The Measure of Homer: The Ancient Reception of the Iliad and the Odyssey

by Richard L. Hunter

Homer was the greatest and most influential Greek poet. In this book, Richard Hunter explores central themes in the poems' reception in antiquity, paying particular attention to Homer's importance in shaping ancient culture. Subjects include the geographical and educational breadth of Homeric reception, the literary and theological influence of Homer's depiction of the gods, Homeric poetry and sympotic culture, scholarly and rhetorical approaches to Homer, Homer in the satires of Plutarch and Lucian, and how Homer shaped ideas about the power of music and song. This is a major and innovative contribution to the study of the dominant literary force in Greek culture and of the Greek literary engagement with the past. Through the study of their influence and reception, this book also sheds rich light on the Homeric poems themselves. All Greek and Latin are translated.

Genres: Classics, History, Nonfiction, Greece

264 pages, Hardcover

Published April 26, 2018

About the author

Richard Lawrence Hunter is an Australian classical scholar. From 2001 to 2021, he was the 37th Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge.

Reviews

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good reference book that takes some pretty deep dives into how Homer’s works were received in antiquity. It’s broad so I’m sure I’ll come back to it in pieces and work through the meat that Hunter provides. I was very pleased that he included a great deal of original text (Greek and Latin) with translations, so that I can work on my own vocabulary and readings. The large bibliography at the end is an excellent jumping off point for further research.

I was fascinated by the section on Aristarchus of Samothrace (pp. 148-166). He was one of the greatest of the Homeric scholiasts and one of the important librarians at Alexandria. The section covers athetesis, the condemning of so-called non-Homeric parts that are thought to have crept into his poems. Sections were seen as spurious for various reasons, such as not being in the style of Homer, seemingly being redundant, or even for threatening contemporary understandings or morals. Thankfully, Aristarchus did not simply throw away the lines he felt didn’t belong, but marked them, so we can look ourselves to see what we might think today and reflect on why he made the choices he did.

Two things that I didn’t like about the book were that the text wasn’t very accessible. It is hard to write such a detailed analysis and also make it flowing writing, but it is possible. But, if I want to look at this as purely a reference book, then perhaps that isn’t as important. Second, and this is less forgivable, the book had no conclusion, further thoughts, or anything to tie together the great work Hunter produced. The text just stops, like hitting the edge of a papyrus fragment. One wonders what Hunter might have said at the end.

[Edith Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable, it was part of preliminary read for a class of mines. Decent but not groundbreaking either, a good primer.