The Iliad: Introduction Practice Flashcards

A set of vocabulary-style flashcards covering the origins, composition, and scholarly theories surrounding the Iliad and Homeric tradition.

The Iliad

An epic poem approximately $2,700$ years old, composed of $15,693$ lines of hexameter verse, likely originating in the late 8th or early 7th century B.C.

Homer

The poet to whom the Iliad and Odyssey are attributed, though no trustworthy biographical information survives from his life.

Byzantium

The empire that maintained Greek language and culture, preserving and copying Greek classics until its fall to the Ottoman Turks in $1453$.

Minuscule

A cursive handwriting style adopted in the 9th century that introduced word separation, making texts easier to read than earlier capital-letter scripts.

Codex

The modern book form that replaced papyrus scrolls between the 2nd and 5th centuries A.D.

Greek Dark Age

The period during the 8th and 9th centuries B.C. in Greece, characterized by a lack of written records and reliance on archaeological findings like geometric pots and graves.

Herodotus

An ancient historian who believed that Homer lived approximately $400$ years before his own time, placing the poet in the 9th century B.C.

Aristarchus of Alexandria

An ancient scholar who estimated that Homer lived about $140$ years after the Trojan War.

Linear B

The writing system used by Mycenaean scribes which was lost following the destruction of Mycenaean centers in the 12th century B.C.

The Homeric Question

The scholarly debate over whether the Homeric epics were composed orally or through writing, and whether they were the work of a single author.

Prolegomena ad Homerum

A work by F.A. Wolf that argued Homer was illiterate and composed shorter, ballad-like poems that were later compiled into the epics.

The Analysts

Scholars who attempted to divide the Iliad and Odyssey into earlier and later strata based on linguistic, historical, and archaeological features.

Milman Parry

The American scholar who developed the Oral Formulaic Theory, demonstrating that Homeric poetry was the product of a long tradition of improvised oral performance.

Ornamental Epithets

Traditional, high-sounding labels like "swift-footed Achilles" or "white-armed Hera" that were selected based on their metrical fit in the hexameter line.

Formulaic System

The intricate system of metrical alternatives for names and objects used by oral poets to facilitate improvisation during performance.

Type-Scenes

Traditional patterns for recurring events, such as arming for battle or holding an assembly, which bards could vary but not radically change.

Albert Lord

A collaborator of Milman Parry who argued that oral and written techniques are mutually exclusive and proposed that Homer dictated the epics to a scribe.

Geoffrey Kirk

A scholar who proposed the theory of an "oral monumental composer" whose definitive version was transmitted by rhapsodes before being committed to writing.

Pinax

Wax-coated wooden boards used as writing materials in the 8th century B.C.

Diphthera

Animal skins used as a surface for writing in ancient Greece.

Dual Form

A grammatical form indicating two people, used inconsistently in Book 9 of the Iliad when describing three ambassadors (Phoenix, Ajax, and Odysseus).