The Cambridge Guide to Homer

From its ancient incarnation as a song to recent translations in modern languages, Homeric epic remains an abiding source of inspiration for both scholars and artists that transcends temporal and linguistic boundaries. The Cambridge Guide to Homer examines the influence and meaning of Homeric poetry from its earliest form as ancient Greek song to its current status in world literature, presenting the information in a synthetic manner that allows the reader to gain an understanding of the different strands of Homeric studies. The volume is structured around three main themes: Homeric Song and Text; the Homeric World, and Homer in the World. Each section starts with a series of 'macropedia' essays arranged thematically that are accompanied by shorter complementary 'micropedia' articles. The Cambridge Guide to Homer thus traces the many routes taken by Homeric epic in the ancient world and its continuing relevance in different periods and cultures.

Part I. Homeric Song and Text: 1. Introduction; 2. Homeric epic in performance; 3. Homeric poetics; 4. Homer in a world of song; 5. Epic traditions; 6. Mythic background; 7. The language of Homer; 8. From song to text; 9. Achilles; 10. Ancient Near Eastern epic; 11. Batrakhomuomakhia; 12. Catalogues; 13. Dreams; 14. Early editions; 15. Ekphrasis; 16. Epic cycle; 17. Epithets; 18. Formula; 19. Gods and goddesses; 20. Hesiod and Homer; 21. Home; 22. Homer and Indo-European myth; 23. Homer and the alphabet; 24. Homeric body and mind; 25. Homeric dialects; 26. Homeric humor; 27. Homeric hymns; 28. Homeric scholia; 29. Hospitality; 30. Iliad; 31. Immanence; 32. Kleos; 33. Lament; 34. Margites; 35. Meter; 36. Narrative; 37. Odysseus; 38. Odyssey; 39. Panathenaia; 40. Panhellenism; 41. Pisistratus; 42. Rhapsodes and Homeridai; 43. Ring composition; 44. Similes; 45. Speech; 46. Trojan horse; 47. Troy; 48. Type scene; Part II. Homeric World: 49. Introduction; 50. Homeric communities in the Homeric epics and early Archaic Greece; 51. Homeric religion; 52. Homer and history; 53. Homeric geography; 54. Homeric materiality; 55. Afterlife in Homer; 56. Assemblies and councils; 57. Athletic competition; 58. Basileus and Anax in Homer and Mycenaean; 59. Carl Blegen; 60. Boar's tusk helmets; 61. Burial practices; 62. Catalogue of ships and archaeology; 63. Catalogue of ships: literary aspects; 64. Class relations; 65. The literary tradition of destruction of cities; 66. Divine epiphany in Homer; 67. Family and marriage in Homer; 68. Feasting and drinking in Homer; 69. Archaeology of hero cult; 70. Hittite literary evidence; 71. Homeric archaeology; 72. Homeric economy; 73. Household organization; 74. Lefkandi; 75. Mycenae; 76. Nestor's cup; 77. Nostoi; 78. Offerings in Homer; 79. Personification in Homer; 80. Prayers and vows; 81. Pylos; 82. Religious festivals in Homer; 83. Heinrich Schliemann; 84. Shield of Achilles; 85. Slavery in Homer; 86. Supplication in Homer; 87. Troy and its treasures; 88. Warfare in Homer; 89. Warrior graves; 90. Weapons and armor; 91. Women in Homer; Part III. Homer in the World: 92. Introduction; 93. Homer in antiquity; 94. Homer and the Latin West in the Middle Ages; 95. Homer in Greece from the end of Antiquity: 1. The Byzantine reception of Homer and his export to other cultures; 96. Homer in Greece from the end of Antiquity: 2. Homer after Byzantium: from the Early Ottoman Period to the age of nationalisms; 97. Homer in Renaissance Europe (1488–1649); 98. Homer in early modern Europe; 99. The reception of Homer since 1900; 100. Homer: image and cult; 101. Albert Bates Lord; 102. Allegory and allegorical interpretation; 103. Aristotle and Homer; 104. Athens and Homer; 105. Biographies of Homer; 106. Chaucer and Homer; 107. Dante and Homer; 108. Homeric question; 109. Milman Parry; 110. Plato and Homer; 111. Plutarch and Homer; 112. Shakespeare and Homer; 113. Sponde Jean de and Homer; 114. Vergil and Homer; 115. Weil Simone and the Iliad.

Corinne Ondine Pache is Professor of Classical Studies at Trinity University. Her research focuses on ancient religion, archaic poetry, and the modern reception of ancient epic. Her publications includes Baby and Child Heroes in Ancient Greece (2004) and 'A Moment's Ornament': The Poetics of Nympholepsy in Ancient Greece (2011).