viii
Preface
Schoder and Horrigan chose to begin the second volume of their A Reading Course in Homeric
Greek with Book 10 of the Odyssey because that is what, in the poem itself, follows immediately upon
the Cyclops episode that makes up the last half of their first volume. They also opted for a strictly
chronological presentation of the events of the Odyssey, rather than adhering to the poem’s original ring
compositional structure. Their book is thus a series of excerpts from the Odyssey Books 10, 11, 12, 7, 6,
8, and 13— in that order. The original A Reading Course in Homeric Greek Book 2 also includes some
selections from the Iliad.
I decided to depart from this presentation, and instead to annotate the Iliad Books 6 and 12 in
their entirety. I chose these two books both because of their intrinsic interest and difference from one
another and because the most extended excerpts in Schoder and Horrigan’s text were from those books.
In addition, a text containing portions of the Odyssey in the original form, rather than chopped up and
rearranged, is more suited to a college-level course.
The format and structure of the lessons will be familiar from Homeric Greek Book 1. Odyssey
passages of from about ten to twenty-five lines are labeled “Text.” Vocabulary is given in two places in each
lesson. Under the heading “Memorize” are the words more frequently found, either in general or in this
volume’s passages. The vocabulary words printed beneath the text in smaller font occur less frequently but
are necessary to translate the passage. The Greek-English Vocabulary includes all of the words from the
Memorize sections in both volumes.
The “Notes” have been considerably expanded and revised from those in the original Homeric
Greek Book 2. In particular, on questions of morphology and syntax, I have tried to cite relevant sections of
Book 1 when possible. These notes now contain almost exclusively grammatical information, since I have
found that students cease even to look at notes if such practical information is buried under discussions
of, to them, less pressing matters. For this reason, thematic commentary has been separated from the
grammatical notes and placed in shaded boxes.
As did Schoder and Horrigan, I have included some brief explanations of additional points of
grammar not covered in Homeric Greek Book 1. These sections are labeled “New Grammar.”
Although this volume assumes a foundation provided by Homeric Greek Book 1, it should be
possible to use this text in a second-year Greek course without first having used Book 1 or without making
reference to it. The instructor may need to fill in information here and there, or encourage the students to
consult a standard grammar on their own.
The second year of Greek is always a difficult transition. Even the best students need some help
recalling the morphology and syntax learned in the first year, and the ascent can be trying for the rest of
them. I hope that this text will support these students as they try to get over the hump, so that they can
enjoy the view on the other side.
Leslie Collins Edwards
2007