Orality, Textuality, and the Homeric Epics : An Interdisciplinary Study of Oral Texts, Dictated Texts, and Wild Texts

Written texts of the Iliad and the Odyssey achieved an unprecedented degree of standardization after 150 BCE, but what about Homeric texts prior to the emergence of standardized written texts? Orality, Textuality, and the Homeric Epics sheds light on that earlier history by drawing on scholarship from outside the discipline of classical studies to query from three different angles what it means to speak of Homeric poetry together with the word "text". Part I utilizes work in linguistic anthropology on oral texts and oral intertextuality to illuminate both the verbal and oratorical landscapes our Homeric poets fashion in their epics and what the poets were striving to do when they performed. Looking to folkloristics, part II examines modern instances of the textualization of an oral traditional work in order to reconstruct the creation of written versions of the Homeric poems through a process that began with a poet dictating to a scribe. Combining research into scribal activity in other cultures, especially in the fields of religious studies and medieval studies, with research into performance in the field of linguistic anthropology, part III investigates some of the earliest extant texts of the Homeric epics, the so-called wild papyri. By looking at oral texts, dictated texts, and wild texts, this volume traces the intricate history of Homeric texts from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period, long before the emergence of standardized written texts, in a comparative and interdisciplinary study that will benefit researchers in a number of disciplines across the humanities. Written texts of the Iliad and the Odyssey achieved an unprecedented degree of standardization after 150 BCE, but what about Homeric texts prior to the emergence of standardized written texts? Orality, Textuality, and the Homeric Epics sheds light on that earlier history by drawing on scholarship from outside the discipline of classical studies to query from three different angles what it means to speak of Homeric poetry together with the word "text". 0Part I utilizes work in linguistic anthropology on oral texts and oral intertextuality to illuminate both the verbal and oratorical landscapes our Homeric poets fashion in their epics and what the poets were striving to do when they performed. Looking to folkloristics, part II examines modern instances of the textualization of an oral traditional work in order to reconstruct the creation of written versions of the Homeric poems through a process that began with a poet dictating to a scribe.0Combining research into scribal activity in other cultures, especially in the fields of religious studies and medieval studies, with research into performance in the field of linguistic anthropology, part III investigates some of the earliest extant texts of the Homeric epics, the so-called wild papyri.0By looking at oral texts, dictated texts, and wild texts, this volume traces the intricate history of Homeric texts from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period, long before the emergence of standardized written texts, in a comparative and interdisciplinary study that will benefit researchers in a number of disciplines across the humanities This book queries from three different angles what it means to speak of Homeric poetry together with the word “text.” Scholarship from outside the discipline of classical studies on the relationship between orality and textuality motivates and undergirds the project. Part I uses work in linguistic anthropology on oral texts and oral intertextuality to illuminate both the verbal and oratorical landscapes our Homeric poets fashion in their epics and what the poets were striving to do when they performed. Looking to folkloristics, Part II examines modern instances of the textualization of an oral traditional work in order to reconstruct the creation of written versions of the Homeric poems through a process that began with a poet dictating to a scribe. Combining research into scribal activity in other cultures, especially in the fields of religious studies and medieval studies, with research into performance in the field of linguistic anthropology, Part III investigates some of the earliest extant texts of the Homeric epics, the so-called wild papyri. Written texts of the __Iliad__ and the __Odyssey__ achieved an unprecedented degree of standardization after 150 BCE. By looking at oral texts, dictated texts, and wild texts, this book traces the intricate history of Homeric texts from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period, long before the emergence of standardized written texts. Researchers in a number of disciplines will benefit from this comparative and interdisciplinary study. Title Pages 1 Dedication 3 Preface 4 Acknowledgments 7 Introduction 8 Oral Texts and Entextualization in the Homeric Epics 20 Oral Intertextuality and Mediational Routines in the Homeric Epics 89 Textualization 121 The Scribe as Performer and the Ptolemaic Wild Papyri of the Homeric Epics 215 Scribal Performance in the Ptolemaic Wild Papyri of the Homeric Epics 279 Conclusion 354 Works Cited 357 Index of Greek Passages 440 Index of Terms 447 Written texts of the Iliad and the Odyssey achieved an unprecedented degree of standardization after 150 BCE, but what of the earlier history of Homeric texts? This volume draws on scholarship from outside the discipline of classical studies to offer a comprehensive study of Homeric texts from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period Written texts of the Iliad and the Odyssey achieved an unprecedented degree of standardisation after 150 BCE, but what of the earlier history of Homeric texts? This volume draws on scholarship from outside the discipline of classical studies to offer a comprehensive study of Homeric texts from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period