Term List #3 - Homeric Features

Epic Cycle

-a collection of Ancient Greek epic poems that related the story of the Trojan War

dactylic hexameter

— ᴗ ᴗ | — ᴗ ᴗ | — ᴗ ᴗ | — ᴗ ᴗ | — ᴗ ᴗ | — ×

Your feet are | so smelly | they make me | feel queasy | so I plug | my nose.

Homeric similes

Extended simile; extra long

Homeric epithets

"tags" for peoples, "god-like Paris"

Overdeterminism

Homer used gods to explain away complicated ideas, plot holes that could have been something else to complex to explain, so he blamed it on the gods

aristeia

greek word for EXCELLENCE, hero's moment

ritual supplication

kneel down and grasp knee of someone in power when asking for a favor, cannot be killed on battlefield until considered

time

greek word for VALUE/HONOR for someone who you serve with, making concrete by awarding a trophy

Geras

physical evidence of honor (trophy)

kleos

greek word for GLORY, what people say/sing after you die, the reason people fight , form of immortality

The Fisher King

a king who was dying, kingdom died with him until he was healed, then the kingdom got healed too

usually "dying" in form of war, famine, disease, etc.

Homeric Question

1. were the iliad and the odyssey written by the same person?

2. why did they not have one language? why iron? why fake cities?

Milman Parry and Albert Lord

studied guslars, found epithets were used for syllables, answered Homeric question, it's because they were ORAL poems passed down and adjusted for the audience

guslar

serbian and croatian bards, entertainment, Avdo Mededovic

Avdo Mededovic

serbian guslar, memorized 80000 lines of poetry, passed down and added something for the hosts of the party each time

Elements of aristea

1. listing/describing armor

2. call to followers

3. initial exploit (success)

4. setback (like a wound?)

5. divine intervention (god heals?)

6. return stronger

7. kill (=hero)