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Homer And Classical Philology
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 - August 25, 1900) was German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic and classical philologist. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony and aphorism. Nietzsche's key ideas include the death of God, the Ubermensch, the eternal recurrence, the Apollonian and Dionysian dichotomy, perspectivism and the will to power. Central to his philosophy is the idea of "life-affirmation," which involves questioning of all doctrines that drain life's expansive energies, however socially prevalent and radical those views might be.[43] His influence remains substantial within philosophy, notably inexistentialism, post-modernism and post-structuralism, as well as outside it. His radical questioning of the value and objectivity of truth has been the focus of extensive commentary, especially in the continental tradition. -wikipedia
24 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1869
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About the author
Friedrich Nietzsche
4,302 books25.4k followersFriedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture, who became one of the most influential of all modern thinkers. He began his career as a classical philologist before turning to philosophy. He became the youngest person to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24, but resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade. In 1889, at age 44, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties, with paralysis and probably vascular dementia. He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother until her death in 1897 and then with his sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. Nietzsche died in 1900, after experiencing pneumonia and multiple strokes.
Nietzsche's work spans philosophical polemics, poetry, cultural criticism, and fiction while displaying a fondness for aphorism and irony. Prominent elements of his philosophy include his radical critique of truth in favour of perspectivism; a genealogical critique of religion and Christian morality and a related theory of master–slave morality; the aesthetic affirmation of life in response to both the "death of God" and the profound crisis of nihilism; the notion of Apollonian and Dionysian forces; and a characterisation of the human subject as the expression of competing wills, collectively understood as the will to power. He also developed influential concepts such as the Übermensch and his doctrine of eternal return. In his later work, he became increasingly preoccupied with the creative powers of the individual to overcome cultural and moral mores in pursuit of new values and aesthetic health. His body of work touched a wide range of topics, including art, philology, history, music, religion, tragedy, culture, and science, and drew inspiration from Greek tragedy as well as figures such as Zoroaster, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Wagner, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
After his death, Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth became the curator and editor of his manuscripts. She edited his unpublished writings to fit her German ultranationalist ideology, often contradicting or obfuscating Nietzsche's stated opinions, which were explicitly opposed to antisemitism and nationalism. Through her published editions, Nietzsche's work became associated with fascism and Nazism. 20th-century scholars such as Walter Kaufmann, R.J. Hollingdale, and Georges Bataille defended Nietzsche against this interpretation, and corrected editions of his writings were soon made available. Nietzsche's thought enjoyed renewed popularity in the 1960s and his ideas have since had a profound impact on 20th- and early 21st-century thinkers across philosophy—especially in schools of continental philosophy such as existentialism, postmodernism, and post-structuralism—as well as art, literature, music, poetry, politics, and popular culture.
Nietzsche's work spans philosophical polemics, poetry, cultural criticism, and fiction while displaying a fondness for aphorism and irony. Prominent elements of his philosophy include his radical critique of truth in favour of perspectivism; a genealogical critique of religion and Christian morality and a related theory of master–slave morality; the aesthetic affirmation of life in response to both the "death of God" and the profound crisis of nihilism; the notion of Apollonian and Dionysian forces; and a characterisation of the human subject as the expression of competing wills, collectively understood as the will to power. He also developed influential concepts such as the Übermensch and his doctrine of eternal return. In his later work, he became increasingly preoccupied with the creative powers of the individual to overcome cultural and moral mores in pursuit of new values and aesthetic health. His body of work touched a wide range of topics, including art, philology, history, music, religion, tragedy, culture, and science, and drew inspiration from Greek tragedy as well as figures such as Zoroaster, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Wagner, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
After his death, Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth became the curator and editor of his manuscripts. She edited his unpublished writings to fit her German ultranationalist ideology, often contradicting or obfuscating Nietzsche's stated opinions, which were explicitly opposed to antisemitism and nationalism. Through her published editions, Nietzsche's work became associated with fascism and Nazism. 20th-century scholars such as Walter Kaufmann, R.J. Hollingdale, and Georges Bataille defended Nietzsche against this interpretation, and corrected editions of his writings were soon made available. Nietzsche's thought enjoyed renewed popularity in the 1960s and his ideas have since had a profound impact on 20th- and early 21st-century thinkers across philosophy—especially in schools of continental philosophy such as existentialism, postmodernism, and post-structuralism—as well as art, literature, music, poetry, politics, and popular culture.
