Rediscovering Homer
Rediscovering Homeris a 2006 book byAndrew Dalby.It sets out the problems of origin, dating and authorship of the two ancient Greek epics,IliadandOdyssey,usually attributed toHomer.
Rediscovering Homeroriginated as a development and expansion of two academic papers published in the 1990s in which Dalby argued that theIliadandOdysseymust be seen as belonging to the same world as that of the early Greek lyric poets but to a less aristocratic genre.[1]This contradicted a widespread assumption that the epics come from an older stage of civilization and literature than the personal poetry ofArchilochus,Sapphoand others.
Returning to these themes, Dalby summarizes the contents and significance of the two epics and hypothesizes the transmission they probably followed, from oral invention and circulation to written versions.
He then spotlights the unknown poet who, long after the time of the traditionalHomer,at last saw theIliadandOdysseyrecorded in writing. Dalby notes that "no early author describes or names the singer who saw these two poems written down.[2]We are given no sex and no name -- certainly not Homer, who is seen as a singer of the distant past. "[3]Based on what we can judge of this poet's interests and on the circumstances in whichoral poetryhas been recorded elsewhere, "it is possible, and even probable, that this poet was a woman. As a working hypothesis, this helps to explain certain features in which these epics are better -- more subtle, more complex, more universal -- than most others."[3]
The idea is not new.Eustathius of Thessalonicarecounted an ancient fiction in which both epics were composed by an Egyptian priestess,Phantasia;Samuel Butler,inThe Authoress of the Odyssey,attributed theOdysseyto a Sicilian woman between 1150 and 1050 BC; andRobert Gravesin his novelHomer's Daughtermade a similar proposal.
Even before the appearance ofRediscovering Homerthe idea was dismissed as "far-fetched" byAnthony Snodgrasson the grounds that a woman would have been "bored out of her mind" when composing theIliad.[4]Reviewers, even when praising the book, have continued to be sceptical of this proposal:
As Dalby notes, the Muses can "tell many lies as if true". This applies to ancient songsters and the modern scholars who study them.
— Palaima, 2007.
Notes[edit]
- ^"The Iliad, the Odyssey and their audiences" inClassical quarterlyNS vol. 45 no. 2 (1995); "Homer's enemies: lyric and epic in the seventh century" inArchaic Greece: new approaches and new evidenceed. Nick Fisher and Hans van Wees (London: Duckworth, 1998).
- ^An exception is theLife of Homerascribed to Herodotus: in this evidently fictitious story Homer himself allowsThestorides of Phocaeato write down his poems.
- ^abDalby,Rediscovering Homerquoted by Alberge, 2006.
- ^Reported by Alberge, 2006.
Bibliography[edit]
- Dalby, Andrew(2006),Rediscovering Homer,New York, London: Norton,ISBN0-393-05788-7
- Alberge, Dalya, "Scholar takes Homer on new odyssey -- into womanhood"inThe Times(London), 1 July 2006.
Reviews[edit]
- Carr, Jonathan, "The elusive first poet(ess)"inAthens News3 November 2006, p. 29.
- Leigh, Matthew, "Line endings" inTimes Literary Supplement(London) 18 May 2007, p. 4.
- Palaima, Tom,"A classical example of a man getting credit for what must have been a woman's work" inTimes Higher(London) 12 January 2007, pp. 22–23.
- Pulleyn, Simon, "Siren songs from the wind-dark sea" inScotland on Sunday24 September 2006.
- Sutherland, John,"A Trojan horse for many courses" inFinancial Times: FT Magazine7 October 2006, p. 34.