Homer's People
Epic Poetry and Social Formation

The first study to examine the role and character of Homer's people in Homeric story-telling.

Johannes Haubold (Author)

9780521066419, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 May 2008

260 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.36 kg

Review of the hardback: '… a very good book that breaks much new ground.' Bryn Mawr Classical Review

This book examines the role and character of Homer's people, laoi, in Homeric story-telling, arguing that Homeric poetry is crucially concerned with the people as a basis for communal life. Both The Iliad and The Odyssey are read as sustained meditations on the processes involved in protecting and destroying the people. The investigation draws on a wide range of approaches from formulaic analysis to the study of early performance contexts. From a close reading of the Homeric epics, Homer's people emerge as a community without effective social structures. When this is viewed from the perspective of Homeric performances in the polis, a contrast between Homer's laoi and the founding people of ritual emerges. While the former typically perish, the survival of the latter is secured by the establishment of successful institutions.

Introduction
1. Laoi in early Greek hexameter poetry
2. Homer's people
3. Laos epic in performance
Appendix A. Epic formulae
Appendix B. Ritual formulae.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]