Homer
From Encyclopædia
{hoh'-mur} Homer was the major figure of ancient Greek
literature and the author of the earliest and finest
epic poems, the
Iliad and the ODYSSEY. Modern scholars hold conflicting theories on the authorship of these poems, but the ancient Greeks believed that a blind poet named Homer had composed them. Tradition has it that he lived in the 12th century BC, around the time of the
Trojan War, in an Ionic settlement, either Chios or Smyrna, where he made his living as a court singer and storyteller.Modern archaeological research has uncovered artifacts similar to those described in the poems, providing
evidence that Homer wrote at a later date. Because the poems display a considerable knowledge of Eastern, or Ionian, Greece and are written in the dialect of that region, most scholars now suppose that Homer was Ionian of the 8th or 9th century BC. Homer writes nothing of himself in his poems, but similes in the
Iliad and the Odyssey frequently make reference to the humble lives of farmers and artisans, so it is sometimes conjectured that Homer was of this class.The question of how the poems were composed also remains a matter for debate. It is likely that Homer and his audience were members of a preliterate, oral culture and that his poems were written
Down long after their original composition. Nineteenth-century scholars argued that one person could not memorize so long a text and that the poems must have been compiled by an editor, who merged several independent works into a consistent whole. This view is supported by the occasional inconsistencies of narrative and awkward transitions from subject to subject.Twentieth-century studies of preliterate societies have shown, however, that lengthy works can be composed orally by poets whose recitations belong to a long tradition of storytelling. The oral poet constructs his poem from verbal formulas, groups of two or more words that have already been composed in order to serve recurring needs in the narrative. These may be used, for example, when the poet wishes to reintroduce a character whom he has already described. Formulaic passages may also extend over several lines and describe actions such as combat or the preparation of a meal. The oral poet composes for listeners who, like the audience at a musical concert, base their appreciation on the repetitive elements that bind a work together and impress its theme on the
memory. Like the poet of
Beowulf, Homer was probably a practitioner of an inherited art, retelling a story that his audience had heard many times before.Differences of style and
language between the
Iliad and the Odyssey have led some critics to argue that each is the work of a different poet. The 3d-century AD literary critic Longinus suggested, however, that the
Iliad was the work of Homer's youth and the Odyssey of his maturity. This simple but acute
perception accounts for the wide divergences in moral and religious
tone between the two. The
Iliad is the tragic story of the noble
Achilles, who perfectly embodies the ancient Greek ideals of heroic conduct but also suffers from the human failings of pride and anger. The Grecian
army is divided by bickering, many admirable men are killed, and even the gods quarrel. The Odyssey, by contrast, contains many comic episodes, and its hero, Odysseus, triumphs over formidable adversaries through his superior
intelligence, not by brute strength. The
Iliad portrays a universe marred by moral disorder, but the Odyssey shows gods punishing men for their sins and granting a good man his just reward.The ancient Greeks regarded Homer as divine and respected his work as a source of wisdom and model of heroic conduct. His influence on later
literature is too extensive to be assessed but may be traced from HESIOD to the present day. The Roman poet
Vergil emulated both the
Iliad and the Odyssey in his
Aeneid, whose hero,
Aeneas, displays the courage of
Achilles and the wisdom of Odysseus.
Aeneas's wanderings from Troy to
Italy--where he founds the
city of Rome--provided Roman readers with a myth that linked their own culture with that of ancient Greece. The Homeric tradition in
literature inspired
William Shakespeare's tragic and antiheroic Troilus and Cressida (1609) and James Joyce's Ulysses (1922), which transports the deeds of Odysseus to the setting of 20th-century Dublin.Charles Rowan BeyeBibliography: Autenreith, G., Homeric
dictionary (1984); Beye, Charles R., The
Iliad, The Odyssey, and The
epic Tradition (1966); Bowra, C. M., Homer (1970); Bremer, J.Ma., et al., eds., Homer (1987); Camps, W.A., An Introduction to Homer (1980); Dimock, G.E., The Unity of the Odyssey (1989); Finley, Moses I., The
world of Odysseus (1954); Kirk, Geoffrey, Homer and The
epic (1965); Lord, Albert B., Singer of Tales (1960); Mireaux, Emile, Daily Life in the Time of Homer, trans. by Iris Sells (1959); Nagler,
Michael, Spontaneity and Tradition (1975); Rouse,
William H., Homer (1939; repr. 1977); Schein, S.L., The Mortal Hero (1984);
silk, M., Homer: The
Iliad (1987); Vivante, P., Homer (1985); Wace, Alan, and Stubbins, Frank, eds., A Companion to Homer (1963); Whitman, Cedric H., Homer and the Homeric Tradition (1958).