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November 2, 2013 Homer and Classical Philology , by Friedrich Nietzsche
Homer und die klassische Philologie is Friedrich Nietzsche's 1869 Antrittsvorlesung (inaugural address) at the University of Basel. In the tradition of German language universities, a newly installed professor gives a public address to introduce some aspect of his work and thus himself professionally. This is a moment of triumph, but also a moment of possible considerable embarrassment.
Nietzsche's Professur was in classical philology, and in a beautifully written lecture Nietzsche first gives an overview of his field, while indicating problems intrinsic in the field and criticisms of the field made by outsiders. He hastens to deflect these criticisms(*) and tries to illustrate how the inherently disparate tendencies within the field could possibly be transcended by considering a concrete example: the "Homer question". Was Homer a person and the author of "his" works", or are his works the result of a kind of historically contingent collaboration of many? Or are they the result of some mystical Race Soul?
He analyzes the various theories and concludes the following: In the preliterate age in which the Homeric epics were conceived, developed and passed down orally, "Homer" entered the ranks of names like Orpheus, Eumolpus, Daedalus, Olympus - mythical inventors of various branches of art. But there was an individual who first conceived the Iliad and the Odyssey whose name was lost, sacrificed to the mythical initiator, Homer.
He ends with an eloquent rhetorical flourish which surely impressed the listeners.
The original can be read here:
http://www.zeno.org/Philosophie/M/Nie...
while a fairly adequate translation into English can be read here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18188/...
(*) Though he himself was already extremely critical of the field, he, for obvious reasons, largely suppresses this criticism here. Only a hint of it surfaces in this lecture.
Homer und die klassische Philologie is Friedrich Nietzsche's 1869 Antrittsvorlesung (inaugural address) at the University of Basel. In the tradition of German language universities, a newly installed professor gives a public address to introduce some aspect of his work and thus himself professionally. This is a moment of triumph, but also a moment of possible considerable embarrassment.
Nietzsche's Professur was in classical philology, and in a beautifully written lecture Nietzsche first gives an overview of his field, while indicating problems intrinsic in the field and criticisms of the field made by outsiders. He hastens to deflect these criticisms(*) and tries to illustrate how the inherently disparate tendencies within the field could possibly be transcended by considering a concrete example: the "Homer question". Was Homer a person and the author of "his" works", or are his works the result of a kind of historically contingent collaboration of many? Or are they the result of some mystical Race Soul?
He analyzes the various theories and concludes the following: In the preliterate age in which the Homeric epics were conceived, developed and passed down orally, "Homer" entered the ranks of names like Orpheus, Eumolpus, Daedalus, Olympus - mythical inventors of various branches of art. But there was an individual who first conceived the Iliad and the Odyssey whose name was lost, sacrificed to the mythical initiator, Homer.
He ends with an eloquent rhetorical flourish which surely impressed the listeners.
The original can be read here:
http://www.zeno.org/Philosophie/M/Nie...
while a fairly adequate translation into English can be read here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18188/...
(*) Though he himself was already extremely critical of the field, he, for obvious reasons, largely suppresses this criticism here. Only a hint of it surfaces in this lecture.
March 27, 2019
I always enjoy the way Nietzche writes: usually part-rant, part structured argument, with plenty of spice and brilliance thrown in. This address feels arguably better thought-out than some of his essays: nothing like hundreds of listeners to hold you to account! The understanding of Homer as a collective name for a range of important works that were passed down orally was enlightening for me. It is time we did away with genius-worshipping in general. A great contribution to art has its talented author at the helm, but is always a collaboration in essence.
April 26, 2018
This was one of my earliest Kindle (fre)e-books, and one of my first reviews on Amazon (way back in 2012).
Re-reading it for a GR Homer discussion, I find it just as unsatisfying as I did then. This was Nietzsche's inaugural lecture as a professor at the University of Basel, and thus precedes even his earliest book, The Birth of Tragedy.
