Grappling with Homer.

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Scribo
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Grappling with Homer.

Post by Scribo »

θελω διαβασειν τα εργα του Ομηρου.

Ηοw do I start? I already have two years of Classical Attic under my belt. Do I work through it with a text a dictionary and a reference grammar? or do I get a specific text book?
(Occasionally) Working on the following tutorials:

(P)Aristotle, Theophrastus and Peripatetic Greek
Intro Greek Poetry
Latin Historical Prose

Markos
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Re: Grappling with Homer.

Post by Markos »

I would work through at least one of the three Homeric textbooks if not all three. Pharr and Beetham are great but the best is probably Shoder/Horrigan.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss? ... k+&x=0&y=0

Then you can just work through the Epics with nothing more than a Middle Liddel. I would not even waste time with a commentary. Homeric syntax is very simple and there are few cruxes. It's the vocab that is a killer but you just have to read and read and eventually it becomes managible. If you get the Loeb's make sure to get the revised editions as Murray's archaic prose style is harder to understand than the Greek, but Wyat's revision is pretty good as a crib.
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Lex
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Re: Grappling with Homer.

Post by Lex »

Markos wrote:It's the vocab that is a killer but you just have to read and read and eventually it becomes managible.
This file may help with vocab problems. I forget where I got it from, so I'll just upload it to the forum.

Also, you might want to look into the Logos version of the Iliad, if you decide to use Pharr as your text (Beetham and Schroder & Horrigan use the Odyssey). It's like a word study version of the Iliad; it gives part of speech and lexical form, for those hard-to-reverse-engineer verbs.
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Scribo
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Re: Grappling with Homer.

Post by Scribo »

Thank you guys.

I think I shall use Pharr since my uni library has a copy (alongside many other aides...)
(Occasionally) Working on the following tutorials:

(P)Aristotle, Theophrastus and Peripatetic Greek
Intro Greek Poetry
Latin Historical Prose

modus.irrealis
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Re: Grappling with Homer.

Post by modus.irrealis »

You might also want to look at the edition of the first book of the Iliad by Draper, which is pretty much aimed at people in your position (knowledge of Attic, want to move on to Homer). There are other editions like Benner's selections from the Iliad that assume knowledge of Attic but point out difficult things. You could try that if you don't want to work through a textbook.

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