ekhthra or ekhthos ‘hatred, enmity’. There is a difference between an ekhthros who is a personal enemy, and a polemos or polemoi in the plural, a collective enemy, an opposing force in… Read more
In the previous posts, we considered descriptions of male and female hair, and rituals associated with hair. In this post we consider epithets related to hair. We referred to Milman Parry Studies in the Epic Technique of Oral Verse-Making: I. “Homer and Homeric Style” for a definition and description of epithets: In my study of the traditional epithet in Homer, I dealt with those formulas in the Iliad and in the Odyssey which… Read more