GREEK 307 A: Homer

HOMER: Selections from the Iliad  

MTWF 1:30-2:20pm  Raitt Hall 109             

Professor:  Olga Levaniouk     

olevan@u.washington.edu

Denny M262B,  (206) 543-2266

Office hours: MW 4:30-5:30

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This is a course for those who are coming to Homer in Greek for the first time, and also for those who have started with the Odyssey and now would like to read some of the Iliad.  We’ll start slow (especially since the beginning of the Iliad is so rich thematically, poetically and in terms of language) and then gradually pick up speed. After getting through 200 or so lines of Book 1, we will together choose what to read next—one or two episodes from the rest of the poem. Students will learn how to read Homeric hexameters and start learning about Homeric traditional phrases, poetic techniques, and above all the so-called “Homeric dialect,” the peculiar language of Greek epic which has its own long and intricate history. Students will be expected to acquire a fair amount of Homeric vocabulary and to become familiar with Homeric grammar as the need arises. Most students will find that Homer is easy to read (syntax in particular is more user-friendly than that of the Attic prose), but there is an initial period of getting used to the dialect.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

Benner, A. Selections from Homer's Iliad. Foreword by M. Edwards. Norman 2001(First Edition 1903).

Cunliffe, R. 1977 A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect. Norman.

COMMENTARIES AND OTHER BOOKS YOU  MIGHT FIND USEFUL (NOT REQUIRED): 

Bierl, A. and Latacz, J., eds . 2015. Homer’s Iliad: The Basel Commentary. (English edition translated by Benjamin W. Millis and Sara Strack and edited by S. Douglas Olson; first edition 2000).  Berlin: De Gruyter.

Chantraine, P. 1958. Grammaire Homérique. Paris.

Kirk, G. (vols I-II), B. Hainsworth (vol. III), R. Janko (vol. IV), M. Edwards (vol. V), and N. Richardson (vol. VI), eds.1985-1993. The Iliad: A Commentary. Cambridge. 

Lord. A. 1960/2000.The Singer of Tales. Cambridge, Mass.

Nagy, G. 1979. The Best of the Achaeans: Concept of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry.

Baltimore.

            . 1996. Homeric Questions. Austin.

Snell et al., eds. 1995-2010. Lexikon des frühgriechischen Epos. Göttingen.

EVALUATION

Class participation                                                                       30%

Final writing assignment:                                                           20%

Three quizzes (weeks 3, 6, 9)                                                      50%

Final writing assignment will consist of a  "commentary"  (very broadly understood) on a selected passage.

NB: Reading for the week will be assigned each Friday; exact lines for each class may be known only a day in advance.

SOME USEFUL RESOURCES

• An (almost *too* useful) "reader", which includes Iliad 1.1-139.

https://furman-university-editions.github.io/Readers/Iliad/Iliad_1_part1.html

• Perseus, Scaife Viewer: https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-grc2:1.1-1.30/?highlight=%40%CF%88%CF%85%CF%87%E1%BD%B0%CF%82%5B1%5D
• Homer Multitext: digital editions https://www.homermultitext.org/digital/
• “The Chicago Homer” http://homer.library.northwestern.edu/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
• A dated, but conveniently organized bibliography: https://www.oeaw.ac.at/kal/fbhomer/
• Classical Inquiries (including the Homer Commentary in progress): https://classical-inquiries.chs.harvard.edu/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
• Listen to Homer sung Link

• Leonard Muellner on Homeric hexameter LinkLink
• M. Janse, "The Metrical Schemes of the Hexameter"
• R. Wachter, Homeric Grammar
• R. Nünlist, Homeric meter
• O. Hackstein, The Greek of Epic
• Jenny Clay, Homer’s Trojan Theater/Homer Visualized 

SOME GOOD READS AND LISTENS ONLINE (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)

B. Fortson on Indo-European Language and Culture Link

C. Watkins, Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans Link

G. Nagy and L. Muellner, “Intro to Homeric Greek: Poetry of Grammar, Iliad 1-9.” Link

L. Muellner on the anger of Achilles

Link

G. Nagy on Achilles in the Iliad and the Odyssey

Link

G. Nagy, L. Muellner and D. Frame on the dialects in Homeric epic

Link

M. Wood, In Search of Trojan War Link

T. Palaima at National Hellenic Museum

Link

E. Cook on Contemporary Relevance of the Iliad

Link

• “The Iliad: Beauty, Brutes, and Battles” (The Forum podcast from the BBC) Link                   
• G. Nagy, Homeric Questions. Link    
• A. Lord, The Singer of Tales.Link           
• L. Slatkin, The Power of Thetis, chapter 2. Link
• C. Dué, Homeric Variations on a Lament by Briseis: Link
• G. Nagy, “The Homeric Iliad and the Glory of the Unseasonal Hero.” Link                                        
• G. Nagy, “Achilles as Epic Hero and the Idea of Total Recall in Song”    Link
• CHS Open House with Casey Dué: “Homer and the Bronze Age”  Link                                     
• E. Cline, The Trojan War, a very short introduction, parts II. 2 and III (NB: read for archaeology, not Homer) Link  Link
• J. Burgess, J. 2001. “The Epic Cycle and Homer,” chapter 3 of The Tradition of the Trojan War in Homer and the Epic Cycle (available online through UW libraries).
• Alice Oswald, Memorial: a Version of Homer’s Iliad Link
• Alice Oswald reads from Memorial:             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvJBxie9Dlw10/26 
• C. Alexander, "No Hostages" (from the War that Killed Achilles) Link

• G.Nagy, “Achilles and the Poetics of Lament” Link

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Note on course image: 

Source: Nikolaus Dietrich and Michael Squire, Ornament and Figure in Graeco-Roman Art. East Dorian Plate, Dm. 39,4 cm.

Made in Kos, ca. 600 BC, from Kamiros, Rhodes

London, The British Museum – A749 - No. 1860,0404.1 www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1860-0404-1

Copyright: Egisto Sani