of community in which the Odyssey and the Iliad reached their final form but which is not explicitly seen
in the Homeric poems. Rather, the Homeric poems create a fictionalized type of community that can be
used to explore the tensions inherent in the polis, which imagines itself to be grounded in a heroic past but
which requires the individual to be subordinated to the interests of the community. The character of
Odysseus seems to be ideally suited to serve as the symbol of this tension and its desired resolution.
Zetemata: Questions for Discussion
Why is it that various human traditions, including that of the ancient Greeks, represents the creation of
woman as secondary to that of man, and represents woman to be a necessary burden?
How effective as an explanation is the myth of Prometheus and Pandora; that is, how many things does
the myth fail to account for?
Why is it that early Greek literature is so heavily concerned with the distant past and never developed
a tradition of fantasy set in the future or in a purely imaginary location?
What can we learn about the role of women in Archaic Greek society from the stories involving
Pandora, Chryseis, and Briseis?
Why did Milman Parry assume that the “economy of epithets” that he identified in the Homeric poems
arose over a long period and only in a context of oral, as opposed to written, composition?
Are there any parallels in the contemporary world for creative artists who, like Homer and the South
Slavic bards, give performances of original, spontaneous works within a tradition that adheres to
strict generic guidelines?Recommended for Further Reading
Athanassakis, A. N. (trans.) Hesiod: Theogony, Works and Days, Shield, 2nd edition (Baltimore 2004): a
lively and readable translation, including a brief commentary that emphasizes the continuities in rural
Greek life from Hesiod’s day to the twentieth century.
Fowler, R. L. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Homer (Cambridge 2004): an excellent and up-to-date
guide to all aspects of the Homeric poems, written by an international team of experts.
Griffin, J. Homer on Life and Death (Oxford 1980): an old-fashioned, but sensitive work of literary
criticism that examines the centrality of life and death and the opposition between gods and mortals in the
Homeric poems.
Lamberton, R. Hesiod (New Haven and London 1988): an excellent introduction to all aspects of Hesiod
and his poems.
Lattimore, R. (trans.) The Iliad of Homer (Chicago 1951): the English translation that comes closest to
the feel of Homer’s Greek.
Lattimore, R. (trans.) The Odyssey of Homer (New York 1967): not as successful as Lattimore’s Iliad,
but one should read the same translator’s Iliad and Odyssey to avoid an exaggerated impression of the
differences between the two poems.
Lord, A. B. The Singer of Tales, 2nd edition (Cambridge, MA 2000): the classic study, by Parry’s student