The Basle Commentary

I. Summary

Homer’s Iliad is the oldest large-scale extant composition of European literature. ’s time is almost 2700 years before ours or roughly 80 generations, but in the history of mankind this is less than the blink of an eye. But because of the changes that Greek society and culture underwent through the Roman and Byzantine periods into modern times, we can no longer presuppose an immediate understanding of this poem. This is the reason for the widespread impression of Homer’s “foreignness” and even inaccessibility. This impression increasingly threatens to discourage engagement with one of the world’s finest and most influential works of literature. The Basle Commentary aims to dispel this discouragement by overcoming or completely eliminating the obstacles that stand in our way of reading and understanding Homer. It therefore explicitly appeals not only to professional readership of Classicists, but also to students and scholars and of all other disciplines in literature and, moreover, to those interested in literature whether specialist or not. This commentary envisions to newly establish Homer in the cultural consciousness of our modern society.

II. The Commentary Tradition

The epic poem Iliad originated in 700 BC in the West Asian colonies of ancient Greece. Knowledge of the poem swiftly spread over all of Greece. Due to its superior artistic quality and its universal “educational” value, the Iliad quickly became “required reading” for the upper classes. The use of such a sophisticated poem in school education soon created the need for explanation of the text. Thus emerged the first “commentaries.” Over the course of centuries, initial wordlists (glossaries) developed into ever more sophisticated exegetical tools for linguistic, historical, and aesthetic interpretation. This commentary tradition continued through the Roman and Byzantine Empire until the 15th century AD but survived only fragmentarily.

After the first printed edition of the Iliad in 1488, a new phase of Homer commentaries began. The first commentaries though suffered from a lack of basic knowledge of the language of Homer and insufficient historical awareness. The turnaround came with the “renaissance” of Homeric studies in 18th-century Europe. The Iliad and Odyssey were again discovered as outstanding works of literary art and were reintroduced into the school system. The need for interpretative tools was even stronger now, more than two-and-a-half millennia after the works came into existence.

Among the school commentaries that responded to that need, the German-language “Ameis-Hentze” stood out. The “Ameis-Hentze” was a text edition of the Iliad and Odyssey accompanied by explanatory notes; it was edited and revised several times since 1868 in the light of advances made in Homeric scholarship by the Gymnasialprofessoren Carl Friedrich Ameis and Carl Hentze. It remained the standard commentary until around 1900. In 1898/1900 the English-language commentary by Walter Leaf joined its ranks. After that there was a hiatus of almost a century. M.M. Willcock’s school and college commentary in English (1970ff.) was a first commendable attempt at bridging the gap. But it was not until 1985 with the Cambridge Commentary by Geoffrey Kirk and his colleagues that the task of producing a real replacement was undertaken with vigor; the six-volume Cambridge Commentary was completed in 1993. Despite its outstanding quality, the amount of scholarship that needed to be covered had grown to such an extent that this commentary as a first attempt to bridge the gap could hardly satisfy the high expectations with which it was anticipated. In particular, the specialized Homeric scholarship published over time in languages other than English had not been sufficiently taken into account during the relatively short ten- year project. For this reason supplementing and expanding seemed desirable.

It was against this background that the plan for a revision of the old “Ameis-Hentze” was envisioned at the Chair of Greek Philology at the University of Basle. With its tradition of Homeric scholarship, Basle lent itself as the ideal place for such an undertaking. After extensive preliminary work, and with the help of the Swiss National Endowment Fund, it was possible to publish the first two volumes in the year 2000 by the established publishing house of B.G. Teubner (Stuttgart/Leipzig). Encouraged by the enthusiastic response from around the world (“Quantensprung,” “impossible to overpraise”), the three-person founding team (J. Latacz, R. Nünlist, M. Stoevesandt) pursued its expansion and gained manifold support. Today the staff comprises seven people. The old “Ameis-Hentze” has been made into an entirely new work. With the collaboration of ten Homer experts from five countries (Switzerland, , the Netherlands, Great Britain, USA), the work attempts to both reflect and advance international Homer scholarship in a comprehensive manner; it consistently takes into account the most important Iliad commentaries ranging from the ancient scholia up to the Cambridge Commentary and Martin West’s “Analytical Commentary” (2011).

III. Description of the Work

1. Sponsorship and Authorship

The Basle Commentary is a research project of the Swiss National Fund for the Support of Scholarly Research in Bern. The project leaders are the current and emeritus holders of the Chair of Greek Philology at the University of Basle. Financial support is made available by the Swiss National Fund (SNF) and by private sponsors in Switzerland and Germany; the University of Basle provides the infrastructure. The project is affiliated with the Chair of Greek Philology in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Basle (Switzerland) as “Basler Kommentar (BK)”. The “Commentary” is housed in the Center for Classical Studies (Rosshof), Petersgraben 51, CH – 4051 Basle (Tel. +41 (0)61 267 24 07 – Fax: +41 (0)61 267 72 71 – Email: [email protected] – http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basler_Homer-Kommentar).

