Advice on Reading Homer?

[JauneFlammee]

What is the most efficient way to learn to read Homer fluently given a decent knowledge of greek grammar, a lexicon, a grammar, and the Loeb text(& translation) of the Iliad?<br /><br /><br />My goal is to read the entire Iliad. I went through Pharr's book, and now I'm tackling chapter 2 on my own with the LSJ lexicon and the side by side Loeb text. (I'm at line 389) At first, I started writing down each new word I encountered; I soon realized if I did this I would duplicate an entire dictionary (which is not my goal).<br /><br />I would really like to spend some more time looking up things in the grammar, but right now I'm pretty overwhelmed with vocabulary and I'm leaning on the translation for grammar help when needed.<br /><br />Is there a best course of practice on this issue?<br /><br />Would it be better to lean more on the translation for help for the first couple of chapters (just to absorb some vocab and be able to read quicker), and then completely focus on the greek text? Or is it better just to try and focus on understanding the greek in its entirety from the start?<br /><br />(Basically I'm setting the goal of by chapter five or six, I would like to be able to figure out the greek without any help from the translation; and I want to be able to do that as quick as possible.)<br /> <br />Just looking for advice, thanks.

[Emma_85]

I've just started with the Odyssey and my advice would be to get a commented version of the text (there may be one at the Perseus site http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/, but I'm not too sure), because some words he uses are not ones you'd encounter anywhere else. I don't have one and it's really annoying, but then again I do have a teacher to help me, I'm not doing it on my own.

[Emma_85]

I've found the page you want - click on the blue stars for the comments .<br />http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Hom.+Il.+1.1<br /><br />If you can't read the text then you probably haven't got the latest version of the font sp ionic installed (or they use a different one). Click on the configure display link if that's the case.

[annis]

[quote author=JauneFlammee link=board=2;threadid=704;start=0#6749 date=1064423276]<br />I would really like to spend some more time looking up things in the grammar, but right now I'm pretty overwhelmed with vocabulary and I'm leaning on the translation for grammar help when needed.[/quote]<br /><br />The dirty secret here is that learning the vocabulary is just as vital as grammar. Probably more so once you get more familiar with the language.<br /><br />

Is there a best course of practice on this issue?

<br /><br />If you can, I'd recommend Benner's "Selections from Homer's Iliad." It has vocabulary, a brief grammar, and notes. The notes are sometimes a little odd, given the age of the book, but it's still a very useful tool. For example, hapax legomena (words that occur once in all of Homer) are simply footnotes, so you needn't look those up. The notes in the back are extensive and help you to deepen your knowledge of how Homer works. Pharr after all only covers the first of 24 books.<br /><br />

Or is it better just to try and focus on understanding the greek in its entirety from the start?

<br /><br />I'd say this is the best route, but it's harder, and will be slower at first.<br /><br />For vocabulary I'd recommend using the Perseus vocabulary tool. Go to the site and look under tools. There is a vocabulary tool that'll let you ask for, say, the 200 most common words in Book 2 of the Iliad, or indeed of the entire Iliad. Print out this list and focus on memorizing those words. You'll still need to look up words, but knowing the most common ones speeds things up.