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{{Synthesis|date=December 2022}}[[Image:Auguste Leloir - Homère.jpg|thumb|300px|Homer |
{{Synthesis|date=December 2022}}[[Image:Auguste Leloir - Homère.jpg|thumb|300px|Homer, by Auguste Leloir (1841)]] |
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'''Ancient accounts of Homer''' include numerous passages in which archaic and classical Greek poets and prose authors mention or allude to [[Homer]]. In addition, they include the ten biographies of Homer, often referred to as ''Lives''. |
'''Ancient accounts of Homer''' include numerous passages in which archaic and classical Greek poets and prose authors mention or allude to [[Homer]]. In addition, they include the ten biographies of Homer, often referred to as ''Lives''. |
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==Dating of Homer== |
==Dating of Homer== |
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There are no known records directly dating Homer other than his writings of the ''[[Odyssey]]'' and the ''[[Iliad]].'' All accounts are based on tradition. The periodization hinted in written records comes from [[Herodotus]], who maintained that [[Hesiod]] and Homer lived no more than 400 years before his own time, therefore around 850 BC.<ref>Herodotus, ''Histories'' 2.53.</ref> Artemon of [[Clazomenae]], an [[annalist]], gives [[Arctinus of Miletus]], a pupil of Homer, a birth date of 744 BC. It is often assumed that he lived between 750 and 700 BC.<ref>Homer; Rieu, EV (translator); Rieu, DCH (editor); Jones, Peter (editor): ''The Odyssey'' (Penguin, 2003), p. ''i''.</ref> |
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==The lives and the epigrams== |
==The lives and the epigrams== |
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[[Image:Lafond Sappho and Homer.jpg|thumb|250px|left|[[Sappho]] sings for Homer, Charles Nicolas Rafael Lafond, 1824]] |
[[Image:Lafond Sappho and Homer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|250px|left|[[Sappho]] sings for Homer, Charles Nicolas Rafael Lafond, 1824]] |
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There are ten extant |
There are ten extant ''Lives'' of Homer. Eight of these are edited in [[Georg Westermann]]'s ''Vitarum Scriptores Graeci minores'',<ref>{{Cite book|first=Antonius|last=Westermann|title=ΒΙΟΓΡΑΦΟΙ: Vitarum Scriptores Graeci Minores|location=Brunsvigae|publisher=Georgius Westermann|year=1845}} Downloadable Google Books.</ref> including a narrative entitled the ''[[Contest of Homer and Hesiod]]''.<ref>Westermann, pages 33-45. Greek language text.</ref> The longest, ''[[Life of Homer (Pseudo-Herodotus)|Life of Homer]]'', is written in the [[Ionic dialect]] and claims to be the work of Herodotus, but this is spurious (see [[Pseudo-Herodotus]]).<ref>Westermann, pages 1-20. Greek language text. An English translation can be found at {{Cite book|first=Theodore Alois|last=Buckley|title=The Odyssey of Homer: with the Hymns, Epigrams, and Battle of the Frogs and Mice: Literally Translated, with Explanatory Notes|publisher=George Bell and Sons|location=London|year=1891|pages=vi–xxxii}} Downloadable Google Books</ref> It most likely belongs to the 2nd century AD, although the other Lives areof more recent origin. |
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The |
The ''Lives'' preserve short poems and fragments of verse attributed to Homer, the ''Epigrams'', which were once printed at the end of editions of Homer. They are numbered as they appear in Pseudo-Herodotus. These are easily recognized as popular rhymes, a form of folklore, and in most countries, treasured by the people as a kind of [[proverb]]. |
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In the Homeric epigrams, the subject matter often covers the characteristics of particular localities, for example, [[Smyrna]] and [[Cyme (Aeolis)|Cyme]],<ref>Epigrams 1, 2, 4, Buckley pages 427-428.</ref> [[Erythrae]],<ref>Epigram 8, Buckley page 429.</ref> and [[Mount Ida]];<ref>Epigram 10, Buckley page 429.</ref> others relate to certain trades or occupations: potters,<ref>Epigram 14, Buckley page 431.</ref> sailors, fishermen, goat herds, etc., suggesting that they are not the work of any one poet. |
In the Homeric epigrams, the subject matter often covers the characteristics of particular localities, for example, [[Smyrna]] and [[Cyme (Aeolis)|Cyme]],<ref>Epigrams 1, 2, 4, Buckley pages 427-428.</ref> [[Erythrae]],<ref>Epigram 8, Buckley page 429.</ref> and [[Mount Ida]];<ref>Epigram 10, Buckley page 429.</ref> others relate to certain trades or occupations: potters,<ref>Epigram 14, Buckley page 431.</ref> sailors, fishermen, goat herds, etc., suggesting that they are not the work of any one poet. That they were all ascribed to Homer suggests that they belong to a period in the history of the Ionian and Aeolian colonies when Homer was a name which drew to itself much ancient and popular verse. |
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The epigrams were the chief source from which the ''Lives'' of Homer were derived. Epigram 4 mentions a blind poet, a native of Aeolian [[Smyrna]], through which flows the water of the sacred [[River Meles|Meles]]. Here |
The epigrams were the chief source from which the ''Lives'' of Homer were derived. Epigram 4 mentions a blind poet, a native of Aeolian [[Smyrna]], through which flows the water of the sacred [[River Meles|Meles]]. Here may be the source of the chief incident of the Herodotean ''Life,'' the birth of Homer, named Son of the Meles to conceal a scandalous affair between his mother and an older man who had been appointed her guardian. The epithet ''Aeolian'' implies high antiquity, inasmuch as according to Herodotus, Smyrna became Ionian not long before 688 BC. The Ionians had their own version of the story, which may have made Homer come out with the first Athenian colonists.{{Original research inline|date=December 2022}} |
