![]() ![]() Next he surveys some of the general features of the poem, starting with its relation to tradition (pp. He first places the Iliad in the context of heroic poetry, making comparisons to other epics, especially those from the Near East, and showing how the Iliad itself preserves traces of an earlier Greek world (pp. ![]() ![]() presents a full introduction, with five sections, plus bibliography and an appendix. This volume offers introduction, text (essentially the OCT), and commentary. It is no wonder that Jasper Griffin, who has contributed much to Homeric studies over the last twenty years, would be drawn to write a commentary on this book. Achilles’ rejection of the embassy, structured into three pairs of speeches, is a gripping narrative, central to the plot, and reveals the character of the poem’s central figure. ![]() While it follows clearly from the events of the preceding day and connects with the following action, it can also stand on its own. Some of these divisions are totally artificial (e.g., the one between Books 5 and 6 of the Iliad) others conform to the movement of the poem. Book divisions in Homer, it is well known, date from the Alexandrian age, the number twenty-four being influenced by the number of letters in the Greek alphabet. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |