Homer and his works

 The Iliad of Homer, Samuel Butler translator [1898]

 The Odyssey of Homer, 

Odyssey Homer in the original Greek.

 The Homeric Hymns, translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White [1914]

 The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy

By Padraic Colum, Illustrations by Willy Pogany [1918]

A retelling of the story of Odysseus with gorgeous line-art illustrations.

Thanks to Eliza Fegley at sacredspiral.com.

 The Authoress of the Odyssey, by Samuel Butler, [1922]

Men are from the Iliad, Women are from the Odyssey...

 Homeric Fragments, translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White [1914]. A few scattered notes about other lost works of Homer.

For over three centuries scholars have debated whether an actual person named Homer existed; some have speculated that the name Homer is actually a collective name for a group of bards (the Homeridae) who redacted (edited) a existing cycle of oral epics about 800 B.C.E. Others believe, based on textual evidence, that one person did compose or redact the two major Homeric compositions. In any case, stating an opinion about this question would be a good way to start a bar fight at a conference of classical scholars....

Certainly, there are few details about Homer's life. According to classical sources, Homer lived around 1200 B.C.E.; today dates of the 8th or 7th Century B.C.E. are quoted. Homer is traditionally described as being blind--based on one Archaic Greek fragment--but the visual quality of his work makes this hard to believe; perhaps he became blind later in life.

The Homeric cycle was composed around the same time as the Indian Ramayana, which it resembles thematically. The entire Homeric cycle, of which the Iliad and Odyssey are the only complete surviving works, included dozens of books composed by Homer and others. Some fragments of this cycle are included below.

The Illiad is based on events which probably occurred around 1000 B.C.E. The Mycenean Greeks of this era were contemporaries with a Bronze age city in Asia Minor on the Aegean coast of what today is Turkey. Both these cultures employed megalithic architecture. Heinrich Schliemann, a German archeologist in the early 20th Century, excavated both Mycenae in the Peloponessus region of Greece, and another site in western Turkey which he identified as the actual city of Troy. 'Troy' was destroyed (sometimes by fire) and rebuilt--not once, but multiple times--and resembles closely the description of Troy in the Iliad. Whether the events in the Iliad are literally true in some sense is still unknown. The Odyssey, on the other hand, is pure fiction, and one must strain to correlate its plot with any actual geography or history; it has been called the first science fiction novel.

In any case, these stories remain the most ancient European literature that we have intact; because of their lively pacing and vivid characters they still have strong appeal for modern readers.

Homerica

The following are fragments written by other authors in antiquity on the subject of the Homeric epic and Homer; some of these were spuriously attributed to Homer. These are remnants of a huge epic cycle which encompassed the whole mythological and legendary history of the Greeks, of which the battle for Troy is the centerpiece. The cycle was never completely canonized, and as late as classical Roman times Virgils' Aeneid added yet another epic poem to the collection. It seems that sequels and prequels were just as popular in Ancient Greece as in modern Hollywood...

These are from Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, [1914] (Loeb Classics #57). The other portions of this book are presented above on this page, and in the Hesiod section; this etext was scanned as the Online Medieval and Classical Library Release #8 by Douglas B. Killings, and is also available from the Gutenburg Project.

  Fragments of the Epic Cycle. 

 The Cypria (Fragments). Fragments of a prequel to the Iliad by Hegesias or Stasinus, attributed to Homer. 

 Aethiopis (Fragments). Fragments of another epic with Homeric characters. 

 The Little Iliad (Fragments) An abridged Iliad attributed to Lesches of Mitylene. 

 The Sack of Ilium (fragments) by Arctinus of Miletus. 

 The Returns and The Telegony (Fragments) The Returns, by Agias of Troezen was set between the Iliad and Odyssey, it described the homecoming of the other Achaean heros from Troy; The Telegony, by Eugammon of Cyrene, of which we have only a synopsis by Proclus, is a sequel to the Odyssey. 

These are a couple of humorous pieces on Homeric themes. 

 The Battle of Frogs and Mice. A short parody of the Iliad. 

 The Contest of Homer and Hesiod. A bardic battle royale between Homer and Hesiod. 

OF THE ORIGIN OF HOMER AND HESIOD, AND OF THEIR CONTEST

(The Contest of Homer and Hesiod)

translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White

[1914]

Everyone boasts that the most divine of poets, Homer and Hesiod, are said to be his particular countrymen. Hesiod, indeed, has put a name to his native place and so prevented any rivalry, for he said that his father `settled near Helicon in a wretched hamlet, Ascra, which is miserable in winter, sultry in summer, and good at no season.' But, as for Homer, you might almost say that every city with its inhabitants claims him as her son. Foremost are the men of Smyrna who say that he was the Son of Meles, the river of their town, by a nymph Cretheis, and that he was at first called Melesigenes. He was named Homer later, when he became blind, this being their usual epithet for such people. The Chians, on the other hand, bring forward evidence to show that he was their countrymen, saying that there actually remain some of his descendants among them who are called Homeridae. The Colophonians even show the place where they declare that he began to compose when a schoolmaster, and say that his first work was the "Margites".

As to his parents also, there is on all hands great disagreement.

Hellanicus and Cleanthes say his father was Maeon, but Eugaeon says Meles; Callicles is for Mnesagoras, Democritus of Troezen for Daemon, a merchant-trader. Some, again, say he was the son of Thamyras, but the Egyptians say of Menemachus, a priest- scribe, and there are even those who father him on Telemachus, the son of Odysseus. As for his mother, she is variously called Metis, Cretheis, Themista, and Eugnetho. Others say she was an Ithacan woman sold as a slave by the Phoenicians; other, Calliope the Muse; others again Polycasta, the daughter of Nestor.

