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Homeric Responses
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Homeric
Responses
Gregory Nagy
University of Texas Press, Austin
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Chapter 4 is reprinted fromNew Light on a Dark Age: Exploring
the Culture of Geometric Greece, edited by Susan Langdon, by
permission of the University of Missouri Press. Copyright ©
1997 by the Curators of the University of Missouri.
Copyright © 2003 by the University of Texas Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 2003
Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work
should be sent to Permissions, University of Texas Press, Box
7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819.
(cid:2)(cid:2)Thepaperusedinthisbookmeetstheminimumrequirements
ofansi/nisoz39.48-1992(r1997)(PermanenceofPaper).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nagy, Gregory.
Homeric responses / Gregory Nagy. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
isbn0-292-70553-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
— isbn0-292-70554-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Homer—Technique. 2. Epic poetry, Greek—History
and criticism—Theory, etc. 3. Oral tradition—Greece.
4. Oral-formulaic analysis. I. Title.
pa4037.n347 2003
883(cid:3).01—dc21
2003008792
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Contents
vii Abbreviations
viii Acknowledgments
ix Prologue
1 Introduction. Four Questions
1 Question 1. About Synchronic and Diachronic Perspectives
2 Question 2. About the Evolutionary Model
4 Question 3. About Dictation Models
7 Question 4. About Cross-References in Homer
21 Chapter 1. Homeric Responses
39 Chapter 2. Homeric Rhapsodes and the Concept of
Diachronic Skewing
49 Chapter 3. Irreversible Mistakes and Homeric Clairvoyance
72 Chapter 4. The Shield of Achilles: Ends of theIliad and
Beginnings of the Polis
89 Bibliography
97 Index
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Abbreviations
BA The Best of the Achaeans = Nagy 1979
BA2 The Best of the Achaeans, 2d ed. (with new introduction) =
Nagy 1999a
GM Greek Mythology and Poetics = Nagy 1990b
HQ Homeric Questions = Nagy 1996b
MHV The Making of Homeric Verse = Parry 1971
PH Pindar’s Homer = Nagy 1990a
PP Poetry as Performance = Nagy 1996a
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Acknowledgments
I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all who have given me ad-
vice about various parts of this book, especially to Egbert Bakker, Graeme
Bird, Timothy Boyd, Jonathan Burgess, Miriam Carlisle, Erwin Cook, Olga
Davidson, Stamatia Dova, Casey Dué, Mary Ebbott, David Elmer, Doug-
las Frame, Madeleine Goh, José González, Ryan Hackney, Albert Henrichs,
CarolynHigbie,AlexanderHollmann,MarianneHopman,ThomasJenkins,
OlgaLevaniouk,KevinMcGrath,RichardMartin,LeonardMuellner,Blaise
Nagy, Corinne Pache, Timothy Power, Laura Slatkin, Jed Wyrick, and Di-
mitrios Yatromanolakis.
The index was prepared by Keith Harris and Garnetta Lewis, whom I
thank for their valuable work.
I dedicate this book to my son, László, with deep gratitude for his cheer-
ful support.
viii
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Prologue
Homeric Responses builds on two earlier books,Homeric Questions (1996) and
PoetryasPerformance:HomerandBeyond(1996),whichdealtwithrespectively
earlier and later phases in the evolution of Homeric poetry. By Homeric po-
etry I mean the poetic system underlying the poetic texts that we know as the
Iliad and theOdyssey. “Homer” is used throughout this book as a cover term
for theIliad andOdyssey combined.1This terminology follows that of Aris-
totle (Poetics 23.1459b1–7), who thought of Homer as the author of theIliad
andOdysseyto the exclusion of the so-called Epic Cycle.2In comparison with
Homeric Questions andPoetry as Performance, the present book deals with a
wider range of questions about Homeric poetry as poetry. It attempts to con-
vey, however briefly, the essence of Homeric poetry in the fullness of its com-
plexities. Still, most of the book can be read without specialized background
in Homeric or even in Classical studies. Further,Homeric Responses does not
require a reading of those two other books as general background.3Rather, it
can serve as an introduction.4In addition, it can serve as an introduction to
two even earlier books, Pindar’s Homer: The Lyric Possession of an Epic Past
(1990) andThe Best of the Achaeans (1979; new ed. 1999).5
1. When I say “Homer,” I intend it as a metonym for Homeric poetry. By “metonym” here I
mean, as a working definition, the expression of meaning by way ofconnection—as opposed to
“metaphor,” by which I mean the expression of meaning by way ofsubstitution.For an introduction
to the poetics of Homeric and Hesiodic metonymy, see Muellner 1996. See also Martin 2000 on
Homeric framing, juxtaposition, andmise en abyme.
2. HQ38.
3. Still, I could never have written this book without first having rethought my way through
HQandPP.The extensive cross-references to these two earlier books in the footnotes here reflect
that fact. These cross-references, regularly placed at the beginning of footnotes, are not meant to
be seen as markers of final formulations. Rather, they point to earlier pathways of inquiry that have
led to formulations found in the present book.
4. AlthoughHQcovers the earlier phases of the Homeric tradition andPPthe later,HQis
marked1996binthebibliographybecauseitwaspublishedseveralmonthsafterPP,whichismarked
1996a.HQcross-refers extensively toPP,while the originalPPhas no direct cross-references toHQ
as a book version, only to earlier versions published as separate articles (Nagy 1992a, 1992b, 1995a).
5. InBA2(=Nagy1999a),theneweditionofBA(=Nagy1979),Iincorporatechangesprompted
by important new research. See, for example,BA2380, with reference to the dissertation of Wilson
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