We are pleased to share this segment in the series on reading Homeric epic in ancient Greek. In each installment we read, translate, and discuss a small passage in the original Greek in the most accessible way. If you’ve ever dreamed of reading Homer in the original, here is your chance to do so with teachers who have spent a lifetime thinking about this poetry. With their guidance even new readers can enjoy “the poetry of grammar and the grammar of poetry” that make Homeric epic so exquisite and rewarding.
In this segment Douglas Frame, Leonard Muellner, and Gregory Nagy discuss Odyssey 1.252–256, featuring a discussion of the significance of the front gates of Odysseus’ palace, where Athena-Mentes meets Telemachus.
Odyssey 1.252–256 from Perseus[1]
τὸν δ᾽ ἐπαλαστήσασα προσηύδα Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη:
‘ὢ πόποι, ἦ δὴ πολλὸν ἀποιχομένου Ὀδυσῆος
δεύῃ, ὅ κε μνηστῆρσιν ἀναιδέσι χεῖρας ἐφείη.
εἰ γὰρ νῦν ἐλθὼν δόμου ἐν πρώτῃσι θύρῃσι 255
σταίη, ἔχων πήληκα καὶ ἀσπίδα καὶ δύο δοῦρε,
[1] Homer. The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. 1919 Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd.
Odyssey 1.230–279 on Perseus
Odyssey 1.252–256 on the Scaife Viewer