Homer himself was called Meles or, according to different accounts, Melesigenes or Altes. Some authorities say he was called Homer, because his father was given as a hostage to the Persians by the men of Cyprus; others, because of his blindness; for amongst the Aeolians the blind are so called. We will set down, however, what we have heard to have been said by the Pythia concerning Homer in the time of the most sacred Emperor Hadrian. When the monarch inquired from what city Homer came, and whose son he was, the priestess delivered a response in hexameters after this fashion:

`Do you ask me of the obscure race and country of the heavenly siren? Ithaca is his country, Telemachus his father, and Epicasta, Nestor's daughter, the mother that bare him, a man by far the wisest of mortal kind.' This we must most implicitly believe, the inquirer and the answerer being who they are -- especially since the poet has so greatly glorified his grandfather in his works.

Now some say that he was earlier than Hesiod, others that he was younger and akin to him. They give his descent thus: Apollo and Aethusa, daughter of Poseidon, had a son Linus, to whom was born Pierus. From Pierus and the nymph Methone sprang Oeager; and from Oeager and Calliope Orpheus; from Orpheus, Dres; and from him, Eucles. The descent is continued through Iadmonides, Philoterpes, Euphemus, Epiphrades and Melanopus who had sons Dius and Apelles. Dius by Pycimede, the daughter of Apollo had two sons Hesiod and Perses; while Apelles begot Maeon who was the father of Homer by a daughter of the River Meles.

According to one account they flourished at the same time and even had a contest of skill at Chalcis in Euboea. For, they say, after Homer had composed the "Margites", he went about from city to city as a minstrel, and coming to Delphi, inquired who he was and of what country? The Pythia answered:

`The Isle of Ios is your mother's country and it shall receive you dead; but beware of the riddle of the young children.' (1)

Hearing this, it is said, he hesitated to go to Ios, and remained in the region where he was. Now about the same time Ganyctor was celebrating the funeral rites of his father Amphidamas, king of Euboea, and invited to the gathering not only all those who were famous for bodily strength and fleetness of foot, but also those who excelled in wit, promising them great rewards. And so, as the story goes, the two went to Chalcis and met by chance. The leading Chalcidians were judges together with Paneides, the brother of the dead king; and it is said that after a wonderful contest between the two poets, Hesiod won in the following manner: he came forward into the midst and put Homer one question after another, which Homer answered. Hesiod, then, began:

`Homer, son of Meles, inspired with wisdom from heaven, come, tell me first what is best for mortal man?'

HOMER: `For men on earth 'tis best never to be born at all; or being born, to pass through the gates of Hades with all speed.'

Hesiod then asked again:

`Come, tell me now this also, godlike Homer: what think you in your heart is most delightsome to men?'

Homer answered:

`When mirth reigns throughout the town, and feasters about the house, sitting in order, listen to a minstrel; when the tables beside them are laden with bread and meat, and a wine-bearer draws sweet drink from the mixing-bowl and fills the cups: this I think in my heart to be most delightsome.'

It is said that when Homer had recited these verses, they were so admired by the Greeks as to be called golden by them, and that even now at public sacrifices all the guests solemnly recite them before feasts and libations. Hesiod, however, was annoyed by Homer's felicity and hurried on to pose him with hard questions. He therefore began with the following lines:

`Come, Muse; sing not to me of things that are, or that shall be, or that were of old; but think of another song.'

Then Homer, wishing to escape from the impasse by an apt answer, replied: --

`Never shall horses with clattering hoofs break chariots, striving for victory about the tomb of Zeus.'

Here again Homer had fairly met Hesiod, and so the latter turned to sentences of doubtful meaning (2): he recited many lines and required Homer to complete the sense of each appropriately. The first of the following verses is Hesiod's and the next Homer's: but sometimes Hesiod puts his question in two lines.

HESIOD: `Then they dined on the flesh of oxen and their horses' necks --'

HOMER: `They unyoked dripping with sweat, when they had had enough of war.'

HESIOD: `And the Phrygians, who of all men are handiest at ships --'

HOMER: `To filch their dinner from pirates on the beach.'

HESIOD: `To shoot forth arrows against the tribes of cursed giants with his hands --'

HOMER: `Heracles unslung his curved bow from his shoulders.'

HESIOD: `This man is the son of a brave father and a weakling --'

HOMER: `Mother; for war is too stern for any woman.'

HESIOD: `But for you, your father and lady mother lay in love --'

HOMER: `When they begot you by the aid of golden Aphrodite.'

HESIOD: `But when she had been made subject in love, Artemis, who delights in arrows --'

HOMER: `Slew Callisto with a shot of her silver bow.'

HESIOD: `So they feasted all day long, taking nothing --'

HOMER: `From their own houses; for Agamemnon, king of men, supplied them.'

HESIOD: `When they had feasted, they gathered among the glowing ashes the bones of the dead Zeus --'

HOMER: `Born Sarpedon, that bold and godlike man.'

HESIOD: `Now we have lingered thus about the plain of Simois, forth from the ships let us go our way, upon our shoulders --'

HOMER: `Having our hilted swords and long-helved spears.'

HESIOD: `Then the young heroes with their hands from the sea --'

HOMER: `Gladly and swiftly hauled out their fleet ship.'

HESIOD: `Then they came to Colchis and king Aeetes --'

HOMER: `They avoided; for they knew he was inhospitable and lawless.'

HESIOD: `Now when they had poured libations and deeply drunk, the surging sea --'

HOMER: `They were minded to traverse on well-built ships.'

