Multitextuality in the Homeric Iliad: The Witness of Ptolemaic Papyri
Graeme D. Bird examines a small group of early papyrus manuscripts of Homer’s Iliad, known as the Ptolemaic papyri, which, although fragmentary, are the oldest surviving physical evidence of the text of the Iliad, dating from the third to the first centuries BCE.

These papyri have been described as “eccentric” or even “wild” by some scholars. They differ significantly from the usual text of the Iliad, sometimes showing lines with different wording, at other times including so-called “interpolated” lines that are completely absent from our more familiar version.

Whereas some scholars denigrate these papyri because of their “eccentricity,” this book analyzes their unusual readings and shows that in fact they present authentic variations on the Homeric text, based on the variability characteristic of oral performance.

1140940195
Multitextuality in the Homeric Iliad: The Witness of Ptolemaic Papyri
Graeme D. Bird examines a small group of early papyrus manuscripts of Homer’s Iliad, known as the Ptolemaic papyri, which, although fragmentary, are the oldest surviving physical evidence of the text of the Iliad, dating from the third to the first centuries BCE.

These papyri have been described as “eccentric” or even “wild” by some scholars. They differ significantly from the usual text of the Iliad, sometimes showing lines with different wording, at other times including so-called “interpolated” lines that are completely absent from our more familiar version.

Whereas some scholars denigrate these papyri because of their “eccentricity,” this book analyzes their unusual readings and shows that in fact they present authentic variations on the Homeric text, based on the variability characteristic of oral performance.

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Multitextuality in the Homeric <i>Iliad</i>: The Witness of Ptolemaic Papyri

Multitextuality in the Homeric Iliad: The Witness of Ptolemaic Papyri

by Graeme D. Bird
Multitextuality in the Homeric <i>Iliad</i>: The Witness of Ptolemaic Papyri

Multitextuality in the Homeric Iliad: The Witness of Ptolemaic Papyri

by Graeme D. Bird

Paperback

$19.95 
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Overview

Graeme D. Bird examines a small group of early papyrus manuscripts of Homer’s Iliad, known as the Ptolemaic papyri, which, although fragmentary, are the oldest surviving physical evidence of the text of the Iliad, dating from the third to the first centuries BCE.

These papyri have been described as “eccentric” or even “wild” by some scholars. They differ significantly from the usual text of the Iliad, sometimes showing lines with different wording, at other times including so-called “interpolated” lines that are completely absent from our more familiar version.

Whereas some scholars denigrate these papyri because of their “eccentricity,” this book analyzes their unusual readings and shows that in fact they present authentic variations on the Homeric text, based on the variability characteristic of oral performance.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780674053236
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Publication date: 11/30/2010
Series: Hellenic Studies Series , #43
Pages: 200
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.25(d)

About the Author

Graeme D. Bird is Assistant Professor of Linguistics and Classics at Gordon College.
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