Homer, Hesiod and the Hymns Diachronic Development in Epic Diction

This book investigates the history of the ancient Greek tradition of oral epic poetry which culminated in the Iliad and Odyssey. These masterpieces did not exhaust the tradition, and poems were composed in the same style for several generations afterwards. One group of such poems is the 'Homeric Hymns', ascribed to Homer in antiquity. In fact the origins of these Hymns are as mysterious as those of the Homeric epics themselves with little external evidence to assist. This book will be of interest to scholars concerned with Greek philology and dialects, Homeric epic and Greek literature of the Archaic period. It should also find readers amongst specialists in other oral poetries and those using computers in the Humanities.

List of tables and figures; Preface; Abbreviations; 1. Introduction and methodology; 2. The problem of oral compostion; 3. Digamma, alternative morphs and other criteria; 4. Diachronic and regional developments; Excurses: the date of Hesiod and the Lelantine War; 5. The Hymn to Delian Apollo; 6. The Hymn to Pythian Apollo; 7. The Hymn to Hermes; 8. The Hymn to Aphrodite; 9. Other hymns; 10. Conclusions; Appendices; Notes; Bibliography; Indices.

This book investigates the history of the ancient Greek tradition of oral epic poetry which culminated in the Iliad and Odyssey. This book will be of interest to scholars concerned with Greek philology and dialects, Homeric epic and Greek literature of the Archaic period.