Homer

Visiting Scholars

Open House | Thucydides on Early Greece and the Trojan War, with Jeffrey Rusten

We were pleased to welcome again Jeffrey Rusten of Cornell University, Department of Classics, for an Open House discussion on Thucydides on Early Greece and the Trojan War. For the Open House Jeffrey Rusten invites us to think about and discuss the following questions: How does Thucydides approach the Iliad and think it has historical value? Is his analysis flawed in any way? Is it anachronistic? Is it in any… Read more

Ancient Greek language,  Reading Homer

Greek dialects in the language of Homer: Mycenaean, and Arcadian

In this video, Gregory Nagy, Douglas Frame, Leonard Muellner, and Keith Stone have an informal discussion about the role of dialects in the Homeric poetic tradition, introducing the Mycenaean phase, and Homeric forms in Arcadian. They include examples from formulas such as epithets within Homeric poetry, and also refer to the work of Aristotle and Theophrastus. Related topics Greek dialects and the poetic super-language Greek dialects in epic: the cake… Read more

Ancient Greek language,  Reading Homer

Greek dialects and the poetic super-language

In this video, Gregory Nagy, Douglas Frame, and Leonard Muellner provide an introduction to how ancient Greek dialects function in Homeric poetry: : what the different dialects are, how different forms fit into the metrical structure, and the evolution and perpetuation of the poetic super-language.. Topics include: Attic Greek koinē Ionian Aeolian metrical differences and lack of redundancy formulae evolution and perpetuation of the poetic super-language Related topics Greek dialects… Read more

Announcements,  Reading Homer

A Homer Commentary in Progress

An evolving, collaborative commentary based on the cumulative research of Milman Parry and Albert Lord The intellectual goal of the original editors is simple and at the same time most ambitious: of all existing commentaries on Homeric poetry, this project 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… Read more

Video

The Lives of Homer as Aetiologies for Homeric Poetry

This video recording was originally shown at an international conference held at Baku, November 27–28, 2015. In this video Professor Gregory Nagy explores the myths relating to The Lives of Homer. “This inquiry centers on the surviving texts of ‘Life of Homerʼ narrative traditions, to which I refer simply as Lives of Homer. These Lives, I argue, can be read as sources of historical information about the reception of Homeric poetry.… Read more