Questions tagged [homer]
For questions about Homer, the author of the poems Iliad and Odyssey.
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How do readers of Homer's Odyssey tend to react to Odysseus' raid on the Cicones at Ismaros?
Near the beginning of Book 9, the first incident in Odysseus' account to his Phaeacean hosts of his journey home after the Trojan War.
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Is there any evidence as to which incidents in the Odyssey were invented by Homer and which were existing legends (apart from the Trojan War)?
Homer's epic the Odyssey is mainly about the Greek hero Odysseus' adventures on his way home from the Trojan War, including raiding the Cicones at Ismaros, the lotus eaters, the Cyclops' cave, the ...
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Date (time of year) of the Iliad?
Does Homer give any clue as to the time of year, or even the specific dates, when events in the Iliad occur? I don't mean the absolute chronology (e.g., 1184 BCE or whatever) or span of time (e.g., +9 ...
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Why does Zielinski's Law exist? Were the poets unable to say "meanwhile"?
According to Zielinski's Law the ancient poets told simultaneous events chronologically without moving back and forth in time.
Did Homer and Hesiod not have a way to say 'meanwhile'?
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How does Glaucus know Patroclus killed Sarpedon?
I'm reading the Loeb Iliad so I have the original Greek text alongside English and am confused when reading verse Il. 16-543:
τὸν δ᾽ ὑπὸ Πατρόκλῳ δάμασ᾽ ἔγχεϊ χάλκεος Ἄρης.
... Him [Sarpedon] has ...
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How much time is a generation in the odyssey and Iliad?
Prompted by the question How old was Nestor is there any reference to how much Homer considered a generation to be?
I cannot seem to find any good reference that is reliable and sourced correctly, ...
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Examples of non-Homeric invisibility as clouds
Homer uses the trope of clouds of mist rendering a god or person unseen (even to people right next to them, in the daylight) a number of times throughout the Iliad and Odyssey. For example, in the ...
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Why does Clytemnestra kill Cassandra?
In Greek mythology King Agamemnon of Mycenae, leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War, returns home victorious after the War, having captured the Trojan princess Cassandra to be his slave.
However, ...
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Why is Dante’s Odysseus different from Homer’s?
In Canto XXVI of the Inferno, Dante encounters Odysseus and Diomedes. Odysseus account of his exploits after Troy differ from the more familiar story in Homer’s Odyssey. Notably, Dante’s Odysseus does ...
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Why does Eumaeus singles out the nymphs and Hermes in his offerings?
In Odyssey 14 Eumaeus the swineherd is the first person that meets Odysseus upon his return to Ithaca. Although he doesn't recognize his master, he offers him shelter and treats him to a feast:
Then ...
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Honor, cunning and realism of underhandedness in the Iliad
The heroes of the Iliad seem to be completely obsessed with honourable fighting, with Hector refusing to take sanctuary behind the walls due to that not being honourable (The Great Courses - Famous ...
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Why was Odysseus needed for killing the suitors in the Odyssey?
Is his kingdom so short on soldiers that the family can't deal with a few suitors?
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What did Odysseus and his men do to err Athena?
When Hermes arrives on Ogygia, she asks why he is visiting here:
Why have you come to see me, Hermes - honored, and ever welcome - for you do not visit me often?...
Retrieved, paragraph 7
Hermes ...
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Do gods know all other gods?
In the Odyssey, Hermes takes flight to Ogygia, Calypso's island, at Zeus's command to tell Calypso to let Odysseus go home. When he arrives Calypso recognizes him right away because:
the gods all ...
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Why did Zeus take half the goodness out of a man?
I found something online mentioning a passage from the Odyssey, Book XVII. I checked it against my own Odyssey translated by Samuel Butler. The passage holds true.
"...Servants never do their work ...
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What does Ulysses Pidytes of Percote mean?
I just opened my Iliad et Odyssey (Translated by Samuel Butler), and I saw this...
Polypoetes then killed Astyalus, Ulysses Pidytes of Percote, and Teucer Aretaon.
The Iliad, Book VI, page 98
This ...
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Who came to Troy?