The local commentary team in the core disciplines of Homeric Studies consists of the two project leaders Prof. Dr. Anton Bierl, PhD and Prof. (em.) Dr. Joachim Latacz, PhD and the five regular collaborators, Dr. Claude Brügger, PhD; Dr. Marina Coray, PhD; Dr. Martha Krieter-Spiro, PhD; Dr. Magdalene Stoevesandt, PhD, and Dr. Katharina Wesselmann, PhD. The core team is supported by specialists from related disciplines and sub-disciplines of Greek philology: Prof. Dr. Jürgen v. Ungern-Sternberg (Ancient History, Basle), Prof. Dr. Fritz Graf (Religious Studies, Ohio State University), Prof. Dr. Martin Guggisberg (Classical Archaeology, Basle), Prof. Dr. Irene J.F. de Jong (Greek/Narratology, Amsterdam), Prof. Dr. Michael Meier-Brügger (Indo-European/Greek Semasiology, Freie Universität Berlin), Prof. Dr. Dr. Rudolf Wachter (Indo-European, Lausanne/Basle), Prof. Dr. Martin West (Greek/Textual Criticism/Textual History/Europe and the ancient Near East, Oxford), Dr. Rudolf Führer (Greek lexicography/ Lexikon des frühgriechischen Epos, Hamburg), and Dr. Sebastiaan R. van der Mije (Greek lexicography/Lexikon des frühgriechischen Epos, Hamburg). In addition there is collaboration with the Lexikon des frühgriechischen Epos (LfgrE) at the “Thesaurus Linguae Graecae” at the (Prof. Dr. Arbogast Schmitt, Marburg/FU Berlin) and with the “Project Troia” at the University of Tübingen (Prof. Dr. Ernst Pernicka).

2. Target Audience and Objective

The commentary appeals to Classicists in the broad sense as well as to students and scholars of the humanities in general. It is consciously not intended to be a specialized commentary for Greek scholars or Homer experts, although this is incorporated in the work (see 3(b) below). A decline of knowledge and familiarity with Homer is lamented not only across a wide range of modern language studies (German, Romance, and English literature etc.), but also in areas such as history, art history, history of music, cultural studies and other humanities disciplines. The Basle Commentary aims to make Homer accessible again to other disciplines by making two hundred years of specialized modern Homeric scholarship available for the general reader. The commentary was conceived in such a way that it can address a range of audiences from high school students to college professors to Homer specialists.

3. Layout and Presentation

The original German edition of the commentary consists of one introductory volume and a series of two- volume sets. Each book of the Iliad is accorded one set consisting of one fascicle with the Greek text and German translation and a second fascicle which contains the commentary). The fascicle with the Greek text and German translation would be dropped from the English version.

(a) The prolegomena volume forms the foundation of the Commentary as a whole. In ten chapters it contains basic information that will be referred back to in the other volumes: 1. Homer Commentaries from the Beginnings up to the Present (J. Latacz) – 2. History of the Text (M. West) – 3. Formulaicity and Orality (J. Latacz) – 4. Grammar of the Homeric Language (R. Wachter) – 5. Homeric Meter (R. Nünlist) – 6. Characters of the Iliad: Gods (F. Graf) / Mortals (M. Stoevesandt) – 7. Structure of the Iliad (J. Latacz) – 8. Homeric Poetics in Keywords (R. Nünlist/I. de Jong) – 9. Index of Characters (M. Stoevesandt/A. Gyr/A. Suter) – 10. Index of Homeric-Mycenaean Words (R. Wachter).

(b) In the commentary volumes an innovative mode of presentation has been chosen for ease of use. The annotation is divided into four typographically contrasting tiers.

Normal print: information about the lemma, verse, passage, etc. is assembled here for readers of all audiences, including those without knowledge of Greek. Greek words here are reproduced in Latin script.

Smaller print: here is where the more exact explanations for Classicists of all disciplines are found. This is the normal level of the commentary, which is conversant with the standard commentaries in the field of Hellenic studies.

Petit print: extra information will be given here as needed: current discussions on language, textual criticism, Mycenology, etc. Notes: difficult speech-forms of Homeric diction are annotated at the foot of the page, and translation suggestions and other comprehension aids are given for pupils and students. Each refers to the “24 rules of Homeric language,” which precedes the commentary in each volume, as well as to the corresponding paragraphs of the Homeric grammar in the prolegomena when needed.

