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The Concept of Miracle in Homer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2015

R.K. Fisher
R.K. Fisher*
Affiliation:
The University of Birmingham
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Extract

My aim is to establish whether there is a concept of ‘miracle’ or ‘the miraculous’ implicit in the Homeric poems (and therefore perceived and understood by Homer's audience). Such a question is fraught with difficulties, as it necessarily involves broader (and still widely debated) issues such as Homeric man's view of the gods and the essential nature of the early Greek oral epic tradition. But, if an answer can be found, it should in the process help us to gain more insight into those wider issues—the theological basis of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and the world-view of Homer's audience.

Type
Research Article
Information
Antichthon , Volume 29 , 1995 , pp. 1 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © Australasian Society for Classical Studies 1995

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References

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36 J. Beckert has also shown this in his Die Diathesen von ἰδεῖν und όρᾶν bei Homer (Munich 1964); in addition he points out that phrases like θαῦμα ἰδέσθαι invariably have a link with divinity—the seeing and the wonder are essentially derived from an external, divine source.

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38 See Rogerson, J., The supernatural in the Old Testament (London 1976) 4Google Scholar.

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41 See Burkert, W., ‘Itinerant diviners and magicians: a neglected element in cultural contacts’ in Hagg, R. (above, n.40) 115–119Google Scholar.

42 See n. 14 above.