It is a muddled and pointless lecture, which has very little to say about either Homer or classical philology. If the Kennedy who translated this is the same who did an excellent job translating The Dawn of Day, then I cannot blame him.
Here is the crux of young Nietzsche's argument:
Let it be noted that the insight into the most diverse operations of the instinctive and the conscious changes the position of the Homeric problem; and in my opinion throws light upon it.
We believe in a great poet as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey—but not that Homer was this poet.
The decision on this point has already been given. The generation that invented those numerous Homeric fables, that poetised the myth of the contest between Homer and Hesiod, and looked upon all the poems of the epic cycle as Homeric, did not feel an æsthetic but a material singularity when it pronounced the name "Homer." This period regards Homer as belonging to the ranks of artists like Orpheus, Eumolpus, Dædalus, and Olympus, the mythical discoverers of a new branch of art, to whom, therefore, all the later fruits which grew from the new branch were thankfully dedicated.
And that wonderful genius to whom we owe the Iliad and the Odyssey belongs to this thankful posterity: he, too, sacrificed his name on the altar of the primeval father of the Homeric epic, Homeros.
But the work is short enough to read in an hour or less.
Re-reading it for a GR Homer discussion, I find it just as unsatisfying as I did then. This was Nietzsche's inaugural lecture as a professor at the University of Basel, and thus precedes even his earliest book, The Birth of Tragedy.
It is a muddled and pointless lecture, which has very little to say about either Homer or classical philology. If the Kennedy who translated this is the same who did an excellent job translating The Dawn of Day, then I cannot blame him.
Here is the crux of young Nietzsche's argument:
Let it be noted that the insight into the most diverse operations of the instinctive and the conscious changes the position of the Homeric problem; and in my opinion throws light upon it.
We believe in a great poet as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey—but not that Homer was this poet.
The decision on this point has already been given. The generation that invented those numerous Homeric fables, that poetised the myth of the contest between Homer and Hesiod, and looked upon all the poems of the epic cycle as Homeric, did not feel an æsthetic but a material singularity when it pronounced the name "Homer." This period regards Homer as belonging to the ranks of artists like Orpheus, Eumolpus, Dædalus, and Olympus, the mythical discoverers of a new branch of art, to whom, therefore, all the later fruits which grew from the new branch were thankfully dedicated.
And that wonderful genius to whom we owe the Iliad and the Odyssey belongs to this thankful posterity: he, too, sacrificed his name on the altar of the primeval father of the Homeric epic, Homeros.
But the work is short enough to read in an hour or less.
April 23, 2012
To think that the rant was only to introduce himself worthy as one wo be in the council of Philologists, this is an overkill. Neitzsche completely explains how the art of interconnection of these abstract concepts (philology) is a "blessing" descended from the heavenlies. And any "man-genius" adept enough to wield this art will come under heavy scrutiny as long as the process is seen in the light of the whole (what he calls [and I paraphrase as] a people-genius or collective soul-thinking). Neitzsche with a strong statement "Philosophia facto est quœ Philologia fuit" meaning "Philosophy is now what Philology was".
May 15, 2025
Es ist fürwahr atemberaubend einen Vortrag von einem jungen Nietzsche zu lesen, dessen Inhalt für den Nicht-Philologen und jeden, dessen Kenntnisse über das antike Griechenland mangelhaft sind, schwerlich zu verstehen sein dürfte. Mit welcher Brillanz und geistiger Kraft ein Mann in so jungen Jahren die Dinge so darzulegen weiß, dass man instinktiv fühlt, wie nah er doch den großen Meistern der Geschichte ist. Nietzsche's Einfühlungsvermögen für die alten Schriften sind von viel größerer Bedeutung, als seine Beherrschung des alt-griechischen und lateinischen.
Nietzsche fühlte viel mehr den Wahrheitsgehalt seiner Gedanken als er wusste, wenn er etwa die Vorsokratischen Zeiten erläutert. Homer als Individuum zu betrachten ist nach der gängigen Methode die man verwendet, um sich ein Bild von jemand so alten zu machen, beinah unmöglich, folglich bleibt mehr die Fähigkeit zur ästhetischen Betrachtung für einen solche Tätigkeit übrig, die, wenn sie wie in diesem Fall vorhanden ist, Nietzsche wie kein Zweiter beherrscht.
