Homer

In Greek mythology, Circe (/ˈsərsiː/; Ancient Greek: Κίρκη, romanized: Kírkē, pronounced [kírkɛː]) is an enchantress, sometimes considered a goddess or a nymph. In most accounts, Circe is described as the daughter of the sun god Helios and the Oceanid Perse. Circe was renowned for her vast knowledge of potions and herbs. Through the use of these and a magic wand or staff, she would transform her enemies, or those who offended her, into animals.

The best known of her legends is told in Homer's Odyssey when Odysseus visits her island of Aeaea on the way back from the Trojan War and she changes most of his crew into swine. He manages to persuade her to return them to human shape, lives with her for a year and has sons by her, including Latinus and Telegonus. Her ability to change others into animals is further highlighted by the story of Picus, an Italian king whom she turns into a woodpecker for resisting her advances. Another story tells of her falling in love with the sea-god Glaucus, who prefers the nymph Scylla to her. In revenge, Circe poisoned the water where her rival bathed and turned her into a dreadful monster.

The Telemachy (from Greek Τηλεμάχεια, Tēlemacheia) is a term traditionally applied to the first four books of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. They are named so because, just as the Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus, they tell the story of Odysseus's son Telemachus as he journeys from home for the first time in search of news about his missing father.

Homeric scholarship is the study of any Homeric topic, especially the two large surviving epics, the Iliad and Odyssey. It is currently part of the academic discipline of classical studies. The subject is one of the oldest in education.

In Plato's Ion (/ˈaɪɒn/; Ancient Greek: Ἴων) Socrates discusses with the titular character, a professional rhapsode who also lectures on Homer, the question of whether the rhapsode, a performer of poetry, gives his performance on account of his skill and knowledge or by virtue of divine possession. It is one of the shortest of Plato's dialogues.

The Homeridae (Ancient Greek: Ὁμηρίδαι) were a family, clan or professional lineage on the island of Chios claiming descent from the Greek epic poet Homer.

The origin of the name seems obvious: in classical Greek the word should mean "children of Homer". An analogous name, Asclepiadae, identified a clan or guild of medical practitioners as "children of Asclepius". However, since the existence of the Homeridae is authenticated while that of Homer is not, and since Greek homeros is a common noun meaning "hostage", it was suggested even in ancient times that the Homeridae were in reality "children (or descendants) of hostages". The natural further step is to argue that Homer, the supposed founder, is a mythical figure, a mere back-formation, deriving his name from that of the later guild.

Mimnermus (Ancient Greek: Μίμνερμος Mímnermos) was a Greek elegiac poet from either Colophon or Smyrna in Ionia, who flourished about 632–629 BC (i.e. in the 37th Olympiad, according to Suda). He was strongly influenced by Homer, yet he wrote short poems suitable for performance at drinking parties and was remembered by ancient authorities chiefly as a love poet. Mimnermus in turn exerted a strong influence on Hellenistic poets such as Callimachus and thus also on Roman poets such as Propertius, who even preferred him to Homer for his eloquence on love themes (see Comments by other poets below).

His work was collected by Alexandrian scholars in just two "books" (relatively few compared for example with the twenty-six books for Stesichorus) and today only small fragments survive. The fragments confirm the ancient estimate of him as a "consummate poet" but also indicate that he was a "sturdier character" than the indulgent love poet he was assumed to be by various ancient commentators. Almost no reliable biographical details have been recorded. One ancient account linked him romantically with a flute girl who subsequently gave her name, Nanno, to one of his two books.

Arctinus of Miletus or Arctinus Milesius (Ancient Greek: Ἀρκτῖνος Μιλήσιος) was a Greek epic poet whose reputation is purely legendary, as none of his works survive. Traditionally dated between 775 BC and 741 BC, he was said to have been a pupil of Homer. His father was Teleus son of Nauteus.Phaenias of Eresus placed him in the 7th century BC and claimed that he was defeated by Lesches of Pyrrha in competition. One of the "cyclic poets", Arctinus composed the epics Aethiopis and Sack of Troy, which were contributions to the Trojan War cycle, and possibly Naupactia.

These poems are lost, but an idea of the first two can be obtained from the Chrestomathy ascribed (probably wrongly) to Proclus the Neo-Platonist of the 5th century AD.

The Cyclic Poets is a shorthand term for the early Greek epic poets, who were approximate contemporaries of Homer. No more is known about those poets than about Homer, but modern scholars regard them as having composed orally, as did Homer. In the classical period, surviving early epic poems were ascribed to those authors, just as the Iliad and Odyssey were ascribed to Homer. Together with Homer, whose Iliad covers a mere 50 days of the war, they cover the complete war "cycle", thus the name. Most modern scholars place Homer in the 8th century BC. The other poets listed below seemed to have lived in the 7th to the 5th centuries BC. Excluding Homer's, none of the works of the cyclic poets has survived.

The Mykonos vase, a pithos, is one of the earliest dated objects (Archaic period, c. 675 BC) to depict the Trojan Horse that appears in Homer's telling of the Fall of Troy during the Trojan War in the Odyssey. It was found in 1961 (with human bones inside) on Mykonos, the Greek island for which it is named, by a local inhabitant. Ìt is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Mykonos.

Lesches (Ancient Greek: Λέσχης) is a semi-legendary early Greek poet and the reputed author of the Little Iliad. According to the usually accepted tradition, he was a native of Pyrrha in Lesbos, and flourished about 660 BC (others place him about 50 years earlier). Proclus refers to him as "Lesches of Mytilene". Mytilene and Lesbos are names of the same Greek island used interchangeably.

The lost epic Little Iliad, in four books, was commonly attributed to Lesches. It took up the story of the Homeric Iliad, and, beginning with the contest between Telamonian Ajax and Odysseus for the arms of Achilles, carried it down to the feast of the Trojans over the captured Trojan Horse, according to the epitome in Proclus, or to the Fall of Troy, according to Aristotle. Some ancient authorities ascribe the work to a Spartan named Cinaethon, and even to Homer.