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Ionic Greek

Ionic Greek

Ionic Greek was a sub-dialect of the Attic-Ionic dialectal group of Ancient Greek (see Greek dialects). Ionic (or Ionian) dialect appears to have spread originally from the Greek mainland across the Aegean at the time of the Dorian invasions, around the 11th Century B.C. By the end of the Greek Dark Ages in the 8th Century B.C, the central west coast of Asia Minor, along with the islands of Khios (Chios) and Samos, formed the heartland of Ionia proper. The Ionic dialect was also spoken on islands across the central Aegean and on the large island of Euboea north of Athens. The dialect was soon spread by Ionian colonization to areas in the northern Aegean, the Black Sea, and the western Mediterranean. Ionic dialect is generally divided into two major time periods, Old Ionic (or Old Ionian) and New Ionic (or New Ionian). The exact transition between the two is not clearly defined, but 600 B.C. is a good approximation. The Homeric works (the Illiad, the Odyssey, and the Homeric Hymns), and the works of Hesiod, were written in a literary dialect called Homeric Greek or Epic Greek, which consists largely of Old Ionic, with some borrowings from the neighboring Aeolic dialect to the north. The poet Arkhilokhos (Archilochos) wrote in late Old Ionic. The most famous New Ionic authors are Herodotus and Hippokrates (Hippocrates). The main differences between the Ionic dialect (Old and New) and Classical Attic were the following: # In Ionic, the shift from long alpha to eta occurs in almost all words, whereas in Attic it does not occur after vowels or rho. Example: Attic νεανίας (neanias) versus Ionic νεηνίης (neenies), a "young person". # In many cases Ionic turned Proto-Greek labiovelar sound /kw/ into /k/ rather than /p/ before back vowels. Example: Attic ὅπως (hopos) versus Ionic ὄκως (okos), "the same way (as)". It is worth mentioning that similar divergent outcomes for /kw/ occurred also in Celtic and Italic branches of the Indo-European language family, for example between Latin and Oscan, as well as between P-Celtic (Welsh) and Q-Celtic (Irish). # Ionic contracted adjoining vowels much less frequently than Attic. Example: Ionic γένεα (genea) versus Attic γένη (gene), "family, stock". # Ionic "ss" appears as "tt" in later Classical Attic. Example: Ionic τέσσαρες (tessares) versus Attic τέτταρες (tettares), "four". # Ionic had a very analytical word-order, perhaps the most analytical one within ancient Greek dialects. # In some words, Attic initial aspiration was lacking in Old Ionic, and in New Ionic initial aspiration was probably lost entirely. Example: Attic ἵππος (hippos) versus Ionic ἴκκος (ikkos), "horse".

Greek dialects

Ancient Greek, in Classical Antiquity before the development of the Koine as the lingua franca of Hellenism, was divided into several dialects. Likewise, Modern Greek is divided into several dialects, most of them deriving from the Koine.

Antiquity

The earliest known dialect is the Mycenaean language, the language spoken by the first hellenic settlers of the Greek mainland in the 2nd millennium BC. The classical distribution of dialects was brought about by the migrations of the early Iron Age Greek Dark Ages after the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization. Some speakers of Mycenaean were displaced to Cyprus while others remained inland in Arcadia, giving rise to the Arcadocypriot dialect. The Dorian invasion spread Doric Greek the coast of the Pelopennesus, for example of Sparta, Crete and the southernmost parts of the west coast of Asia Minor. Doric was standard for Greek lyric poetry, such as Pindar. Aeolic was spoken chiefly on the island of Lesbos (Lesbian) and the west coast of Asia Minor north of Smyrna. Ionic was mostly spoken along the west coast of Asia Minor, including Smyrna and the area to the south of it. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey were written in a kind of literary Ionic with some loan words from the other dialects. Ionic, therefore, became the primary literary language of ancient Greece. Attic Greek, a sub- or sister-dialect of Ionic, was for centuries the language of Athens. Because Attic was adopted in Macedon before the conquests of Alexander the Great and the subsequent rise of Hellenism, it became the "standard" dialect that evolved into the Koine. Important authors for the individual dialects include Thucydides for Attic, Herodotus and Archilochos of Paros for Ionian, Alcman and Ibycus of Rhegium for Doric, Sappho and Alcaeus for Aeolic (Lesbian), Corinna of Tanagra for Boiotic. Thessalic and Arcado-Cypriot never became literary dialects and are only known from inscriptions, and to some extent by the comical parodies of Aristophanes. The dialect of Homer is a mixture of several dialects. According to Dion Chrysostomus, a mixture of Aeolic, Doric and Attic-Ionic; however, the "Doric" elements are not actually Doric but rather archaisms within Aeolic. The dialects of Classical Antiquity are grouped slightly differently by various authorities. Pamphylian is a marginal dialect of Asia Minor and usually left uncategorized. Note that Mycenaean was only deciphered in 1952, and is therefore missing from the earlier schemes presented here.

Northwestern, Southeastern

Ernst Risch, Museum Helveticum (1955):
- Northern Greek
- Doric/North-Western Greek
- Aeolic
- Pamphylian?
- Southern Greek
- Ionian-Arcadian-Cyprian-Mycenaean Alfred Heubeck:
- Northwestern group
- Doric/North-Western Greek
- Aeolic?
- Southeastern group
- Ionian-Attic
- Arcadocypriot

Western, Central, Eastern

A. Thumb, E. Kieckers, Handbuch der griechischen Dialekte (1932):
- Western Greek
- Doric dialects
- dialect of Achaia
- dialect of Elis
- North-Western Greek
- Central Greek
- Aeolic
- Boiotic
- Thessalic
- Lesbian
- Arcadocyprian
- Eastern Greek
- Ionic
- Attic
- Pamphylian W. Porzig, Die Gliederung des indogermanischen Sprachgebiets (1954):
- Western Greek
- North-Western Greek
- Doric
- Aeolic
- Eastern Greek
- Ionian-Attic
- Arcadocyprian

Western, Thessalian, Boiotic, Eastern

C.D. Buck, The Greek Dialects (1973):
- Western Greek
- North-Western Greek
- Doric
- Eastern Greek
- Ionian-Attic
- Lesbian
- Arcadocyprian
- Thessalian
- Boiotic
- Pamphylian

Post-Hellenistic

- Attic Greek
- Koine
- Byzantine Greek language
- Modern Greek
-
- Dhimotiki
-
- Katharevousa
- Yevanic
- Cypriot Greek
- Griko (possibly with Doric elements)
- Pontic Greek
- Cappadocian Greek
- Romano-Greek
- Doric Greek
- Tsakonian Tsakonian is the only modern Greek dialect that is not descended from Attic or the Koine.

External links

- http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/didact/idg/grie/grdial.htm
- http://www.friesian.com/archon.htm
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90065 Ethnologue report on Greek languages]
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Greek Dark Ages

The Greek Dark Ages (ca. 1200 BC–800 BC) refers to the period of Greek prehistory from the presumed Dorian invasion and end of the Mycenaean civilization in the 11th century BC to the rise of the first Greek city-states in the 9th century BC and the epics of Homer and earliest writings in alphabetic Greek in the 8th century BC. Archaeology shows a collapse of civilization in the Greek world during this period. The great palaces and cities of the Myceneans were destroyed or abandoned. The Greek language ceased to be written. Greek dark age pottery has simple geometric designs and lacks the figurative decoration of Mycenean ware. The Greeks of the dark age lived in fewer and smaller settlements, suggesting famine and depopulation, and foreign goods have not been found at archaeological sites, suggesting minimum international trade. Contact was also lost between foreign powers during this period, yielding little cultural progress or growth of any sort. Kings ruled throughout this period until eventually they were replaced with an aristocracy, then still later, in some areas, an aristocracy within an aristocracy -- an elite of the elite. Warfare shifted from a focus on cavalry to a great emphasis on infantry. Due to its cheapness of production and local availability, iron replaced bronze as the metal of choice in the manufacturing of tools and weapons. Equality grew slowly among the different classes of people, leading to the dethronement of the various kings and the rise of the family. Families began to reconstruct their past in attempts to link their bloodlines with heroes from the Trojan War, more specifically Heracles. While most of this was legend, some were sorted by poets of the school of Hesiod. Most of these poems are lost, though, but some famous "storywriters", as they were called, were Hecataeus of Miletus and Acusilaus of Argos. It is thought that the epics by Homer contain a certain amount of tradition preserved orally during the Dark Ages period. The historical validity of Homer's writings is vigorously disputed; see the article on Troy for a discussion. At the end of this period of stagnation, the Greek civilization was engulfed in a renaissance that spread the Greek world as far as the Black Sea and Spain. Writing was relearned from the Phoenicians, eventually spreading north into Italy and the Gauls.

