Questions tagged [homer]
Questions about works of the ancient Greek writer known as Homer (born c. 8th century BC) or his life as a writer. Homer is known as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Use with the tag [greek-language].
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Where does Homer say that Oceanus is the begetter of life and all the gods?
Describing the antecedents of Thales of Miletus's theory that the ārche or foundational substance of all matter was water, Anthony Gottlieb writes:
In Homer (eighth century BC), Okeanos, the ...
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A reproof that was almost remorse
In Jorge Luis Borges' story "The immortal", we find the sentences,
I explored the uninhabited spaces, and I corrected myself: The gods that built this place have died. Then I reflected upon ...
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How does one “shoot an arrow through all twelve axes” in the Odyssey?
In book 21 of the Odyssey, Penelope sets her suitors a contest:
“Hear me, ye proud wooers, who have beset this house to eat and drink ever without end, since its master has long been gone, nor could ...
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Does Penelope secretly recognize Odysseus?
In book 19 of the Odyssey, Odysseus has returned home, in disguise as a beggar. At night, after the suitors have departed to their own houses, he speaks with his wife Penelope, claiming to be a Cretan ...
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The endless afternoon of Lotus Land — when and where did this trope originate?
Tennyson says in his poem The Lotus-Eaters (published in 1832)
In the afternoon they came unto a land
In which it seemèd always afternoon.
In 1859, Baudelaire wrote the poem Le Voyage, which was ...
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In what order should I read Emily Wilson's translations of Homer?
Emily Wilson's translation of the Iliad was published in 2023, joining her translation of the Odyssey from 2018. I have recently procured copies of said translations with the intent to read them in ...
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Why does Odysseus laugh at Zeus' sign before killing the suitors?
When Odysseus strings his bow, that none of the suitors beforehand have been able to string, he then plucks it like a harp, sounding a note. After that, Zeus gets involved, sending a thunderclap as a ...
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Why does Telemachus hang the women instead of following Odysseus' instructions?
In The Odyssey, after Odysseus has slain the suitors, he tells Telemachus to have the disloyal women help to clean up the mess, and then to cut them to pieces:
“These dead must be disposed of first ...
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What does "spiked with coughing death" mean in "The Odyssey"?
In The Odyssey, when Penelope becomes convinced that Odysseus is not going to return, she devises a test for the suitors: to use Odysseus' bow to shoot an arrow through twelve axes. When she goes to ...
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Bathing and marriage in ancient Greek culture
Early on in Homer's Odyssey, the maiden princess of the seafaring peoples is called by the goddess to go and bathe on the beach and wash clothes with her servants. This is understood both by the ...
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What does "Time and again my fiery spirit drove me to win a wife" mean?
In Book 9 of the Iliad, when Achilles is rejecting Agamemnon's offer as brought by Odysseus, Achilles says:
If the gods pull me through and I reach home alive,
Peleus needs no help to fetch a bride ...
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What does Athena mean in this passage of book 3 of the Odyssey?
In book 3 of The Odyssey, Athena says this to Telemachus after he says that he will never gain her favor (in Robert Fagles' translation):
“Telemachus!”
Pallas Athena broke in sharply, her eyes afire—
...
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What does Athena mean by 'slaughtering his droves of sheep and cattle'?
In book 1 of The Odyssey, Athena says to Zeus (in Robert Fagles' translation):
While I myself go down to Ithaca, rouse his son
to a braver pitch, inspire his heart with courage
to summon the flowing-...
- 173
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What does Athena mean by "suave, seductive words" in the Odyssey?
In book 1 of The Odyssey, Athena says to Zeus (in Robert Fagles' translation):
"Atlas’ daughter it is who holds Odysseus captive,
luckless man—despite his tears, forever trying
to spellbind his ...
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What evidence supports Calypso's island being Gozo (Malta)?
In the Odyssey, the island where Calypso lives is called Ogygia, but what real Mediterranean island is this? One long-standing theory has it as Gozo, the second island of Malta:
Ogygia or Phaeacia ...
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