[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help] 

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

Israeli Strikes On Iran Ongoing Through Friday As Death Toll Surpasses 100

From Torah to trauma: A Satanic child abuse scandal blows up in Israel

MAGA Influencer Calls to Deploy Palantir on LA Streets

Egypt detains nearly 200 foreigners who flew in to join Gaza march

FLASHBACK - How Mayor Daley dealt with looters!

Scammers Use AI Bots to Impersonate Students, Stealing Millions in Financial Aid

Bilderberg 2025 begins. Global elites gather in Stockholm. AI, migration, and national security dominate

I Wish We All Could Leave California (Beach Boys Parody)

Exclusive: US slams UN conference on Israel-Palestinian issue, warns of consequences

Brilliant & Critical Insight!

Legal Immigrants Shift to GOP on Immigration, Shows 40-Point Swing from Democrats

American fuel tankers were spotted REFUELING ISRAELI JETS over Syria.

Does Western Civilization Have Enough Belief to Continue to Exist?

Trump CLEARLY KNEW of Israel's Plan To STRIKE IRAN

Trump Warns 'Even More Brutal' Attacks Coming Without Nuclear Deal

10 Supplements That Fight Inflammation

CNN Security Analyst Defends Agents Who Removed Senator Padilla From Kristi Noem Presser

Florida sheriff warns rioters: 'We will kill you graveyard dead'

DEMOCRATS' NIGHTMARE: Viral Video Shows Why They LOST The Election!

Israeli strikes on Iran. Five Waves. Might last 2 weeks?

Images Emerge Of Tehran Destruction After Major Israeli 'Preemptive Attack'

This Is What Happens Next After Israel Bombs Iran’s Nuclear Facilities…

Smartmatic accused of deleting evidence in 27 Billion Fox News Defamation Case Court Docs

White House Fears Iranian Response To An Attack Could Overwhelm Israel's Air Defenses

The Money and Power Behind the Riots: This is No Grass-Roots Movement

D.C. Judge Sides With Trump In Lawsuit Over Control Of Corrupt Foreign Aid Agency

Israel Iran Double Standard

Soros Funneled $8.3M into Leftist Group Trying to Turn Lone Star State Blue

California Democrats Under Fire for Buying Bricks During Protests

ICE Launches Campaign to Crack Down on Marriage Fraud Could Ilhan Omar Finally Face Justice?


History
See other History Articles

Title: Scholar: Iliad, Odyssey Penned by Woman
Source: Discovery Channel
URL Source: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/ ... ory=human&1guid=20060828100030
Published: Aug 28, 2006
Author: Jennifer Vegas
Post Date: 2006-08-31 13:30:40 by Peetie Wheatstraw
Keywords: None
Views: 169
Comments: 11

The author of the Greek epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey was probably a woman, according to an upcoming book by a British historian and linguist.

Andrew Dalby, author of Rediscovering Homer, argues that the attribution of the poems to Homer was founded on a falsehood.

Homer’s link to the poems, Dalby writes, stems from an "ill-informed postclassical text, the anonymous Life of Homer, fraudulently ascribed to Herodotus," a respected Greek historian who lived from around 484-425 B.C.

Herodotus does mention Homer in his work Histories, but by then the legend of the mysterious, blind, male poet had already taken root, Dalby says.

Dalby explained to Discovery News that the earliest references to Homer by writers such as Herodotus and the Greek poet Pindar indicate the poet lived around 800 B.C.

But based on geographical references in the poems, Dalby believes the Iliad was composed in 650 B.C., while the Odyssey was written in 630 B.C., well after Homer’s supposed lifetime.

Aside from the poems themselves, no concrete clues exist to identify their author, but Dalby builds a case that the person probably was a woman.

"In many oral traditions, the best and most reliable creators, the ones who are used by folklore collectors, happen to be women," he said.

Dalby explained that women throughout the ancient world were "often the last and most skillful exponents of an oral tradition."

For example, the world’s first named poet was a Sumerian woman named Enheduanna, who lived from around 2285-2250 B.C. Dalby said women also saved the ancient oral poetry of the northern Japanese, many Irish traditions, and numerous English folk ballads.

Another recent book, Clever Maids: The Secret History of the Grimm Fairy Tales, claims the Brothers Grimm gathered most of their famous stories from women. Author Valerie Paradiz told Discovery News that the brothers "only gave credit to one woman by name," but then linked most other tales to male editors who also gathered stories from women.

Dalby thinks both works were composed by the same person, but that the more developed female figures in the Odyssey — particularly the heroic character Penelope — reflect change in the author's life.

"By the time she came to create her second masterpiece, the woman poet understood at last that in consigning her work to writing, she was able to address a whole new audience (including women)," he said.

While no master copy of the poems exists, many different written versions of the poems were circulating in Greece by 300 B.C.

Anthony Snodgrass, emeritus professor of classical archaeology at Cambridge University, agrees that, because of its emphasis on domesticity versus aggression, the Odyssey could have been written by a woman. But he finds it hard to believe a female could have composed the violence-infused Iliad.

If the poet was a woman, Dalby believes her name is probably lost to history.

"I would guess that Sappho (a female Greek poet) and her contemporary, the male poet Alkaios, probably knew the name, but they did not mention it in their own poetry," Dalby said.

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 9.

#8. To: Peetie Wheatstraw (#0)

Samuel Butler long ago argued that the Odyssey, in which women do figure rather prominently, was written by a woman. I can't imagine why anyone would think a woman wrote the Iliad.

aristeides  posted on  2006-08-31   14:05:44 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#9. To: aristeides (#8)

I can't imagine why anyone would think a woman wrote the Iliad.

Maybe she was a war captive like Briseis: she "de-briefed" her captor every night about the day's battles---"So how goes the battle? Who did Aias fight with today? I bet his 'armor clattered about him' when 'the mists of death closed his eyes' and he fell, hunh...?"

No, I don't think a woman wrote the Iliad either.... :)

Peetie Wheatstraw  posted on  2006-08-31   14:15:33 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 9.

        There are no replies to Comment # 9.


End Trace Mode for Comment # 9.

TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest


[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help]