Homer the Rhetorician: Eustathios of Thessalonike on the Composition of the Iliad

The first monograph study on Eustathios of Thessalonike's Commentary on the Iliad, a Byzantine twelfth-century orator and teacher, is called Homer the Rhetorician. It examines the poet's and the Iliad's exemplary qualities as rhetorical masterpieces, advancing our understanding of Byzantine rhetorical thought and the role of Homer in Byzantine literary history.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 07 July 2022
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Homer the Rhetorician is a groundbreaking monograph that delves into the extensive Commentary on the Iliad by Eustathios of Thessalonike, a renowned orator and teacher of the Byzantine twelfth century. Homeric poetry held a prominent place in the Byzantine educational curriculum and gained particular popularity during the reign of the Komnenian emperors. For Eustathios, Homer stood as the epitome of eloquence and wisdom. His commentary, written with aspiring and practicing prose writers in mind, aims to explain the rhetorical elements that make Homer's composition truly successful. Through this study, we explore the exemplary qualities that Eustathios attributes to the poet as author and the Iliad as a rhetorical masterpiece. By doing so, we deepen our understanding of the rhetorical thought of a prominent intellectual and the significant role played by Homer, as a cultural authority, during one of the most fertile periods in Byzantine literary history.

Weight: 560g
Dimension: 240 x 160 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192865434