HumCore/Spring 2011/Unit 3

Lecture 13: Homer and Nature

1. Homer: who he is, what he wrote, when he wrote it, oral tradition, rhapsodes, Milman Parry, Albert Lord, formulae

2. Simile vs. Metaphor

3. Homeric similes: their function and use of nature

4. Gods and nature in Homeric similes

5. Specific examples (in HCC Reader):

(a) Iliad 19.462-503: Achilles and his horses, human and beasts

•Logos: do animals speak?

•Shame: its impact on Achilles and his horses

•Prophecy and animals

•Humans, animals, and mortality

(b) Odyssey 12.218-282: Odysseus and Scylla/Charybdis, human and monsters

•Anthropomorphism

•Monsters and excess

•Man’s helplessness