Homer the Preclassic

by Nagy, Gregory

• ISBN13: 9780520256927
• ISBN10: 0520256921
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-02-07
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

Homer the Preclassicconsiders the development of the Homeric poems-in particular the Iliadand Odyssey-during the time when they were still part of the oral tradition. Gregory Nagy traces the evolution of rival "Homers" and the different versions of Homeric poetry in this pretextual period, reconstructed over a time frame extending back from the sixth century BCE to the Bronze Age. Accurate in their linguistic detail and surprising in their implications, Nagy's insights conjure the Greeks' nostalgia for the imagined "epic space" of Troy and for the resonances and distortions this mythic past provided to the various Greek constituencies for whom the Homeric poems were so central and definitive. The book contributes to related ongoing debates, offering new links to the study of Homeric oral traditions, the poetics and politics of festivals, the emergence of biographical narratives, and the genesis of the Athenian cultural empire.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Abbreviations	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
A Preclassical Homer From the Dark Age	p. 3
Homer and the Athenian Empire
The Athenian Empire	p. 9
Athens as Homer's Imperial Metropolis	p. 10
Homer the Ionian	p. 12
Homer and the Panionian Festivals of Delos and Beyond	p. 19
The Performance of Epic at the Panathenaia in the Era of the Peisistratidai: The Later Years	p. 20
Homer Outside His Poetry
Homer in the Life of Homer Traditions	p. 29
The Making of Homeric Verse in the Life of Homer Traditions	p. 31
Homer the Epigrammatist	p. 48
HomerÆs Reception in Performance	p. 48
Homer as a Model Performer at Panhellenic Festivals	p. 51
The Homeric Hymn to Apollo as an Aetiology of Homeric Performance at the Delia	p. 55
Homer and His Genealogy
The Homëridai of Chios	p. 59
A Post-Athenocentric View of the Homëridai	p. 65
The Performance of Epic at the Panathenaia in the Era of the Peisistratidai: The Earlier Years	p. 69
The Homers of Thucydides and Herodotus	p. 74
Homer in the Homeric Odyssey
The Festive Poetics of an Ongoing Humnos in Odyssey viii	p. 79
A Poetic Crisis at a Festival	p. 93
An Agön Between Demodokos and Odysseus	p. 96
Iliadic Multiformities
The Transcendence of Zeus as Hymnic Subject	p. 103
Older and Newer Versions of the Iliad	p. 109
An Inventory of Epic Forms	p. 119
Acephalic and Nonacephalic Prooimia	p. 120
Variations on the Plan of Zeus	p. 121
The Sorrows of Andromache	p. 125
A Preclassical Homer From the Bronze Age
Variations on a Theme of Homer
Rival Datings of Homer	p. 133
A Pre-Athenocentric Life of Homer	p. 134
An Athenocentric Life of Homer	p. 139
An Aeolian Dating of Homer	p. 141
Homer the Aeolian	p. 142
Conflicting Claims on Homer
The Tomb of Achilles and the Topography of the Troad	p. 147
The Tomb of Achilles as a Landmark for the Festival of the Panathenaia	p. 170
Two Tombs for Achilles	p. 177
Rethinking the Trojan Past	p. 189
Homer the Ionian Revisited	p. 211
Homeric Variations on a Theme of Empire
Four Festivals and Four Models of Empire	p. 218
A Homeric Glimpse of an Ionian Festival	p. 228
An Aeolic Phase of Homer	p. 232
An Attic Phase of Homer	p. 233
Ionic Koine and Aeolic Koine	p. 234
Homer the Aeolian Revisited	p. 238
A Homeric Glimpse of an Aeolian Festival	p. 241
The Festive Poetics of Federal Politics	p. 250
Further Variations on a Theme of Homer
Homer the Federal Hostage	p. 254
Homeric Variability	p. 265
The Peplos of Athena and the Poetics of Split Referencing	p. 266
Homer and the Poetics of Variation
The Sorrows of Andromache Revisited	p. 273
Pattern-weaving Back into the Bronze Age	p. 278
A Final Retrospective: Andromache's Last Look at Hector	p. 308
Epilegomena: A Preclassical Text of Homer in the Making
Reconstructing Homer Forward in Time	p. 311
The Peisistratean Recension and Beyond	p. 314
Asiatic and Helladic Receptions of Homer	p. 325
A Spokesman for All Hellenes	p. 329
Homer's Split Personality	p. 330
A Prototype for Homer, Hesiod, and Orpheus	p. 331
Homeric Koine	p. 333
Homerus Auctus	p. 334
Hesiod as a Contemporary of Homer	p. 336
Orpheus as a Precursor of Hesiod and Homer	p. 340
Orpheus as a Neoteric	p. 341
Orpheus in the Era of the Peisistratidai	p. 343
Selective Adjustment of Repertoire	p. 352
The Poetics and Politics of the Homerus Auctus	p. 355
The Shield of Achilles and the Homerus Auctus	p. 357
The Ideology of Cosmos and Imperium in Homer Through the Ages	p. 361
The Ring of Minos as a Symbol of Cosmos and Imperium	p. 362
The Shield of Achilles as a Symbol of Cosmos and Imperium	p. 366
Ten Centuries of Homeric Transmission	p. 369
Homer the Poet of Kings	p. 372
From Homer the Preclassic to Homer the Classic	p. 376
Bibliography	p. 383
Index Locorum	p. 403
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