AWOL - The Ancient World Online

Friday, March 13, 2026

Comparative Studies in Greek and Indic Meter

Curated Books

Reversing the generally accepted notions about formula and meter in epic poetry, Gregory Nagy seeks to show that meter is an outgrowth of formula. To make his point he links the Parry-Lord techniques of formulaic analysis with the researches of Meillet, Jakobson, and Watkins on Indo-European metrics. In the process he evolves a new theory about the origins of the Homeric hexameter and offers controversial fresh material for pursuing the problem of creativity versus tradition in the Greek lyric
Originally published in 1974 as Harvard Studies in Comparative Literature 33. Copyright, Harvard University Press. Also available for purchase in print here.
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Use the following persistent identifier: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_Nagy.Comparative_Studies_in_Greek_and_Indic_Meter.1974.
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Copyright, Harvard University Press. Published here online with permission.

The meaning of Homeric εὔχομαι through its formulas

Leonard Muellner

Curated Books

Eukhomai had been glossed traditionally as “pray, long for, wish for; vow, promise; boast, brag, vaunt; profess, declare.” Muellner’s approach is to make a systematic analysis of the constraints in which this word is used in Homeric texts—grammatical, stylistic, and contextual—and to compare them, keeping in mind the framework of traditional diction, in which “a traditional poet uses a repertoire of formulas and themes to express his meaning.”

Second online edition a book originally published in 1976 as Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft Band 13.
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Use the following persistent identifier: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_MuellnerL.The_Meaning_of_Homeric_eukhomai.1976.
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Copyright, Leonard Muellner. Published here by permission of the author.

The Anger of Achilles: Mênis in Greek Epic

The Anger of Achilles: Mênis in Greek Epic

Leonard Muellner

Curated Books

Leonard Muellner’s goal is to restore the Greek word for the anger of Achilles, menis, to its social, mythical, and poetic contexts. His point of departure is the anthropology of emotions. He believes that notions of anger vary between cultures and that the particular meaning of a word such as menis needs to emerge from a close study of Greek epic. Menis means more than an individual’s emotional response. On the basis of the epic exemplifications of the word, Muellner defines the term as a cosmic sanction against behavior that violates the most basic rules of human society. To understand the way menis functions, Mueller stresses both the power and the danger that accrue to a person who violates such rules. Transgressive behavior has both a creative and a destructive aspect.

This is an updated online edition of a book originally published in 1996 as part of the Myth and Poetics Series by Cornell University Press
Available for purchase in print via Cornell University Press.
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Use the following persistent identifier: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_MuellnerL.The_Anger_of_Achilles.1996.
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Copyright, Cornell University Press. Published here online with permission.

The Tears of Achilles

Hélène Monsacré

Hellenic Studies Series

Warrior, hero, super-male—Achilles, by the protocols of Western culture, should never cry. And yet Homeric epic if full of his tears and those of his companions at Troy. This path-blazing study by Hélène Monsacré shows how later ideals of stoically inexpressive manhood run contrary to the poetic vision presented in the Iliad and Odyssey. The epic protagonists, as larger-than-life figures who transcend gender categories, are precisely the men most likely to weep. In a rich series of lucid and detailed close readings, pursuing the paradox of the tearful fighter, Monsacré examines all aspects of the interactions between men and women in the Homeric poems. Her illuminating analysis, first published in French three decades ago, remains bold, fresh, and compelling for anyone touched—like Achilles—by a world of grief
Available for purchase in print via Harvard University Press.
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Monsacré, Hélène. 2018. The Tears of Achilles. Trans. Nicholas J. Snead. Introduction by Richard P. Martin. Hellenic Studies Series 75. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_MonsacreH.The_Tears_of_Achilles.2018.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 3.0 License.

Thursday, March 12, 2026

Phraseologie und indogermanische Dichtersprache in der Sprache der griechischen Chorlyrik: Pindar und Bakchylides

Laura Massetti

Curated Books

The subject of this work is the phraseology and poetic language that are documented in Pindar (518-446 BC) and Bakchylides (516-452 BC), have parallels in other poetic traditions, and can in part prove to be inherited. Phraseology is the way in which phraseological units (individual words or groups of words) are combined in the oral or written language. In any study of phraseology, the first thing to consider is how the various elements of a speech are related. Poetic language is understood to mean the use of language that goes beyond the limit of the mere communication of information, since the communication of the message itself proves to be a work of art because of the poetic function of language. Therefore, an investigation of poetic phraseology presents itself in principle as a study that focuses on expressions whose application makes a linguistic message poetically-artistically.

— Translated from the Introductio
Online publication of a dissertation submitted to the Historisch-Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft (Institut für Linguistik), Universität zu Köln, in 2016.
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Use the following persistent identifier: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_MassettiL.Phraseologie_und_indogermanische_Dichtersprache.2019.
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Copyright, Laura Massetti. This dissertation is published here with permission of the author.

The Language of Heroes: Speech and Performance in the Iliad

The Language of Heroes: Speech and Performance in the Iliad

Richard P. Martin

Curated Books

Drawing on recent studies in ethnography and sociolinguistics, Richard Martin here sets forth a poetics of Homeric speeches, which he sees not merely as poetic creations but as the representation of an actual form of speaking in a traditional culture
Originally published in 1989 as part of the Myth and Poetics Series by Cornell University Press.
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Use the following persistent identifier: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_Martin.The_Language_of_Heroes.1989.
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Copyright, Richard P. Martin. This work is made available here with permission of the author.

Zeus in the Odyssey

J. Marks

Hellenic Studies Series

This book makes the case that the plot of the Odyssey is represented within the narrative as a plan of Zeus, Dios boulê, that serves as a guide for the performing poet and as a hermeneutic for the audience. Through occasional participation in events and pervasive influence, the character of Zeus maintains thematic unity as the narrative moves through a mass of potential narrative paths for Odysseus that was already dense and conflicting at the time the Odyssey was taking shape. The “Zeus-centric” reading proposed here offers fresh perspectives on the tenor of interactions among the Odyssey’s characters, on the relationships among traditional accounts of Odysseus’ return, and on long-standing problems of interpretation
Available for purchase in print via Harvard University Press.
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Marks, J. 2008. Zeus in the Odyssey. Hellenic Studies Series 31. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_Marks.Zeus_in_the_Odyssey.2008.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 3.0 License.