References

Latacz, J. Between Troy and Homer. The so-called Dark Ages in Greece, in: Storia, Poesia e Pensiero nel Mondo antico. Studi in Onore di M. Gigante, Rome, 1994. Category:History of Greece Category:Historical eras

Ionia

:This article is about the region of western Anatolia. For the group of islands west of Greece, see Ionian Islands. Ionian Islands Ionia (Greek Ιωνία; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was an ancient region of southwestern coastal Anatolia (now in Turkey) on the Aegean Sea. It comprised a narrow coastal strip from Phocaea in the north near the mouth of the river Hermus (now the Gediz), to Miletus in the south near the mouth of the river Maeander, and included the islands of Chios and Samos. It was bounded by Aeolia to the north, Lydia to the east and Caria to the south. According to the universal Greek tradition, the cities of Ionia were founded by migrants from the other side of the Aegean and their settlement was connected with the legendary history of the Ionic race in Attica, by the statement that the colonists were led by Neleus and Androclus, sons of Codrus, the last king of Athens. In accordance with this view the "Ionic migration", as it was called by later chronologers, was dated by them one hundred and forty years after the Trojan war, or sixty years after the return of the Heraclidae into the Peloponnese. Without assigning any definite date, we may say that recent research [as of 1910] has tended to support the popular Greek idea that Ionia received its main Greek element rather late - after the descent of the Dorians, and, therefore, after any part of the Aegean period. The only Aegean objects yet found (1910) in or near Ionia are some shards of the very late Minoan age at Miletus. It is improbable that all the Greek colonists were of the not numerous Ionian race. Herodotus tells us that the settlers were from many different tribes and cities of Greece (a fact indicated also by the local traditions of the cities), and that they intermarried with the native races. In Asia, Greeks were named with derivations of "Ionian", such as Yona in Pali. Josephus relates the Ionians to the biblical character Javan son of Japheth: "but from Javan, Ionia, and all the Grecians, are derived" (Antiquities of the Jews I:6). In Greek mythology, Ion, regarded as the founder of the Ionian tribe, was the son of Creusa (daughter of Erechtheus); his father was either Creusa's husband Xuthus (according to Hesiod's Eoiae) or Apollo (according to Euripides).

Geography

The cities called Ionian in historical times were twelve in number, an arrangement copied as it was supposed from the constitution of the Ionian cities in Greece which had originally occupied the territory in the north of the Peloponnese subsequently held by the Achaeans. These were (from south to north) Miletus, Myus, Priene, Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus, Teos, Erythrae, Clazomenae and Phocaea, together with Samos and Chios. Smyrna, originally an Aeolic colony, was afterwards occupied by Ionians from Colophon, and became an Ionian city — an event which had taken place before the time of Herodotus. But at what period it was admitted as a member of the league is unknown. The Ionian cities formed a religious and cultural (as opposed to a political or military) confederacy (see Ionian League), of which participation in the Panionic festival (Panionia) was a distinguishing characteristic. This festival took place on the north slope of Mt. Mycale in a shrine called the Panionium. In addition to the Panionic festival at Mycale, which was celebrated mainly by the Asian Ionians, both European and Asian coast Ionians convened on Delos Island each summer to worship at the temple of the Delian Apollo. But like the Amphictyonic league in Greece, the Ionic was rather of a sacred than a political character; every city enjoyed absolute autonomy, and, though common interests often united them for a common political object, they never formed a real confederacy like that of the Achaeans or Boeotians. The advice of Thales of Miletus to combine in a political union was rejected. Ionia was of small extent, not exceeding 90 geographical miles in length from north to south, with a breadth varying from 20 to 30 miles, but to this must be added the peninsula of Mimas, together with the two large islands. So intricate is the coastline that the voyage along its shores was estimated at nearly four times the direct distance. A great part of this area was, moreover, occupied by mountains. Of these the most lofty and striking were Mimas and Corycus, in the peninsula which stands out to the west, facing the island of Chios; Sipylus, to the north of Smyrna; Corax, extending to the south-west from the Gulf of Smyrna, and descending to the sea between Lebedus and Teos; and the strongly marked range of Mycale, a continuation of Messogis in the interior, which forms the bold headland of Trogilium or Mycale, opposite Samos. None of these mountains attains a height of more than 4000 feet The district comprised three extremely fertile valleys formed by the outflow of three rivers, among the most considerable in Asia Minor: the Hermus in the north, flowing into the Gulf of Smyrna, though at some distance from the city of that name; the Caster, which flowed under the walls of Ephesus; and the Maeander, which in ancient times discharged its waters into the deep gulf that once bathed the walls of Miletus, but which has been gradually filled up by this river's deposits. With the advantage of a peculiarly fine climate, for which this part of Asia Minor has been famous in all ages, Ionia enjoyed the reputation in ancient times of being the most fertile of all the rich provinces of Asia Minor; and even in modern times, though very imperfectly cultivated, it produces abundance of fruit of all kinds, and the raisins and figs of Smyrna supply almost all the markets of Europe. The colonies naturally became prosperous. Miletus especially was at an early period one of the most important commercial cities of Greece; and in its turn became the parent of numerous other colonies, which extended all around the shores of the Euxine Sea and the Propontis from Abydus and Cyzicus to Trapezus and Panticapaeum. Phocaea was one of the first Greek cities whose mariners explored the shores of the western Mediterranean. Ephesus, though it did not send out any colonies of importance, from an early period became a flourishing city and attained to a position corresponding in some measure to that of Smyrna at the present day.

History

The first event in the history of Ionia of which we have any trustworthy account is the inroad of the Cimmerii, who ravaged a great part of Asia Minor, including Lydia, and sacked Magnesia on the Maeander, but were foiled in their attack upon Ephesus. This event may be referred to the middle of the 7th century BC. About 700 BC Gyges, first Mermnad king of Lydia, invaded the territories of Smyrna and Miletus, and is said to have taken Colophon as his son Ardys did Priene. But it was not till the reign of Croesus (560–545 BC) that the cities of Ionia successively fell under Lydian rule. The defeat of Croesus by Cyrus was followed by the conquest of all the Ionian cities. These became subject to the Persian monarchy with the other Greek cities of Asia. In this position they enjoyed a considerable amount of autonomy, but were for the most part subject to local despots, most of whom were creatures of the Persian king. It was at the instigation of one of these despots, Histiaeus of Miletus, that in about 500 BC the principal cities ignited the Ionian Revolt against Persia. They were at first assisted by the Athenians, with whose aid they penetrated into the interior and burnt Sardis, an event which ultimately led to the Persian invasion of Greece. But the fleet of the Ionians was defeated off the island of Lade, and the destruction of Miletus after a protracted siege was followed by the reconquest of all the Asiatic Greeks, insular as well as continental. The victories of the Greeks during the great Persian war had the effect of enfranchizing their kinsmen on the other side of the Aegean; and the battle of Mycale (479 BC), in which the defeat of the Persians was in great measure owing to the Ionians, secured their emancipation. They henceforth became the dependent allies of Athens (see Delian League), though still retaining their autonomy, which they preserved until the peace of Antalcidas in 387 BC once more placed them as well as the other Greek cities in Asia under the nominal dominion of Persia. They appear, however, to have retained a considerable amount of freedom until the invasion of Asia Minor by Alexander the Great. After the battle of the Granicus most of the Ionian cities submitted to the conqueror. Miletus, which alone held out, was reduced after a long siege (334 BC). From this time they passed under the dominion of the successive Macedonian rulers of Asia, but continued, with the exception of Miletus, to enjoy great prosperity both under these Greek dynasties and after they became part of the Roman province of Asia.

Legacy

Ionia has laid the world under its debt not only by giving birth to a long roll of distinguished men of letters and science (see Ionian School of Philosophy), but also by originating the distinct school of art which prepared the way for the brilliant artistic development of Athens in the 5th century BC. This school flourished between 700 and 500 BC, and is distinguished by the fineness of workmanship and minuteness of detail with which it treated subjects, inspired always to some extent by non-Greek models. Naturalism is progressively obvious in its treatment, e.g. of the human figure, but to the end it is still subservient to convention. It has been thought that the Ionian migration from Greece carried with it some part of a population which retained the artistic traditions of the Mycenaean civilization, and so caused the birth of the Ionic school; but whether this was so or not, it is certain that from the 8th century BC onwards we find the true spirit of Hellenic art, stimulated by commercial intercourse with eastern civilizations, working out its development chiefly in Ionia and its neighbouring isles. The great names of this school are Theodorus and Rhoecus of Samos; Bathycles of Magnesia on the Maeander; Glaucus, Melas, Micciades, Archermus, Bupalus and Athenis of Chios. Notable works of the school still extant are the famous archaic female statues found on the Athenian Acropolis in 1885–1887, the seated statues of Branchidae, the Nike of Archermus found at Delos, and the objects in ivory and electrum found by D.G. Hogarth in the lower strata of the Artemision at Ephesus. The Arabic, Turkish & Persian name for Greece is Younan (یونان), a corruption of "Ionia." The same is true for the Hebrew word, "Yavan" (יוון). The Ionians were the first Greek-speaking people that Semitic and Persian language speakers encountered, and the name spread throughout the Near East and Central Asia. This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. Category:Anatolia Category:Ancient Greece

Homeric

] :For other uses, see Homer (disambiguation). Homer (Greek μηρος Hómēros) was a legendary early Greek poet and rhapsode traditionally credited with authorship of the major Greek epics Ιλιάς Iliad and Οδύσσεια Odyssey. The comic mini-epic Βατραχομυομαχία Batrachomyomachia ("The Frog-Mouse War"), the corpus of Homeric Hymns, and various other lost or fragmentary works such as Margites have been attributed to him, but this is now believed to be unlikely. A few ancient authors credited him with the entire Epic Cycle, which included further poems on the Trojan War as well as the Theban poems about Oedipus and his sons. Tradition held that Homer was blind, and various Ionian cities are claimed to be his birthplace, but otherwise his biography is a blank slate. There is considerable scholarly debate about whether Homer was actually a real person, or the name given to one or more oral poets who sang traditional epic material. It has repeatedly been questioned whether the same poet was responsible for both the Iliad and the Odyssey; the Batrachomyomachia, Homeric hymns and cyclic epics are generally agreed to be later than these two epic poems.

