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Who was Homer?

edited May 2017 in Writing
A homer is a receptacle referred to in the Bible. So Homer about whose identity a debate rages in scholarly circles may not have been a anyone!

Comments

  • Maybe he was a pigeon!
  • Ah - an Homeric conundrum!
  • edited May 2017
    Indeed! Some say Homeric poems we have now are a collection of what were originally, orally composed stories. So if a homer was a receptacle for grain the book is a homer of poems. Therefore poems are like invaluable grains. Perhaps Homer's the title ancient Greeks gave the collection when the stories appeared in written form?
  • edited May 2017
    I believe he composed them in a rhyme and rhythm which would be easy to remember so they would survive by being passed on orally [before writing].
  • Is there any evidence to support Bill's theory?
  • I started a course (OU) on Homer many years ago. I dropped out early because I had over extended my commitment. It was an idea supported by many, including my tutor,
    to explain the way/style of the original oral tales were received It makes sense. We remember things from childhood because of the sing song style.
    Evidence? I understood the origins of this material to be before the written word.
    I might check google, as I suspect some of you are, and check.
  • I thought he was married to Marge and worked in a power station.
  • edited May 2017
    I did the OU Homer Poetry and Society course too Bill. In the Learning Guide the word Homer is always a proper noun. There's no reference to the Biblical term homer.
  • "I long to be a
    Home Sweet Homer.
    Why, there I'll settle down,
    beneath the palms
    in someone's arms
    in Pasadena.
    Yes, in Pasadena town!"

    (from The Temperance Seven, 1961)

  • I like the Temperance Seven. There's something humorous about their act.
    By the way, I'm three times happy today having had two floral designs published in the June/July edition of FLORA INTERNATIONAl, a story in THE CAT, and a report (using the press release and images) in SUFFOLK NORFOLK LIFE mag.
  • Well done Patricia - have you put this on the Triumphs thread?
  • Haven't seen that lately Lizy.
  • Wrong name! Competition wins, or similar!
  • edited August 2017
    I found a classics professor on the internet and asked for her opinion. She said the word homer was of Anglo-Saxon origin and therefore wouldn't have been used by an ancient race. According to another of my sources the word homer meaning measuring receptacle roots in ancient Hebrew and so might well have been used as the title.
  • There's hundreds of Homers in the Black Country.

    Most of them work at the groaty puddin' shop down the Lye
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