Mrs. Eddy Mentioned Them January 9, 1960 ISSUE

Homer

[Mentioned in Science and Health, pp. 82 and 199]

Homer is known as the father of the epic. The ancient Greeks thought that both the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" were composed by him. However, they knew little about him. Seven cities claimed him as their son. Various dates varying from 1100 B.C. to 850 B.C. are given for his life. Tradition, probably correct, claims that he was blind. Something entirely certain is that the two poems were the authority to which the ancient Greeks turned unquestioningly for details of a civilization that had disappeared. Archaeology has largely confirmed Homer's picture of Troy and his location of Mycenaean centers of civilization.

At one time there were those who believed that the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" were collections of lays assembled from different sources. In the eighteenth century many scholars accepted the theory that the "Iliad"' was the work of a single author, as was the "Odyssey," but they did not believe that these works were by the same author. Homer was a term used to designate "all those who somehow composed and assembled Greek epic."

Today many scholars are again believing in the unity of authorship of the two poems. Both poems have a similar structure, and the chief characters in the "Iliad" appear in the "Odyssey," even though they are not essential to the story.

Probably the poems were oral compositions. Certainly Homer drew on centuries of tradition. This tradition was rich, because when writing is unknown, the only way to preserve the memory of notable deeds and events is to sing or recount them. Homer's genius was his artistic conception of the poems. One scholar says: "Homer's tales are old....They are not 'expurgated," but they are reconceived, and the Homeric reconception depends on as self-conscious an artistry as is to be found in literature."

Homer's poems were a part of the Greeks' public life and were recited at the international festivals. Natural repetitions in speech are reflected in the use of certain expressions such as "winged words," "wine-dark sea," and "rosy-fingered dawn."

By such descriptions as "the beloved minstrel" and "the minstrel, fired by the God," Homer shows the minstrel's honored position in his day. The poems further reveal Homer as a man of high moral tone, possessing a deep humanity.

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