HESIOD: `The Son of Atreus prayed greatly for them that they all might perish --'

HOMER: `At no time in the sea: and he opened his mouth said:'

HESIOD: `Eat, my guests, and drink, and may no one of you return home to his dear country --'

HOMER: `Distressed; but may you all reach home again unscathed.'

When Homer had met him fairly on every point Hesiod said:

`Only tell me this thing that I ask: How many Achaeans went to Ilium with the sons of Atreus?'

Homer answered in a mathematical problem, thus:

`There were fifty hearths, and at each hearth were fifty spits, and on each spit were fifty carcases, and there were thrice three hundred Achaeans to each joint.'

This is found to be an incredible number; for as there were fifty hearths, the number of spits is two thousand five hundred; and of carcasses, one hundred and twenty thousand...

Homer, then, having the advantage on every point, Hesiod was jealous and began again:

`Homer, son of Meles, if indeed the Muses, daughters of great Zeus the most high, honour you as it is said, tell me a standard that is both best and worst for mortal-men; for I long to know it.' Homer replied: `Hesiod, son of Dius, I am willing to tell you what you command, and very readily will I answer you. For each man to be a standard will I answer you. For each man to be a standard to himself is most excellent for the good, but for the bad it is the worst of all things. And now ask me whatever else your heart desires.'

HESIOD: `How would men best dwell in cities, and with what observances?'

HOMER: `By scorning to get unclean gain and if the good were honoured, but justice fell upon the unjust.'

HESIOD: `What is the best thing of all for a man to ask of the gods in prayer?'

HOMER: `That he may be always at peace with himself continually.'

HESIOD: `Can you tell me in briefest space what is best of all?'

HOMER: `A sound mind in a manly body, as I believe.'

HESIOD: `Of what effect are righteousness and courage?'

HOMER: `To advance the common good by private pains.'

HESIOD: `What is the mark of wisdom among men?'

HOMER: `To read aright the present, and to march with the occasion.'

HESIOD: `In what kind of matter is it right to trust in men?'

HOMER: `Where danger itself follows the action close.'

HESIOD: `What do men mean by happiness?'

HOMER: `Death after a life of least pain and greatest pleasure.'

After these verses had been spoken, all the Hellenes called for Homer to be crowned. But King Paneides bade each of them recite the finest passage from his own poems. Hesiod, therefore, began as follows:

`When the Pleiads, the daughters of Atlas, begin to rise begin the harvest, and begin ploughing ere they set. For forty nights and days they are hidden, but appear again as the year wears round, when first the sickle is sharpened. This is the law of the plains and for those who dwell near the sea or live in the rich-soiled valleys, far from the wave-tossed deep: strip to sow, and strip to plough, and strip to reap when all things are in season.' (3)

Then Homer:

`The ranks stood firm about the two Aiantes, such that not even Ares would have scorned them had he met them, nor yet Athena who saves armies. For there the chosen best awaited the charge of the Trojans and noble Hector, making a fence of spears and serried shields. Shield closed with shield, and helm with helm, and each man with his fellow, and the peaks of their head-pieces with crests of horse-hair touched as they bent their heads: so close they stood together. The murderous battle bristled with the long, flesh-rending spears they held, and the flash of bronze from polished helms and new-burnished breast-plates and gleaming shields blinded the eyes. Very hard of heart would he have been, who could then have seen that strife with joy and felt no pang.' (4)

Here, again, the Hellenes applauded Homer admiringly, so far did the verses exceed the ordinary level; and demanded that he should be adjudged the winner. But the king gave the crown to Hesiod, declaring that it was right that he who called upon men to follow peace and husbandry should have the prize rather than one who dwelt on war and slaughter. In this way, then, we are told, Hesiod gained the victory and received a brazen tripod which he dedicated to the Muses with this inscription:

`Hesiod dedicated this tripod to the Muses of Helicon after he had conquered divine Homer at Chalcis in a contest of song.'

After the gathering was dispersed, Hesiod crossed to the mainland and went to Delphi to consult the oracle and to dedicate the first fruits of his victory to the god. They say that as he was approaching the temple, the prophetess became inspired and said:

`Blessed is this man who serves my house, -- Hesiod, who is honoured by the deathless Muses: surely his renown shall be as wide as the light of dawn is spread. But beware of the pleasant grove of Nemean Zeus; for there death's end is destined to befall you.'

When Hesiod heard this oracle, he kept away from the Peloponnesus, supposing that the god meant the Nemea there; and coming to Oenoe in Locris, he stayed with Amphiphanes and Ganyetor the sons of Phegeus, thus unconsciously fulfilling the oracle; for all that region was called the sacred place of Nemean Zeus. He continued to stay a somewhat long time at Oenoe, until the young men, suspecting Hesiod of seducing their sister, killed him and cast his body into the sea which separates Achaea and Locris. On the third day, however, his body was brought to land by dolphins while some local feast of Ariadne was being held. Thereupon, all the people hurried to the shore, and recognized the body, lamented over it and buried it, and then began to look for the assassins. But these, fearing the anger of their countrymen, launched a fishing boat, and put out to sea for Crete: they had finished half their voyage when Zeus sank them with a thunderbolt, as Alcidamas states in his "Museum". Eratosthenes, however, says in his "Hesiod" that Ctimenus and Antiphus, sons of Ganyetor, killed him for the reason already stated, and were sacrificed by Eurycles the seer to the gods of hospitality. He adds that the girl, sister of the above-named, hanged herself after she had been seduced, and that she was seduced by some stranger, Demodes by name, who was travelling with Hesiod, and who was also killed by the brothers. At a later time the men of Orchomenus removed his body as they were directed by an oracle, and buried him in their own country where they placed this inscription on his tomb:

`Ascra with its many cornfields was his native land; but in death the land of the horse-driving Minyans holds the bones of Hesiod, whose renown is greatest among men of all who are judged by the test of wit.'

So much for Hesiod. But Homer, after losing the victory, went from place to place reciting his poems, and first of all the "Thebais" in seven thousand verses which begins: `Goddess, sing of parched Argos whence kings...', and then the "Epigoni" in seven thousand verses beginning: `And now, Muses, let us begin to sing of men of later days'; for some say that these poems also are by Homer. Now Xanthus and Gorgus, son of Midas the king, heard his epics and invited him to compose a epitaph for the tomb of their father on which was a bronze figure of a maiden bewailing the death of Midas. He wrote the following lines: --

`I am a maiden of bronze and sit upon the tomb of Midas. While water flows, and tall trees put forth leaves, and rivers swell, and the sea breaks on the shore; while the sun rises and shines and the bright moon also, ever remaining on this mournful tomb I tell the passer-by that Midas here lies buried.'

For these verses they gave him a silver bowl which he dedicated to Apollo at Delphi with this inscription: `Lord Phoebus, I, Homer, have given you a noble gift for the wisdom I have of you: do you ever grant me renown.'

After this he composed the "Odyssey" in twelve thousand verses, having previously written the "Iliad" in fifteen thousand five hundred verses (5). From Delphi, as we are told, he went to Athens and was entertained by Medon, king of the Athenians. And being one day in the council hall when it was cold and a fire was burning there, he drew off the following lines:

`Children are a man's crown, and towers of a city, horses are the ornament of a plain, and ships of the sea; and good it is to see a people seated in assembly. But with a blazing fire a house looks worthier upon a wintry day when the Son of Cronos sends down snow.'

From Athens he went on to Corinth, where he sang snatches of his poems and was received with distinction. Next he went to Argos and there recited these verses from the "Iliad":

`The sons of the Achaeans who held Argos and walled Tiryns, and Hermione and Asine which lie along a deep bay, and Troezen, and Eiones, and vine-clad Epidaurus, and the island of Aegina, and Mases, -- these followed strong-voiced Diomedes, son of Tydeus, who had the spirit of his father the son of Oeneus, and Sthenelus, dear son of famous Capaneus. And with these two there went a third leader, Eurypylus, a godlike man, son of the lord Mecisteus, sprung of Talaus; but strong-voiced Diomedes was their chief leader. These men had eighty dark ships wherein were ranged men skilled in war, Argives with linen jerkins, very goads of war.' (6)

This praise of their race by the most famous of all poets so exceedingly delighted the leading Argives, that they rewarded him with costly gifts and set up a brazen statue to him, decreeing that sacrifice should be offered to Homer daily, monthly, and yearly; and that another sacrifice should be sent to Chios every five years. This is the inscription they cut upon his statue:

`This is divine Homer who by his sweet-voiced art honoured all proud Hellas, but especially the Argives who threw down the god- built walls of Troy to avenge rich-haired Helen. For this cause the people of a great city set his statue here and serve him with the honours of the deathless gods.'

After he had stayed for some time in Argos, he crossed over to Delos, to the great assembly, and there, standing on the altar of horns, he recited the "Hymn to Apollo" (7) which begins: `I will remember and not forget Apollo the far-shooter.' When the hymn was ended, the Ionians made him a citizen of each one of their states, and the Delians wrote the poem on a whitened tablet and dedicated it in the temple of Artemis. The poet sailed to Ios, after the assembly was broken up, to join Creophylus, and stayed there some time, being now an old man. And, it is said, as he was sitting by the sea he asked some boys who were returning from fishing:

`Sirs, hunters of deep-sea prey, have we caught anything?'

To this replied:

`All that we caught, we left behind, and carry away all that we did not catch.'

Homer did not understand this reply and asked what they meant. They then explained that they had caught nothing in fishing, but had been catching their lice, and those of the lice which they caught, they left behind; but carried away in their clothes those which they did not catch. Hereupon Homer remembered the oracle and, perceiving that the end of his life had come composed his own epitaph. And while he was retiring from that place, he slipped in a clayey place and fell upon his side, and died, it is said, the third day after. He was buried in Ios, and this is his epitaph:

`Here the earth covers the sacred head of divine Homer, the glorifier of hero-men.'

ENDNOTES:

(1) sc. the riddle of the fisher-boys which comes at the end of this work.
(2) The verses of Hesiod are called doubtful in meaning because they are, if taken alone, either incomplete or absurd.
(3) "Works and Days", ll. 383-392.
(4) "Iliad" xiii, ll. 126-133, 339-344.
(5) The accepted text of the "Iliad" contains 15,693 verses; that of the "Odyssey", 12,110.
(6) "Iliad" ii, ll. 559-568 (with two additional verses).
(7) "Homeric Hymns", iii.

