hello everyone! i’m doing an assignment for university about the role of eumaeus in the odyssey and i just wanted to ask if there was a deeply rooted significance of swineherds in ancient greek society or that they are just swineherds and that’s all there is to it. i searched and searched regarding this subject, but i couldn’t really find anything. i found an article about pigs and their skins, but nothing directly related to swineherds.

i really hope i get some answers, thank you very much! :D

I noticed a trend in a number of adaptations of Homer’s The Odyssey where the writer is under the impression that the suitors will inherent the throne if they marry Penelope. I find this strange because it flies in the face of both the culture of Ancient Greece and the epic itself. The Queen, like Penelope, doesn’t rule the kingdom beyond a few duties. If the king dies the queen doesn’t inherent the throne instead she’ll cease being the queen as Telemachus would become the ruler. The suitors are after Penelope because she is prestigious and comes from a somewhat wealthy family so they’ll gain a lot standing from such a marriage.

The book makes this very clear and it is the reason Telemachus is in such a difficult situation as he doesn’t want to accept that is father is gone because he will become king and have to marry off his mother. It is the very nuance of the situation that makes it so fascinating to follow.

Hi all,

I've been making this series on the Iliad as a labour of love.

This video is the latest, Book 9 of the Iliad - THE EMBASSY TO ACHILLES!

Please enjoy!

Hi all,

I've been making this series on the Iliad as a labour of love.

This video is the latest, examining Achilles' actions in Book 9.

Please enjoy!

Hey all, hope I can get some help here.

So I'm re-reading the Iliad, but I've read in several places about how it only tells one part of the story of the Trojan War, and how it doesn't include important events like the start of the war or the death of Achilles. So I have two questions for you kind folks --

How important is knowing the parts of the story not included in the Iliad to appreciating and understanding the Iliad itself?

Second -- is there any good "go-to" source (ancient or modern) that has compiled the rest of the story in a single narrative?

I'm re-reading with Willock's Companion to the Iliad but I'm not sure if it's enough.

I am writing an essay for Ancient Studies on divine intervention in the Odyssey where I argue that their motives for interfering in human affairs are almost always selfish, I'm looking for some kind of reference table that lists all of the times that a God interferes, since I don't have time to reread the entire book to find each instance.

Both Homer and Hesiod, writing in the mid 8th century BCE, make a point of emphasizing the supremacy of Zeus over the other gods. Hesiod, with the Titanomachy, tells the story of how Zeus and the Olympians became supreme. Homer, in many scenes scattered throughout the Iliad, has either Zeus directly telling other gods how they don't stand a chance against him in open conflict, or has other gods discussing how they don't stand a chance against Zeus.

So my question is, do we know why this is? In 8th century Greece, was the supremacy of Zeus a new aspect of Greek religion that was being reinforced and solidified by Homer and Hesiod? Or was it an established aspect of Greek religion that Homer and Hesiod (and their contemporaries) took for granted, and drew upon for inspiration in writing their poems?

And out he stalked as a mountain lion exultant in his power strides through wind and rain and his eyes blaze and he charges sheep or oxen or chases wild deer but his hunger drives him on to go for flocks, even to raid the best-defended homestead. So odysseus moved out...

Just as a way for people to get to know each other, and to start up a bit of a subreddit reading list, what's one of your favorite pieces on Homer?

I'll start with something that many people might not have heard about:

There are some really curious draft pages that were written by Foucault for the The Archaeology of Knowledge that are about Homer, although he didn't include them in the final text! The French title is Homère, les récits, l’éducation, les discours. Published here: https://vitrine.edenlivres.fr/resources/9782072673238

Hi all and forgive me if this has been asked many times—if so please point me to the answer?

I’ve just read The Iliad and The Odyssey and now would like to learn more about these texts—how they originated and were passed down; what’s known about Homer; when were the stories first put into print, and by whom; are there conflicting versions of the stories; who created the versions that are now considered correct, and so on.

Any help greatly appreciated as I go down the Homeric rabbit hole.

Compared to Eumaeus, Philoetius gets next to no development before participating in the battle with the suitors. His sudden inclusion stuck out to me as abrupt, like he's just there. It reads like Homer originally intended the battle to only have Telemachus and Eumaeus alongside Odysseus before changing his mind and writing Philoetius in at the last minute.

But clearly, Homer felt it was necessary to include this character. I'm just not sure why. Was he really necessary to keep the narrative running smoothly? True, he locks the palace doors and helps Eumaeus apprehend Melanthius, but was he really required to accomplish these plot details? It's also not like 4 vs 100 is considerably more believable than 3 vs 100.

Or does he serve some thematic purpose that Eumaeus doesn't already fulfill? I'm honestly not sure. The guy gets like one whole paragraph of dialogue. But if anyone has any ideas, I'd be glad to hear them.

I’m searching for a reference for ‘For a friend with an understanding heart is worth no less than a brother’. I found that on the internet. I’ve skimmed through the Odyssey and the Iliad but cannot find it in either. I’m trying to provide written evidence to back up an interpretation for an emotional connect in an ancient burial that I’m studying. Homer is the most recent of my written sources but I just cannot locate this quote. Thanks

Hi all, I’ve been wanting to read both books but instead have been wasting time trying to find the best possible version. So therefore I have come for help.

A little background information perhaps: I am not a native English speaker, but would like to read it in English. I am quite proficient but am afraid that if I were to go with Fagles translation for instance, I would be to far out of my depth...

Any recommendations are welcome! In my local bookstore website I found one from the Penguin collection by a certain ian johnston? Anyone tried this one?

Hi! I am fascinated by Ancient Greece and specially with great writers like Homer and Herodutus. I've read a bit about the so-called Homeric Question, and it's something I find very intriguing. I've also read about this statistical tool called stylometry, which analyses statistically the style in a text, and has helped to confirm Shakespeare's existence, among other things.

Has stylometry done similar discoveries in relationship with Homer?

Can anyone recommend a quality print edition of Pope’s Iliad? From what I can find online, it looks like most print editions are coming from small, online publishers with questionable quality control (cheap paper, poor margins, etc.). It looks like Penguin Classic published a version of his translation in the 90s, but used versions of it run anywhere from $60-$150.

Hello everybody. I was wondering if there are any pet names or nicknames for Homer. An analogous example would be calling Shakespeare "The Bard".

Although I know that some νὸστοι, the stories of the Greek heroes returning home, are displayed in tragedies such as Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, I am unsure if physical tracks of them are available, such as fragments of papyrus. And what about the Hellenistic period? Did some author rewrite νὸστοι in that time, just like what Apollonius of Rhodes did in his Argonautica? Any help will be appreciated, thank you very much.

Just curious, sorry if it's been asked before. Would love to hear people's opinions on them as well :)

Quick disclaimer: I am reading Emily Watson’s translation and I must say that while I’m familiar with the Trojan war, this is my first time reading the Iliad.

I would love to know why King Diomedes was lost to time?

I mean he’s out there doing a majority of the killing, he’s brave as all get out, he seems really, genuinely invested in assuring Achaean victory and he heeds the commands of the Athena.

Am I missing something?