Flourished Ionia, Asia Minor, 8th century BCE
Homer's epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, indicate some familiarity with the sky, and with particular stars and constellations; they also show the stars used for navigation and other activities such as marking the seasons. Despite enormous literary and cultural influence of these Greek hexameter epics, nothing reliable is known about their author, who has traditionally been identified with the poet called Homer. Most scholars now agree that each of the poems themselves represents the work of one individual, even if both works may not be by the same author. The Iliad is generally agreed to be the earlier of the two by a generation or so, being dated to the mid‐8th century BCE. Oral composition played a major role in the development of both epics, and the extensive use of formulaic phrases by preliterate bards has been shown to be an essential feature of the transmission of these lengthy poems from generation to generation.
While the Homeric...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Selected References
Ceragioli, R. C. (1992). Fervidus Ille Canis: The Lore and Poetry of the Dog Star in Antiquity. Ph.D. diss., Harvard University.
Dicks, D. R. (1970). Early Greek Astronomy to Aristotle. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, pp. 27–34.
Heath, Sir Thomas L. (1913). Aristarchus of Samos, the Ancient Copernicus. Oxford: Clarendon Press (Reprint, New York: Dover, 1981), pp. 7–10.
Heubeck, Alfred et al. (1988–1992). A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey. 3 Vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Homer. Homeri Ilias, edited by Thomas W. Allen. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931 (standard Greek text); Iliad, translated by A. T. Murray. 2nd rev. ed. Loeb Classical Library, nos. 170–171. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1999 (Greek and English text); The Iliad, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1951; The Iliad, translated by Robert Fagles. New York: Viking, 1990; Iliad, translated by Stanley Lombardo. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997.
———. Odyssey, edited by Thomas W. Allen. 2nd ed. Vols. 3 and 4 of Homeri opera. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917–1919 (standard Greek text); The Odyssey, translated by A. T. Murray. 2nd rev. ed. Loeb Classical Library, nos. 104–105; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1995 (Greek and English text); The Odyssey of Homer, translated by Richmond Lattimore. New York: Harper and Row, 1967; The Odyssey, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Garden City, New York: Anchor, 1963; The Odyssey, translated by Robert Fagles. New York: Viking, 1996; Odyssey, translated by Stanley Lombardo. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2000.
Kirk, G. S. et al. (1985–1993). The Iliad: A Commentary. 6 Vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lorimer, H. L. (1951). “Stars and Constellations in Homer and Hesiod.” Annual of the British School at Athens, no. 46: 86–101.
Seymour, Thomas. D. (1907). Life in the Homeric Age. (Reprint, New York: Biblo and Tannen, 1963.) pp. 45–50.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
About this entry
Cite this entry
McMahon, J.M. (2007). Homer. In: Hockey, T., et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_643
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_643
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-31022-0
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-30400-7
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics