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The Humour of Homer
The Humour of Homer Samuel Butler A lecture delivered at the Working Men's College, Great Ormond Street 30th January, 1892 The first of the two great poems commonly ascribed to Homer is called the Iliad|a title which we may be sure was not given it by the author. It professes to treat of a quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles that broke out while the Greeks were besieging the city of Troy, and it does, indeed, deal largely with the consequences of this quarrel; whether, however, the ostensible subject did not conceal another that was nearer the poet's heart| I mean the last days, death, and burial of Hector|is a point that I cannot determine. Nor yet can I determine how much of the Iliadas we now have it is by Homer, and how much by a later writer or writers. This is a very vexed question, but I myself believe the Iliadto be entirely by a single poet. The second poem commonly ascribed to the same author is called the Odyssey. It deals with the adventures of Ulysses during his ten years of wandering after Troy had fallen. These two works have of late years been believed to be by different authors. The Iliadis now generally held to be the older work by some one or two hundred years. The leading ideas of the Iliadare love, war, and plunder, though this last is less insisted on than the other two. The key-note is struck with a woman's charms, and a quarrel among men for their possession. -
From the Odyssey, Part 1: the Adventures of Odysseus
from The Odyssey, Part 1: The Adventures of Odysseus Homer, translated by Robert Fitzgerald ANCHOR TEXT | EPIC POEM Archivart/Alamy Stock Photo Archivart/Alamy This version of the selection alternates original text The poet, Homer, begins his epic by asking a Muse1 to help him tell the story of with summarized passages. Odysseus. Odysseus, Homer says, is famous for fighting in the Trojan War and for Dotted lines appear next to surviving a difficult journey home from Troy.2 Odysseus saw many places and met many the summarized passages. people in his travels. He tried to return his shipmates safely to their families, but they 3 made the mistake of killing the cattle of Helios, for which they paid with their lives. NOTES Homer once again asks the Muse to help him tell the tale. The next section of the poem takes place 10 years after the Trojan War. Odysseus arrives in an island kingdom called Phaeacia, which is ruled by Alcinous. Alcinous asks Odysseus to tell him the story of his travels. I am Laertes’4 son, Odysseus. Men hold me formidable for guile5 in peace and war: this fame has gone abroad to the sky’s rim. My home is on the peaked sea-mark of Ithaca6 under Mount Neion’s wind-blown robe of leaves, in sight of other islands—Dulichium, Same, wooded Zacynthus—Ithaca being most lofty in that coastal sea, and northwest, while the rest lie east and south. A rocky isle, but good for a boy’s training; I shall not see on earth a place more dear, though I have been detained long by Calypso,7 loveliest among goddesses, who held me in her smooth caves to be her heart’s delight, as Circe of Aeaea,8 the enchantress, desired me, and detained me in her hall. -
A New Perspective on Revenge and Justice in Homer Judith Stanton Bridgewater State College
Bridgewater Review Volume 2 | Issue 2 Article 13 Mar-1984 Research Note: A New Perspective on Revenge and Justice in Homer Judith Stanton Bridgewater State College Recommended Citation Stanton, Judith (1984). Research Note: A New Perspective on Revenge and Justice in Homer. Bridgewater Review, 2(2), 26-27. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol2/iss2/13 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Cultural Commentary Continued table for more moves, brings it out a third RESEARCH NOTE time for a last look and then manipulates it for the last time under the table, finally achieving cubical perfection. A New Perspective on Revenge Is this game playing spirit, native to all of us, at the heart of mathematics? Is and Justice in Homer Judith Stanton mathematics a sort of game, albeit with Assistant Professor of English serious applications? I think that it is. I am reminded of Jacob Bronowski who Most of us are aware that our idea of considers this question in his beautiful work, justice comes largely from Ancient Greece. so optimistic for mankind, The Ascent of But we might be surprised at how old Greek Man. At one point Bronowski is explaining justice really is. Classical Athens (490·323 symmetry in nature and art. He takes us to B.C.), to which we owe much of our the Alhambra, where in the baths of the understanding of justice, was itself heir to a harem we see motifs of "wind-swept" system of revenge justice that was older still triangles in perfect hexagonal collaboration -- perhaps as old as Hie Mycenaean period filling the walls. -
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Barbara T. Smith the 21St Century Odyssey April 13
