Rediscovering Homer

In case you dont know, Mr. Dalby`s newest book will be availably in July

Rediscovering Homer: Inside the Origins of the Epic

Scholar Andrew Dalby delves into the world that first heard the Odyssey and the Iliad, and asks new questions about the poet named Homer. Dalby follows the growth of the legend of Troy from its kernel of historical truth, and retraces the succession of singers who re-created the unforgettable story for generations of audiences. He asks why the two great epics at last crossed the frontier from song to writing, and how this astonishing transformation from the singer's mouth to the goatskin page was achieved. A gifted detective of the classical world, Dalby finds new approaches to the personality of Homer, showing how the earliest evidence has been misread. He makes a powerful case that both poems are the work of a single poet and comes to an ultimate conclusion that will surprise even serious classical scholars: Homer was most likely a woman.

cheers

viggen

Homer was most likely a woman.

Fascinating if true...

Sounds unusually cool, but oh the firestorm that will come with that statement.

I don't think that women were allowed much freedom in Greece. Would they have allowed a 'mere' woman to sing at their banquets? If I remember correctly, men played the parts of women in their dramas.

I always thought that the actual fall of Troy was in one of those books. It wasn't in my Penguin or Collectors Library copies. It's in a book: "The War at Troy - What Homer Didn't Tell" by Quintus of Smyrna; Translated by F.M. Combellack. Why not in the Illiad? Where did Quintus get it from?

I guess we'll just have to read the book to examine the evidence and arguments leading to this surprising conclusion.

Which, of course, is the whole point.

Congratulations to Mr. Dalby on his forthcoming book. It is an honor to have a noted author as a regular forum member. I will of course mention the book to some people in the Hellenic pagan community. They'll be among the most interested readers.

I don't think that women were allowed much freedom in Greece. Would they have allowed a 'mere' woman to sing at their banquets? If I remember correctly, men played the parts of women in their dramas.

Yeah, I remember reading/hearing this, too, and that the Roman women had a considerable amount of freedom. But damn if I can remember where I heard/read that.

Also: Congrats, Mr. Dalby, on the new publication! I hope to add it to my collection!

I don't think that women were allowed much freedom in Greece. Would they have allowed a 'mere' woman to sing at their banquets? If I remember correctly, men played the parts of women in their dramas.

I always thought that the actual fall of Troy was in one of those books. It wasn't in my Penguin or Collectors Library copies. It's in a book: "The War at Troy - What Homer Didn't Tell" by Quintus of Smyrna; Translated by F.M. Combellack. Why not in the Illiad? Where did Quintus get it from?

Thanks, Viggen, for the mention!

C. Octavius's question is a good one. But since the Iliad and Odyssey are each about 24 times too long to have been sung at a banquet, it's necessary to develop a different theory about how they were actually composed. Those descriptions of how songs were sung at banquets cannot really give the picture of the making of these particular poems. Now, these days, anthropologists and folklore collectors often find their best informants, the best actual composers of songs, are women -- who normally perform, not in taverns and cafes for men, but just in the family circle, completely unnoticed till someone like an anthropologist is invited home and asks the right questions. I started from that observation, and began to work out afresh how it might have been. The evidence begins to look different ...

Quintus is not bad (though I don't like Combellack's translation much, and I think there is now a new one). The stories of the Fall of Troy etc. had previously been told in epics of about the same period as the Iliad and Odyssey, but now lost. Quintus either rewrote them, or tried to reconstruct them if they were alreay lost in his day.

It has duly been added to my Amazon wishlist. ^_^

May I retrospectivley mention that the book "Dangerous Tastes" (on spice trading routes and history) by Andrew Dalby is also well worth perusing .(Oxford University pres 2000)

The book is now no available for purchasing...

...i do hope someone will make a review of it...

cheers

viggen