The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, which tells of the seduction of the shepherd Anchises by the love-goddess Aphrodite, has long been recognized as a masterpiece of early Western literature. This edition is designed as a reference tool to aid scholars and students in their study of the poem. The introduction and commentary deal with points of language appropriate to the specialist or student of Greek, but also with matters of literary interpretation of interest to the non-specialist reader.

This collection of essays explores the crucial place of Homer in the shifting cultural landscape of the twentieth century. It argues that Homer was viewed both as the founding father of the Western literary canon and as sharing important features with poems, performances, and traditions which were often deemed neither literary nor Western: the epics of Yugoslavia and sub-Saharan Africa, the keening performances of Irish women, the spontaneous inventiveness of the Blues. The book contributes to current debates about the nature of the Western literary canon, the evolving notion of world...

The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, which tells of the seduction of the shepherd Anchises by the love-goddess Aphrodite, has long been recognized as a masterpiece of early Western literature. This edition is designed as a reference tool to aid scholars and students in their study of the poem. The introduction and commentary deal with points of language appropriate to the specialist or student of Greek, but also with matters of literary interpretation of interest to the non-specialist reader.