805 Traction Avenue Los Angeles CA 90013 213.625.1747 www.theboxla.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Barbara T. Smith The 21st Century Odyssey April 13 – May 25, 2019 Opening Reception: Saturday April 13, 6PM – 8PM Screenings: Saturday, April 20 & Saturday, May 18 Panel with the artist: Saturday, May 11 For The Box’s fifth solo exhibition of Barbara T. Smith’s work, the focus will be on The 21st Century Odyssey, a two year-long durational performance that took place from September 26, 1991 to September 26, 1993. These dates correlate with the opening and the closing of Biosphere 2, located near Tucson, Arizona, where her partner at the time, Dr. Roy Walford, was the interred physician. Smith took on the role of Homer’s Odysseus and traveled the world while Walford, confined inside the Biosphere 2 facility along with 7 other “Biospherians” for 2 years, was Penelope. For Smith, this work was an endeavor to attain a global consciousness while maintaining the connection between Biosphere 1 (the earth) and Biosphere 2. “I was holding Bio 2 in my heart and connecting, of course, with Roy as a vehicle of that connection.” As part of this work, Smith traveled extensively internationally and domestically and considered every aspect of her life in this two year period, from the exotic to the banal, as part of the performance. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus struggles for ten years to get home to Ithaca after his battles in the Trojan War. Between 1992 and 1993, Smith traveled to India, Nepal, Thailand, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, and Norway; within the U.S., she went to Northern California, Hawaii and Seattle. -
A Level Classical Civilisation Candidate Style Answers
Qualification Accredited A LEVEL Candidate style answers CLASSICAL CIVILISATION H408 For first assessment in 2019 H408/11: Homer’s Odyssey Version 1 www.ocr.org.uk/alevelclassicalcivilisation A Level Classical Civilisation Candidate style answers Contents Introduction 3 Question 3 4 Question 4 8 Essay question 12 2 © OCR 2019 A Level Classical Civilisation Candidate style answers Introduction OCR has produced this resource to support teachers in interpreting the assessment criteria for the new A Level Classical Civilisation specification and to bridge the gap between new specification’s release and the availability of exemplar candidate work following first examination in summer 2019. The questions in this resource have been taken from the H408/11 World of the Hero specimen question paper, which is available on the OCR website. The answers in this resource have been written by students in Year 12. They are supported by an examiner commentary. Please note that this resource is provided for advice and guidance only and does not in any way constitute an indication of grade boundaries or endorsed answers. Whilst a senior examiner has provided a possible mark/level for each response, when marking these answers in a live series the mark a response would get depends on the whole process of standardisation, which considers the big picture of the year’s scripts. Therefore the marks/levels awarded here should be considered to be only an estimation of what would be awarded. How levels and marks correspond to grade boundaries depends on the Awarding process that happens after all/most of the scripts are marked and depends on a number of factors, including candidate performance across the board. -
The Odyssey and the Desires of Traditional Narrative
The Odyssey and the Desires of Traditional Narrative David F. Elmer* udk: 82.0-3 Harvard University udk: 821.14-13 [email protected] Original scientific paper Taking its inspiration from Peter Brooks’ discussion of the “narrative desire” that structures novels, this paper seeks to articulate a specific form of narrative desire that would be applicable to traditional oral narratives, the plots of which are generally known in advance by audience members. Thematic and structural features of theOdyssey are discussed as evidence for the dynamics of such a “traditional narrative desire”. Keywords: Narrative desire, Peter Brooks, Odyssey, oral tradition, oral literature In a landmark 1984 essay entitled “Narrative Desire”, Peter Brooks argued that every literary plot is structured in some way by desire.1 In his view, the desires of a plot’s protagonist, whether these are a matter of ambition, greed, lust, or even simply the will to survive, determine the plot’s very readability or intelligibility. Moreover, for Brooks the various desires represented within narrative figure the desires that drive the production and consumption of narrative. He finds within the narrative representation of desire reflections of the desire that compels readers to read on, to keep turning pages, and ultimately of an even more fundamental desire, a “primary human drive” that consists simply in the “need to tell” (Brooks 1984, 61). The “reading of plot,” he writes, is “a form of desire that carries us forward, onward, through the text” (Brooks 1984, 37). When he speaks of “plot”, Brooks has in mind a particular literary form: the novel, especially as exemplified by 19th-century French realists like Honoré de Balzac and Émile Zola. -
The Challenge of Oral Epic to Homeric Scholarship
