The Homeric Question

Abstract

Homer and Homeric composition have been discussed, probed, and criticized since ancient times. The Homeric Question, however, is a distinctly nineteenth-century invention, created by the philological enterprise, the romantic concepts of composition, and the historicism of the age. The Question was, however, in fact a series of questions about the composition of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Homeric criticism constituted an arena in which academic philological virtuosos could display their skills in transforming two of the monumental works of Western literature into objects of academic analysis. The genuinely problematic issues emerged as Wolf discussed why it was impossible to achieve the ur-text and ultimately also impossible to discover an original Homer. In considering how the poems has been composed and emended in ancient times, Wolf engaged in a project of historicist thinking that was remarkable even for his day in its rigor and determination.Keywords: Homeric Question; Iliad; Odyssey; romantic concepts; Wolf

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