My Purple World: Why were the writings of Homer so influential?

“To the classical Greeks, Homer's epics played very much the same role that the Bible plays for a lot of people today. People memorized big chunks of Homer's writings in school, and they repeated bits of it in order to convince other people to do something or think something.” “We have evidence from the classical age in Greece of people memorizing the complete poetry of Homer word for word (over 25,000 lines of poetry); it may be possible that the Homeric poems were memorized with more exactitude than scholars believe.”

“The Greeks regarded Homer as their first, and greatest, poet. They might speak of other names which pretended to greater antiquity, but they had no text to quote. For Homer they did…Homer, for the Greeks, stood at the head of their literary tradition. All knew him…” (Lattimore 13)

“The texts gave Greece a model history that became the base texts for education. Homer taught courage and honor through his poems, encouraging Greeks to be proud of their heritage.”

Not only were Homer’s writings read and valued in Greece, but we still read Homer today. Homer’s two big masterpieces were the Iliad and the Odyssey, although some scholars are doubtful if Homer was the true author of the latter. (source)

“The Iliad deals with only a small portion of the Trojan War; in fact, it covers only a few months during the tenth year of that war. The ancient Greek audience, however, would have been familiar with all the events leading up to this tenth year, and during the course of the Iliad, Homer makes many references to various past events.” (Skill 15)

“The Odyssey describes the return of the Greek hero Odysseus from the Trojan War. The opening scenes depict the disorder that has arisen in Odysseus's household during his long absence: A band of suitors is living off of his wealth as they woo his wife, Penelope. The epic then tells of Odysseus's ten years of traveling, during which he has to face such dangers as the man-eating giant Polyphemus and such subtler threats as the goddess Calypso, who offers him immortality if he will abandon his quest for home.” “The second half of the poem begins with Odysseus' arrival at his home island of Ithaca. Here, exercising infinite patience and self-control, Odysseus tests the loyalty of his servants, plots and carries out a bloody revenge on Penelope's suitors, and is reunited with his son, his wife, and his aged father.”

“The Iliad and the Odyssey are, or rather contain, the oldest Greek writings we have. There is no way to date accurately any part of them. Scholars differ widely, and will no doubt continue to do so.” (Hamilton 21)

The Iliad and the Odyssey are important because they record Greek (and Trojan) history. From the rage of Achilles to Odysseus’ return to Ithaca, these epic poems hold precious history and show us the lifestyles and beliefs of these famous characters.

Works Cited

Hamilton, Edith. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. New York: New American Library. 1969.

Lattimore, Richmond. The Iliad of Homer. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1951.

Skill, Elaine Strong. Cliff’s Notes on Homer’s The Iliad. Lincoln, Nebraska: Cliff’s Notes, Inc. 1986.