Ancient Accounts of Homer

Of the date of Homer probably no record, real or pretended, ever existed. Herodotus (2.53) maintains that Hesiod and Homer lived not more than 400 years before his own time, consequently not much before 850 BC. From the controversial tone in which he expresses himself it is evident that others had made Homer more ancient; and accordingly the dates given by later authorities, though very various, generally fall within the 10th and 11th centuries BC, but none of these statements has any claim to the character of external evidence. The extant lives of Homer (edited in Westermanns Vitarum Scriptores Graeci minores) are eight in number, including the piece called the Contest of Hesiod and Homer. The longest is written in the Ionic dialect, and bears the name of Herodotus, but is certainly spurious. In all probability it belongs to the time which was fruitful beyond all others in literary forgeries, viz, the 2nd century of our era. The other lives are certainly not more ancient. Their chief value consists in the curious short poems or fragments of verse which they have preserved, the so-called Epigrams, which used to be printed at the end of editions of Homer. These are easily recognized as Popular Rhymes, a form of folklore to be met with in most countries, treasured by the people as a kind of proverbs. In the Homeric epigrams the interest turns sometimes on the characteristics of particular localities Smyrna and Cyme (Epigr. 4), Erythrae (Epigr. 6, 7), Mt Ida (Epigr. 10), Neon Teichos (Epigr. 1); others relate to certain trades or occupations: potters (Epigr. 14), sailors, fishermen, goat herds, etc. Some may be fragments of longer poems, but evidently they are not the work of any one poet. The fact that they were all ascribed to Homer merely means that they belong to a period in the history of the Ionian and Aeolian colonies when Homer was a name which drew to itself all ancient and popular verse. Again, comparing the epigrams with the legends and anecdotes told in the Lives of Homer, we can hardly doubt that they were the chief source from which these Lives were derived. Thus in Epigr. 4 we find a blind poet, a native of Aeolian Smyrna, through which flows the water of the sacred Meles. Here is doubtless the source of the chief incident of the Herodotean Life, the birth of Homer Son of the Meles. The epithet Aeolian implies high antiquity, inasmuch as according to Herodotus Smyrna became Ionian about 688 BC. Naturally the Ionians had their own version of the story, a version which made Homer come out with the first Athenian colonists. The same line of argument may be extended to the Hymns, and even to some of the lost works of the post-Homeric or so-called Cyclic poets. Thus: 1. The hymn to the Delian Apollo ends with an address of the poet to his audience. When any stranger comes and asks who is the sweetest singer, they are to answer with one voice, "the blind man that dwells in rocky Chios; his songs deserve the prize for all time to come." Thucydides, who quotes this passage to show the ancient character of the Delian festival, seems to have no doubt of the Homeric authorship of the hymn. Hence we may most naturally account for the belief that Homer was a Chian. 2. The Siargitesa humorous poem which kept its ground as the reputed work of Homer down to the time of Aristotle began with the words, "There came to Colophon an old man, a divine singer, servant of the Muses and Apollo." Hence doubtless the claim of Colophon to be the native city of Homer a claim supported in the early times of Homeric learning by the Colophonian poet and grammarian Antimachus. 3. The poem called the Cypria was said to have been given by Homer to Stasinus of Cyprus as a daughter's dowry. The connexion with Cyprus appears further in the predominance given in the poem to Aphrodite. 4. The Little Iliad and the Phocais, according to the Herodotean life, were composed by Homer when he lived at Phocaea with a certain Thestorides, who carried them off to Chios and thert gained fame by reciting them as his own. The name Thestorides occurs in Epigr. 5. 5. A similar story was told about the poem called the Taking of Oechalia, the subject of which was one of the exploits of Heracles. It passed under the name of Creophylus, a friend or (as some said) a son-in-law of Homer; but it was generally believed to have been in fact the work of the poet himself. 6. Finally the Thebaid always counted as the work of Homer. As to the Epigoni, which carried on the Theban story, some doubt seems to have been felt. These indications render it probable that the stories connecting Homer with different cities and islands grew up after his poems had become known and famous, especially in the new and flourishing colonies of Aeolis and Ionia. The contention for Homer, in short, began at a time when his real history was lost, and he had become a sort of mythical figure, an eponymous hero, or personification of a great school of poetry. An interesting confirmation of this view from the negative side is furnished by the city which ranked as chief among the Asiatic colonies of Greece, viz. Miletus. No legend claims for Miletus even a visit from Homer, or a share in the authorship of any Homeric poem. Yet Arctinus of Miletus was said to have been a disciple of Homer, and was certainly one of the earliest and most considerable of the Cyclic poets. His Aethiopis was composed as a sequel to the Iliad; and the structure and general character of his poems show that he took the Iliad as his model. Yet in his case we find no trace of the disputed authorship which is so common with other Cyclic poems. How has this come about? Why have the works of Arctinus escaped the attraction which drew to the name of Homer such epics as the Cypria, the Little Iliad, the Thebaid, the Epigoni, the Taking of Oechalia and the Phocais. The most obvious account of the matter is that Arctinus was never so far forgotten that his poems became the subject of dispute. We seem through him to obtain a glimpse of an early post-Homeric age in Ionia, when the immediate disciples and successors of Homer were distinct figures in a trustworthy tradition when they had not yet merged their individuality in the legendary Homer of the Epic Cycle.

The Homeric Question

Arctinus of Miletus Scholars generally agree that the Iliad and Odyssey underwent a process of standardization and refinement out of older material beginning in the 8th century BC. An important role in this standardization appears to have been played by the Athenian tyrant Hipparchus, who reformed the recitation of Homeric poetry at the Panathenaic festival. Many classicists hold that this reform must have involved the production of a canonical written text. Other scholars, however, maintain their belief in the reality of an actual Homer. So little is known or even guessed of his actual life, that a common joke has it that the poems "were not written by Homer, but by another man of the same name," and the classical scholar Richmond Lattimore, author of well regarded poetic translations to English of both epics, once wrote a paper entitled "Homer: Who Was She?" Samuel Butler was more specific, theorizing a young Sicilian woman as author of the Odyssey (but not the Iliad), an idea further speculated on by Robert Graves in his novel Homer's Daughter. In Greek his name is Homēros, which is Greek for "hostage". There is a theory that his name was back-extracted from the name of a society of poets called the Homeridae, which literally means "sons of hostages", i.e., descendants of prisoners of war. As these men were not sent to war because their loyalty on the battlefield was suspect, they would not get killed in battles. Thus they were entrusted with remembering the area's stock of epic poetry, to remember past events, in the times before literacy came to the area. Most Classicists would agree that, whether there was ever such a composer as "Homer" or not, the Homeric poems are the product of an oral tradition, a generations-old technique that was the collective inheritance of many singer-poets, aoidoi. An analysis of the structure and vocabulary of the Iliad and Odyssey shows that the poems consist of regular, repeating phrases; even entire verses repeat. Could the Iliad and Odyssey have been oral-formulaic poems, composed on the spot by the poet using a collection of memorized traditional verses and phases? Milman Parry and Albert Lord pointed out that such elaborate oral tradition, foreign to today's literate cultures, is typical of epic poetry in an exclusively oral culture. The crucial words are "oral" and "traditional." Parry started with "traditional." The repetitive chunks of language, he said, were inherited by the singer-poet from his predecessors, and they were useful to the poet in composition. He called these chunks of repetitive language "formulas." Exactly when these poems would have taken on a fixed written form is subject to debate. The traditional solution is the "transcription hypothesis", wherein a non-literate "Homer" dictates his poem to a literate scribe in the 6th century BC or earlier. More radical Homerists, such as Gregory Nagy, contend that a canonical text of the Homeric poems as "scripture" did not exist until the Hellenistic period (3rd to 1st century BC).

