Homer

Ancient Greek language,  Reading Homer

Reading Homer aloud: pronunciation, rhythm, enjambments

In this video, Keith Stone asks Gregory Nagy, Leonard Muellner, and Douglas Frame about reading Homeric poetry aloud. Topics include: pronunciation and its changes through time; pausing at enjambments; mastering the rhythm by memorizing passages; fixed metrical patterns; rhythm built into the language; predictability of ends of hexameter lines. Examples taken from:[1] Odyssey 1.187–193 (enjambments): ξεῖνοι δʼ ἀλλήλων πατρώιοι εὐχόμεθʼ εἶναι ἐξ ἀρχῆς, εἴ πέρ τε γέροντʼ εἴρηαι ἐπελθὼν Λαέρτην… Read more

Reading Homer

Homeric Greek | Odyssey 1.187–193: Rattling around in enjambments

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… Read more

Topic for Discussion

Performance of epic | Part 1: Aoidoi in epic poetry

In a dialogue of Plato, Ion, the character Ion is a famous rhapsode. He is just coming back from a famous festival in Epidaurus where he performed Homeric poetry. [1] Plato’s dialogue dates from the late 5th century BCE [2], but it is not easy to find specific information about rhapsodes from the archaic period. The word rhapsōdos [ῥαψῳδός] itself is not used in Homeric or Hesiodic poetry. The word used… Read more

Book Club

Book Club | September 2018: The Anger of Achilles: Mênis in Greek Epic

The subject of the Iliad is the anger of Achilles, not Achilles himself. But what is this anger of his? The Book Club this month will be reading and discussing selections from The Anger of Achilles: Mênis in Greek Epic (available free online at the Center for Hellenic Studies.) We will be reading how Leonard Muellner uses the insights of Albert Lord on epic themes, and looks at such anger not… Read more

Reading Homer

Homeric Greek | Odyssey 1.169–177, part 1 : Call him keĩnos

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… Read more