4. General Rules of Annotation

The Basle Commentary seeks to carry on the tradition of German-language Homeric scholarship while integrating traditions of scholarship from foreign research communities. To this end it aims to cover and incorporate as comprehensibly as possible widely-dispersed Homeric scholarship published in the main research languages. The goal is not to accumulate mere information, but to use the available information as a basis for an interpretation that goes beyond it. The commentary does not advance one single preconceived perception of the Iliad. As such it does not conceal controversies, but rather tries to help the reader decide for herself by offering—if possible—in an objective manner both pro and con arguments. The overall aim is to provide a solid basis for a generally-acceptable contemporary interpretation of the Iliad.

In general the Basle Commentary is not meant to satisfy esoteric or arcane interests, but rather to raise among those who are interested in literature an awareness of the qualities and groundbreaking originality of this foundational work of European literature. As such this commentary goes beyond the conventional aim of commentaries written for expert audience of scholars of Greek. It hopes not only to serve the interests of the Classical disciplines, but also to support the literary and cultural disciplines in general in their efforts to revive an awareness of cultural continuity.

IV. Output

1. Volumes already published:

ed. J. Latacz Prolegomena, 3rd revised ed., Berlin/New York 2009 (1st ed. 2000, 2nd ed. 2002). ISBN 978-3-11- 022153-4 vol. I.1: Erster Gesang (A). Fascicle 1: Text und Übersetzung, 3rd revised ed., Berlin/New York 2009 (1st ed. 2000, 2nd ed. 2002). ISBN 978-3-11-022118-3 vol. I.2: Erster Gesang (A). Fascicle 2: Kommentar (Latacz/Nünlist/Stoevesandt), 3rd revised ed., Berlin/New York 2009 (1st ed. 2000, 2nd ed. 2002). ISBN 978-3-11-020611-1 vol. II.1: Zweiter Gesang (B). Fascicle 1: Text u. Übersetzung, Munich/Leipzig 2003, 2. ed. 2010. ISBN 3-598-74305-X vol. II.2: Zweiter Gesang (B). Fascicle 2: Kommentar (Brügger/Stoevesandt/Visser, under the direction of Latacz), Munich/Leipzig 2003, 2nd ed. 2010. ISBN 3-598-74306-8

ed. A. Bierl and J. Latacz vol. III.1: Dritter Gesang: Text by M. West, Translation by J. Latacz, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2009 vol. III.2: Dritter Gesang: Commentary by M. Krieter–Spiro, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2009 vol. IV.1: Sechster Gesang: Text by M. West, Translation by J. Latacz, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2008 vol. IV.2: Sechster Gesang: Commentary by M. Stoevesandt, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2008 vol. X.1: Vierzehnter Gesang: Text by M. West, Translation by J. Latacz, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2015 vol. X.2: Vierzehnter Gesang: Commentary by M. Krieter–Spiro, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2015 vol. IX.1: Sechzehnter Gesang: Text by M. West, Translation by J. Latacz, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2016 (forthcoming) vol. IX.2: Sechzehnter Gesang: Commentary by C. Brügger, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2016 (forthcoming) vol. XI.1: Achtzehnter Gesang: Text by M. West, Translation by J. Latacz, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2015 (forthcoming) vol. XI.2: Achtzehnter Gesang: Commentary by M. Coray, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2015 (forthcoming) vol. VI.1: Neunzehnter Gesang: Text by M. West, Translation by J. Latacz, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2009 vol. VI.2: Neunzehnter Gesang: Commentary by M. Coray, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2009 vol. VIII.1: Vierundzwanzigster Gesang: Text by M. West, Translation by J. Latacz, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2009 vol. VIII.2: Vierundzwanzigster Gesang: Commentary by C. Brügger, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2009

2. Volumes in preparation:

– Commentary on Book 7 (H): Wesselmann – Commentary on Book 9 (I): Latacz – Commentary on Book 22 (X): Plath/Stoevesandt/Latacz

V. Reviews

1. Available on the internet:

– Johannes Haubold, in: BMCR 2001.09.01 (on Volume I). – Julian B. Lethbridge, in: BMCR 2005.08.16 (on Volume II). – Malcolm M. Willcock, in: CR 52, 2002, 229–231 (on Prolegomena and Volume I). – Malcolm M. Willcock, in: CR 55, 2005, 4f. (on Volume II).

2. Reviews in newspapers and journals: – Michael Siebler, in: FAZ 28.04.2004. – Edzard Visser, in: Pegasus-Onlinezeitschrift 2/2008, 53–88 (§ B 4) (http://www.pegasus- onlinezeitschrift.de/).

3. Other reviews not available on the internet:

– Bernhard Forssman, in: Kratylos 48, 2003, 104–114. – Jenny Strauss Clay, in: CW 96, 2002/2003, 336f. – Martin Schmidt, in: GGA 256, 2004, 1–22. – Bernhard Forssman, in: Kratylos 50, 2005, 113–117. – Giuseppe Lentini, in: RFIC 138, 2010, 221–225.