Koine --> Homeric

I posted here a couple years ago, intended to work with Pharr. I failed in that undertaking, but I have since gotten started with Koine for other reasons. I have enough grammar to read good sections of the New Testament with basic comfort – vocabulary is still my weak spot.

That said, I would like to try to split my time between developing my Koine and trying to approach Homer. Is there a good reader’s edition for someone in this position – not starting from zero, but probably starting from very low in terms of Homeric vocabulary?

Thank you for any advice you can offer.

Wilcock’s edition of the Iliad is good and more or less up-to-date.

http://www.amazon.com/Homer-Iliad-Books-I-XII-First/dp/B00866IF4I/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452539322&sr=1-1&keywords=wilcock+iliad

There are even more up-to-date and generally excellent editions of individual books in the Cambridge Greek & Latin Classics series.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=cambridge+greek+and+latin+classics+homer

Benner’s Selections from the Iliad is a good older edition, with footnotes, rather than endnotes, including unfamiliar vocabulary. It includes most of the Iliad and in particular the key sections, and you can buy it used at reasonable prices. (Older used printings may be more legible than the paperback version currently in print.) But you’ll want to supplement it with more up-to-date readings–there’s been a lot of scholarly water under the bridge that is helpful and illuminating since Benner was published (in fact, a revolution in our understanding the Homeric poems).

http://www.amazon.com/Selections-Homers-Iliad-Rogers-Benner/dp/0806133635/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452539969&sr=1-1&keywords=benner+iliad

I haven’t seen this myself, but a number of people seem to think highly of this series, which is aimed at beginners:

http://www.amazon.com/Homers-Iliad-22-Vocabulary-Commentary/dp/0984306595/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452541962&sr=8-1&keywords=steadman+iliad

Also, this:

http://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Bryn-Mawr-Commentaries-Greek/dp/0929524667/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1452542240&sr=8-26&keywords=bryn+mawr+commentaries

By all means, equip yourself with a copy of Cunliffe’s Homeric Lexicon. This is an essential resource for reading Homer–very reliable, and it will make the task of looking up words much easier than using a larger dictionary. The edition currently in print is a revised edition, but the revisions seem to consist of adding proper names, which isn’t particularly useful.

http://www.amazon.com/Lexicon-Homeric-Dialect-Expanded/dp/0806143088/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452540061&sr=1-1&keywords=cunliffe+homeric

A used hardbound edition will cost you more, but will last a lifetime, or as long as you are reading Homer, whichever is longer.

Homer will seem very difficult at first, with lots of obscure vocabulary and strange forms, and in the initial stages will require some hard work, but it won’t take too long before the oddities become familiar. It’s actually easier in many ways than just about any other Greek, including the NT, because the syntax is for the most part quite simple.

Learn how to scan and read metrically, whether aloud or silently. Again, this is something that seems quite daunting at first (assuming you haven’t studied Latin), but it’s by no means difficult, and if you try to work out the scansion 10-20 lines a day for a month or so, it should become second nature.

Good luck, and I hope this helps!

This is exactly what I was hoping for. Thank you.

In addition to what Hylander wrote this might also be of interest to you: http://www.amazon.com/Iliad-Book-1-Bk/dp/0472067923/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452542261&sr=8-1&keywords=Iliad+pamela+draper

This self contained volume offers the text of the first book of the Iliad, all of its vocabulary, a clear guide to the scanning of the Homeric hexameter and very, very extensive help for the first time reader of Homer.

I haven’t seen the Draper book Bart linked to, but it looks very promising.

I like the look of this Draper book, but I’ll hold off for now, since I already hastily ordered some Homer and Cunliffe. I like that this exists, though.

I would be curious to see how helpful Gaza would be to you in this effort.

http://discourse.textkit.com/t/iliad-with-attic-parallel-text/11430/1

That Attic paraphrase looks very cool, and the replies on this thread were pretty interesting. If I end up doing anything with it, I’ll report back, for sure.

I thought Pulleyn’s commentary on book 1 was very useful:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Iliad-Book-One-Bk-1-Homer/dp/0198721862/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454094068&sr=8-1-fkmr2&keywords=iliad+book+1+commentary+oup