Hat man aber auch Nietzsche's spätere Hauptwerke gelesen ist man beim Lesen dieses frühen Vortrags über sein geistiges Emporwachsen umso mehr fasziniert. Ein Genius singularis.
Nietzsche fühlte viel mehr den Wahrheitsgehalt seiner Gedanken als er wusste, wenn er etwa die Vorsokratischen Zeiten erläutert. Homer als Individuum zu betrachten ist nach der gängigen Methode die man verwendet, um sich ein Bild von jemand so alten zu machen, beinah unmöglich, folglich bleibt mehr die Fähigkeit zur ästhetischen Betrachtung für einen solche Tätigkeit übrig, die, wenn sie wie in diesem Fall vorhanden ist, Nietzsche wie kein Zweiter beherrscht.
Hat man aber auch Nietzsche's spätere Hauptwerke gelesen ist man beim Lesen dieses frühen Vortrags über sein geistiges Emporwachsen umso mehr fasziniert. Ein Genius singularis.
February 4, 2024
Un breve ensayo en el que Nietzsche repasa la discutida cuestión acerca de la genialidad de Homero y la posibilidad de que este deba comprenderse como "genio que cristalizó el espíritu de la Grecia Clásica". En este ensayo expone varias posturas filológicas y propone una solución al problema: la idea de que el nombre de Homero es más un concepto que una realidad y qué dicho nombre es más el resultado de un juicio estético (se le atribuye lo que el filólogo considera digno de un genio, o se desvía de la genialidad popular, según el caso), que una genialidad histórica. En cualquier caso, no duda de la existencia concreta de un poeta con dicho nombre que hubiera podido componer la pléyade de escenas que se le atribuyen. De lo que sí duda es de que fuera él mismo quien formalizase dicho material en un conjunto de tanta belleza estética.
December 29, 2021
Buku ini adalah dokumentasi tertulis salah satu materi kuliah di Universitas Basel tahun 1868 yang disampaikan oleh Profesor Nietzsche. Menjadi pengajar dan profesor merupakan periode masa tenang beliau sebelum dunia mengenal Nietzsche sebagai salah satu filsuf modern ternama melalui karya-karya kontroversialnya sepanjang tahun 1870-1890an.
Bagi penikmat Iliad dan Odyssey, semua pasti setuju bahwa penulis dua karya sastra besar itu adalah Homer. Aku juga hanya sesaat membaca Iliad dan Odyssey saat SMA, belum mendalami secara utuh, tapi aku paham betul bahwa Homer memang penulis jenius, di jaman Yunani Kuno, dimana tradisi menulis masih merupakan barang langka dan tidak umum di kalangan umat manusia.
Menariknya, di buku ini, Nietzche membuat sebuah tesis yang cukup radikal. Dia mengklaim bahwa Homer bukanlah satu individu, merupakan gabungan dari beberapa penulis anonim pada jaman itu dan bersepakat menggunakan nama pena Homer! Sebuah klaim yang cukup membuatku ingin memukul Nietzsche.
Tapi memang benar, tidak ada bukti apapun mengenai latar belakang kehidupan Homer. Dunia tahu bahwa Homer adalah penulis besar. Apakah dia seorang individu, gabungan beberapa orang, atau bahkan sebuah organisasi, well, memang tidak pernah ada penjelasan utuh tentang itu.
Nietzsche, bahkan sebelum menjadi viral pun, doi udah bikin pernyataan-pernyataan penuh kontroversi di kampusnya. Kalau doi hidup di era twitter dan instagram di masa kini, sudah habis dihajar netizen ini orang
#kikipongbookreview
Bagi penikmat Iliad dan Odyssey, semua pasti setuju bahwa penulis dua karya sastra besar itu adalah Homer. Aku juga hanya sesaat membaca Iliad dan Odyssey saat SMA, belum mendalami secara utuh, tapi aku paham betul bahwa Homer memang penulis jenius, di jaman Yunani Kuno, dimana tradisi menulis masih merupakan barang langka dan tidak umum di kalangan umat manusia.
Menariknya, di buku ini, Nietzche membuat sebuah tesis yang cukup radikal. Dia mengklaim bahwa Homer bukanlah satu individu, merupakan gabungan dari beberapa penulis anonim pada jaman itu dan bersepakat menggunakan nama pena Homer! Sebuah klaim yang cukup membuatku ingin memukul Nietzsche.
Tapi memang benar, tidak ada bukti apapun mengenai latar belakang kehidupan Homer. Dunia tahu bahwa Homer adalah penulis besar. Apakah dia seorang individu, gabungan beberapa orang, atau bahkan sebuah organisasi, well, memang tidak pernah ada penjelasan utuh tentang itu.
Nietzsche, bahkan sebelum menjadi viral pun, doi udah bikin pernyataan-pernyataan penuh kontroversi di kampusnya. Kalau doi hidup di era twitter dan instagram di masa kini, sudah habis dihajar netizen ini orang
#kikipongbookreview
October 8, 2024
"Life is worth living, says art, the beautiful temptress; life is worth knowing, says science." the complete reason i'm interested in philology.
"Those, therefore, who look for the “original and perfect design” are looking for a mere phantom; for the dangerous path of oral tradition had reached its end just as the systematic arrangement appeared on the scene; the disfigurements which were caused on the way could not have affected the design, for this did not form part of the material handed down from generation to generation."(one of) the reason(s) we need philology methinks.
i must reread this when my vocabulary and knowledge on philology has improved
"Those, therefore, who look for the “original and perfect design” are looking for a mere phantom; for the dangerous path of oral tradition had reached its end just as the systematic arrangement appeared on the scene; the disfigurements which were caused on the way could not have affected the design, for this did not form part of the material handed down from generation to generation."(one of) the reason(s) we need philology methinks.
i must reread this when my vocabulary and knowledge on philology has improved
May 25, 2025
Un primer acercamiento a los planteamientos de Nietzsche acerca del mundo griego. Se comenzarána perfilar ideas que desarrollará más adelante.
April 21, 2025
Why did I read this?
May 20, 2013
My highlights:
"Hellenism is looked upon as a superseded and hence very insignificant point of view. Against these enemies, we philologists must always count upon the assistance of artists and men of artistic minds; for they alone can judge how the sword of barbarism sweeps over the head of every one who loses sight of the unutterable simplicity and noble dignity of the Hellene; and how no progress in commerce or technical industries, however brilliant, no school regulations, no political education of the masses, however widespread and complete, can protect us from the curse of ridiculous and barbaric offences against good taste, or from annihilation by the Gorgon head of the classicist."
"Life is worth living, says art, the beautiful temptress; life is worth knowing, says science."
"Are there characteristic differences between the utterances of the man of genius and the poetical soul of the people?"
"Hellenism is looked upon as a superseded and hence very insignificant point of view. Against these enemies, we philologists must always count upon the assistance of artists and men of artistic minds; for they alone can judge how the sword of barbarism sweeps over the head of every one who loses sight of the unutterable simplicity and noble dignity of the Hellene; and how no progress in commerce or technical industries, however brilliant, no school regulations, no political education of the masses, however widespread and complete, can protect us from the curse of ridiculous and barbaric offences against good taste, or from annihilation by the Gorgon head of the classicist."
"Life is worth living, says art, the beautiful temptress; life is worth knowing, says science."
"Are there characteristic differences between the utterances of the man of genius and the poetical soul of the people?"
April 16, 2016
Tuve que leer este libro muy rápido, por lo cual no pudo tener mi completa atención. Sin embargo, me pareció muy interesante y me gustaría en el futuro releerlo (también con una mejor traducción).
Nietzsche nunca decepciona.
Nietzsche nunca decepciona.
January 1, 2015
Sur la personnalité d'Homère
by Friedrich Nietzsche
by Friedrich Nietzsche
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May 21, 2016Nietzsche critique of homer and The Odyssey in specific ; Brilliantly made the point and extraordinarily pissed off!
June 10, 2019
A Lecture by Nietzsche on how works normally attributed to Homer may not have been written by Homer. Apparently written down prior to The Birth of Tragedy; his first book
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews