Classics 1130 / Religious Studies 1144 Study materials

Most current scholarship on Homer holds, in one way or another, that the Iliad and Odyssey were originally orally composed. This is, however, a controversial topic, and it may be that the importance of writing in connection with Homer has been underrated in recent years.

At any rate, it is helpful to have an overall sense of Greek writing systems, both in the Bronze Age and later on, in order to understand Homer. Also, besides the online material, you should be familiar with the material concerning the Greek alphabet, presented in the class handout, p. 14.

An interesting example of Greek writing, which shows important parallels with oral poetry, is the Manticlos inscription. from around 700 BCE.