The Iliad: A Commentary. Books 13-16. Volume IV, Volume 4, Books 13-16This, the fourth volume in the six-volume Commentary on The Iliad being prepared under the General Editorship of Professor G.S. Kirk, covers Books 13-16, including the Battle for the Ships, the Deception of Zeus and the Death of Patroklos. Three introductory essays discuss the role of Homer's gods in his poetry; the origins and development of the epic diction; and the transmission of the text, from the bard's lips to our own manuscripts. It is now widely recognised that the first masterpiece of Western literature is an oral poem; Professor Janko's detailed commentary aims to show how this recognition can clarify many linguistic and textual problems, entailing a radical reassessment of the work of Homer's Alexandrian editors. The commentary also explores the poet's subtle creativity in adapting traditional materials, whether formulae, typical scenes, mythology or imagery, so as best to move, inspire and entertain his audience, ancient and modern alike. Discussion of the poem's literary qualities and structure is, where possible, kept separate from that of more technical matters. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
ii Double motivation and human responsibility | 3 |
iii Free will fate and the gods | 4 |
The origins and evolution of the epic dictation | 8 |
ii The prehistoric origins of the Kunstsprache | 9 |
iii Trends of development in Homeric diction | 12 |
iv The Aeolic phase of the epic tradition | 15 |
The text and transmission of the Iliad | 20 |
iv The Panathenaic rule and Pisistratean recension | 29 |
v The orthography of the earliest texts | 32 |
vi The script of the earliest textsAttic or Ionic? | 34 |
vii The original record | 37 |
Commentary | 39 |
Book 14 | 149 |
Book 15 | 225 |
Book 16 | 309 |
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Common terms and phrases
adapts Aeolic Agamemnon Aias Aineias Aithiopis Akhilleus Antilokhos Aphrodite Apollo Apollodorus Aristarchus Aristophanes armour Arn/A Asios Aspis Athene athetized Attic bards battle Chantraine chariot contrast Cypria death Deïphobos describes Dict diction Did/A Diomedes divine duel emended epic epithet epos Erbse Erga Eustathius exhortation Fenik fight formula frag Glaukos gods Greeks hapax Hektor Herakles Here's Hesiod Hoekstra Homer HyAp HyAphr HyDem HyHerm Idomeneus Iliad Ionic Janko Kebriones kills Leaf likened means Menelaos Meriones metaphor metrical motif Mycenaean Nestor Odysseus papyri parallels Paris Patroklos Peleus phrase poems poet Poseidon Pouludamas rampart recurs Researches 11 Risch Sarpedon scansion scene scholia sense shield Shipp ships simile slain spear speech surely Teukros Theog Thetis traditional Trojans Troy unique Valk van der Valk variant verb Verse verse-end vulgate warriors Zenodotus Zeus Zeus's δὲ ἐν καὶ τε