Homeric Hymn to Dionysus

Εις Διωνυσον

... οι μεν γαρ Δρακανω* σ', οι δ' ̓Ικαρω ηνεμοεσση
φασ', οι δ' εν Ναξω*, διο̂ ν γενος, ειραφιω̂τα*,
οι δε σ' επ' ̓Αλφειῳ̂* ποταμῳ̂ βαθυδινηεντι
κυσαμενην Σεμελην τεκεειν Διι τερπικεραυνω*: 5
αλλοι δ' εν Θηβησιν, αναξ, σε λεγουσι γενεσθαι,
ψευδομενοι: σε δ' ετικτε πατηρ ανδρω̂ν τε θεω̂ν τε
πολλον απ' ανθρωπων, κρυπτων* λευκωλενον ̔́Ηρην.
εστι δε τις Νυση*, υπατον ορος*, ανθεον υλη,
τηλου̂ Φοινικης, σχεδον Αιγυπτοιο ροαων, 10
... και οι αναστησουσιν αγαλματα πολλ' ενι νηοις̂ .
ως δε τα μεν τρια, σοι παντως τριετηρισιν* αιει
ανθρωποι ρεξουσι τεληεσσας εκατομβας.
η̂ και κυανεησιν επ' οφρυσι νευ̂σε Κρονιων:
αμβροσιαι δ' αρα χαιτ̂ αι επερρωσαντο ανακτος 15
κρατος απ' αθανατοιο: μεγαν δ' ελελιξεν ̓́Ολυμπον.
ως ειπων επενευσε καρηατι μητιετα Ζευς.
ιληθ', ειραφιω̂τα, γυναιμανες: οι δε σ' αοιδοι
αδομεν αρχομενοι ληγοντες τ': ουδε πη εστι
σει'̂ επιληθομενω ιερη̂ς μεμνη̂σθαι αοιδη̂ς. 20
και συ μεν ουτω χαιρ̂ ε, Διωνυσ' ειραφιω̂τα,
συν μητρι Σεμελη, ην περ καλεουσι Θυωνην.

To Dionysus

[1] I will tell of Dionysus, the son of glorious Semele, how he appeared on a jutting headland by the shore of the fruitless sea, seeming like a stripling in the first flush of manhood: his rich, dark hair was waving about him, [5] and on his strong shoulders he wore a purple robe. Presently there came swiftly over the sparkling sea Tyrsenian¹ pirates on a well-decked ship —a miserable doom led them on. When they saw him they made signs to one another and sprang out quickly, and seizing him straightway [10] put him on board their ship exultingly; for they thought him the son of heaven-nurtured kings. They sought to bind him with rude bonds, but the bonds would not hold him, and the withes fell far away from his hands and feet: and he sat with a smile [15] in his dark eyes. Then the helmsman understood all and cried out at once to his fellows and said: “Madmen! what god is this whom you have taken and bind, strong that he is? Not even the well-built ship can carry him. Surely this is either Zeus or Apollo who has the silver bow, [20] or Poseidon, for he looks not like mortal men but like the gods who dwell on Olympus. Come, then, let us set him free upon the dark shore at once: do not lay hands on him, lest he grow angry and stir up dangerous winds and heavy squalls.”
[25] So said he: but the master chid him with taunting words: “Madman, mark the wind and help hoist sail on the ship: catch all the sheets. As for this fellow we men will see to him: I reckon he is bound for Egypt or for Cyprus or to the Hyperboreans or further still. But in the end [30] he will speak out and tell us his friends and all his wealth and his brothers, now that providence has thrown him in our way.”
When he had said this, he had mast and sail hoisted on the ship, and the wind filled the sail and the crew hauled taut the sheets on either side. But soon strange things were seen among them. [35] First of all sweet, fragrant wine ran streaming throughout all the black ship and a heavenly smell arose, so that all the seamen were seized with amazement when they saw it. And all at once a vine spread out both ways along the top of the sail with many clusters hanging down from it, [40] and a dark ivy-plant twined about the mast, blossoming with flowers, and with rich berries growing on it; and all the thole-pins were covered with garlands. When the pirates saw all this, then at last they bade the helmsman to put the ship to land. But the god changed into a dreadful lion there on the ship, [45] in the bows, and roared loudly: amidships also he showed his wonders and created a shaggy bear which stood up ravening, while on the forepeak was the lion glaring fiercely with scowling brows. And so the sailors fled into the stern and crowded bemused about the right-minded helmsman, until suddenly the lion sprang upon the master [50] and seized him; and when the sailors saw it they leapt out overboard one and all into the bright sea, escaping from a miserable fate, and were changed into dolphins. But on the helmsman Dionysus had mercy and held him back and made him altogether happy, saying to him:
[55] “Take courage, good...; you have found favour with my heart. I am loud-crying Dionysus whom Cadmus' daughter Semele bare of union with Zeus.”
Hail, child of fair-faced Semele! He who forgets you can in no wise order sweet song.

Death and the Afterlife in Homer

Death and what happens after death are universal concerns for humanity; around the world

different cultures and religions contemplate our existence, and try to make sense of both our place in the world and our deaths. Although we no longer (for the most part) follow the religious beliefs of the ancient Greeks and Romans, their exploration of mortality and the afterlife can nonetheless be emotionally powerful and meaningful for us. In what follows, we will consider the presentation of death and the afterlife in some of the earliest Greek literature, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.

The most common name for the underworld was Hades, a personified god and brother of

Zeus, but also a place to which the souls of departed mortals go. Hades is in fact far more

commonly mentioned as the underworld than as a personified god in Greek literature, although

we do see him as an actual character in some myths, most famously in the story of the abduction

of Persesphone by Hades, a tale told in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. In post-classical times, the term Hades was adopted by Christian authors, including the early Church Fathers, Dante and Milton, to refer to the Christian concept of Hell. The term used is the same, but it is important to distinguish between the Christian conception of Hell and Hades. For Christians, Hell is a place to which the souls of the wicked descend after death, whereas the souls of the good are taken to Heaven to be with God. The ancient Greek concept is extremely different.

