Odyssey Reading Group: Introduction

seanjonesbw · May 30, 2019, 7:23pm

Welcome to the Odyssey Reading Group! Anyone is welcome to join, regardless of their Greek ability. If you’re itching to explore Homer’s epic tale of survival, adventure, love, lust, kinship, betrayal and spooky dead people, hop on in, you’ll be very welcome. People who have some Greek but have never tried reading Homer before are doubly welcome. Below is a description of how this group works and where to find resources to help you engage with the text.

How the group works

We read around 20 lines of the Odyssey in Greek per week.
You can join anytime - you don’t need to catch up unless you want to. If you can’t join in every week, that’s fine too.
Every Friday, I post my own thoughts on that week’s section to start the discussion.
There are no rules for what we discuss. You can talk about things you thought were interesting, ask questions about things you found difficult, share things you’ve found in commentaries, chat about the Odyssey’s influence on later writers and artists. Up to you - whatever takes your fancy.
May Zeus Xenios keep us helpful and friendly to all-comers.

Resources
We’ll be working from Geoffrey Steadman’s Odyssey Books 6-8, a freely-available pdf which you can download here https://geoffreysteadman.com/homers-odyssey-6-8/

If you just want to read/translate the text each week using Steadman’s Odyssey, that’s A-OK. For those who want to explore the Greek text and its narrative context more deeply, I’ve prepared a list of resources which you may find useful - to be treated more like a finger buffet than an eight-course meal. That’s available here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bk06uapk0hhhbiz/AADhSIe4VqkH6JygAcW52wL-a?dl=0 (Oddysey_Reading_Group_Resources.pdf)

Week 1: Friday 7th June
On the recommendation of seneca2008, the first reading will be lines 1-23. I’m starting the group from the 7th because I want to read books 1-5 again in English to get in the mood.

Enjoy your Homer, see you next week!

p.s. any questions in the meantime, post 'em 'ere.

Montcombroux · May 31, 2019, 5:27pm

I am interested in taking part in this reading group - as far as my limited linguistic abilities allow.
Since I study Greek in French, I would like to acquire a Homeric Greek-French lexicon.and would welcome suggestions from experienced scholars on this forum. Recommendations of French language commentaries and other resources would also be appreciated.
Thanks
m

Paul_Derouda · May 31, 2019, 8:44pm

I won’t be an “official” member of the group, but I’ll follow the discussion and I’d sure like to post from time to time.

Re: French resources. I think there are much less than in English. You probably know Chantraine’s Grammaire homérique, which is the standard grammar in any language, but that’s an advanced book, hardly something you need for your first reading of Homer. And you must know that the Budé edition & translation of the Odyssey by Victor Bérard is a joke, to be avoided at all cost (the Budé Iliad is a lot better). On the other hand, I would recommend Mario Meunier’s translations of both epics. For some reason, they appear to be very little known, but I think they are good literal translations you can have on the side when you read the Greek – if you ask me, Meunier should have been the Budé translator and not Bérard.

Here’s Meunier’s Odyssey: http://iliadeodyssee.texte.free.fr/aatexte/meunier/accueilmeunier/odyssmeunier.htm.
I don’t think Meunier’s Odyssey is still print, although it would deserve to be. I found an old second hand paper copy for myself in Abebooks.fr a few years ago; it has nice illustrations.

Montcombroux · May 31, 2019, 9:53pm

Thank you, Paul, for the Meunier link. I agree about the illustrations - almost (but not quite) Ardizzone-like. I’ll try to track down a print copy.
I am still hoping someone will point me in the direction of a Homeric Greek-French lexicon, preferably a hard copy still in print.
Michael

exorcist · June 1, 2019, 4:45pm

I’m interested in participating too! Like Paul, I may dip in and out. But I would love if we could scan the lines each week (or, is there somewhere online that I can find each line of Odyssey stressed/unstressed?)

Sean - thanks for the extensive resources doc!

Barry_Hofstetter · June 1, 2019, 7:18pm

I actually have a hard copy of the Steadman text, having used it as part of a survey class that I taught several years ago. Looking forward to revisiting it.

seanjonesbw · June 1, 2019, 7:52pm

I was actually hoping that you and other mods would be benign forces hovering over the group and dispensing wisdom

I personally want to pay a lot of attention to metre - I don’t want to make rash promises but I might end up producing a marked-up scanned copy some weeks that I could pass around. If you click on each line here http://hypotactic.com/latin/index.html?Use_Id=odyssey6 it will show you the feet separated by blue lines (dactyls pink and orange, spondees green), but you have to work out for yourself why the line is divided up that way.

C_S_Bartholomew · June 3, 2019, 2:56am

Acrobat Reader DC isn’t displaying the facing pages in sync. None of the view options changed this.

Acrobat Reader
DC 2019.012.20034
Build: 19.12.20034.328841
AGM: 4.30.85

Aetos · June 3, 2019, 9:43am

Try checking “show cover page in two page view” in the View/ Display Pull Down Box from the Menu Bar. If the menu bar isn’t showing, press F9 to toggle it.

C_S_Bartholomew · June 3, 2019, 2:37pm

Yes, that works. Deselect “show cover page in two page view” and the pages are now in sync. Thought I tried all the options yesterday.

Thanks.

Sohtnirybal · June 3, 2019, 3:32pm

χαίρετε

I gladly join

smitterle · June 4, 2019, 11:28am

When will you start? I’ll bookmark thread, not sure I’ll be able to participate much but would love to.

seanjonesbw · June 4, 2019, 1:18pm

This Friday (7th June). I’ll be starting a new thread for each week’s reading. See you there hopefully.

Constantinus_Philo · June 5, 2019, 2:07am

Hopefully we’ll get some professor to supervise us for correct understanding.