Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-x5cpj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-27T19:35:03.024Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Homer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Get access

Summary

Homer is the name traditionally given to the author of the Iliad and Odyssey. Of the actual composition of the poems we know very little. Many scholars believe the two poems were the work of different authors, and some believe in the multiple authorship of each work. The poems probably took their final form at the end of the eighth century or later, with the Odyssey following the Iliad by about a generation. Although the poems draw on stories that were orally preserved and passed down over several centuries, the ideas of justice and social order evident in the following passages were probably current in the eighth century.

The role of common citizens in the assembly (Iliad 2.188–278)

As the Achaeans stream from their assembly to the ships, thinking to abandon the siege of Troy, Odysseus calls them back to their seats.

To any king or foremost man he overtook

he would speak softly and restrain him, standing by:

“My friend, a coward's panic does not suit you.

You should stop, and bring the rest of the people to their seats,

for you don't yet know what plan Agamemnon has.

Now he is testing you, soon he will frown on you sons of Achaeans.

Did we not all hear what he said in the council?

Pray he won't in his anger do some harm to the sons of Achaeans,

for the spirit of Zeus-nurtured kings is great,

their honor is from Zeus, and he loves them in his wisdom.”

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Homer
  • Edited by Michael Gagarin, Paul Woodruff
  • Book: Early Greek Political Thought from Homer to the Sophists
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805479.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Homer
  • Edited by Michael Gagarin, Paul Woodruff
  • Book: Early Greek Political Thought from Homer to the Sophists
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805479.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Homer
  • Edited by Michael Gagarin, Paul Woodruff
  • Book: Early Greek Political Thought from Homer to the Sophists
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805479.006
Available formats
×