Homer's Parents, Country, and True Name
An ancient 'encyclopedia entry'
Some more material to consider in addressing our 99 Homeric Problems. The Suda is a Byzantine era compendium of knowledge. In this entry, it provides a summary of many of the contrary things said about Homer in antiquity.
Suda, omicron 251
“Homer, a poet. The son of Meles the river, in Smyrna, and the nymph Kritheis. Some people say that he was the son of Apollo and the muse Kalliope. But Kharaks the historian claims his father was Maion or Metius and his mother was Eumetis or Eumetis. According to others, he was the son of Telemachus and Nestor’s daughter Polykaste.
The line of his genealogy according to the historian Kharaks goes like this: Aithue of Thtrace was Linus’ mother, the father of Pieros, the father of Oegros, the father of Orpheus, the father of Dres, the father of Euklees, the father if Idmonides, the father of Philoterpes, the father of Melanopus, the father of Apelles, the father of Maion. Maion lived at the same time that the Amazons arrived at Smyrna. He married Eumetis, the daughter of Euepes, the son of Mnesigenes, and he fathered Homer.
There’s additional doubt about his country, because the greatness of his nature provided some disbelief about whether or not he was a mortal. Different people say he came from Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Uos, Cyme, Troy,, the region around Cenchreae, Ludia, Athens, Egypt, Ithaca, Cyprus, Knossos, Salamis, Mycenae, Thessaly, italy, Lucania, Gryne, Rome and Rhodes.
He was actually called Melesigenes, because his mother gave birth to him next to the river Meles, according to genealogy provided in Smyrna. He was called Homer because when there was a war between Smyrna and Colophon he was made a hostage (homeros), or because when Smyrna’s people were debating he was divinely inspired and provided war advice to the assembly..
Homer lived 57 years before the the first Olympiad; but Porphyry claims in his History of Philosophy that it was 132 years before. The first Olympiad happened 407 years following the sack of Troy. Some claim that Homer was born mere 160 years after the capture of Troy; but Porphyry just mentioned says it was 275 years after
In Chios he married Gnostor of Cyme’s daughter. Aresiphone. They had two sons and a daughter who then married to Stasinus of Cyprus Their sons were Eriphon and Theolaus.
The Iliad and Odyssey are Homer’s undebated works. But he did not write the Iliad all at once or in sequence, as it now stands. Instead, he composed and performed individual rhapsodies as he traveled round the cities making a living. He, left them behind; and later on they were assembled and ordered by many hands, especially Pisistratus the tyrant of Athens.
Other poems are attributed to Homer: the Amazonia; Little Iliad; Nostoi; Epicichlides; Ethiepactos (or Iambi); Battle of the Frogs; Battle of the Mice and Frogs; Battle of the Spiders; Battle of the Cranes; Cerameis; The Expulsion of Amphiaraus; Paegnia; The Capture of Sicily; epithalamia; Cycle; hymns; Cypria.
He was very old when he died and was buried in Ios. He was blind, they say, from the time he was a child, but in reality he was not a slave of desire or ruled by his eyes, and this is where the story of his blindness comes from. On his tomb is the elegy, later composed by the people of Ios: 'At this spot, the earth covers the sacred head, that divine director of heroic men, Homer.”
Ὅμηρος ὁ ποιητής, Μέλητος τοῦ ἐν Σμύρνῃ ποταμοῦ καὶ Κριθηί̈δος νύμφης, ὡς δὲ ἄλλοι Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Καλλιόπης τῆς Μούσης: ὡς δὲ Χάραξ ὁ ἱστορικὸς Μαίονος ἢ Μητίου καὶ Εὐμήτιδος μητρός: κατὰ δὲ ἄλλους Τηλεμάχου τοῦ Ὀδυσσέως καὶ Πολυκάστης τῆς Νέστορος. ἔστι δὲ ἡ τοῦ γένους τάξις κατὰ τὸν ἱστορικὸν Χάρακα αὕτη: Αἰθούσης Θρᾴσσης Λίνος, τοῦ δὲ Πίερος, τοῦ δὲ Οἴαγρος, τοῦ δὲ Ὀρφεύς, τοῦ δὲ Δρής, τοῦ δὲ Εὐκλέης, τοῦ δὲ Ἰδμονίδης, τοῦ δὲ Φιλοτερπής, τοῦ δὲ Εὔφημος, τοῦ δ' Ἐπιφράδης, τοῦ δὲ Μελάνωπος, τοῦ δὲ Ἀπελλῆς, τοῦ δὲ Μαίων, ὃς ἦλθεν ἅμα ταῖς Ἀμαζόσιν ἐν Σμύρνῃ καὶ γήμας Εὔμητιν τὴν Εὐέπους τοῦ Μνησιγένους ἐποίησεν Ὅμηρον. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὴν πατρίδα ἀμφίβολος διὰ τὸ ἀπιστηθῆναι ὅλως εἶναι θνητὸν τῷ μεγέθει τῆς φύσεως. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἔφασαν γενέσθαι Σμυρναῖον, οἱ δὲ Χῖον, οἱ δὲ Κολοφώνιον, οἱ δὲ Ἰήτην, οἱ δὲ Κυμαῖον, οἱ δὲ ἐκ Τροίας ἀπὸ χωρίου Κεγχρεῶν, οἱ δὲ Λυδόν, οἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖον, οἱ δὲ Αἰγύπτιον, οἱ δὲ Ἰθακήσιον, οἱ δὲ Κύπριον, οἱ δὲ Κνώσσιον, οἱ δὲ Σαλαμίνιον, οἱ δὲ Μυκηναῖον, οἱ δὲ Θετταλόν, οἱ δὲ Ἰταλιώτην, οἱ δὲ Λευκανόν, οἱ δὲ Γρύνιον, οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαῖον, οἱ δὲ Ῥόδιον.