We cannot understand the gods of the Greek pantheon as moral beings in the same way

that many monotheistic religions consider God to be a moral power. A similar principle is true of

the early Greek conception of the underworld; in Homer it is not just the souls of the wicked who

descend to Hades after death, but rather the souls of all mortal men, good or bad. The Odyssey

does present a better afterlife for Menelaus and Helen, who are taken to Elysium, a happy place

more like Olympus, by virtue of their relationship to Zeus. In another early myth too, heroes did

achieve a divine status apart from the gods and were considered to be in an intermediary position between the gods and mortals; Hesiod describes a special existence for heroes in his myth of the five generations of men. For the most part, however, in Homer men and women from the most heroic to the least distinguished are to be found in Hades after their life has come to an end. In contrast, the heavens are where the gods live, and only the most select of mortals are able to gain a place in heaven, in which case they are divinized, made immortal, rather than dead; Heracles is an example of a great hero, the semi-divine son of Zeus, who is actually made an immortal god. Other heroes, however, such as Achilles, must die and descend to Hades.

Yet while most mortals descend to the underworld after death in Homer, to say that the

underworld is a place for all humankind, regardless of what one has done in his or her life, is to

simplify a complex concept. Much later than Homer, in the account of Hades by the Roman poet

Vergil, there is a clear idea that different fates await those who descend to the afterlife in Hades.

The very depths of the underworld, known as Tartarus, could be considered a parallel to our Hell, where those who displeased the gods were sentenced to some terrible punishments, some of which we will look at below. Conversely, those people who distinguished themselves in the eyes of the gods existed in a part of the underworld known as Elysium, an equivalent to our Heaven. It is here that Vergil pictures heroes and the great men of Greece and Rome after they die.

But let us return to look at the earliest extended account of the underworld, which is

found in book 11 of the Odyssey of Homer, written in the 8th or 7th centuries B.C. This myth is

told as part of the return of Odysseus from Troy; he is shipwrecked and driven off course, and it

takes him 10 years to find his way home to his wife Penelope. On the way he lives through many

adventures, one of which is a trip to the underworld, where he is instructed to go by the witch

Circe in order to consult the Theban seer Tiresias. Odysseus and his companions sail to the ends

of the earth, where Odysseus makes contact with the dead. The description of Odysseus’ first

encounter with the dead is terrifying – the ghosts of his former friends wail and move around him.

With the exception of Tiresias, the seer who will give Odysseus important information about his

voyage home, the souls of the dead are lacking in consciousness and are unable to speak to

Odysseus until they have tasted blood. The underworld will become a happier place in latter

accounts, but in the Odyssey it is a gloomy place which is best avoided. However, as the Odyssey

makes clear, it is not possible to avoid it; the all encompassing and democratic nature of death is

underlined.Proper burial is an issue in the Greek world, and all individuals should receive a proper burial. When Patroclus dies in the Iliad there is a long description of his funeral. In the Odyssey, Odysseus encounters in the underworld his comrade Elpenor, who, not having received a proper burial, begs Odysseus to return and bury his body. While there is not a clear sense that Elpenor is not fully accepted into the underworld because he has not been buried (an idea found in later literature), his soul is not at rest until this has been done.

Even for those who have a better lot in death, it is made clear in Homer’s conception of

the underworld that life is in every way preferable to death. Odysseus encounters his mother and other of his friends from Troy in the underworld. Perhaps his most famous encounter, however, is with the great hero Achilles, the semi-divine man who brought about the destruction of Troy but was fated to die doing so. Odysseus speaks to him and suggests that Achilles should not grieve at death because, as a great man, he is distinguished amongst the dead. Achilles replies that he would rather work on earth as a poor farmer than rule amongst the dead! Death, then, is not something which is pleasant in the Homeric conception.

Odysseus goes on to encounter several individuals who suffer particularly harsh

punishments in the underworld – their fate is more similar to Christian conceptions of hell, and

have fascinated generations of readers. One of those being punished is Tantalus, whom Odysseus

describes to have an unending torture. Tantalus stands forever thirsty in a pool of water and

hunger under succulent fruit trees; whenever he reaches for either, it recedes. This is a horrendous

punishment, which was given to Tantalus for transgressing against the gods. He was a great king

amidst the first generations of mankind, who was allowed to dine with the gods. In ancient Greek

myths he is said variously to tell humans what the gods discussed at such dinners, to steal the

divine food of the gods, or test the gods by killing and cooking his son Pelops to see whether they

would detect the food (Demeter is supposed to have eaten a piece of shoulder from the stew). As

punishment he is forever ‘tantalized’. Odysseus also sees Sisyphus, who receives another great

punishment from the gods after his death. He is fated to push a great boulder up a hill for eternity, only to have it fall back down again and again. Like Tantalus, Sisyphus receives this punishment because he sinned against the gods. He was said to have angered Zeus by telling the river-god Asopus that he had carried off his daughter Aegina, and Zeus sent Death (Thanatos) to get him.

Sisyphus trapped Death in chains, during which time no humans died – until Ares, the god of war,freed death and he took his revenge on Sisyphus. He sinned against Zeus, and is therefore

punished in the underworld. These particular punishments are reserved for those who offend the gods.

