Multitextuality in the Homeric Iliad (Hellenic Studies): The Witness of Ptolemaic Papyri: 43 (Hellenic Studies Series) - Softcover

Bird, Graeme D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674053230 ISBN 13: 9780674053236

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2010

Synopsis

Graeme Bird examines a small group of early papyrus manuscripts of Homer's Iliad, known as the Ptolemaic papyri, which, although fragmentary, are the oldest surviving physical evidence of the text of the Iliad, dating from the third to the first centuries BCE. These papyri have been described as 'eccentric' or even 'wild' by some scholars. They differ significantly from the usual text of the Iliad, sometimes showing lines with different wording, at other times including so-called 'interpolated' lines that are completely absent from our more familiar version. Whereas some scholars denigrate these papyri because of their 'eccentricity', this book analyzes their unusual readings and shows that in fact they present authentic variations on the Homeric text, based on the variability characteristic of oral performance.

About this title

About the Author

Graeme D. Bird is Assistant Professor of Linguistics and Classics at Gordon College.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674053230
• ISBN 13: 9780674053236
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200