I have just turned my attention to Homer, Odyssey, after spending the last few years reading Plato. I was nervous about learning a new dialect. I thought I’d look at Herodotus first, though again I was nervous that learning a new dialect might contaminate my burned-in knowledge of paradigms in Classical Greek. But lo! Herodotus turned out to be a very easy transition. I was in short time able to sight read some of his sentences. So, full of self-love, I turned to Homer, and lo! he was very difficult. I’ve been at him for several weeks now, and have only managed about 30 lines, even with Steadman’s estimable help. The common view is that Homer is not difficult. I will persist (since I’ve invested in all three of Steadman’s Homer books), hoping that it will become as easy as Plato.
“as easy as Plato” is not a phrase one often encounters. Homer does take some getting used to—so many different words!, so many different forms!—but the basic structure of each sentence tends to be much more straightforward than in Plato. Best to read it line by line. You can pause at the end of each line and take stock, and perhaps anticipate what comes next.
Yes, a bit hyperbolic. I based it on this, that in the time it takes to read ten lines of Homer, I can read one Stephanus page of Plato.
The best way to get started on the Odyssey is to get P A Draper’s An Odyssey Reader, selections from Odyssey Books 1-12. This is a companion book to her Iliad 1, and has the same virtues, in that she parses and gives the meaning of pretty well every word. Steadman is good, but Draper is better.
Thanks. My order for it is arriving today.
Good. But could I ask you to come back after six weeks or so and tells us what you think of this book? It’s all very well for the more experienced people such as myself to give advice, but the real test is what actual beginner users felt when they used it. Thanks in anticipation!
Let me assure you that once you get over your initial difficulties Homer is much easier than the other authors you mention.
I’m starting Draper’s Illiad 1 after a year of Plato and two months of Herodotus. Will report.
Sorry to be rather bossy, but I’m a teacher and I force my students to vocalise, i.e. read their Greek and Latin aloud (this is oral poetry, after all). And to help students vocalise Homer we have the priceless recording of Iliad 1 by Professor Stanley Lombardo on Youtube.
I suggest that, whenever you begin a new section, you should start by listening to Lombardo’s audio and then speak it out loud yourself. Repeat three or four times on each section. Hopefully, by the end of your two months you should be able to recite Iliad Book 1 as well as Professor Lombardo.
(The audio is 57 minutes long. To help you find any passage quickly, I have attached below an index of timings.)
Note: I originally made this index in Excel and copied it into Word. When I upload the Word file, the index loses its formatting. I’ll have another go (any helpful suggestions much appreciated).
Thank you for this impirtant suggestion, ehich I will follow.
