Read your Homer, folks.

Written by thehouseofvines

I hate when people, especially in the Hellenic communities, treat Homer as ancient fanfic. While his poems weren’t necessarily the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Scriptures, they were highly revered, philosophers discovered incredible depth and symbolism in the text via exegesis and eisegesis, religious specialists used them in spells or for divination, etc. And the New York Times just reported on another purpose — assisting the deceased in their journey through the Underworld.

Archaeologists Find Egyptian Mummy Buried With the ‘Iliad’
For the deceased of Roman-era Egypt, Greek literature may have offered a cheat code to a more comfortable afterlife.

8 thoughts on “Read your Homer, folks.”

  1. Pingback: Read your Homer, folks. – Aidonian's blog

  2. Up down left left right up up up

    I have to read it in the original English, but I do like Homer. And Hesiod. I do need to branch out though.

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    1. The original English? You mean the Arthur Hall, George Chapman and Thomas Hobbes editions? Yeah, those are pretty good, though my preference is the Chapman as it’s less florid than the others.

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      1. You know. I don’t honestly remember. I’ve read a few versions over time. My Hesiod is from the Loeb Collection, I can tell you that.

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        1. That joke fell flat. Sorry. Those were the first guys who made translations of Homer into English. I didn’t know Hobbes (of Leviathan fame) was one of them. The Chapman was really popular, and on the shelf of many Puritans, along with the Bible and a Plutarch. (Sometimes the only three books they owned.) I don’t really know the first guy, but his name came up so I included him.

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          1. So did a few of mine. :) no, I got the references. Hobbes was my edgelord patron saint in college. My favourite paper I ever wrote was called “Two Philosophers Drinking Absinthe in Hell.” It was about Hobbes and Locke.

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              1. I had fun with it. But. I put away the bottle last year. But I had some good times. Nothing exciting. I’m boring as hell. But, I definitely found myself open to doors closed by the straight edged mind.

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