Epic Literature

This book aims to provide the reader of Homer with the traditional knowledge and fluency in Homeric poetry which an original ancient audience would have brought to a performance of this type of narrative. To that end, Adrian Kelly presents the text of Iliad VIII next to an apparatus referring to the traditional units being employed, and gives a brief description of their semantic impact. He describes the referential curve of the narrative in a continuous commentary, tabulates all the traditional units in a separate lexicon of Homeric structure, and examines critical decisions concerning the text in a discussion which employs the referential method as a critical criterion. Two appendices deal with speech introduction formulae, and with the traditional function of Here and Athene in early Greek epic poetry.

Tsagalis, C., Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2008.01.25
Heath, M., Greece & Rome 55 (2008) 111–12
Clackson, J., Times Literary Supplement October 17 (2008) 33
Strauss Clay, J., Religious Studies Review 34 (2008) 289
Huxley, G. L., Hermathena 184 (2008) 93–5
Cook, E., Classical Review 59 (2009) 14–16
de Jong, I., Mnemosyne 62 (2009) 478–80
Blanc, A., Revue des études grecques 122 (2009) 237–9

Though Odysseus’ tales to Eumaios and Aninoos in Odyssey 14.199–359 and 17.417–44, respectively, are presented as fictional tales within Homer’s larger myth, some elements have striking analogs in Late Bronze–Early Iron Age reality.

This article examines these portions of the hero’s false ainoi within their fictive context for the purpose of identifying and evaluating those elements. Particular focus is given to Odysseus’ declaration that he led nine successful maritime raids prior to the Trojan War; to his twice–described ill–fated assault on Egypt; and to his claim not only to have been spared in the wake of that Egyptian raid, but to have spent a subsequent seven years in the land of the pharaohs, during which he gathered great wealth.

Through a comparative examination of literary and archaeological evidence from the Late Bronze–Early Iron transition in the Eastern Mediterranean, it is shown that these aspects of Odysseus’ stories are not only reflective of the historical reality surrounding the time in which the epic is set, but that Odysseus’ fictive experience is remarkably similar to that of one specific member of the ‘Sea Peoples’ groups best known from 19th and 20th dynasty Egyptian records: the ‘Sherden of the Sea.’

CU Boulder - FREN1200
Offered FA2014, FA2015, FA2016
Course Description: The popularity of George RR Martin's fantasy saga A Song of Ice and Fire and its Emmy-winning HBO adaptation Game of Thrones shows us that major themes from medieval stories still resonate with audiences a thousand years after their composition. This course will examine major epic and romance texts of the Middle Ages such as Beowulf, The Song of Roland, and The Death of King Arthur. We will aim to understand the rich literary tradition that has led to our modern interest in dragons, knights, heroes and magic. We will also look at how representations of medieval culture in contemporary series such as Game of Thrones influence our conceptions (and misconceptions) of the Middle Ages. Much like Sansa, we will find that the stories do not necessarily reflect the reality.

This article reads the problem of trespass within William Shakespeare's King Lear.  I draw upon eighteenth-century jurist William Blackstone's notion of trespass, sixteenth-century jurist Jean Bodin's notion of sovereignty, in order to understand the question of property rights that emerges in Lear's abdication of his sovereignty.

RESUMEN
La obediencia del héroe en el Cantar de mio Cid es una decisión táctica, no estratégica, a partir de la cual se desarrolla un proceso de persuasión de la voluntad regia que contrarrestará el efectuado por los malos mestureros gracias al predominio de las obras sobre las palabras.

RÉSUMÉ
L’obéissance du héros dans la Chanson de mon Cid est une décision tactique, non stratégique. À partir de celle-ci se développe un processus de persuasion du roi que doit compenser les agissements des courtisans détracteurs, en raison de la primauté des actions sur les mots.

Dating texts is one of the most important challenges for research into literary history. Only through a chronological ranking of texts, one can gain insight into the development of literature through time. Dating Middle Dutch chivalric epics is a complex issue, on which little agreement has been reached. Situating texts is often difficult because the original authors’ texts rarely survive and researchers have to work with much younger, often fragmentary copies. In this contribution, we present a critical state-of-the-art of recent research into dating
Middle Dutch chivalric epics. After a short discussion of the main dating methods, we present a chronological overview of Middle Dutch chivalric epics, based on a critical scrutiny of secondary literature. We hope to reach a synthesis as a point of reference for future research.

The Ifugaos seem to be the only people in the world who have developed peacemaking ideology in a typically aggressive genre of oral literature. The rich literature on epic traditions worldwide portrays a highly male-centered genre of song glorifying heroic values and warlike acts. Ifugao male epics represents aggressive ideology, which it shares with all the corresponding genres from India to Iceland. But what is specific of the Ifugao epic lore is that it contains two trends. The /hudhud/, female epic tradition of the Ifugaos, is a unique specimen of peacemaking, even pacifist ideology in epic form. This ideology has developed in the peak of headhunting period, i.e. it is genuine, not imposed by the influence of other cultures as, for instance, the motives of regret that appeared in Kalinga Ullalim under the influence of Christianization and American "order".

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Captain Ahab is no exception. Forget for a second Ahab's villainous qualities and look instead to the classical tradition. Shakespeare's Macbeth was not a very nice guy. Neither was Milton's Satan. Still, we find qualities within these antagonists that conform to ancient ideas of the epic and tragedy. Let us, then, look at Ahab in this same light. Ahab may be a monomaniac, but we still adore him despite all of his faults. Therefore, this essay explores the heroic qualities of Ahab which have made him into the American lit icon he is today.

Studies in epic cinema have flourished in the past decade, but one senses that
scholars take the term to be self-explanatory,
without considering its literary
origins and the variety of films that can be placed under the rubric of the
epic. Furthermore, the question of epic style has received less scholarly attention.
In this article, I propose that in order to define epic cinema we need to
look at literary, philosophical, and film theoretical discussions of the epic. In
doing so, we will be able to appreciate that epic cinema is an exceptionally
expansive umbrella term that covers many and diverse film practices, including
films (1) with epic subject matter but not epic style, (2) with epic subject
matter and epic style, (3) with epic style but not epic subject matter, and (4)
films which can be placed under the rubric of the modernist epic.

Aided Óenfir Aífe (AOA), “The Death of Aife’s Only Son”, is one of the shortest stories of the Ulster’s Cycle which shares the same origins with the Táin, back to the IX century, for language features and themes (Findon 1994, 139; Varese 2001, 129). The earliest version of the tale is contained by the Yellow Book of Lecan (Meyer 1904, 113-121) but other, later variants (O’Keeffe, 1904) are not sporadic and its literary fortune endured until the XX century (...)

COURSE DESCRIPTION
South India, with its rich history and stunning landscapes, has provided the setting for some of the greatest epics in the ancient world. In this class we will explore two of the ‘Five Great Jewels’ of Tamil literature: The Lay of the Anklet (Cilappatikāram) and The Dancer with the Magic Bowl (Maṇimēkalai). These epics were composed sometime between the 1st and 8th centuries CE and present a view of the societies, religions, and cultures of ancient South India. The central narratives of both epics follow the adventures of female protagonists: Kaṇṇaki, a devoted wife turned goddess, and Maṇimēkalai, a dancer-courtesan turned renunciant. These two epics are also connected through their female characters, as Maṇimēkalai is the daughter of Kaṇṇaki’s husband Kōvalaṉ and his mistress Mātavi. In conjunction with reading these fascinating tales, we will also explore their literary and historical contexts and their significance within the Jain and Buddhist religious traditions.

Questo volume è dedicato al secondo libro dell'Iliade, e riunisce insieme tre elementi: il testo dell’Iliade, una traduzione interlineare rigorosamente letterale ed un commentario. Non sono a conoscenza di un altro testo in cui tutti questi tre elementi siano riuniti insieme, e siano presentati in lingua italiana. Non intendo rivendicare l’aver colmato alcuna lacuna: ho semplicemente voluto realizzare lo strumento a mio parere più pratico, per un lettore appassionato di Omero, al fine di consentirgli allo stesso tempo e con un unico volume tra le mani di leggere il testo greco del poema, confrontare una proposta di traduzione ed approfondire vari aspetti del testo con un esteso commentario a piè di pagina.
La traduzione ed il commento sono preceduti da un'introduzione al libro, e seguite da alcune schede lessicali e di approfondimento. La traduzione, le schede lessicali e l’impostazione complessiva del presente lavoro sono originali, mentre per il commento e le note mi sono mi sono appoggiato in larga misura ai due fondamentali commentari di W. Leaf e G. S. Kirk, che ho parzialmente tradotto e variamente integrato tra di loro e con altre fonti. Le note sono principalmente focalizzate sul lessico e sulla grammatica. Per un'analisi grammaticale dettagliata che si integra al testo greco e ad una traduzione letterale interlineare, si veda il lavoro di J. J. Jackson.

The Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest literary explorations of the purpose and meaning of human life. The poem’s hero embarks on a quest for immortality, only to discover that, for humankind, eternal life lies in enduring works and contentment in domestic comforts.

The motif of body cleaning – including the washing of hair and skin, anointment with perfumes, and the wearing of spotless garments – is woven through the epic narrative. Enkidu, a wild man who has been reared in the steppe, is cleaned and groomed as part of his transition into human society. Ninsun, the divine mother of Gilgamesh, bathes before making a ritual offering to the sun-god Shamash. Gilgamesh washes himself on his return from an expedition to slay the monster Humbaba. In each episode, the cleansing of the body provides entrée to a new social context. Freshly washed, Enkidu gains admission to the company of other human beings, Ninsun to the company of the gods, and Gilgamesh to the intimate company of a woman. When, at the close of the epic, Gilgamesh bathes for a final time following his quest to the end of the earth in search of everlasting life, the cleansing heralds his acceptance of his own mortality and his readmission to the ranks of humanity.

The epic establishes the clean body as a requirement for participation in society, and those who stand outside of the human social order are marked by their uncleanliness: these include wild animals, the grieving, and the dead. In a text whose aim is to establish what human beings can and should aspire to in the face of the inevitability of death, cleanliness emerges as a key value, a prerequisite to leading a rewarding human life of full social participation.

The Āpaddharmaparvan, 'the book on conduct in times of distress', is an important section of the great Sanskrit epic the Mahābhārata which, despite its significance for Mahābhārata studies and for the history of Indian social and political thought, has received little attention in scholarly literature. This book places the Āpaddharmaparvan within its literary and ideological contexts. In so doing it explores the development of a conception of brahmanic kingship morally justifiable within the terms of a debate largely set by various alternative social movements of the period. This book further explores the implications for our understanding of the Mahābhārata that follow from the Āpaddharmaparvan's presentation as a poetically cohesive unit within itself and within the wider parameters of the Mahābhārata.

Reseñado por Ines de Ornellas e Castro, en Evphrosyne, N° 45, 2017, pp. 649-651 (Portugal). Reseñado por Jean-Louis Charlet, en Athenaeum, N° 103/1, 2015, pp. 286-288 (Italia). Reseñado por Luis Alberto Cuenca Prado, Emérita, N° 82/1, 2014, pp. 185-186 (España). Reseñado Silvana Fasce, en Maia: Rivista di letterature classiche N° 65/3, 2013, 663-664 (Italia). Reseñado por Florence Garambois, en Revue Vita Latina, N° 187-188, 2013, pp. 363-364 (Francia). Reseñado por Héctor Felipe Pastor Andrés, en Florencia Iliberritana, N° 23, 2012, pp. 278-281 (España). Reseñado por Julieta Cardigni en Argos, N° 35, 2012, pp. 192-194 (Argentina). Reseñado por Analía Nieto González, en Circe de Clásicos y Modernos, N° 16, vol. 2, 2012, pp. 189-191 (Argentina). Reseñado por Eleonora Tola, en Ordia Prima, N° 11, 2012 (Argentina). Reseñado por Liliana Pégolo en Anales de Filología Clásica, N° 24, 2011 (Argentina). //// En este libro se estudian las líneas de continuidad y de ruptura que El rapto de Prosérpina plantea con relación a la evolución diacrónica de la épica, como así también, desde una perspectiva sincrónica, los puntos de convergencia y de tensión que el poema sostiene con las alegorías propias de la vertiente cristiana del género. El análisis intertextual de las innovaciones formuladas por Claudiano en el tratamiento de ciertos componentes tradicionales de la épica –proemios, símiles, descripciones, símbolos– permite verificar, a través de los diferentes capítulos, tanto el carácter alegórico del subgénero de El rapto de Prosérpina, como la existencia de una dimensión filosófica, hasta ahora no explorada por la crítica, en varios aspectos de los mitos narrados en el poema. La investigación desarrollada en esta obra aporta, por otra parte, una nueva perspectiva de análisis para el estudio de la antigua controversia acerca de la naturaleza cristiana o pagana del texto y de su autor, al sostener que Claudiano fue poeta, filósofo y cristiano, acaso del único modo posible en que esas tres dimensiones se conjugarían, por única y última vez, antes de que el cristianismo encontrara su propia literatura y filosofía políticas, en las obras canónicas de Prudencio y de San Agustín.

This volume mostly relates the episode of Brahma's abducting Krishna's friends and calves and Brahma's speech. Chapter 14 and the commentaries of various exalted scholars of the Vaishnava sampradayas treat of philosophy in depth and include many play on words.

Esperimento di traduzione dell'Iliade di Omero. Libro XIII: 'La battaglia alle navi'. Traduzione interlineare con vocabolario essenziale in linea. La traduzione è accompagnata da commenti e note grammaticali. Il testo dell'Iliade è quello dell'edizione di David B. Monro and Thomas W. Allen, Oxford (1920), disponibile in formato digitale su Perseus Digital Library. Le fonti principali per i commenti sono W. Leaf, Commentary on the Iliad (1900), e R. Janko (ed. Kirk), The Iliad: A Commentary (1994). Altri testi di riferimenti utilizzati - P. Chantraine, J. D. Denniston, W. W. Goodwin etc. - sono citati di volta in volta nel commento. La traduzione è interamente mia, ma ho consultato altre traduzioni quali quelle di A.T. Murray, G. Paduano, R. Calzecchi Onesti e G. Cerri.

Indice / Content: 1. La teoría en los prólogos. 2.  Con toda verdad: testigos, documentos, archivos. 3. Cumplir con la poesía. 4. Entender la guerra: épica y artes de la milicia. 5. A leer una épica no se acomoda el vulgo. 6. Faltando quien las escriba.

"The Book of Karna" relates the events of the two dramatic days after the defeat of the great warriors and generals Bhishma and Drona, in which Karna - great hero and the eldest Pandava - leads the Kaurava army into combat. This first volume of "Karna" depicts mighty battles in gory detail, sets the scene for Karna's tragic death, and includes a remarkable verbal duel between Karna and his reluctant charioteer Shalya, the king of the Madras, as they hurl abuse at each other before entering the fray. It is co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation.

This article approaches Mathew Arnold’s epic poem Sohrab and Rustum as an example of a highly visualised form of narrative, and places it within a historical and cultural context in the nineteenth century in order to illustrate how it both appropriates the hegemonic aesthetics of vision while questioning an epistemology based on it. By analysing examples of Arnold’s poetic language and thematic structuring of Sohrab and Rustum, the article examines how Matthew Arnold incorporated aspects of such aesthetics into his poem from various forms of eighteenth and nineteenth century spectacular art. Furthermore, by imitation of Homeric epics, Arnold created a highly visual form of narrative discourse, which nonetheless casts a critical eye on the hegemony of vision in the nineteenth century British culture.

The mistakes we make about ourselves result in our deepest sufferings. Philosophy, meant to be a remedy for our souls’ affliction, claims to offer both a diagnosis and a cure. I look to ancient India, where Buddhists and Hindus alike grapple with this fundamental human quest for peace of mind. For Indian thinkers, a philosophical treatise about the self is meant not only to lay out the truth, but also to embed itself in a process of study and contemplation that will lead eventually to self-transformation. By combining attention to philosophical content with sensitivity to skilfully crafted literary form, I try to deepen and enrich our appreciation of some of the greatest intellectual works in history. My survey includes the Upaniṣads, the Buddha’s discourses, the epic Mahābhārata, and the philosopher Candrakīrti, whose work was later to become foundational in Tibetan Buddhism. I show how the figures of the Buddha, the sage, and the epic hero mediate the reader’s relationship with the text. I go on to reveal that many contemporary theories of selfhood are not only anticipated but developed to an extraordinary degree of sophistication in these works, and that there are other ideas about the self found here which modern philosophers have not yet begun to explore. In the Appendices, I begin to disclose some of the paths along which Indian ideas about the self have migrated throughout history to the West.

This volume relates Krishna's baby pastimes and boyhood pastimes. As in Volume 1 of this series, this book features the translation of the commentaries of exalted scholars from the 4 Vaishnava sampradayas. Each verse of the Bhagavatam text is followed by the prose order and a perfect translation.

Alex Woloch, in a pioneering 2003 study on literary characters and characterization, observed that narrative meaning emerges in the dynamic attention to and neglect of the characters, major and minor, who inhabit the same story but occupy different positions therein. This essay draws on Woloch’s theory and methods to analyze the Standard Babylonian (SB) Epic of Gilgamesh, taking the women of the narrative as its case study. Aruru, Ninsun, Shamhat, Aya, Ishtar, the scorpion-man’s woman, Shiduri, and Uta-napishti’s wife are here examined not as flat or stock characters but rather as individual personalities who often transcend both their constrained narrative spaces and the gendered (mis)characterizations applied to them in the scholarship of recent decades. In paying the women of the SB Epic of Gilgamesh the attention they deserve, this study sheds new light not only on the composition’s minor characters but also on its narrative structure and meaning.

Lo studio dei poemi omerici obbliga i critici ad occuparsi di un arco cronologico molto esteso, corrispondente a circa dieci secoli, quelli che intercorrono tra il XVI ed il VI secolo a.C. Perché? Prima di tutto occorre considerare che il contesto culturale dei poemi omerici è rappresentato dalla civiltà micenea, e che questa si è sviluppata nel cosiddetto Tardo Elladico, tra il XVI ed il XII secolo a.C. Le vicende dei due poemi si collocano invece, pressappoco, nel XIII secolo a.C., se è vero che Troia è stata distrutta dagli Achei dell'Iliade nella seconda metà del XIII secolo a.C. (tra il 1240 ed il 1230 a.C.). I poemi omerici raggiungono però la loro forma finale, la forma monumentale che è giunta sino a noi, solo tra la fine del IX e gli inizi del VII secolo a.C. Occorre però considerare ancora una circostanza. In un romanzo storico moderno il critico deve tenere presenti solo due momenti, due periodi: il periodo descritto raccontato nel romanzo, ed il periodo nel quale si collocano lo scrittore stesso ed i suoi lettori. Ma nel caso dei poemi tradizionali – cioè dei poemi tràditi, trasmessi, tramandati - anche il periodo che intercorre tra questi due momenti è di vitale importanza.
La prima parte del libro di Kirk, che qui presento nella traduzione italiana, costituisce un'interessante ed utile introduzione ai poemi omerici, al loro contesto storico e ai meccanismi della loro composizione e trasmissione.

Pubblico ora la traduzione integrale, con commento, del sesto libro dell'Iliade, il libro che contiene la splendida scena in cui Ettore, per un momento al sicuro, all'interno delle mura di Troia, incontra la moglie Andromaca ed il figlio Astianatte prima di ritornare a combattere.
È sicuramente conosciuto il gesto pieno d’amore col quale Ettore, accortosi del timore che il suo aspetto suscita nel figlio, depone a terra l'elmo prima di prendere il piccolo Astianatte tra le sue braccia, baciarlo e giocare con lui. Lo sguardo commosso dei due genitori, che piangono e ridono allo stesso tempo osservando il piccolo, è certamente una delle pagine più toccanti che siano mai state scritte per descrivere l’amore dei genitori per i figli.
La figura di Astianatte viene ripresa dalla tragedia: è appena il caso di ricordare la terribile scena dell’uccisione del piccolo nelle Troiane di Euripide.
Ho notato che, tra le traduzioni che ho sinora pubblicato su Amazon, quella del sesto libro dell’Iliade è la più richiesta, sia nel formato elettronico che in quello cartaceo: ho quindi scelto di condividere gratuitamente proprio questo libro: sono certo di non fare un torto a chi lo ha acquistato. E anche chi ora lo leggerà gratuitamente può sempre, comunque, decidere di acquistarlo.
Traduzione di Riccardo Guiffrey
Commenti liberamente tradotti e adattati da:
• W. Leaf, The Iliad. Edited, with Apparatus Criticus, Prolegomena, Notes, and Appendices, vol. I (1900). London, Macmillan and Co.
• G. S. Kirk, The Iliad: A Commentary, Vol. II (libri 5-8), Cambridge, 1990.

