Welcome to my Homer page.   On this page I provide links to the expositions of both the Iliad and the Odyssey.  I wrote the former, on Book I of the Iliad,  at the end of 2009-mid 2010, and published it in book form as Everyone is Angry:  Homer's Iliad Book I.  The essays linked below are lightly edited versions of the chapters of that book. As time and interest permit, I look forward to writing expositions of the Odyssey and other sections of the Iliad. Though there is abundant information on the Net about Homer, just a few words here will orient us to these projects.  

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We don't know more about these epics than we know. For example, we don't know : 1) if the name  "Homer" stands for an individual, a committee or a continuing interpretive process ending sometime in the early Hellenistic Era; 2) when these two poems emerged in their earliest and final forms; 3) where they were written; or 4) whether the dialect of the poems was widely shared or was simply itself a rare offshoot of an eastern Aegean dialect of Greek. We know that by the time of Herodotus in the fifth century BCE and Plato most of a century later, Homer was already known as the "teacher of Greece." Apart from some negative comments of occasional snarky critics, this position morphed into a "teacher of classical antiquity" and, later, "a teacher of western civilization." Through the generally unsung work of the Alexandrian grammarians of the third -second centuries BCE, the text of Homer became relatively fixed or, more accurately stated, the problems of the text of Homer were probed in detail. 

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These epics retained their importance in western civilization not only because they were the first works of that tradition, but because they explore perennially important  themes of human life (the Iliad presents life as a battle, the Odyssey presents life as a journey) as well as a host of minor, but still important, themes, such as the role of pride, anger, family, honor, pleasure and duty in shaping one's life. Homer does so through a style that is distinctive and often quite elegant. In 2020, when I am writing this, Homer is largely ignored or downplayed in much of American education (Europe is better in this regard) or, even worse, is beginning to take it on the chin because of the deft thrusts of  twenty-first century post-colonial literary and gender critics. Yet, just as a thorough knowledge of the contents and cadence of the Bible is one of the most valuable tools to understand western literature and civilization, so a more than passing acquaintance with Homer will give one stories to tell, will lend precision to one's thinking, will stimulate one's imagination and give one an appreciation of great literature. By studying Homer closely, one might even be able to establish a connection to a living tradition of thought that still throbs below the surface of the roiling politics of the twenty-first century.

 

By clicking on the essays below , you will go to my detailed exposition of the Iliad, Book I. When essays on the Odyssey and other sections of the Iliad are posted, you will be the first to know. 

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The Iliad, Essay 1    Everyone is Angry, Reading the Iliad, Book I

The Iliad, Essay 2   An Overview of the Iliad, Book I

The Iliad, Essay 3   The Prologue, I. 1-7

The Iliad, Essay 4   Continuing with I. 1-7

The Iliad, Essay 5   The Quarrel Foreshadowed, I. 6-7 

The Iliad, Essay 6   The Quarrel Begins, I. 8-21

The Iliad, Essay 7   The Priest's Brief Speech, I. 17-21

The Iliad, Essay 8   Insulting the Priest, I. 22-32

The Iliad, Essay 9   Agamemnon's Insulting Response I. 26-32

The Iliad, Essay 10 The Priests's Prayer I. 33-42

The Iliad, Essay 11  Signs of Trouble, First Essay, I. 43-52

The Iliad, Essay 12  Signs of Trouble, Second Essay, I. 53-67

The Iliad, Essay 13  Calchas Asks For Protection, I. 68-83

The Iliad, Essay 14  Achilles' Assurance, I. 84-91

The Iliad, Essay 15  Calchas Responds, I. 92-100

The Iliad, Essay 16  Agamemnon's Turn, First Essay, I 101-108

The Iliad, Essay 17  Agamemnon's Turn, Second Essay, I. 109-120

The Iliad, Essay 18  Answering a Fool, First Essay, I. 121-128

The Iliad, Essay 19  Answering a Fool, Second Essay, I. 129-147

The Iliad, Essay 20 Achilles' Passionate Response, First Essay, I. 148-151

The Iliad, Essay 21  Achilles' Passionate Response, Second Essay, I. 152-160

The Iliad, Essay 22 Achilles' Passionate Response, Third Essay, I. 160-171

The Iliad, Essay 23  Agamemnon Responds, I. 172-187

The Iliad, Essay 24  It Takes a Goddess--Athena, I. 188-213

The Iliad, Essay 25  The Scepter and the Oath, First Essay, I. 213-244

The Iliad, Essay 26  The Scepter and the Oath, Second Essay, I. 213-244

The Iliad, Essay 27  Nestor to the Rescue, First Essay, I. 245-284

The Iliad, Essay 28  Nestor to the Rescue, Second Essay, I. 245-284

The Iliad, Essay 29  Things Fall Apart, First Essay. I. 285-324

The Iliad, Essay 30  Things Fall Apart, Second Essay, I. 285-324

The Iliad, Essay 31   A Softer Side of Achilles, First Essay, I. 325-351

The Iliad, Essay 32  A Softer Side of Achilles, Second Essay, I. 352-392

The Iliad, Essay 33  An Urgent Plea; A Vow Secured, First Essay, I. 393-427

The Iliad, Essay 34  An Urgent Plea; A Vow Secured, Second Essay, I. 393-427

The Iliad, Essay 35  To Sea and Back, First Essay, I. 428-487

The Iliad, Essay 36  To Sea and Back, Second Essay, I. 428-487

The Iliad, Essay 37  Nursing Anger; Begging Help, First Essay, I. 488-530

The Iliad, Essay 38  Nursing Anger; Begging Help, Second Essay, I. 488-530

The Iliad, Essay 39  Marital Discord, First Essay, I. 531-567

The Iliad, Essay 40  Marital Discord, Second Essay, I. 531-567

The Iliad, Essay 41   From Quarrel to Celebration, First Essay, I. 568-611

The Iliad, Essay 42  From Quarrel to Celebration, Second Essay, I. 568-611

The Iliad, Essay 43  The Rest of the Story

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