Historical Aspects of the Poems

1st century BC, Italy.]] See main article Troy. Another significant question regards the tales' possible historical basis. The commentaries on the Iliad and the Odyssey written in the Hellenistic period began exploring the textual inconsistencies of the poems. Modern classicists continue the tradition. The excavations of Heinrich Schliemann in the late 19th century began to convince scholars there was a historical basis for the Trojan War. Research (pioneered by the aforementioned Parry and Lord) into oral epics in Serbo-Croatian and Turkic languages began to convince scholars that long poems could be preserved with consistency by oral cultures until someone bothered to write them down. The decipherment of Linear B in the 1950s by Michael Ventris and others, convinced scholars of a linguistic continuity between 13th century BC Mycenaean writings and the poems attributed to Homer.

References

Literature

Commentaries

- Scholia Veneta on the Iliad , ed. Villoison (Venice, 1788);
- 'Scholia in Homeri Iliades ed. Bekker Berlin, 1825-1826).
- The Scholia on the Odyssey, ed. Buttmann (Berlin, 1821), Dindorf (Oxford, 1855)
- Commentary of Eustathius, first printed at Rome in 1542;
- Heynes. Iliad (Leipzig, 1802)
- Nitzsch, Odyssey (books i.-xii., Hanover)
- Negelbach Anmerkungen zur Ilias (Autenrieth, Nuremberg, 1864).
Homeric Question

- Wolf, Prolegomena (Halle, 1795)
- W. Muller, Homerische Vorschule (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1836)
- G. Hermann, De interpolationibus Homeri (1832), De iteratis apud Homerum (1840)
- Lachmann, Betrachtungen über Homers Ilias (2nd ed. Berlin, 1865).
Homeric dialect

- H. L. Ahrens, Griechische Formenlehre (Gottingen, 1852)
- A. Fick, Die homerische Odyssee in der ursprünglichen Sprachform wiederhergestelt (Gottingen, 1883), Die homerische Ilias (ibid., 1886)
- W. Schulze, Quaestiones epicae (Goterslohe, 1892).
- B. Delbrück, Syntactische Forschungen (Halle, 1871-1879)
- Hartel, Homerische Studien (i-vi., Vienna)
- Thumb, Zur Geschichte des griech. Digamma, Indogermanische Forschungen (1898)
Editions

- The editio princeps of Homer, published at Florence in 1488, by Demetrius Chaicondylas
- Aldine editions of 1504 and 1517
- Wolf (Halle, 1794-1795; Leipzig, 1804 1807)
- Spitzner (Gotha, 1832-1836)
- Bekker (Berlin, 1843; Bonn, I858)
- La Roche (Odyssey, 1867-1868; Iliad, 1873-1876, both at Leipzig)
- Ludwich (Odyssey, Leipzig, 1889-1891; Iliad, 2 vols., 1901 and 907)
- W. Leaf (Iliad, London, 1886-1888; 2nd ed. 1900 1902);
- Merry and Ridciell (Odyssey i.-xii., 2nd ed., Oxford, 1886);
- Monro (Odyssey xiii-xxiv. with appendices, Oxford, 1901);
- Monro and Allen (Iliad), and Allen (Odyssey, 1908, Oxford).
English Translations

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External links

- [http://www.gpc.edu/~shale/humanities/literature/world_literature/homer.html Collection of Homer-related links]
- [http://www.geocities.com/protoillyrian/homer Homer of Cumaean origin] Category:Ancient Greek poets Category:Blind people
- ko:호메로스 ms:Homer ja:ホメロス simple:Homer th:โฮเมอร์

Illiad

:"Illiad" redirects here. For the epic poem by Homer, see Iliad, spelt with one 'L'. J.D. Frazer (1965–), pen name Illiad, is the artist and writer of the webcomic User Friendly. The strip debuted in November, 1997, and is believed to be the first syndicated online comic strip. It is about a group of characters who work for a fictional Internet Service Provider, and the comic's readership consists mainly of programmers, self-styled geeks, and other technophiles. The User Friendly website, which Frazer guides, also features general discussions and provides collaborative technical support. Frazer is also an advocate for the open source software movement. Frazer moved to Canada in the mid-1970's, after living in Australia and Asia. He started his career in law enforcement and served as a corrections officer, hoping eventually to join the RCMP. But he changed his mind, leaving law enforcement to pursue more creative endeavours. He worked as a game designer, production manager, art director, project manager, web services manager, writer, creative director, and cartoonist. He currently lives in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.

External links

- [http://www.userfriendly.org User Friendly]
- [http://ars.userfriendly.org/users/diary.cgi?id=Illiad Illiad's Diary] Frazer, J.D. Frazer, J.D. Frazer, J.D.

Odyssey

- by Charles Gleyre]] The Odyssey (Greek Οδύσσεια) is the second of the two great Greek epic poems ascribed to Homer, the first of which is the Iliad. The 11,300 line poem follows Odysseus, king of Ithaca, on his voyage home after a heroic turn in the Trojan War. It also tells the story of Odysseus' wife Penelope who struggles to remain faithful, and his son Telemachus who sets out to find his father. In contrast to the Iliad, with its extended sequences of battle and violence, all three are ultimately successful through use of cleverness, and the support of the goddess Athena. This cleverness is most often manifested by Odysseus' use of disguise and, later, recognition. His disguises take forms both physical (altering his appearance) and verbal (telling the Cyclops Polyphemus that his name is "Nobody" then escaping after blinding the Cyclops because Polyphemus cries foul at the hands of "nobody"). The poem is considered one of the foundational texts of the Western canon and continues to be read in both Homeric Greek and translations around the world. While today's Odyssey is usually a printed text, the original poem was an oral composition sung by a trained bard, in an amalgamated Ancient Greek dialect, using a regular metrical pattern called dactylic hexameter. Each line of the original Greek was composed of six feet; each foot a dactyl or a spondee. Among the most impressive elements of the text are its strikingly modern non-linear plot, and its elevation of the status of women and the lower classes. In the English language as well as many others, the word odyssey has come to refer to an epic voyage. Today's Odyssey consists of twenty-four books, or chapters. The first four books, known as the Telemachy, trace Telemachus' efforts to maintain control of the palace in the face of suitors who would have his inheritance, and his mother Penelope's hand in marriage. Failing that, he sets off to find his father. In book 5, we find Odysseus near the end of his journey, a not entirely unwilling captive of the beautiful nymph Calypso, with whom he's spent 7 of his 10 lost years. Released from her wiles by the intercession of his patroness Athena and her father Zeus, he departs. His raft is destroyed by his nemesis Poseidon, who is angry because Odysseus blinded his son, Polyphemos. When Odysseus washes up on Scheria, home to the Phaeacians, the naked stranger is treated with traditional Greek hospitality even before he reveals his name. Odysseus satisfies the Phaeacians' curiosity, telling them - and us - of all his adventures since departing from Troy. This renowned, extended "flashback" leads him back to where he stands, his tale told. The shipbuilding Phaeacians finally loan him a ship to return to Ithaca, where, home at last, he regains his throne, reunites with his son, metes out justice to the suitors, and reunites with his faithful wife Penelope.

Plot summary

Book 1

"Tell me, o muse, of that ingenious hero who traveled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy." With the invocation of the muse Homer begins his epic, though the hero himself is still offstage. We are treated to a glimpse of life among the supreme gods on Mount Olympus. Urged on by Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle-tactics, they decide that Odysseus has been marooned too long on the island of the nymph Calypso. Athena also decides to pay a visit to Telemachus who is Odysseus's son.

Book 2

Meanwhile, the mansion of Odysseus is infested with suitors for the hand of his wife Penelope. Everyone assumes Odysseus is dead. Encouraged by Athena who arrives in the form of Mentes, Telemachus calls an assembly to ask for help. He breaks down and cries and is pushed off the platform by Athena. Antinous mocks Telemachus. He issues an ultimatum to Telemachus: "Either you force your mother to marry a suitor, or we ruin your house." Telemachus refuses to comply. Zeus sends an omen of the suitors' doom. Two eagles swoop down, tearing each other's throats and necks with their talons. The suitors mock Halitherses, who makes the prophecy. Afterwards, Telemachus, accompanied by Athena, sets sail for Pylos to seek news of his father.

Book 3

Telemachus travels to Pylos to consult Nestor, accompanied by Athena, who is disguised as Mentor, a man from Ithaca. When they arrive at the shore of Pylos, they find Nestor and the men of Pylos performing sacrifices to Poseidon. Nestor tells what he knows of the Greeks' return from Troy: "It started out badly because of Athena's anger. Half the army, your father included, stayed behind at Troy to try to appease her. The rest of us made it home safely--all except Menelaus, who was blown off course to Egypt, where he remained for seven years. Seek advice from Menelaus. I'll lend you a chariot to travel to his kingdom." Athena flies away in the form of an eagle. The very next morning, Nestor performs a sacrifice to Athena and Telemachus is borne away, accompanied by Nestor's son.

Book 4

Menelaus tells what he learned of Odysseus while stranded in Egypt after the war. He was advised by a goddess to disguise himself and three members of his crew in seal pelts and then pounce on the Old Man of the Sea. If they could hold him down while he transformed himself into various animals and shapes, he would send them on their homeward way and give news of their companions. Menelaus did as instructed and was informed that Odysseus was presently being held against his will by the nymph Calypso.

Book 5

Zeus, the King of the Gods, sends his messenger Hermes skimming over the waves on magic sandals to Calypso's island. Calypso promises Odysseus immortality, but he refuses. At last all fails. Though the nymph isn't happy about it, she agrees to let Odysseus go. But the raft on which he sets sail is destroyed by his enemy, the god Poseidon, who lashes the sea into a storm with his trident. Odysseus barely escapes with his life and washes ashore days later, half-drowned. He staggers into an olive thicket and falls asleep.

Book 6

Odysseus wakes up to the sound of maidens laughing. Princess Nausicaa of the Phaeacians has come down to the riverside to wash some clothes because Athena came to her in a dream and instructed her to do so. Now she and her handmaids are frolicking after the chore. Odysseus approaches as a supplicant, and Nausicaa is kind enough to instruct him how to get the king's help in returning to his home.

Book 7

Odysseus stops on the palace threshold, utterly dazzled. The very walls are covered in shining bronze and trimmed with lapis lazuli. The blacksmith god Hephaestus has even provided two brazen hounds to guard the queen. Odysseus puts his case to her as a supplicant. The king knows better than to refuse hospitality to a decent petitioner. He invites Odysseus to the banquet which is in progress and promises him safe passage home after the king and his guests have been suitably entertained.

Book 8

The next day is declared a holiday in honor of the guest, whose name the king still does not know. An athletic competition is held, with foot races, wrestling and the discus. Odysseus is invited to join in but he declines the invitation, prompting someone to suggest that he lacks the skills. Angered, he takes up a discus and throws it with such violence that everyone drops to the ground. That night at a banquet, as the court bard entertains with songs of the Trojan War, Odysseus is heard sobbing. "Enough!" shouts the king. "Our friend finds this song displeasing. Won't you tell us your name, stranger, and where you hail from?"

Book 9

"My name is Odysseus of Ithaca, and here is my tale since setting out from Troy. We sacked a city called Ísmaros first off, but then reinforcements arrived and we lost many comrades. Next we visited the Lotus Eaters, and three of my crew tasted this strange plant. They lost all desire to return home and had to be carried off by force. On another island we investigated a cave full of goat pens. The herdsman turned out to be as big as a barn, with a single glaring eye in his forehead. This Cyclops promptly ate two of my men for dinner. We were trapped in the cave by a boulder in the doorway that only the Cyclops could budge, so we couldn't kill him while he slept. Instead we sharpened a pole and used it to gouge out his eye. We escaped his groping by clinging to the undersides of his goats."

Book 10

"Next we met the Keeper of the Winds, who sent us on our way with a steady breeze. He'd given me a leather bag, which my crew mistook for booty. They opened it and released a hurricane that blew us back to where we'd started. We ended up among the Laestrygonians, giants who bombarded our fleet with boulders and gobbled down our shipmates. The few survivors put in at the island of the enchantress Circe. My men were entertained by her and then, with a wave of her wand, turned into swine. Hermes the god gave me an herb, called moly, that protected me. Circe told me that to get home I must travel to the land of Death."

Book 12

"At sea once more we had to pass the Sirens, whose sweet singing lures sailors to their doom. I had stopped up the ears of my crew with wax, and I alone listened while lashed to the mast, powerless to steer toward shipwreck. Next came Charybdis, who swallows the sea in a whirlpool, then spits it up again. Avoiding this we skirted the cliff where Scylla exacts her toll. Each of her six slavering maws grabbed a sailor and wolfed him down. Finally we were becalmed on the island of the Sun. My men disregarded all warnings and sacrificed his cattle, so back at sea Zeus sent a thunderbolt that smashed the ship. I alone survived, washing up on the island of Calypso."

Book 13

When Odysseus had finished his tale, the king ordered him sped to Ithaca. The sailors put him down on the beach asleep. Athena cast a protective mist about him that kept him from recognizing his homeland. Finally the goddess revealed herself and dispelled the mist. In joy Odysseus kissed the ground. Athena transformed him into an old man as a disguise. Clad in a filthy tunic, he went off to find his faithful swineherd, as instructed by the goddess.

Book 14

Eumaeus the swineherd welcomed the bedraggled stranger. He threw his own bedcover over a pile of boughs as a seat for Odysseus, who does not reveal his identity. Observing Zeus's commandment to be kind to guests, Eumaeus slaughters a prime boar and serves it with bread and wine. Odysseus, true to his fame as a smooth-talking schemer, makes up an elaborate story of his origins. That night the hero sleeps by the fire under the swineherd's spare cloak, while Eumaeus himself sleeps outside in the rain with his herd.

Book 15

Athena summons Telemachus home and tells him how to avoid an ambush by Penelope's suitors. Meanwhile back on Ithaca, Odysseus listens while Eumaeus recounts the story of his life. He was the child of a prosperous mainland king, whose realm was visited by Phoenician traders. His nursemaid, a Phoenician herself, had been carried off by pirates as a girl and sold into slavery. In return for homeward passage with her countrymen, she kidnapped Eumaeus. He was bought by Odysseus' father, whose queen raised him as a member of the family.

Book 16

Telemachus evades the suitors' ambush. Following Athena's instructions, he proceeds to the farmstead of Eumaeus. There he makes the acquaintance of the tattered guest and sends Eumaeus to his mother to announce his safe return. Athena restores Odysseus' normal appearance, enchanting it so that Telemachus takes him for a god. "No god am I," Odysseus assures him, "but your own father, returned after these twenty years." They fall into each other's arms. Later they plot the suitors' doom. Concerned that the odds are fifty-to-one, Telemachus suggests that they might need reinforcements. "Aren't Zeus and Athena reinforcement enough?" asks Odysseus.

Book 17

Disguised once more as an old beggar, Odysseus journeys to town. On the trail he encounters an insolent goatherd named Melantheus, who curses and tries to kick him. At his castle gate, the hero is recognized by a decrepit dog that he raised as a pup. Having seen his master again, the old hound dies. At Athena's urging Odysseus begs food from the suitors. One man, Antinous, berates him and refuses so much as a crust. He even hurls his footstool at Odysseus, hitting him in the back. This makes even the other suitors nervous, for sometimes the gods masquerade as mortals to test their righteousness.

Book 18

Now a real beggar shows up at the palace and warns Odysseus off his turf. This man, Irus, is always running errands for the suitors. Odysseus says that there are pickings enough for the two of them, but Irus threatens fisticuffs and the suitors egg him on. Odysseus rises to the challenge and rolls up his tunic into a boxer's belt. The suitors goggle at the muscles revealed. Not wishing to kill Irus with a single blow, Odysseus breaks his jaw instead. Another suitor, Eurymachus, marks himself for revenge by trying to hit Odysseus with a footstool as Antinous had done.

Book 19

Odysseus has a long talk with his queen Penelope but does not reveal his identity. Penelope takes kindly to the stranger and orders her maid Eurycleia to bathe his feet and anoint them with oil. Eurycleia, who was Odysseus' nurse when he was a child, notices a scar above the hero's knee. Odysseus had been gored by a wild boar when hunting on Mount Parnassus as a young man. The maid recognizes her master at once, and her hand goes out to his chin. But Odysseus silences her lest she give away his plot prematurely.

Book 20

The next morning Odysseus asks for a sign, and Zeus sends a clap of thunder out of the clear blue sky. A servant recognizes it as a portent and prays that this day be the last of the suitors' abuse. Odysseus encounters another herdsman. Like the swineherd Eumaeus, this man, who tends the realm's cattle, swears his loyalty to the absent king. A prophet, an exiled murderer whom Telemachus has befriended, shares a vision with the suitors: "I see the walls of this mansion dripping with your blood." The suitors respond with gales of laughter.

Book 21

Penelope now appears before the suitors in her glittering veil. In her hand is a stout bow left behind by Odysseus when he sailed for Troy. "Whoever strings this bow," she says, "and sends an arrow straight through the sockets of twelve axe heads lined in a row--that man will I marry." The suitors take turns trying to bend the bow to string it, but all of them lack the strength. Odysseus asks if he might try. The suitors refuse, fearing that they'll be shamed if the beggar succeeds. But Telemachus insists and his anger distracts them into laughter. As easily as a bard fitting a new string to his lyre, Odysseus strings the bow and sends an arrow through the axe heads. At a sign from his father, Telemachus arms himself and takes up a station by his side.

