Was Homer Real?

Rudyard Kipling -- it is the introductory poem to his second collection of "Barrack Room Ballads."

Kipling often began and ended his stories with a poem. The first introduced the subject of the story, and the ending poem summarized it.

He does this with great effect in "Puck of Pook's Hill".

I have not run across that one - I'll give it a look.

I was a fan of Richmond Lattimore's translation for many years. It is absolutely the best "crib" for a Classics major, which I *almost* was (did not have enough Latin after I completed my Greek, so majored in History because I had a good thesis topic).

But I'm a convert to Robert Fagles' translation - it is not as word-for-word accurate as Lattimore, but it is fabulous as a whole. Makes more sense poetically, I think.

Point taken! But it seems clear that Homer gathered older stories and worked them into a new and coherent whole (as Kipling notes!) Otherwise, we would just have fragments along the lines of Sappho’s poems . . . the only survivals were used by later poets to illustrate the Aeolic dialect.

OK -- that means that I *have* to mention another Kipling work . . .

. . . just in case you ever wondered how a committee of bishops managed to create such a wonderful work as the Authorised Version of the Bible!

Proofs of Holy Writ

My Greek prof thought that one was the original and the other an edited version by a later hand. Not really “two Homers”, just a Homer and an Editor.

Love Kipling

Selections from some related keywords, sorted:

Author Says a Whole Culture -- Not a Single 'Homer' -- Wrote 'Iliad,' 'Odyssey' [01/05/2015]
Even Homer Gets Mobbed: A Massachusetts school has banned 'The Odyssey.' [12/27/2020]
Victor Davis Hanson: The Ancient Greeks -- Were they like us at all? [05/04/2004]
Who Killed Homer? [09/26/2002]
Who Killed Homer?: The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom [03/08/2023]
New BBC TV series "Troy: A Fall of a City" shows Achilles as African [12/28/2018]
Bust of Memnon: Images of Blacks in Ancient Greece [01/05/2013]
'Homer can help you': War veterans use ancient epics to cope [03/14/2018]
Great Battles: Was there a Trojan War? Recent Excavations at Troy [01/04/2023]
Did Archaeologists Find the Trojan Horse? [08/11/2021]
Did archaeologists find the Trojan Horse? [08/11/2021]
Mediterranean silver likely traded during the Trojan War, the founding of Rome [07/19/2021]
New Evidence Supports Modern Greeks Having DNA of Ancient Mycenaeans [06/28/2020]
Why Should Christians Read the Pagan Classics? Reason 9: THE HUMAN CONDITION [05/20/2020]
Who are the Luwians? [07/16/2019]
6 Amazing Artifacts with Ancient Greek Mythology Scenes Discovered in Bulgaria [01/07/2019]
Homer Odyssey: Oldest extract discovered on clay tablet [07/11/2018]
New study finds: Ancient Mycenaean civilization might have collapsed due to uprising or invasion [04/15/2018]
The First English Translation of 'The Odyssey' by a Woman Was Worth the Wait [11/17/2017]
Throne of Homer's hero is unearthed [06/18/2016]
Ancient Greek palace unearthed near Sparta dates back to 17th century BC [08/27/2015]
Archaeologists Excavate Lower City of Mycenae [06/06/2014]
Archaeologists Excavate for Archaic Greek City of Tenea [05/25/2014]
The Greek Age of Bronze -- Middle Helmets [04/24/2014]
Ancient Palace's Painted Floors Display Bronze-Age Creativity [01/06/2014]
Minoan Frescoes at Tel Kabri: Aegean Art in Bronze Age Israel [07/21/2013]
Incredible, Epic Genes: Dating The Iliad [03/01/2013]
Incredible, Epic Genes: Dating The Iliad [03/01/2013]
Ancient city of Troy rebranded itself after war [12/24/2012]
Archaeologists uncover 3,000-year-old lion adorning citadel gate complex in Turkey [08/09/2011]
The Metaphor of the Dawn in The Odyssey [03/20/2011]
Project Troia -- Bronze Age Troy Just Keeps on Growing [10/08/2010]
Two tumuluses found in Turkey's ancient Daskyleion [09/24/2010]
Greek Archaeologists Claim They Discovered Odysseus' Palace [08/25/2010]
Greece. They found the palace belonging to one of the Heroes of the Iliad? [Egyptian artifact, 2006] [07/30/2010]
Ancient Greek town from where ships were launched for Troy unearthed [07/16/2010]
Has the Sarcophagus of Paris, Prince of Troy, Been Found? [07/16/2010]
Ancient Chronography, Eratosthenes and the Dating of the Fall of Troy [abstract] [07/14/2010]
Diggers discover Phoenician army complex in Cyprus [ Trojan War connection ] [06/18/2010]
Excavations in Ancient Tegea [12/04/2009]
Archaeologists find suspected Trojan war-era couple [09/22/2009]
Archaeology meets mythology in Mycenean Pylos (King Nestor) [09/11/2009]
Phaistos Disk: Greek or Luwian? [06/25/2009]
Ancient Greece's 'global warming' [05/08/2009]
Trojan arrows and unique seals from Perperikon stand out in archaeological summer '08 [11/03/2008]
Grog of the Greeks [ barley beer, honey mead, retsina wine ] [10/20/2008]
'The Odyssey' and 'The Iliad' are giving up new secrets about the ancient world [10/03/2008]
Defences at Troy reveal larger town [ news finally reaches UK ] [09/19/2008]
Scientists calculate the exact date of the Trojan horse using eclipse in Homer [06/24/2008]
Ancient Eclipse Found in "The Odyssey," Scientists Say [06/23/2008]
Ancient Tomb Found On Greek Island [03/05/2008]
Troy Story [The Straight Dope] [07/18/2007]
Mycenaean and Hittite Diplomatic Correspondence: Fact and Fiction [ PDF file ] [05/03/2007]
Engineers To Help Find Homer's Itacha [03/27/2007]
Drill hole begins Homeric quest [10/11/2006]
Schliemann's search for the 'first city' [09/30/2006]
An epic battle on Homer's gender [07/02/2006]
Odyssey's End? The Search for Ancient Ithaca [04/02/2006]
Archaeologist Links Ancient Palace, Ajax [03/29/2006]
Palace Of Homer's Hero Rises Out Of Myths [03/28/2006]
Ancient coffin with scenes from Homer's poems unearthed in Cyprus [03/20/2006]
Helen Of Troy Existed? [10/18/2005]
Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore [10/09/2005]
Search Locates Homer's Ithaca [09/29/2005]
Archeologists make historic discovery (Tomb of Odysseus) [09/23/2005]
Mycenaean Port Of Athens Found [04/28/2005]
Mycenaean Port of Athens Found? [04/29/2005]
In Search of the Real Troy [02/20/2005]
Arzawa [11/26/2004]
Geologists investigate Trojan battlefield [02/07/2003]
Geologists Show Homer Got It Right [01/29/2003]
Was Troy a Metropolis? Homer Isn't Talking [10/21/2002]
Dig Unearths Mycenaean 'Homeric Capital' [04/17/2002]
Recent Finds Prove That Homer's Stories Were More Than Myth [02/24/2002]