Homer and The Iliad

There has been much critical debate concerning Homer and the Iliad.  Was there one Homer?  Did multiple people write the Iliad?  Does Homer connote a tradition of poetry that gained prominence throughout Greece?  These questions surround studies of the Iliad and Odyssey.  The edition of my text, which is part of the Barnes and Nobel Classics (you can easily find it on their website,) discusses two researchers of Homeric study that have caused great impact on how we perceive the text:  Milman Parry and Albert B. Lord. 

Ancient Greek authors thought that both the Iliad and the Odyssey were written down by one man, Homer.  However, no one knew who Homer really was.  Moving to the late eighteenth century, theories started to arise to claim that Homer was an illiterate bard and composer of songs which morphed together into the epic, written by another hand.  This increased debate on which parts were "original" and how they fit together (in all actuality, the form is rather tight and fits together well). 

This brought us to Milman Parry.  Parry noticed that there were repeated phrases throughout the poem which resembled the performance of oral poets of Yugoslavia.  With oral poets, and Parry posits Homer did this as well, phrases are repeated so as to improvise a new poem--kind of like free styling.  This brings up the question that if the poem was oral, who wrote it down?  Albert B. Lord continued Parry's work and continued upon it.  The text explains, "The research of Parry and Lord has offered a model for the composition of the Iliad and the Odyssey that can account for the entirety of each poem in its present form (there is no need to differentiate between 'early' and 'late' strata, between interpolation and original--all are equally part of the performance tradition)."  Both of their research has gone to challenge the idea of one, singular poet named Homer.  For a more in-depth discussion of Parry and Lord, you can read the article titled, "The Iliad as Theater":  The Iliad as Theater. 

Regardless of the Homeric questions that surround the text, it has become an important piece of literature and is found in many classrooms and colleges.  Although the idea of Homer has been challenge, the poem itself (and the name Homer) has inspired other great works of literature, including Virgil, Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton (which I'll be covering throughout the summer). 

The text dates back to Classical Antiquity.  Consensus amongst scholars locates it in the eighth century BC, although there has been debate over that date.  The Iliad is set during the Trojan War, which was a ten-year siege on the city of Troy (about 400 years previous to Homer being alive). The text covers a few weeks of battles between King Agamemnon and Achilles.  Yes, he's the guy with the heel.  No, he isn't a demi-god in this text, just a mere mortal, and the bard specifically says that in the text.   Everyone has probably seen the Trojan horse trick in cartoons and movies, right?  That's at the city of Troy.  There has actually been historical evidence to support that there was a city of Troy and a Trojan War, so there is some historical, factual evidence in the text, but there are also mythological and fictionalized stories.  It's important not to confuse this text with non-fiction. 

So there's some history and background to the story.  There's a lot of action going on in this text, along with some moments, again, that are going to be teachable to students in our classrooms today.  Get ready because tomorrow is Books I-VI.

Cassy