The heroic deeds of the Banī Hilāl tribe of Bedouin Arabs, as they migrate during the tenth and eleventh centuries from the Arabian Peninsula across the Levant, Egypt, and into North Africa, are preserved throughout the Arabic- and Amazigh/Berber-speaking world in a cycle of narratives known as al-Sīrah al-Hilāliyyah. Among several extant Arab epics in written versions from a vast, understudied corpus of manuscripts and cheap folk print editions, only this “Epic of the Bani Hilal Tribe” endures as a living tradition of oral performance by poets and reciters in parts of the Maghreb and Arab East. To this day, performances by epic poets as well as cheap printed books circulate in poetry and prose, written and oral forms.  The Hilali epic may be chanted, sung, and spoken with or without the customary accompanying rabāb (spike-fiddle) and ṭār (frame drum).

Il Libro XI dell'Iliade è il primo di un blocco di libri che narrano del giorno più lungo e più importante dell'Iliade: un giorno che si apre con l'aristia di Agamennone nel Libro XI e si chiude con il recupero del corpo di Patroclo nel Libro XVIII, quando Era obbliga il Sole a tramontare per dare un po' di sollievo agli Achei. Il presente articolo è un'introduzione al primo libro di questa straordinaria blocco compositivo.

Il Libro IV dell'Iliade è il libro che - dopo un serie di ritardi e diversivi - vede finalmente l'inizio dei combattimenti. L'occasione viene offerta dal ferimento di Menelao, colpito da una freccia dell'arciere Pandaro, a sua volta istigato indotto a questo gesto dalla dea Atena. Buona parte del libro è occupato dall'Epipolesis, la rassegna delle truppe da parte di Agamennone. Il libro si chiude con le prime vittime: quattro guerrieri troiani e tre greci. Il presente articolo è una breve introduzione al quarto libro dell'Iliade.

Prof Dr. İlhan Başgöz who is found appropriate for “Reward of Superior Care to Turkish Culture” by Culture Ministry of Turkey Republic, borns in 1921 or 1293 in Gemerek/Sivas. He graduates from Ankara University Language and History-Geography Faculty in 1945. He becomes one of the firsts that takes Doctor degrees of “Turkish Folklore and Folk Literature” discipline (1949). For a while he works as a literature teacher, and then Mr. Başgöz goes to America in 1960. He works there in different universities and he becomes professor in 1976. Mr. Başgöz who is choosen a honorary member by American Folklore Society mains in America till he becomes retired. After that he works in Bilkent and Yüzüncü Yıl Universities as a guest lecturer.
The works of Prof. Dr. İlhan Başgöz like “Karac’oğlan (1978)”, “Folklore Writings (1986)”, “Âşık Ali İzzet Özkan (1979), “Yunus Emre (1990)”, “Twister of Turkish Public (with Andreas Tietze) (1999)”, “Education Predicament of Turkiye an Atatürk (2005)”, “Nasreddin Hodja From Past to Present (2005), “Folk Song (2008)”, “Folk Love Stories (2012)” were published. The book ’Gemerek Nire Bloomington Nire“, which begins with the words of Başgöz "year 2010, ten july and i am 89 years old" and tells the story of life in the form of a documentary, makes its first edition in 2017.
In this work, an unpublished work of Mr. Başgöz that he names “Introduction to Turkish Folklore” will be presented.

Understanding that Homeric epic is the product of a long-standing oral tradition facilitates its use as a source for early Greek history. Oral tradition constantly evolves as poets interact with their audiences, retaining only such intangible elements of culture and society as remain relevant to its contemporary world. Although Homeric epic is of limited utility for understanding the Late Bronze Age, the Iliad and Odyssey constitute an invaluable source for the beliefs, institutions, and ideologies of the eighth century B.C. Homeric epic illuminates, for example, the beginnings of Panhellenism. Built through the extension of local identities, proto-Panhellenism was aggregative in nature. Yet it was oppositional in origin, spurred by intensifying contact between Greeks and the outside world. Homeric proto-Panhellenism reflected the cosmopolitan worldview of eighth century elites at the expense of the more parochial outlook of "middling farmers" like Hesiod. Such insights into the "Dark Age" would be impossible without recourse to Homeric epic as a historical source.