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==The minor poems== |
==The minor poems== |
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#The ''[[Thebaid (Greek poem)|Thebaid]]'' was confidently counted as the work of Homer.{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}} As to the ''[[Epigoni (epic)|Epigoni]]'', which carried on the Theban story, there was less certainty. |
#The ''[[Thebaid (Greek poem)|Thebaid]]'' was confidently counted as the work of Homer.{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}} As to the ''[[Epigoni (epic)|Epigoni]]'', which carried on the Theban story, there was less certainty. |
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These indications render it probable that the stories connecting Homer with different cities and islands grew up after his poems had become known and famous, especially in the new and flourishing colonies of Aeolis and Ionia. The contention for Homer |
These indications render it probable that the stories connecting Homer with different cities and islands grew up after his poems had become known and famous, especially in the new and flourishing colonies of Aeolis and Ionia. The contention for Homer may have begun at a time when his real history was lost, and he had become a sort of mythical figure, an anonymous hero, or personification of a great school of poetry. |
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==Arctinus of Miletus== |
==Arctinus of Miletus== |
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Ancient accounts of Homer include numerous passages in which archaic and classical Greek poets and prose authors mention or allude to Homer. In addition, they include the ten biographies of Homer, often referred to as Lives.
There are no known records directly dating Homer other than his writings of the Odyssey and the Iliad. All accounts are based on tradition. The periodization hinted in written records comes from Herodotus, who maintained that Hesiod and Homer lived no more than 400 years before his own time, therefore around 850 BC.[1] Artemon of Clazomenae, an annalist, gives Arctinus of Miletus, a pupil of Homer, a birth date of 744 BC. It is often assumed that he lived between 750 and 700 BC.[2]
There are ten extant Lives of Homer. Eight of these are edited in Georg Westermann's Vitarum Scriptores Graeci minores,[3] including a narrative entitled the Contest of Homer and Hesiod.[4] The longest, Life of Homer, is written in the Ionic dialect and claims to be the work of Herodotus, but this is spurious (see Pseudo-Herodotus).[5] It most likely belongs to the 2nd century AD, although the other Lives are of more recent origin.
The Lives preserve short poems and fragments of verse attributed to Homer, the Epigrams, which were once printed at the end of editions of Homer. They are numbered as they appear in Pseudo-Herodotus. These are easily recognized as popular rhymes, a form of folklore, and in most countries, treasured by the people as a kind of proverb.
In the Homeric epigrams, the subject matter often covers the characteristics of particular localities, for example, Smyrna and Cyme,[6] Erythrae,[7] and Mount Ida;[8] others relate to certain trades or occupations: potters,[9] sailors, fishermen, goat herds, etc., suggesting that they are not the work of any one poet. That they were all ascribed to Homer suggests that they belong to a period in the history of the Ionian and Aeolian colonies when Homer was a name which drew to itself much ancient and popular verse.
The epigrams were the chief source from which the Lives of Homer were derived. Epigram 4 mentions a blind poet, a native of Aeolian Smyrna, through which flows the water of the sacred Meles. Here may be the source of the chief incident of the Herodotean Life, the birth of Homer, named Son of the Meles to conceal a scandalous affair between his mother and an older man who had been appointed her guardian. The epithet Aeolian implies high antiquity, inasmuch as according to Herodotus, Smyrna became Ionian not long before 688 BC. The Ionians had their own version of the story, which may have made Homer come out with the first Athenian colonists.[original research?]
The same line of argument may be extended to the Hymns and works of the so-called Cyclic poets, the lost early epics, some of which formed the Epic Cycle and Theban Cycle. Thus:
These indications render it probable that the stories connecting Homer with different cities and islands grew up after his poems had become known and famous, especially in the new and flourishing colonies of Aeolis and Ionia. The contention for Homer may have begun at a time when his real history was lost, and he had become a sort of mythical figure, an anonymous hero, or personification of a great school of poetry.
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A confirmation of this view from the negative side is furnished by the chief city among the Asiatic colonies of Greece, Miletus. No legend claims for Miletus even a visit from Homer or a share in the authorship of any Homeric poem. Yet, Arctinus of Miletus was said to have been a disciple of Homer and was certainly one of the earliest and most considerable of the Cyclic poets. His Aethiopis was composed as a sequel to the Iliad and the structure and general character of his poems show that he took the Iliad as his model. Yet, in his case, there is no indication of disputed authorship which is the case with other Cyclic poems. The most obvious account of the matter is that Arctinus was never so far forgotten that his poems became the subject of dispute.