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The Iliad and the Odyssey are the cornerstones of Western literature. Over the years they have inspired artists, writers, philosophers, musicians, playwrights, and film-makers. Barbara Graziosi introduces Homer´s key works and discusses the main literary, historical, and archaeological issues at the heart of Homeric studies.

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Homer´s mythological tales of war and homecoming, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are considered to be two of the most influential works in the history of Western literature. Yet their author, ´the greatest poet that ever lived´ is something of a mystery. By the 6th century BCE, Homer had already become a mythical figure, and even today the debate continues as to whether he ever existed.

Barbara Graziosi considers Homer´s famous works, and their impact on readers throughout the centuries. She shows how the Iliad and the Odyssey benefit from a tradition of reading that spans well over two millennia, from the impressive scholars at the library of Alexandria, in the third and second centuries BCE, who wrote some of the first commentaries on the Homeric epics. Summaries of these scholars´ notes made their way into the margins of Byzantine manuscripts; from
Byzantium the annotated manuscripts travelled to Italy; and the ancient notes finally appeared in the first printed editions of Homer, eventually influencing our interpretation of Homer´s work today. Along the way, Homer´s works have inspired artists, writers, philosophers, musicians, playwrights, and film-makers. Exploring
the main literary, historical, cultural, and archaeological issues at the heart of Homer´s works, Graziosi analyses the enduring appeal of Homer and his iconic works.

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The author has perfectly mastered the material under investigation and, even when speaking of allusions in the Homeric text to other myths, she does not generally force the interpretation in an attempt to establish improbable chronologies... it is easy to appreciate Graziosi´s clarity of presentation and ability to offer precise and brief definitions... the book constitutes not only an accurate critical evaluation of Homeric studies for the benefit of scholars, but also a valuable and accessible introduction to the subject for non-specialist readers. Carmine Pisano, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

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Professor Barbara Graziosi teaches Classics at Durham University. She is the author of Inventing Homer (Cambridge University Press, 2002), and together with Johannes Haubold she wrote Homer: The Resonance of Epic (Duckworth, 2005), and completed a commentary on Iliad 6 for the Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics (Cambridge University Press, 2010). Together with Emily Greenwood she edited Homer in the Twentieth Century: Between World
Literature and the Western Canon (Oxford University Press, 2007), and she co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Hellenic Studies (2009), along with George Boys-Stones and Phiroze Vasunia.

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