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612-822-4611
Allegories of the Odyssey

Allegories of the Odyssey

Hardcover

Series: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, Book 56

Literary CriticismGeneral World History

ISBN10: 0674238370
ISBN13: 9780674238374
Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr
Published: Nov 19 2019
Pages: 384
Weight: 1.05
Height: 1.00 Width: 5.30 Depth: 7.90
Language: English
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey were central to the educational system of Byzantium, yet the religion and culture of the Homeric epics--even the ancient Greek language itself--had become almost unrecognizable to Byzantine Greek readers coming to the texts nearly two millennia later. The scholar, poet, and teacher John Tzetzes (ca. 1110-1180) joined the extensive tradition of interpreting Homer by producing his Allegories of the Iliad, dedicated to the foreign-born empress Eirene. Tzetzes later composed the Allegories of the Odyssey, a more advanced verse commentary, to explain Odysseus's journey and the pagan gods and marvels he encountered. Through historical allegory, the gods become ancient kings deified by the pagan poet; through astrological interpretation, they become planets whose positions and movements affect human life; through moral allegory Athena represents wisdom, Aphrodite desire. This edition presents the first translation of the Allegories of the Odyssey into any language.

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Literary Criticism