The Homeric conception of death is not a reassuring one, but it underlines the importance

of life and distinguishing oneself while still on the earth. Achilles tells Odysseus that he would

prefer to be a poor labourer on earth than to rule amongst the dead, but his heroic deeds he

performed in the Trojan war, the penalty of whichwas his death, ensure his immortal fame

Homer Quotes

"Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth, nothing is bred that is weaker than man."
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise!"
— Homer

"Even a fool learns something once it hits him."
— Homer (Iliad)

"Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another."
— Homer (The Iliad)

"A man who has been through bitter experiences and travelled far enjoys even his sufferings after a time"
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"For a friend with an understanding heart is worth no less than a brother"
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep."
— Homer

"The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend as to find a friend worth dying for."
— Homer

"Sleep, delicious and profound, the very counterfeit of death"
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"If you serve too many masters, you'll soon suffer."
— Homer

"I didn't lie! I just created fiction with my mouth!"
— Homer

"Ah how shameless – the way these mortals blame the gods. From us alone they say come all their miseries yes but they themselves with their own reckless ways compound their pains beyond their proper share."
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"The journey is the thing."
— Homer

"youth is quick in feeling but weak in judgement."
— Homer

"Sing to me, Muse, of the wrath of Achilles, son of Peleus, which brought countless ills upon the Acheans."
— Homer (The Iliad)

"…There is the heat of Love, the pulsing rush of Longing, the lover’s whisper, irresistible—magic to make the sanest man go mad."
— Homer (The Iliad)

"There will be killing till the score is paid."
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"Life is largely a matter of expectation. "
— Homer

"some things you will think of yourself,...some things God will put into your mind"
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"There is nothing more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends." Odyssey"
— Homer

"Here, therefore, huge and mighty warrior though you be, here shall you die."
— Homer (Iliad)

"[I]t is the wine that leads me on,
the wild wine
that sets the wisest man to sing
at the top of his lungs,
laugh like a fool – it drives the
man to dancing... it even
tempts him to blurt out stories
better never told."
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"I have no interest at all in food and drink, but only in slaughter and blood and the agonized groans of mangled men"
— Homer

"Tell me, O muse, of travellers far and wide"
— Homer

"No one can hurry me down to Hades before my time, but if a man's hour is come, be he brave or be he coward, there is no escape for him when he has once been born."
— Homer (The Iliad)

"So, the gods don't hand out all their gifts at once, not build and brains and flowing speech to all. One man may fail to impress us with his looks but a god can crown his words with beauty, charm, and men look on with delight when he speaks out. Never faltering, filled with winning self-control, he shines forth at assembly grounds and people gaze at him like a god when he walks through the streets. Another man may look like a deathless one on high but there's not a bit of grace to crown his words. Just like you, my fine, handsome friend."
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"Do not beg me by knees or by parents you dog! I only wish I were savagely wrathful enough to hack up your corpse and eat it raw"
— Homer

"The greatest thing is for a man and woman to live together, as husband and wife; confounding their enemies and delighting their friends."
— Homer

"Come, Friend, you too must die. Why moan about it so?
Even Patroclus died, a far, far better man than you.
And look, you see how handsome and powerful I am?
The son of a great man, the mother who gave me life--
A deathless goddess. But even for me, I tell you,
Death and the strong force of fate are waiting.
There will come a dawn or sunset or high noon
When a man will take my life in battle too--
flinging a spear perhaps
Or whipping a deadly arrow off his bow."
— Homer (The Iliad)

"Each man delights in the work that suits him best."
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"Choose well."
— Homer

"Now from his breast into the eyes the ache
of longing mounted, and he wept at last,
his dear wife, clear and faithful, in his arms,
longed for as the sunwarmed earth is longed for by a swimmer
spent in rough water where his ship went down
under Poseidon's blows, gale winds and tons of sea.
Few men can keep alive through a big serf
to crawl, clotted with brine, on kindly beaches
in joy, in joy, knowing the abyss behind:
and so she too rejoiced, her gaze upon her husband,
her white arms round him pressed as though forever."
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"The charity that is a trifle to us can be precious to others.
"
— Homer

"It behooves a father to be blameless if he expects his child to be."
— Homer

"Few sons are like their fathers--most are worse, few better."
— Homer

"...like that star of the waning summer who beyond all stars rises bathed in the ocean stream to glitter in brilliance."
— Homer (The Iliad)

"Wine can of their wits the wise beguile, Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile"
— Homer

"Why cover the same ground again? ... It goes against my grain to repeat a tale told once, and told so clearly."
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"Everything is more beautiful because we are doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again."
— Homer (The Iliad)

"Getting out of jury duty is easy. The trick is to say you're prejudiced against all races. "
— Homer

"Let me not then die ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter."
— Homer (The Iliad)

"For they imagined as they wished--that it was a wild shot,/ an unintended killing--fools, not to comprehend/ they were already in the grip of death./ But glaring under his brows Odysseus answered:

'You yellow dogs, you thought I'd never make it/ home from the land of Troy. You took my house to plunder,/ twisted my maids to serve your beds. You dared/ bid for my wife while I was still alive./ Contempt was all you had for the gods who rule wide heaven,/ contempt for what men say of you hereafter./ Your last hour has come. You die in blood."
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"Rage - Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,
great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion,
feasts for the dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.
Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,
Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles."
— Homer (The Iliad & The Odyssey)

"Immortals are never alien to one another."
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"Aries in his many fits knows no favorites."
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away."
— Homer (The Iliad)

"Think not to match yourself against the gods, for men that walk the earth cannot hold their own with the immortals."
— Homer (Iliad)

"down from his brow
she ran his curls
like thick hyacinth clusters
full of blooms"
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"A small rock holds back a great wave."
— Homer

"All men owe honor to the poets - honor and awe; for they are dearest to the Muse who puts upon their lips the ways of life."
— Homer

Source

Homer

In the Western classical tradition Homer (English pronunciation: /ˈhoʊmər/; Ancient Greek: Ὅμηρος, Hómēros), is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. 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 controversial. 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.

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. 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.