humanities Article The Challenge of Oral Epic to Homeric Scholarship Minna Skafte Jensen The Saxo Institute, Copenhagen University, Karen Blixens Plads 8, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark; [email protected] or [email protected] Received: 16 November 2017; Accepted: 5 December 2017; Published: 9 December 2017 Abstract: The epic is an intriguing genre, claiming its place in both oral and written systems. Ever since the beginning of folklore studies epic has been in the centre of interest, and monumental attempts at describing its characteristics have been made, in which oral literature was understood mainly as a primitive stage leading up to written literature. With the appearance in 1960 of A. B. Lord’s The Singer of Tales and the introduction of the oral-formulaic theory, the paradigm changed towards considering oral literature a special form of verbal art with its own rules. Fieldworkers have been eagerly studying oral epics all over the world. The growth of material caused that the problems of defining the genre also grew. However, after more than half a century of intensive implementation of the theory an internationally valid sociological model of oral epic is by now established and must be respected in cognate fields such as Homeric scholarship. Here the theory is both a help for readers to guard themselves against anachronistic interpretations and a necessary tool for constructing a social-historic context for the Iliad and the Odyssey. As an example, the hypothesis of a gradual crystallization of these two epics is discussed and rejected. Keywords: epic; genre discussion; oral-formulaic theory; fieldwork; comparative models; Homer 1. -
Anna Bonifazi, Homer's Versicolored Fabric. the Evocative Power of Ancient Greek Epic Word-Making
New England Classical Journal Volume 40 Issue 3 Pages 213-216 11-2013 Anna Bonifazi, Homer's Versicolored Fabric. The Evocative Power of Ancient Greek Epic Word-Making. Anne Mahoney Tufts University Follow this and additional works at: https://crossworks.holycross.edu/necj Recommended Citation Mahoney, Anne (2013) "Anna Bonifazi, Homer's Versicolored Fabric. The Evocative Power of Ancient Greek Epic Word-Making.," New England Classical Journal: Vol. 40 : Iss. 3 , 213-216. Available at: https://crossworks.holycross.edu/necj/vol40/iss3/5 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by CrossWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in New England Classical Journal by an authorized editor of CrossWorks. BOOK REVIEWS Anna Bonifazi, Homer's Versicolored Fabric. The Evocative Power of Ancient Greek Epic Word-Making. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies, 2012. Distributed by Harvard University Press. Pp. 350. Paper (ISBN 978-0-674- 06062-3) $24.95. his is a linguistic study of a1h6s and related words in epic, particularly the Odyssey but also the Iliad. Bonifazi considers first Thow a11T6s and EKE'ivos are contrasted when they refer to Odysseus, then how all the various av- words are similar. Her main tool is pragmatics, building on work by many scholars on discourse grammar in both Greek and Latin. Because she goes through a lot of basic background in this area of linguistics, with a copious bibliography, 25 pages, the book seems accessible to non-linguist classicists, though this is not really an introduction to pragmatics. In the introduction, Bonifazi says that "the general aim of this work is to contribute to an update of the grammatical accounts of some words in accord with notions and concepts from contemporary linguistics that are applicable to Homer" (10), observing that this kind of study adds precision to our understanding of pronouns, particles, and similar words, and that attention to the dialogue context can "shed more light on the standpoint of either the author or the internal characters" (11). -
THE ODYSSEY of HOMER Translated by WILLIAM COWPER LONDON: PUBLISHED by J·M·DENT·&·SONS·LTD and in NEW YORK by E·P·DUTTON & CO to the RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER Translated by WILLIAM COWPER LONDON: PUBLISHED by J·M·DENT·&·SONS·LTD AND IN NEW YORK BY E·P·DUTTON & CO TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE COUNTESS DOWAGER SPENCER THE FOLLOWING TRANSLATION OF THE ODYSSEY, A POEM THAT EXHIBITS IN THE CHARACTER OF ITS HEROINE AN EXAMPLE OF ALL DOMESTIC VIRTUE, IS WITH EQUAL PROPRIETY AND RESPECT INSCRIBED BY HER LADYSHIP’S MOST DEVOTED SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BLANK VERSE BOOK I ARGUMENT In a council of the Gods, Minerva calls their attention to Ulysses, still a wanderer. They resolve to grant him a safe return to Ithaca. Minerva descends to encourage Telemachus, and in the form of Mentes directs him in what manner to proceed. Throughout this book the extravagance and profligacy of the suitors are occasionally suggested. Muse make the man thy theme, for shrewdness famedAnd genius versatile, who far and wideA Wand’rer, after Ilium overthrown,Discover’d various cities, and the mindAnd manners learn’d of men, in lands remote.He num’rous woes on Ocean toss’d, endured,Anxious to save himself, and to conductHis followers to their home; yet all his carePreserved them not; they perish’d self-destroy’dBy their own fault; infatuate! who devoured10The oxen of the all-o’erseeing Sun,And, punish’d for that crime, return’d no more.Daughter divine of Jove, these things record,As it may please thee, even in our ears.The rest, all those who had perdition ’scapedBy war or on the Deep, dwelt now at home;Him only, of his country and his wifeAlike desirous, in her hollow grotsCalypso, Goddess beautiful, detainedWooing him to her arms. -
