The Printed Homer

The Iliad and the Odyssey are the foundation of Greek culture ("Our earliest infancy was entrusted to the care of Homer," said Heraclitus 2500 years ago) and are widely read today. This is a publishing and translation history of the written forms of the Iliad and the Odyssey. It first considers who Homer might have been and then explores the when and how of the creation of the written forms of the works. The Homeric text in classical times, in medieval Europe and the Byzantine Empire, and in Renaissance humanism are next taken up. The efforts of the many who have translated the works are analyzed critically and then--a major portion of the book--all the known texts, editions and translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey from 1470 to 2000 are listed. Finally, the author considers the future of the Homeric texts. Seven valuable appendices (e.g., Modernizing of Latin City Names; First Printings in Vernacular Languages), a bibliography, and an index complete the work.