News of Homeric Greek and Early Greek Poetry

I know Pharr-b will be ending in a few more weeks, so I've started to set things up for the Iliad 2 reading group. Let me know what week we should start on.

Also, what sort of pace do people want? I'd think 15-20 lines per session, with some attempt to break things up reasonably accounting for week to week variation.

And what day of the week for exact due dates?

First, does the phrase "spondaic ending" refer to a 'natural' spondee in the final foot, rather than a long-short? or is it the same thing as a "spondaic verse", ie. with a spondee in the fifth foot (and so spondee-spondee)?

Second, re diaresis: is there good reason to pay attention to diaresis if it's not the bucolic diaresis? And is the bucolic diaresis interesting primarily because of the number of formulae that fit after it? ...

Hi all,

Since the Pharr-b group is on its way to the last 100 lines of Iliad book 1, I am already searching for a commentary to the following books.

Can anyone perhaps give info on the value of this one:

The Iliad: A Commentary: Volume 1, Books 1-4: Bks.1-4 Vol 1
G. S. Kirk (Editor)

Apparently the Greek text is not included, but that's no problem. I am curious to know if it gives ...

Hi everybody; I've been sudying Homeric Greek through Pharr's book and finding it pretty enjoyable and challenging.

I've been also trying to recite Homer using pitch accent. I read this article : http://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/Classics/Greekaccents.html which suggests using a Fifth, and went on practicing with a guitar :wink: . Then just after I got the tone right I realised that something was not sounding quite well, I mean, it ...

the verse goes as follows:

alla ta g' asparta kai anErota panta fuontai (E = long e)

I see no othe possibility than to read the -a in asparta as long, so as to fit the hexametre.

but this is odd.
firstly because the word is written as proparoxytone: a/sparta, while it sould have been *aspa/rta, had the -a been long
secondly, the -a ending for neuter plural in Greek is *always* short. it doesn't ...

What exactly is the genetive absolute?

I've read my Pharr book and the relevant parts in Smyth, but I still can't really figure it out. Could someone show me some (using words from lesson 21 or earlier from the Pharr book) examples of this construction and why it would be used?

I appreciate it. Thank you.

[This is an email I was going to send to a friend, but realized that it might be better served being posted here since it could help people realize the importance and *meaning* of the principal part. The "verb grinder" in question is: http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~psilord/verb/test.html
It'll work if you have firefox and is in alpha stages (and this version is far older in code development and data specification than the version I have on my box ...

Going great with Pharr... fourteen lessons done and it seems like each is actually getting easier. I've picked up the pace to a lesson a day and the extra momentum is helping. It's not too fast to learn the vocabulary or grammar soundly, and it's not so slow as to kill the motivation and get out of mental shape (going too slowly gives me difficulty with syntax and forms and a blunted memory). But two ...

Hi everyone,

Are there any major differences between the edition of Pharr's Homeric Greek that is available here and the one that is available on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0806119373/qid=1134752126/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-6762146-3026335?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)? Is one better than the other? I'm trying to find a copy of Pharr in print, and the one on Amazon seems like the only one that is available. Thanks!