The Cyclops in the Odyssey, Ulysses, and Asterios Polyp: How Allusions Affect Modern Narratives and Their Hypotexts
THE CYCLOPS IN THE ODYSSEY, ULYSSES, AND ASTERIOS POLYP: HOW ALLUSIONS AFFECT MODERN NARRATIVES AND THEIR HYPOTEXTS by DELLEN N. MILLER A THESIS Presented to the Department of English and the Robert D. Clark Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts December 2016 An Abstract of the Thesis of Dellen N. Miller for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the Department of English to be taken December 2016 Title: The Cyclops in The Odyssey, Ulysses, and Asterios Polyp: How Allusions Affect Modern Narratives and Their Hypotexts Approved: _________________________________________ Paul Peppis The Odyssey circulates throughout Western society due to its foundation of Western literature. The epic poem thrives not only through new editions and translations but also through allusions from other works. Texts incorporate allusions to add meaning to modern narratives, but allusions also complicate the original text. By tying two stories together, allusion preserves historical works and places them in conversation with modern literature. Ulysses and Asterios Polyp demonstrate the prevalence of allusions in books and comic books. Through allusions to both Polyphemus and Odysseus, Joyce and Mazzucchelli provide new ways to read both their characters and the ancient Greek characters they allude to. ii Acknowledgements I would like to sincerely thank Professors Peppis, Fickle, and Bishop for your wonderful insight and assistance with my thesis. Thank you for your engaging courses and enthusiastic approaches to close reading literature and graphic literature. I am honored that I may discuss Ulysses and Asterios Polyp under the close reading practices you helped me develop. -
An Analysis of Odysseus' Pedestrian Journeys in the Odyssey
From Fleet to Foot: An Analysis of Odysseus’ Pedestrian Journeys in the Odyssey by Jessica Higgins A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Classics University of Toronto © Copyright by Jessica Higgins 2015 From Fleet to Foot: An Analysis of Odysseus’ Pedestrian Journeys in the Odyssey Jessica Higgins Doctor of Philosophy Department of Classics University of Toronto 2015 Abstract This dissertation examines the narratives of two pedestrian journeys made by Odysseus in the Odyssey in apposition to the Apologue’s narrative of his fleet’s destruction. The first journey takes place on Scheria (6.254-7. 135) and the second on Ithaca (17.182-17.341). Though the Phaeacian episode, and that of Odysseus’ return to Ithaca have been studied extensively, the pedestrian narratives within them have generally been overlooked. These narratives depict the hero in lowly circumstances, enduring the anonymity and dishonour that other heroes would not. I thus argue that the walking journeys serve a characterizing function. My analysis is informed by spatial and phenomenological theory. Odysseus’ fleet is interpreted as a “centre” of Hellenic culture that implaces him and its destruction as his social and spatial displacement. I conclude that Odysseus’ displacement is both a consequence and a reflection of an overall shift in his ethos from one that was balanced between the active, (violent and assertive) and passive (enduring and deferential) to one that favours passivity. For Odysseus, walking produces ambivalent results. Pedestrianism, in the ancient world, is born of necessity and lowliness. Nevertheless, walking allows the pedestrian a great degree of engagement, both somatic and mental, with his surroundings. -
Eumaeus, Evander, and Augustus: Dionysius and Virgil on Noble Simplicity*
Eumaeus, Evander, and Augustus: Dionysius and Virgil on Noble Simplicity* Casper C. de Jonge Introduction Eumaeus might not be the first character to come to mind when we think of Homeric epic as Princes’ Mirror. To be sure, Eumaeus is of royal descent: his father was Ctesius, son of Ormenus, king of the island Syria.1 But Eumaeus is also a slave: as a child he was sold to Laertes and, having been raised together with Odysseus’ sister Ctimene, he became the family’s swineherd.2 Eumaeus is one of the lower-status figures to which the Odyssey pays more attention than the Iliad. Like Eurycleia, the other prominent lowly character, Eumaeus is portrayed as a loyal servant. During Odysseus’ absence he takes good care of his master’s animals (Od. 14.5–28, 524–533), although he is defenceless against the suitors, who continually force him to send in pigs for their feasts (Od. 14.17– 20). The detailed description of Eumaeus’ pig-farm (Od. 14.7–22) brings out its modesty in comparison with the luxurious palaces of kings like Menelaus, Alcinous, and Odysseus. But with its vestibule (πρόδομος), courtyard (αὐλή), and defensive wall the farm adequately fulfils its function.3 When Odysseus arrives in Ithaca, Eumaeus gives him hospitality and offers him a double meal (Od. 14.72–111 and 14.410–454) and a bed (Od. 14.454–533), not yet knowing that his guest is actually his master. The next day the host and his guest share * The research for this paper was funded by a grant awarded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (nwo).