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/lit/ - Literature

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9639770 No.9639770 [Reply] [Original]

Why is 'The Iliad' so prominent in the western cannon? Yes, I am completely new to literature. I understand it's one of the first texts in the cannon and that its symbolism echoes through to the age of chaos we have now. But am I missing something even more fundamental?

>> No.9639782

>>9639770
Ignoring all its literally merit, the ancient Greeks held Homer in something like reverence, viewing his works as the foundation of their society, in much the same way as modern Europeans view the Bible, though they were not seen as religious texts.

>> No.9639789

It's one of the first texts in the canon and its symbolism echoes through to the age of chaos we have now. It's also a wonderful work of art.

>> No.9639805

You're missing the transition from an oral, "moving" tradition of myths to a written, "stable" canon of writings. In the former retelling and reinterpretation are the same the process, in the latter the text doesn't change meaningfully, because the words are written, so the interpretation is separate.

Poets would use Homer and Hesiod as the foundations for their education programs, and when Plato would show up in the Republic to criticize such pedagogical practices, he would still reference them for their cool authoritative sayings (like people in the American South reference verses from the Bible they memorize all the time).

Were you to go back in time and change the contents of the Iliad you would have a butterfly effect all over all literature in European languages.

Ideas of canon, writing, education are all part of the same set that is at the core of this civilization.

A historical Homer may have known he was a great poet and giving the Hellenes a national epic, to be recited in every polis, yet never would he imagine how much he was about to transform the world.

>> No.9639811

Because it is the work that which Plato (or rather author, "Homer") that Plato subverted like Marx did Hegel, or turned upiside down, and put the course for the West fo rthe following 2000 years+

>> No.9639812

>>9639782
>>9639805

Thank you! This is the sort of insight I like to read on /lit/.

>> No.9639814

illiad inspired this, nuff said

https://youtu.be/nBF16VHl8Ig?t=2128

>> No.9639856

>>9639782
This. Philosophers like Aristotle and Plato literally quoted Homer and used his words as authoritative fact. A knowledge of Homer, along with the ability to play an instrument and a few other basic things, were the only education the average citizen received in ancient Greece before Plato and the Sophists came around. Homer was really that important.

>> No.9639915

Good storytelling stands the test of time.