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Homer
In the
Western classical tradition
, Homer (
pron.:
/
ˈ
h
oʊ
m
ər
/
;
Greek
: Ὅμηρος,
Hómēros
) is the author of the
Iliad
and the
Odyssey
, and is revered as the greatest of
ancient Greek
epic poets
. These epics lie at the beginning of the
Western canon
of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of
literature
.
When he lived is unknown.
Herodotus
estimates that Homer lived 400 years before Herodotus' own time, which would place him at around
850 BC
, while other ancient sources claim that he lived much nearer to the supposed time of the
Trojan War
, in the early 12th century BC. Modern researchers appear to place Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC.
The formative influence played by the Homeric epics in shaping
Greek culture
was widely recognized, and Homer was described as the teacher of Greece. Homer's works, which are about fifty percent speeches, provided models in persuasive speaking and writing that were emulated throughout the ancient and medieval Greek worlds. Fragments of Homer account for nearly half of all identifiable Greek literary
papyrus
finds.
]
Period
For modern scholars "the date of Homer" refers not to an individual, but to the period when the epics were created. The consensus is that "the
Iliad
and the
Odyssey
date from around the 8th century BC, the
Iliad
being composed before the
Odyssey
, perhaps by some decades," i.e. earlier than
Hesiod
, the
Iliad
being the oldest work of
Western literature
. Over the past few decades, some scholars have argued for a 7th century BC date. Oliver Taplin believes that the conclusion of modern researchers is that Homer dates to between 750 to 650 BC. Some of those who argue that the Homeric poems developed gradually over a long period of time give an even later date for the composition of the poems; according to
Gregory Nagy
for example, they only became fixed texts in the 6th century BC. The question of the historicity of Homer the individual is known as the "
Homeric question
"; there is no reliable biographical information handed down from
classical antiquity
. The poems are generally seen as the culmination of many generations of oral story-telling, in a tradition with a well-developed formulaic system of poetic composition. Some scholars, such as
Martin West
, claim that "Homer" is "not the name of a historical poet, but a fictitious or constructed name."
]
Life and legends
"Homer" is a Greek name, attested in Aeolic-speaking areas, and although nothing definite is known about him, traditions arose purporting to give details of his birthplace and background. The satirist
Lucian
, in his
True History
, describes him as a
Babylonian
called Tigranes, who assumed the name Homer when taken "hostage" (
homeros
) by the Greeks. When the Emperor
Hadrian
asked the
Oracle
at
Delphi
about Homer, the
Pythia
proclaimed that he was
Ithacan
, the son of
Epikaste
and
Telemachus
, from the
Odyssey
.
[t
hese stories were incorporated into the various
[
Lives of Homer
compiled from the Alexandrian period onwards. Homer is most frequently said to be born in the
Ionian
region of
Asia Minor
, at
Smyrna
, or on the island of
Chios
, dying on the
Cycladic
island of
Ios
. A connection with Smyrna seems to be alluded to in a legend that his original name was
Melesigenes
("born of
Meles
", a river which flowed by that city), with his mother the nymph Kretheis. Internal evidence from the poems gives evidence of familiarity with the topography and place-names of this area of
Asia Minor
; for example, Homer refers to meadow birds at the mouth of the
Caystros
,
[17]
a storm in the
Icarian
sea,
[18]
and mentions that women in
Maeonia
and
Caria
stain ivory with scarlet.
]
The association with Chios dates back to at least
Semonides
of
Amorgos
, who cited a famous line in the
Iliad
(6.146) as by "the man of Chios".
[21]
An
eponymous
bardic
guild
, known as the
Homeridae
(sons of Homer), or
Homeristae
('Homerizers')
[22]
appears to have existed there, tracing descent from an ancestor of that name,
[23]
or upholding their function as
rhapsodes
or "lay-stitchers" specialising in the recitation of Homeric poetry.
Wilhelm Dörpfeld
[24]
suggests that Homer had visited many of the places and regions which he describes in his epics, such as
Mycenae
,
Troy
, the palace of Odysseus at
Ithaca
and more. According to
Diodorus Siculus
, Homer had even visited
Egypt
.
[25]
The poet's name is homophonous with ὅμηρος (
hómēros
), "hostage" (or "surety"), which is interpreted as meaning "he who accompanies; he who is forced to follow", or, in some dialects, "blind".
[26]
This led to many tales that he was a hostage or a blind man. Traditions which assert that he was
blind
may have arisen from the meaning of the word in both
Ionic
, where the verbal form ὁμηρεύω (
homēreúō
) has the specialized meaning of "guide the blind",
[27]
and the
Aeolian
dialect of
Cyme
, where ὅμηρος (
hómēros
) is synonymous with the standard Greek τυφλός (
tuphlós
), meaning 'blind'.
[28]
The characterization of Homer as a blind
bard
goes back to some verses in the
Delian
Hymn to
Apollo
,
the third of the
Homeric Hymns
,
[29]
verses later cited to support this notion by
Thucydides
.
[30]
The Cymean historian
Ephorus
held the same view, and the idea gained support in antiquity on the strength of a false
etymology
which derived his name from
ho mḕ horṓn
(ὁ μὴ ὁρῶν: "he who does not see"). Critics have long taken as self-referential
[31]
a passage in the
Odyssey
describing a blind bard,
Demodocus
, in the court of the
Phaeacian
king, who recounts stories of Troy to the shipwrecked
Odysseus
.
[32]
Many scholars take the name of the poet to be indicative of a generic function. Gregory Nagy takes it to mean "he who fits (the Song) together".
[33]
ὁμηρέω (homēréō), another related verb, besides signifying "meet", can mean "(sing) in accord/tune".
[34]
Some argue that "Homer" may have meant "he who puts the voice in tune" with dancing. Marcello Durante links "Homeros" to an epithet of Zeus as "god of the assemblies" and argues that behind the name lies the echo of an archaic word for "reunion", similar to the later
Panegyris
, denoting a formal assembly of competing minstrels.
Some
Ancient Lives
depict Homer as a wandering minstrel, like
Thamyris
[39]
or
Hesiod
, who walked as far as
Chalkis
to sing at the funeral games of
Amphidamas
.
[40]
We are given the image of a "blind, begging singer who hangs around with little people: shoemakers, fisherman, potters, sailors, elderly men in the gathering places of harbour towns".
[41]
The poems, on the other hand, give us evidence of singers at the courts of the nobility. There is a strong aristocratic bias in the poems demonstrated by the lack of any major protagonists of non-aristocratic stock, and by episodes such as the beating down of the commoner
Thersites
by the king
Odysseus
for daring to criticize his superiors. In spite of this scholars are divided as to which category, if any, the court singer or the wandering minstrel, the historic "Homer" belonged
ربما ان المعلومة التي يمكن ان تكون صحيحه عنه انه كان كفيف لكن لا يوجد شيء مؤكد عنه وعن اصله وفصله ولذلك سنعتبره
مجهول الطفولة.
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