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00A-T2753-fm 9/8/03 10:15 AM Page i Homeric Responses G&S Typesetters PDF proof THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK 00A-T2753-fm 9/8/03 10:15 AM Page iii Homeric Responses Gregory Nagy University of Texas Press, Austin G&S Typesetters PDF proof 00A-T2753-fm 9/8/03 10:15 AM Page iv 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 G&S Typesetters PDF proof 00A-T2753-fm 9/8/03 10:15 AM Page v 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 G&S Typesetters PDF proof THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK 00A-T2753-fm 9/8/03 10:15 AM Page vii 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 vii G&S Typesetters PDF proof 00A-T2753-fm 9/8/03 10:15 AM Page viii 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 G&S Typesetters PDF proof 00A-T2753-fm 9/8/03 10:15 AM Page ix 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 poetry 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 ix G&S Typesetters PDF proof