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 about half of all ancient Greek papyrus finds

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer

Homeric Hymn to Demetra - Mixing the Kykeon

Mixing the Kykeon and Breaking the Fast

"In Homer the kykeôn, a "mixed drink" that contains the grain sacred to Demeter, is used to refresh Nestor and the wounded Machaon after battle (Iliad ii). [...] In the Hymn (in contrast to Homer) the drink is neither wine (wineless offerings were standard in the cult of the goddesses and in chthonic cults, and this passage offers an aition for the practice), the most civilized mortal drink, nor nectar, the immortal drink. [...] The theory that the barley grains were fermented, and thus the drink had an hallucinatory effect, is unlikely to be correct. Indeed, the mild and medicinal quality of the drink may explain its suitability for breaking a fast. In drinking the kykeôn, the initiates partake of food sacred to the goddess and thus perhaps begin to share in the prosperity promised by the Mysteries."

from "The Homeric Hymn to Demeter: Translation, Commentary, and Interpretive Essays," p. 47, by Helene P. Foley (1994)

206
Then Metaneira offered her a cup* with honeyed wine
___ τῇ δὲ δέπας Μετάνειρα δίδου μελιηδέος οἴνου
___ têi de depas Metaneira didou meliêdeos oinou

207
filled: but she refused it, for she said, it was not lawful for her
___ πλήσασ': ἣ δ' ἀνένευσ': οὐ γὰρ θεμιτόν οἱ ἔφασκε
___ plêsas': hê d' aneneus': ou gar themiton hoi ephaske

208
to drink red wine, but bade* them to mix some barley and water
___ πίνειν οἶνον ἐρυθρόν: ἄνωγε δ' ἄρ' ἄλφι καὶ ὕδωρ
___ pinein oinon eruthron: anôge d' ar' alphi kai hudôr

209
and give her the mixture* to drink with delicate* pennyroyal.*
___ δοῦναι μίξασαν πιέμεν γλήχωνι τερείνῃ.
___ dounai mixasan piemen glêkhôni tereinêi.

210
So she prepared* and gave the goddess the draught (kykeôn)*
as she bade.
___ ἣ δὲ κυκεῶ τεύξασα θεᾷ πόρεν, ὡς ἐκέλευε:
___ hê de kukeô teuxasa theai poren, hôs ekeleue:

211
And the great queen Deo received it for the sake* of the rites.*
___ δεξαμένη δ' ὁσίης ἕνεκεν πολυπότνια Δηώ
___ dexamenê d' hosiês heneken polupotnia Dêô

206 δέπας / depas
cup - beaker - goblet - of the golden bowl in which the sun floated back from West to East during the night

208 ἄνωγε / anôge
command - order - advise - urge - bid

209 μίξασαν / mixasan
mixture - to be mixed up with - mingled among - join - bring together

209 γλήχωνι / glêkhôni (Illustrated above, Wikipedia)
pennyroyal - mint - Mentha pulegium
"Pennyroyal is a plant in the mint genus, within the family Lamiaceae. Crushed pennyroyal leaves exhibit a very strong fragrance similar to spearmint. Pennyroyal is a traditional culinary herb, folk remedy, and abortifacient." (Wikipedia)

209 τερείνῃ / tereinêi
soft - delicate - tender - that causes tender feelings

210 τεύξασα / teuxasa
prepare - produce by work or art - form - create - well-wrought

210 κυκεῶ / kukeô (κῠκ-εών)
mixed drink - the "kykeon," a type of Eucharist in the Demeter mysteries - literally, draught - potion - metaphorically = mixture, medley, union

211 ἕνεκεν / heneken
to observe - on account of - according to - for the sake of

211 ὅσιος / hosiês
rites - sanctioned by divine law - [what is] hallowed - holy - a sacrament

Both Jests & Kykeon
Break the Fast
"The Homeric hymn to Demeter offers us an almost complete picture of mysteries of the Great Goddesses under their primitive form, which they still retained at the date when the hymn was composed...[Joseph Daniel] Guigniaut thus describes the chief of them: 'Demeter seeks her daughter during nine days throughout all the earth, carrying torches in both hands; and on the tenth day she arrives at Eleusis, where she rests and breaks her long fast by drinking the restorative kykeon, of which she has herself prescribed the form of preparation. Here are so many points of afhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giffinity, but not of strict correspondence, between the legend so poetically developed by the author of the hymn and the rites observed during the first nine days of the great Eleusinian festival. [...] Ihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifambe, who by her jests diverts the goddess from the gloomy grief into which the loss of her daughter had plunged her, personifies, with the iambic verses, the comic scenes which interrupted the mourning, [in the same way] as the kykeon broke the fast of the initiated.'"

from "The Eleusinian Mysteries," The Contemporary Review, Vol 27, p.953 (Oxford. 1880) by François Lenormant

http://earlywomenmasters.net/demeter/myth_206.html
http://www.uh.edu/~cldue/texts/demeter.html
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/lsa/lsa_article1.pdf
THE ROAD TO ELEUSIS

Ithaca by C.P.Cavafy (with Sean Connery & Vangelis)

C.P.Cavafy's poem 'Ithaca', recited by Sir Sean Connery and with music specially composed by Vangelis.



ITHACA [1910, 1911]
As you set out for Ithaca
hope that your journey is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon-don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare sensasion
touches your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon-you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope that your journey is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors you're seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind-
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and learn again from those who know.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you're destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so that you're old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you've gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaca to make you rich.
Ithaca gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would have not set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you'll have understood by then what these Ithacas mean.

THE ODYSSEY / ΟΔΥΣΣΕΙΑ - FULL MOVIE (1997)

THE ODYSSEY - 1997 - ΟΔΥΣΣΕΙΑ - FULL MOVIE GREEK SUBTITLES
ΥΠΟΤΙΤΛΙΣΜΟΣ - ΠΡΟΣΑΡΜΟΓΗ -- BraveManNewWorld [Size 1,36GB]

Read the Homer Iliad & Odyssey. Don't expect to learn from the movie...