Book 22

Antinous, ringleader of the suitors, is just lifting a drinking cup when Odysseus puts an arrow through his throat. The goatherd sneaks out and comes back with shields and spears for the suitors, but now Athena appears. She sends the suitors' spearthrusts wide, as Odysseus, Telemachus and the two faithful herdsmen strike with volley after volley of lances. They finish off the work with swords. Those of the housemaids who consorted with the suitors are hung by the neck in the courtyard, while the treacherous goatherd is chopped to bits.

Book 23

The mansion is purged with fire and brimstone. Odysseus tells everyone to dress in their finest and dance, so that passers-by won't suspect what's happened. Even Odysseus could not hold vengeful kinfolk at bay. Penelope still won't accept that it's truly her husband without some secret sign. She tells a servant to make up his bed in the hall. "Who had the craft to move my bed?" storms Odysseus. "I carved the bedpost myself from the living trunk of an olive tree and built the bedroom around it." Penelope rushes into his arms.And they make love by the fireplace.

Book 24

The next morning Odysseus goes upcountry to the vineyard where his father, old King Laertes, labors like a peasant. Meanwhile, the kin of the suitors have gathered at the assembly ground, where the father of the suitor Antinous fires them up for revenge. Odysseus, his father, and Telemachus meet the challenge. Laertes casts a lance through the helmet of Antinous' father, who falls to the ground in a clatter of armor. But the fighting stops right there. Athena tells the contending parties to live together in peace down through the years to come.

Alternative Word Spellings

Alternative Spelling - Spelling used in this article: Ithaka - Ithaca, Kalypso - Calypso, Telemakhos - Telemachus, Kyklops - Cyclops, Akhilleus - Achilles, Nausikaa - Nausicaä, Meneláos - Menelaus, Hephaistos - Hephaestus, Phaiákians - Phaeacians, Aiolos - Aeolus, Laistrygonians - Laestrygonians, Lotos - Lotus, Teiresias - Tiresias, Eumaios - Eumaeus,

Geography in the Odyssey

The text of the Odyssey does not contain many modern place names that can immediately be located on a map. Scholars both ancient and modern are divided as to whether or not the locations were in any way real places or mere inventions. Eratosthenes, the third century BC Alexandrian geographer, ridiculed attempts to identify places mentioned in the Odyssey, saying "you will find the scene of the wanderings of Odysseus when you find the cobbler who sewed up the bag of winds." Those who tend towards real locations point to the high degree of realism present throughout the poem, especially in Homer's description of sailing. It seems most likely that Homer strung together tales of one or more sea voyages and that some locations at least should follow a logical sequence. Even amongst those scholars who believe the locations to have some basis in reality there is much dispute. The traditional orthodox theory, which has been taken as accurate by many including some encyclopedias and other reference works, sees Odysseus driven into the western Mediterranean with most of his adventures taking place between Tunisia, Sardinia, Italy and Sicily. However this theory has a number of flaws which make little sense either from a sailing or identification point of view. Ancient Greek ships were small, rarely ventured out onto the open sea and their captains did not explore unknown territories but instead sought to regain their course if blown off it. The orthodox route includes the following locations:
- The island of Calypso is associated with Gozo, which is part of the Maltese archipelago. Odysseus is said to have landed on the northern shore of the island, on the beach of Ir-Ramla.
- The Lotus Eaters are located in Tunisia on the basis that this is where a sailing vessel blown off course at Cape Malea could reach at full speed. However, a vessel blown off course would have been more cautious and would not have ventured so far away, especially if trying to reach home.
- Aeolus is traditionally located in the Aeolian Islands to the north of Sicily. However, for Odysseus' vessels to have caught a favourable wind all the way to Ithaca and then have an unfavourable wind blow them all the way back so that they would have had to sail through the Straits of Messina is extremely implausible.
- There is a real river Acheron in north west Greece. However, its location has been ignored by many, since the orthodox theory makes no allowances for Odysseus being in that region.
- Scylla and Charybdis are traditionally located in the Straits of Messina. However, the channel they inhabit is said to be narrow. The Straits are over two miles wide at their narrowest point, and even wider at the rock traditionally identified as Scylla's. The whirlpools around the straits are not even in the "narrows" and are nothing more than gyrating patches of water caused by the cross-section of two currents. It is impossible to conceive of them producing the legend of Charybdis.
- Thrinicia, the island home of Helios' cattle, is said to have been Sicily since the name Thrinicia implies an island connected to the number 3 and Sicily has three corners. However, Sicily is huge by ancient Greek standards and so its three corners are only noticeable on a modern map, not at sea, and it is more likely that the name Thrinicia would have come about because sailors could use it to easily identify an island as they could see it. More generally the orthodox theory assumes that the ancient Greeks knew about Italy, but there are very few references at all in the Odyssey to any part of the world to the west of Greece, though lands in the east and south such as Egypt and Sudan are mentioned in several places. The historian of science and specialist in the cartography of antiquity Tullio Catullo Stecchini makes interesting speculations in an essay [http://www.metrum.org/mapping/navigations.htm "The Navigations of Odysseus"], among several alternative theories that have been proposed in recent times. Not all are based purely on readings in the classics: Tim Severin sailed a replica Greek sailing vessel (originally built for his attempt to follow Jason's argosy) along the 'natural' route from Troy to Ithaca, following the sailing directions that could be teased out of Homer. Along the way he found locations at the natural turning and dislocation points which fit the pattern much more closely than the orthodox theory. However, he also came to the conclusion that the sequence of adventures from Circe onwards derived from a separate voyage to those that ended with the Laestrygonians, possibly coming via the stories of the Argonauts. He placed many of the later adventures on the northwest Greek coast, near to the river Acheron. Along the way he found on the map Cape Skilla and other names that implied strong mythological links to the Odyssey. His adventure is recounted in The Ulysses Voyage: Sea Search for the Odyssey.

Derivative works

- The contemporary play [http://www.amrep.org/articles/1_3/homer.html Highway Ulysses by Rinde Eckert] tells the story of the journey of a Vietnam veteran travelling to his son, meeting modern day characters akin to characters or monsters in the Odyssey (including the Sirens and Cyclops).
- Some of the tales of Sindbad the Sailor from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) were taken from Homer's Odyssey.
- A modern book inspired by the Odyssey is James Joyce's Ulysses (1922).
- Nikos Kazantzakis wrote The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel, a 33,333 line epic poem which continues Odysseus' journeys past the point of his arrival in Ithaca.
- Andrew Lang and H. Rider Haggard collaborated on The World's Desire in which Odysseus and Helen meet in Egypt at the time of the Exodus.
- The movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? has the basic plot of The Odyssey; Joel and Ethan Coen admit to basing the movie loosely on The Odyssey but insist that they haven't read it.
- R.A. Lafferty retold the story in a science fiction setting in his novel Space Chantey.
- Progressive metal group Symphony X based a 24-minute epic track The Odyssey on the story in their 2002 album, The Odyssey.
- The animated cartoon Ulysses 31 featured a science-fiction tale of a hero trying to get back to his wife Penelope.
- The first half of Virgil's Aeneid parallels the Odyssey in structure.
- Ulysses, a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
- Tank Girl: Odyssey borrows freely and irrevently from Homer and James Joyce's Ulysses, casting targets in the contemporary media as the trials the heroine must overcome to get back to her mutant kangaroo boyfriend.
- Odyssey: A Stage Version, 1993 play, divided into two acts (respectively broken up into 14 and 6 scenes) written by Derek Walcott and originally performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

External links

[http://www.mythweb.com/odyssey/index.html Greek Myth: the Odyssey]
- [http://www.robotwisdom.com/jaj/homer/odyssey.html Homer's Odyssey resources on the Web] by Jorn Barger. Provides links to the original and various public domain translations.
- English translations:
- George Chapman, 1616 (couplets)
- Alexander Pope, 1713 (couplets); Project Gutenberg edition; [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/3160]
- William Cowper, 1791 (blank verse)
- Samuel Henry Butcher and Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg edition; [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/1728]
- William Cullen Bryant, 1871 (blank verse)
- Samuel Butler, 1898 (prose), Project Gutenberg edition; [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/1727]
- [http://www.orplex.com/gkcp/readbook.aspx?style=basic.xslt&book=The%20Odyssey.xml English Text] Samuel Butler, 1898 (prose)
- A. T. Murray (revised by George E. Dimock), 1919; Loeb Classical Library (ISBN 0674995619)
- Richmond Lattimore, 1965 (ISBN 0060931957)
- Robert Fitzgerald, 1963 (ISBN 0679728139)
- Walter Shewring, 1980 (ISBN 0192833758), Oxford University Press (Oxford World's Classics)
- Robert Fagles, 1999 (ISBN 0140268863); an unabridged audio recording by Ian McKellen is also available (ISBN 014086430X).
- Stanley Lombardo, 2000 (ISBN 0872204847) has what is considered by many to be the best combination of faithfulness to the original Greek and a more vernacular style. An audio CD recording read by the translator is also available (ISBN 1930972067).
- Category:Epics Category:Trojan War Category:Ancient Greek poems ko:오디세이아 ms:Odyssey ja:オデュッセイア