Near the end of Book II of the Iliad, Homer says that if he had nine tongues, he could not list all those that came. He then lists as many as he can. Do other authors add to the list?
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What is the story of Eurymedon, the giant king who brought destruction on his people?
Homer mentions the giant king Eurymedon ("ruling far and wide") in the Odyssey (Book 7.56):
Nausithous at the first was born from the earth-shaker Poseidon and Periboea, the comeliest of ...
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What are Hera's favorite cities?
In the Iliad, Zeus and Hera are fighting. Somehow, for reasons I don't remember, Zeus asks the names of Hera's favorite cities. After she tells him, he says he shall sack them.
What are the names of ...
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Was hero worship the same as god worship?
In Greek Mythology, their are a few special heroes (Diomedes being one) who, after Death claims them, have a shrine/temple build in their honor and for worship. Was the worship they received similar/...
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Is Homer a good overview, or an encompassing view, of Greek Mythology?
I read philosophy, and so often is Homer referenced as giving extraordinary accounts of Greek Mythology, and it seems that he might as well be the standard for the gospel. Do his books delve deep into ...
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Why does Ino help Odysseus?
In Book V of the Odyssey, Ino saves Odysseus from drowning by giving him a magic veil.
Why? Ino is a water deity, I'd expect her to be aligned with Poseidon's wishes. What reason does she have to ...
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Identifying the places in the Odyssey
I suppose there have been academic attempts to identify all the places mentioned in the Odyssey by Homer, specially after Heinrich Schliemann found Troy.
I would like to know if there's any kind of ...
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Why does Hector accept Achilles' challenge?
The first time Hector meets Achilles on the battlefield, in Book IX of the Iliad, he is prudent enough to avoid dueling the Myrmidon superhero. However, in Book XXII Hector decides to face Achilles in ...
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How did Odysseus's ship get wrecked, and how did Odysseus himself land to Ogygia?
I have tried to read Homer's Odyssey and commentaries to find out details about how Odysseus's shipwreck happened, how many men were involved and saved and so forth. It looks like the first book ...
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Did Achilles suspect he might die by Hector's hands?
In Richmond Lattimore's translation, the following lines (9.410-416) are a part of Achilles' first speech in Book Nine:
For my mother Thetis the goddess of the silver feet tells me
I carry two ...
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Could Achilles have killed Hector at a later time?
Achilles was given two choices by his mother, either stay and die with imperishable fame or leave the war and live a life of peace. When he heard Hector killed Patroclus, to escape his fate and take ...
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Odysseus raid on the Cicones at Ismaros (Odyssey Book 9 lines 40-66)
Open question for thoughts and explanations re Odysseus’ raid on the Cicones (also called Kikonians) while on his way home from the Trojan War, on any of my questions below and/or other thoughts of ...
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Was Helen of Troy in Egypt during the war?
In the myth of Helen of Troy, there has been noted a story from Egyptian mythology of Helen coming to Egypt and staying there, her double being sent on to be imprisoned and have a war fought over. ...
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Was there an epic or drama detailing Menelaus's return?
In book IV of the Odyssey (translator Robert Fitsgerald), Menelaus mentions he spent 7 years returning to Sparta. This seems like it would be something that somebody in ancient times would write about....
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How did Helen get back from Troy?
The nostoi, or journeys home, of many of the heroes of the Trojan War are recounted by Homer -- most famously that of Odysseus -- or were known in antiquity but later lost. Is anything known about how ...
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Roughly, where was Ogygia?
There was an island, called Ogygia. Apparently, It was an island where Calypso was cursed to stay on forever, because she supported her father, Atlas, in the Titan war.
Roughly, where is it?
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What was the definitive reason behind Sisyphus punishment?
Sisyphus punishment, to roll a rock on top of a moutain forever, is said to have been given because of his trickery with Thanatos.
However, it seems that the reason behind this punishment was not ...
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What was the purpose of the Labyrinth built by Daedalus?
Wikipedia reads:
He also created the Labyrinth on Crete, in which the Minotaur (part man, part bull) was kept.
However what was the main purpose of the Labyrinth being built? Was it just for ...
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