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This is Volume Five of the major six-volume Commentary on Homer's Iliad now being prepared under the general editorship of Professor G.S. Kirk. Volumes I and II, published in 1985 and 1990 respectively, were edited by Professor Kirk himself. Like its predecessors, the present volume (the first to be edited by one of Professor Kirk's four collaborators) consists of four introductory essays (including discussions of similes and other features of narrative style) followed by the commentary. The Greek text is not included. This project is the first large-scale commentary on the Iliad for nearly one hundred years, and takes special account of language, style, and thematic structure as well as of the complex social and cultural background to the work.
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P U B L I S H E D BY T H E PRESS S Y N D I C A T E OF T H E U N I V E R S I T Y
OF
CAMBRIDGE
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY
PRESS
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 1 0 0 1 1 - 4 2 1 1 , USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, vie 3166, Australia Ruiz de Alarcon 13, 2 8 0 1 4 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http:// www.cambridge.org © Cambridge University Press 1991 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1991 Reprinted 1995, 2000 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Edwards, Mark W. The Iliad: a commentary. 1. Epic poetry in Greek. Homer. 1. Tide 11 Kirk, G. S. (Geoffrey Stephen) 1921883.01
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Kirk, G. S. (Geoffrey Stephen) The Iliad, a commentary. Includes index. Contents: v. 1. Books 1-4 v. 5. Books 17-20 Mark W. Edwards. 1. Homer. Iliad, i. Homer. Diad. 11. Edwards, Mark W. PA4037.K458
ISBN ISBN
1985
883'.OI
84-11330
o 521 3 0 9 5 9 x hardback o 521 3 1 2 0 8 6 paperback
UP
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T EI I ' D : A COMME AIRY GENERAL EDITOR G.S.
IRK
Volume V: books 17-20 MARK W. EDW' RDS
The Iliad: a commentary Volume v: books 17-20
D
M
H. D. F. Kitto T. B. L. Webster
This is the filth volume in the major six-volume Commentary on Homer's Iliad now being prepared under the General Editorship of Professor G. S. Kirk. Volume i was published in 1985, Volume 11 in 1990; both were edited by Professor Kirk himself. Like its predecessors, the present volume (the first to appear from the hand of one of Professor Kirk's four collaborators) consists of four introductory essays (including discussions of similes and other features of narrative style) followed by the Commentary. The Greek text is not included. This project is the first large-scale commentary on the Iliad for nearly one hundred years, and takes special account of language, style, and thematic structure as well as of the complex social and cultural background to the work. The Commentary is an essential reference work for all students of Greek literature, and archaeologists and historians will also find that it contains matters of relevance to them.
CONTENTS
List offigures Preface Abbreviations
1
2
3
4
page x xi xiii
INTRODUCTION The narrator and the audience (i) Persona and character: the narrator's technique (ii) Foreshadowing Composition by theme (i) Type-scenes (ii) Story patterns and neoanalysis (iii) Anticipation, preparation, and adaptation Similes (i) Form (a) The short s