Hesiod

This article discusses the ancient Greek poet Hesiod. For the computer application, see Hesiod (name service). ---- Hesiod (Hesiodos, Ἡσιοδος), the early Greek poet and rhapsode, presumably lived around 700 BC. Historians have debated the priority of Hesiod or of Homer, and some authors even brought them together in an imagined poetic contest; most modern scholars agree that Homer lived after Hesiod. Hesiod serves as a major source for knowledge of Greek mythology, of farming techniques, of archaic Greek astronomy and of ancient time-keeping. As with Homer, legendary traditions have accumulated round Hesiod. Unlike Homer, some biographical detail has survived: the few details of Hesiod's life come from three references in Works and Days; some further inferences derived from his Theogony. Hesiod lived in Boeotia. His father came from Cumes in Aeolia, which lay between Ionia and the Troad in southwestern Anatolia, but crossed the sea to settle at Ascra, "a cursed place, cruel in winter, hard in summer, never pleasant" (Works, 640). Hesiod's patrimony there, a small piece of ground at the foot of Mount Helicon, occasioned a lawsuit with his brother Perses, who won; some scholars have seen Perses as a literary creation, a foil for the moralizing of the Works and Days that Hesiod directed to him. The Muses traditionally lived on Helicon, and they gave Hesiod the gift of poetic inspiration one day while he tended sheep. In another biographical detail, Hesiod mentions a poetry contest at Chalcis in Euboea where the sons of one Amiphidamas awarded him a tripod (ll.654-662). Plutarch first identified this passage as an interpolation into Hesiod's original work, based on his identification of Amiphidamas with the hero of the Lelantine War between Chalcis and Eretria, which occurred around 705 BC. The account of this contest inspired the later tale of a competition between Hesiod and Homer. Two different, yet early, traditions record the site of Hesiod's grave. One, as early as Thucydides, reported in Plutarch, the Suda and John Tzetzes, states that the Delphic oracle had warned Hesiod that he would die in Nemea, and so he fled to Locris, where he was killed at the local temple to Nemean Zeus, and buried there. This tradition follows a familiar ironic convention: the oracle that turns out to be true, after all. The other tradition, first mentioned in an epigram of Chersios of Orchomenus written in the 7th century BC (within a century or so of Hesiod's death) claims that Hesiod lies buried at Orchomenus, a town in Boeotia. According to Aristotle's Constitution of Orchomenus, when the Thespians ravaged Ascra, the villagers sought refuge at Orchomenus, where, following the advice of an oracle, they collected the ashes of Hesiod and placed them in a place of honour in their agora, beside the tomb of Minyas, their eponymous founder, and in the end came to regard Hesiod too as their "hearth-founder" (οἰκιστής / oikistês). Later writers attempted to harmonize these two accounts. Legends that accumulated about Hesiod came from several sources: a treatise "The poetic contest (Ἀγών / Agôn) of Homer and Hesiod"; a vita of Hesiod by the Byzantine grammarian John Tzetzes; the entry for Hesiod in the Suda; two passages and some scattered remarks in Pausanias (IX, 31.3–6 and 38.3–4); a passage in Plutarch Moralia (162b).

Works

Hesiod wrote only one poem universally considered authentic: the Works and Days, which revolves around two general truths: labour is the universal lot of Man, but he who is willing to work will get by. Scholars have seen this work against a background of agrarian crisis in mainland Greece, which inspired a wave of documented colonizations in search of new land. This work lays out the five Ages of Man, as well as containing advice and wisdom, prescribing a life of honest labour and attacking idleness and unjust judges (like those who decided in favour of Perses). Tradition also attributes the Theogony to Hesiod, although the authorship remains uncertain. The Theogony resembles Works and Days very closely in style and substance considering the purposely different subject-matter. The Theogony concerns the origins of the world (cosmogony) and of the gods (theogony), beginning with Gaia, Nyx and Eros, and shows a special interest in genealogy. Embedded in Greek myth there remain fragments of quite variant tales, hinting at the rich variety of myth that once existed, city by city; but Hesiod's retelling of the old stories became the accepted version that linked all Hellenes.
- Classical authors also attributed to Hesiod later genealogical poems -- known as Catalogues of Women or as Eoiae (because sections began with the Greek words e oie 'or like her'). Only small fragments of these have survived. They deal with the genealogies of kings and heroes of the legendary heroic period. Scholars generally classify them as later examples of the poetic tradition to which Hesiod belonged.
- A final poem traditionally attributed to Hesiod, The Shield of Heracles ( Ἀσπὶς Ἡρακλέους / Aspis Hêrakleous ), apparently forms a late expansion of one of these genealogical poems, taking its cue from Homer's description of the Shield of Achilles. Hesiod's works survive in Alexandrian papyri, some dating from as early as the 1st century BCE. Demetrius Chalcondyles issued the first printing (editio princeps) of Works and Days, possibly at Milan, probably in 1493. In 1495 Aldus Manutius published the complete works at Venice.

External links

-
- Web texts taken from Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica, edited and translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, published as Loeb Classical Library #57, 1914, ISBN 0674990633:
- [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin//perscoll?.submit=Change&collection=Perseus%3Acollection%3AGreco-Roman&type=text&lang=Any&lookup=Hesiod Perseus Classics Collection: Greek and Roman Materials: Text: Hesiod] (Greek texts and English translations for Works and Days, Theogony, and Shield of Heracles with additional notes and cross links.)
- Versions of the electronic edition of Evelyn-White's English translation edited by Douglas B. Killings, June 1995:
- [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/348 Project Gutenberg plain text].
- [http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Hesiod Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE: The Online Medieval and Classical Library: Hesiod]
- [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/index.htm Sacred Texts: Classics: The Works of Hesiod] (Theogony and Works and Days only) Category:Ancient Greek poets ko:헤시오도스 ja:ヘシオドス

Epic Greek

Epic Greek is the dialect of Ancient Greek that was used to compose epic poetry, typically in dactylic hexameter. It is closely based on the language of Homer and covers the works of poets such as Hesiod.

Archilochos

: Archilochus

Herodotus

Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: Ἡροδοτος, Herodotos) was a historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC-ca. 425 BC). He is famous for his writings on the conflict between Greece and Persia, as well as the descriptions he wrote of different places and people he met on his travels.

Overview

Herodotus wrote A History of the Persian Wars.

Opinions

Herodotus' invention earned him the title "The Father of History" and the word he used for his achievement, historie, which previously had meant simply "inquiry", passed into Latin and took on its modern connotation of "history" or "story". His nickname was given to him by Cicero. Conversely, however, many historians and philosophers who take a more sceptical view of Herodotus' accounts and narratives have a different name for him, dubbing him "The Father of Lies" or "the deceiver." In many cases, Herodotus, unsure of the exact history, would give the most prominent competing historical accounts of a particular event or region, and then express his opinion as to which he believed was accurate, with an explanation of why. The Histories were often attacked in the ancient world for bias, inaccuracy, and plagiarism. Similar attacks have been made by several modern scholars, who argue that Herodotus exaggerated the extent of his travels and fabricated sources. Respect for his accuracy has increased in the last half century, however, and he is now recognized not only as a pioneer in history but in ethnography and anthropology as well. Herodotus has passed to us information current in his own day: he reports that the annual flooding of the Nile was said to be the result of melting snows far to the south, and comments that he cannot understand how there can be snow in the hottest part of the world. He also passes on reports from Phoenician sailors from Egypt that while circumnavigating Africa they saw the sun on their right while sailing westwards. Thanks to this passing on of information which he himself did not believe, he has shown us something of the extent of contemporary geographical information. Published between 430 BC and 424 BC, The Histories were divided by later editors into nine books, named after the Muses. The first six books deal with the growth of the Persian Empire. They begin with an account of the first Asian monarch to conquer Greek city-states and exact tribute, Croesus of Lydia. Croesus lost his kingdom to Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire. The first six books end with the defeat of the Persians in 490 BC at the Battle of Marathon, which was the first setback to their imperial progress. The last three books of The Histories describe the attempt of the Persian king Xerxes ten years later to avenge the Persian defeat at Marathon and absorb Greece into the Persian Empire. The Histories end with the year 479 BC, when the Persian invaders were wiped out at the Battle of Plataea and the frontier of the Persian Empire receded to the Aegean coastline of Asia Minor.

Herodotus's life

As to Herodotus's life, we know that he was exiled from Halicarnassus after his involvement in an unsuccessful putsch against the ruling dynasty, and he withdrew to the island of Samos. He seems never to have returned to Halicarnassus, though in his Histories he appears to be proud of his native city and its queen, Artemisia. It must have been during his exile that he undertook the journeys that he describes in The Histories. These journeys took him to Egypt, as far south as the first cataract of the Nile, to Babylon, to Ukraine, and to Italy and Sicily. Herodotus mentions an interview with an informant in Sparta, and almost certainly he lived for a period in Athens. In Athens, he tapped the oral traditions of the prominent families, in particular the Alkmaeonidai, to which Pericles belonged on his maternal side. But the Athenians did not accept foreigners as citizens, and when Athens sponsored the colony of Thurii in the instep of Italy in 444 BC, Herodotus became a colonist. Whether he died there or not is uncertain. At some point he became a logios – that is, a reciter of prose logoi or stories – and his subject matter was tales of battles, other historical incidents, and the marvels of foreign lands. He made tours of the Greek cities and the major religious and athletic festivals, where he offered performances for which he expected payment. In 431 BC, the Peloponnesian War broke out between Athens and Sparta. It may have been that conflict, which divided the Greek world, that inspired him to collect his stories into a continuous narrative – The Histories – centered on the theme of Persia's imperial progress, which Athens and Sparta as allies had brought to a halt. The quotation Neither rain, nor snow, nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds is attributed to Herodotus, describing the Persian "postal" system. The quotation is inscribed on the facade of the New York post office building, and was also used as part of the lyric in Laurie Anderson's 1981 hit, O Superman.

For further reading

- Several English translations of The Histories of Herodotus are readily available in multiple editions. The most readily available are those translated by:
- Aubrey de Sélincourt, originally 1954; revised by John Marincola in 1972. Several editions from Penguin Books available.
- David Grene, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.
- George Rawlinson, translation 1858-1860. Public domain; many editions available, although Everyman Library and Wordsworth Classics editions are the most common ones still in print.
- Evans, J. A. S., Herodotus. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982.
- —. Herodotus, Explorer of the Past: Three Essays. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991.
- Fehling, Detlev. Herodotus and His "Sources": Citation, Invention, and Narrative Art. Translated by J.G. Howie. Arca Classical and Medieval Texts, Papers, and Monographs, 21. Leeds: Francis Cairns, 1989.
- Flory, Stewart, The Archaic Smile of Herodotus. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1987.
- Fornara, Charles W. Herodotus: An Interpretative Essay. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971.
- Hartog, F., The Mirror of Herodotus. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1988.
- [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1994/94.04.10.html Kwintner, Michelle. The Liar School of Herodotus (Review). Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 1994.]
- Lateiner, D., The Historical Method of Herodotus. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989.
- Pritchett, W. K., The Liar School of Herodotus. Amsterdam: Gieben, 1991.
- Thomas, R., 'Herodotus in Context; ethnography, science and the art of persusion'. Oxford University Press 2000.

External links

- [http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_herodotus.htm Herodotus] at About.com
- A reconstructed [http://www.reportret.info/gallery/herodotos1.html portrait of Herodotos], based on historical sources, in a contemporary style.
- [http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.html The History of Herodotus] at The Internet Classics Archive (translation by George Rawlinson)
-
- (translation by George Campbell Macaulay, 1852-1915)
-
- [http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/herodotus/ Herodotus on the Web]
- [http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/herodotus.htm Herodotus for Kids]
- [http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/herodotus01.htm Herodotus of Halicarnassus] at Livius.org
- [http://nefer-seba.net/essays/Herodotus-vs-Thucydides.php Comparison of the writings of Herodotus and Thucydides]
- [http://www.greek-literature-online.com/herodotus/ Herodotus' The Histories] translated into English in an easy to read HTML format
- [http://www.losttrails.com/pages/Tales/Inquiries/Herodotus.html Herodotus Inquiries] - new translation with extensive photographic essays of the places and artifacts mentioned by Herodotus hyper-linked to the text
- [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/index.htm Parallel Greek and English text of the History of Herodotus] at the Internet Sacred Text Archive ---- An [http://www.nupedia.com/article/390/ earlier version] of this article by James Allan Evans was posted at Nupedia. Herodotus Herodotus Category:Ancient Greeks Category:Ancient Greek historians Herodotus ko:헤로도토스 ms:Herodotus ja:ヘロドトス

Hippocrates

Hippocrates of Kos (c. 460 BC–c. 380 BC) was an ancient Greek physician. He has been called "the father of medicine", and is commonly regarded as one of the most outstanding figures in medicine of all time. He was a physician trained at the Dream temple of Kos, and may have been a pupil of Herodicus. Writings attributed to him (Corpus hippocraticum, or "Hippocratic writings") rejected the superstition and magic of primitive "medicine" and laid the foundations of medicine as a branch of science. Little is actually known about Hippocrates's personal life, but some of his medical achievements were documented by such people as Plato and Aristotle.

Writings

Aristotle The Hippocratic writings introduced patient confidentiality, a practice which is still in use today. This was described under the Hippocratic Oath and other treatises. Hippocrates recommended that physicians record their findings and their medicinal methods, so that these records may be passed down and employed by other physicians. Other Hippocratic writings associated personality traits with the relative abundance of the four humours in the body: phlegm, yellow bile, black bile, and blood, and was a major influence on Galen and later on medieval medicine. The Hippocratic Corpus is a collection of about sixty treatises, most written between 430 BC and AD 200. They are actually a group of texts written by several different people holding several different viewpoints erroneously grouped under the name of Hippocrates, perhaps at the Library of Alexandria. None of the texts included in the Corpus can be considered to have been written by Hippocrates himself, and one of them at least was written by his son-in-law Polybus. The best known of the Hippocratic writings is the Hippocratic Oath; however, this text was most likely not written by Hippocrates himself. A famous, time-honoured medical rule ascribed to Hippocrates is Primum non nocere ("first, do no harm"); another one is Ars longa, vita brevis ("art is long, and life short").

Works

Of these works, none can be demonstrably credited to Hippocrates, but they are considered to form the Corpus Hippocraticum:
- Aphorisms
- Instruments Of Reduction
- Of The Epidemics
- On Airs, Waters, And Places
- On Ancient Medicine
- On Fistulae
- On Fractures
- On Hemorrhoids
- On Injuries Of The Head
- On Regimen In Acute Diseases
- On The Articulations
- On The Sacred Disease
- On The Surgery
- On Ulcers
- The Book Of Prognostics
- The Law
- The Oath

The "portrait" of Hippocrates

The purely conventional iconography of Greek poets and philosophers were set in the "portrait" busts, (illustration, above right), produced in series to decorate the villas of the Roman cultured class. The changing careers of these idealized "character" images have been studied by Paul Zanker, The Mask of Socrates: The Image of the Intellectual in Antiquity, translated by Alan Shapiro. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. [ ISBN 0-520-20105-1]. See [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1996/96.08.04.html review in Bryn Mawr Classical Review].

External links

- [http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/aut/hippocrates.html Online version of works]]
- [http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/browse-Hippocrates.html Translations of Hippocratic texts in English]
- [http://194.254.96.6/FMPro?-DB=livanc.fp3&-Format=livanc-rech.htm&cote=
- &-max=1000&-Find Texts in Greek]
- Aphorisms available at [http://sources.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphorisms WikiSource]
- [http://www.healthvoices.com/blog/hippocrates/2005/10/24/what_would_hippocrates_do What Would Hippocrates Do?] Category:460 BC births Category:380 BC deaths Category:Ancient Greeks Category:Classical Humanists Category:History of ancient medicine ja:ヒポクラテス simple:Hippocrates

Classical Attic

Classical Attic is the most correct term for the Ancient Greek dialect commonly called Classical Athenian or Classical Greek. It refers to the speech form which was used in Attica, the region surrounding and including the city of Athens, in the 5th and 4th Centuries B.C. See Attic Greek

Celtic languages

The Celtic languages are the languages descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic", spoken by ancient and modern Celts alike. The Celtic languages are a family of the greater Indo-European language field. Anciently, during the 1st millennium BC, they were spoken across Europe, from the Bay of Biscay and the North Sea, up the Rhine and down the Danube to the Black Sea and the Upper Balkan Peninsula, and into Asia Minor (Galatia). Today, Celtic languages are now limited to a few enclaves in

Ionic Greek

See also

Greek dialects

Antiquity

Northwestern, Southeastern

Western, Central, Eastern

Western, Thessalian, Boiotic, Eastern

Post-Hellenistic

External links

Greek Dark Ages

References

Ionia

Geography

History

Legacy

See also

Homeric

Ancient Accounts of Homer

The Homeric Question

Historical Aspects of the Poems

References

Literature

Commentaries

Homeric Question

Homeric dialect

Editions

English Translations

External links

Illiad

External links

Odyssey

Plot summary

Book 1

Book 2

Book 3

Book 4

Book 5

Book 6

Book 7

Book 8

Book 9

Book 10

Book 12

Book 13

Book 14

Book 15

Book 16

Book 17

Book 18

Book 19

Book 20

Book 21

Book 22

Book 23

Book 24

Alternative Word Spellings

Geography in the Odyssey

Derivative works

External links

Hesiod

Works

External links

Epic Greek

Archilochos

Herodotus

Overview

Opinions

Herodotus's life

For further reading

See also

External links

Hippocrates

Writings

Works

The "portrait" of Hippocrates

See also

External links

Classical Attic

Celtic languages