"Homeric poetry was performed at the Panathenaia by rhapsōidoi, ‘rhapsodes’ ... The rhapsodes narrated the Iliad and Odyssey in relay, following traditions of rhapsodic sequencing: each rhapsode waited for his turn to pick up the narrative where the previous rhapsode left off." In this post we share a selection of passages that describe the repertoire, performance, and skills of rhapsodes. Read more
"...the Muse impelled the singer to sing the glories of men, starting from a thread [of a song] that had at that time a glory reaching all the way up to the vast sky." In Homeric poetry, there are several examples of singers performing. So in this post we will focus on the singer [aoidos] as featured in epics themselves. How does epic depict the role of singers and their… Read more
In part 1 we looked at female captives, slaves, servants, and non-family members of the household as depicted in Homeric epic. In this post we look at their male counterparts. We start with Eumaios, whose story provides an example of how a servant was brought into a household. Read more
What is the role played by fathers and sons in ancient Greek epic and lyric? Are fathers good role models? Do they show or teach their children how to behave or function? What kind of relationships do we witness in the texts? Are immortal and mortal fathers portrayed in similar ways? Read more
In Homeric poetry, apart from family members there are other members of the household [oikos] who are described by many different Greek words, and carry out differing roles. We were interested in understanding what those words would have meant and how servitude was portrayed, in the context of ancient Greek song culture of the Iliad and Odyssey. We start our exploration with female slaves/servants. Read more
