Homer. The Iliad and the Odyssey

 Homer, as legend would be a blind bard who traveled the towns and cities reciting epics as was done in Europe in the Middle Ages and later centuries , although nothing is known for sure of himself , Homer is the name traditionally assigned the famous author of the Iliad and the Odyssey , the two great epics of ancient Greece . In fact, some question whether these two epics are by the same author . However, linguistic and historical data that are available suggest that the poems were written in the Greek settlements on the west coast of Asia Minor, about the ninth century BC
the Iliad
The two epics narrate legendary events which allegedly occurred many centuries before the time they were written . The Iliad is in the final year of the Trojan War , which forms the backdrop to the plot . It tells the story of the wrath of the Greek hero Achilles. Insulted by his commander in chief, Agamemnon , the young warrior Achilles withdraws from battle, leaving his fortune to his fellow Greeks, suffering terrible defeats at the hands of the Trojans. Achilles rejected all attempts at reconciliation on the part of the Greeks , but finally gives in a way to allow his companion Patroclus himself at the head of his troops. Patroclus dies in combat, and Achilles , prey of anger and resentment, directed his hatred of Trojans, whose leader , Hector (son of Priam ) , defeated in single combat . The poem concludes with delivery Achilles Hector's body to Priam , for it to bury him , recognizing certain affinity with the Trojan king , since both must confront the tragedy of death and mourning.
the Odyssey
The Odyssey describes the return of the Greek hero Odysseus ( Ulysses in the Latin tradition ) of the Trojan War . In the opening scenes recounted the mess that has been mired in the house of Odysseus after his long absence. A group of suitors of his wife Penelope is destroying their properties. Then, the story focuses on the hero himself . The story spans ten years of travel , during which faces many dangers like man-eating giant , Polyphemus , and so subtle threats as representing the goddess Calypso , who promises immortality if he renounces back home. The second half of the poem begins with the arrival of Odysseus to his home island of Ithaca. Here , displaying a coolness and infinite patience , tests the loyalty of his servants , and takes effect plot bloody revenge against Penelope 's suitors , and is reunited with his son , his wife and his elderly father.
epic
These two epics are written in formal verse and elevated, in a language ever used in ordinary language , its metric is the dactylic hexameter (see versification ) . It is impossible to distinguish between these two works on the stylistic aspect . However, it is easy to understand why , since ancient times, many readers will have been attributed to two different authors . The Iliad speaks of passions and unsolvable dilemmas . There are no real villains in it , Achilles , Agamemnon , Priam and the other characters are victims of a tragic and cruel universe . In the Odyssey , however , evil is defeated, justice triumphs and family, sadly separated , meet again. The rational intellect , particularly that of Odysseus , acts as a driving force throughout the story.
Homeric Hymns
Along with the Iliad and the Odyssey are the so-called Homeric Hymns , a series of relatively short poems , which celebrate the exploits of various gods , epic style compounds similar, also attributed to Homer .
The Homeric Question
The modern text of the Homeric poems are transmitted through medieval and Renaissance manuscripts , which in turn are copies of ancient manuscripts , now lost . Despite the many uncertainties that exist about the identity of Homer (some describe it as a blind bard of Chios ) or the authorship of certain parts of the text , as the final scenes of the Odyssey , the majority of readers , from ancient classical up not long ago , believed that Homer was a poet ( or at most , two poets ) much like others. They believed , in short, that the Iliad and the Odyssey , although based on traditional materials , are independent works , original and largely fictitious .
However, during the past 200 years , this view has changed dramatically, following the emergence of the endless Homeric Question : Who , how and when composed the Iliad and the Odyssey ? Yet found an answer that satisfies all parties. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries scholars have claimed that certain internal inconsistencies came to demonstrate that the poems were merely compilations, or additions , of independent short lyric poems ( lays ), the Unitarians , for his part, felt that these inconsistencies were insignificant or imaginary global unity and the poems showed that both were the product of a single mind. Recently, the academic discussion has focused on the theory of " oral - formulaic composition " , whereby the base of the poems as we know them today is a complex system of traditional poetic diction ( for example, combinations of noun - epithet " Achilles light foot " ) can only be the product of the joint efforts of several generations of bards heroic .
Neither of these interpretations is crucial , but it would be fair to say that virtually all commentators agree that , on the one hand , the tradition carries great weight in the composition of the poems and, secondly , that essentially both seem the work of a same creator . Meanwhile , archaeological findings made ​​in the course of the last 125 years, particularly those of Heinrich Schliemann , have shown that much of the civilization described by Homer was not fictional . The poems are therefore somewhat historical documents , and discussion of this aspect has been present at all times in the debate over creation.
influence
Homer is , directly , the father of later Greek literature : the theater , historiography and even philosophy , bear the imprint of the issues, comic and tragic , raised in these epics and Homeric techniques . For the latest epic poets Homer Western literature has always been the undisputed master ( even if, as in the case of Dante , did not know his works directly) . But curiously, most notable for his followers , Homer's work was both objective model . Thus, for example , Virgil's Aeneid comes to refute the individualistic system of values ​​of the Homeric epic , and the Homeric scenes of Paradise Lost , the English poet John Milton , the verses that describe the battle in the sky , are essentially comic . With respect to the novel, Don Quixote of La Mancha ( 1605 ) , by Miguel de Cervantes , or Ulysses ( 1922 ) James Joyce Irish , the more Homeric are more likely to parody and mockery of the epic . The truth is that from the time of Homer , no author has brought together his epic genius.

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