καὶ προσηγορεύετο μὲν κυρίως Μελησιγένης: καὶ γὰρ ἐτέχθη παρὰ τῷ Μέλητι ποταμῷ κατὰ τοὺς Σμυρναῖον αὐτὸν γενεαλογοῦντας. ἐκλήθη δὲ Ὅμηρος διὰ τὸ πολέμου ἐνισταμένου Σμυρναίοις πρὸς Κολοφωνίους ὅμηρον δοθῆναι, ἢ ὅτι βουλευομένων Σμυρναίων δαιμονίᾳ τινὶ ἐνεργεία φθέγξασθαι καὶ συμβουλεῦσαι ἐκκλησιάζουσι περὶ τοῦ πολέμου. καὶ γέγονε δὲ πρὸ τοῦ τεθῆναι τὴν πρώτην ὀλυμπιάδα πρὸ ἐνιαυτῶν νζ#: Πορφύριος δὲ ἐν τῇ Φιλοσόφῳ ἱστορίᾳ πρὸ ρλβ# φησίν. ἐτέθη δὲ αὕτη μετὰ τὴν Τροίας ἅλωσιν ἐνιαυτοῖς ὕστερον υζ#. τινὲς δὲ μετὰ ρξ# ἐνιαυτοὺς μόνους τῆς Ἰλίου ἁλώσεως τετέχθαι ἱστοροῦσιν Ὅμηρον: ὁ δὲ ῥηθεὶς Πορφύριος μετὰ σοε#.
γήμας δ' ἐν Χίῳ Ἀρησιφόνην τὴν Γνώτορος τοῦ Κυμαίου θυγατέρα ἔσχεν υἱεῖς δύο καὶ θυγατέρα, ἣν ἔγημε Στασῖνος ὁ Κύπριος: οἱ δὲ υἱεῖς Ἐρίφων καὶ Θεόλαος. ποιήματα δὲ αὐτοῦ ἀναμφίλεκτα Ἰλιὰς καὶ Ὀδύσσεια. ἔγραψε δὲ τὴν Ἰλιάδα οὐχ ἅμα οὐδὲ κατὰ τὸ συνεχές, καθάπερ σύγκειται, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς μὲν ἑκάστην ῥαψῳδίαν γράψας καὶ ἐπιδειξάμενος τῷ περινοστεῖν τὰς πόλεις τροφῆς ἕνεκεν ἀπέλιπεν. ὕστερον δὲ συνετέθη καὶ συνετάχθη ὑπὸ πολλῶν καὶ μάλιστα ὑπὸ Πεισιστράτου τοῦ τῶν Ἀθηναίων τυράννου. ἀναφέρεται δὲ εἰς αὐτὸν καὶ ἄλλα τινὰ ποιήματα: Ἀμαζονία, Ἰλιὰς μικρά, Νόστοι, Ἐπικιχλίδες, Ἠθιέπακτος ἤτοι Ἴαμβοι, Βατραχομαχία, Μυοβατραχομαχία, Ἀραχνομαχία, Γερανομαχία, Κεραμεῖς, Ἀμφιαράου ἐξέλασις, παίγνια, Σικελίας ἅλωσις, ἐπιθαλάμια, Κύκλος, ὕμνοι, Κύπρια. γηραιὸς δὲ τελευτήσας ἐν τῇ νήσῳ τῇ Ἴῳ τέθαπται, τυφλὸς ἐκ παίδων γεγονώς:
τὸ δὲ ἀληθές, ὅτι οὐχ ἡττήθη ἐπιθυμίας ἣ διὰ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἄρχεται, καὶ παρὰ τοῦτο ἱστορήθη τυφλός. ἐπιγέγραπται δὲ ἐν τῷ τάφῳ αὐτοῦ τόδε τὸ ἐλεγεῖον, ὃ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἰητῶν ἐποιήθη χρόνῳ: ἐνθάδε τὴν ἱερὰν κεφαλὴν κατὰ γαῖα καλύπτει ἀνδρῶν ἡρώων κοσμήτορα θεῖον Ὅμηρον.
Some additional information from the Scholia to Pindar
Schol. Ad Pin. Nem. 2.1 var.
“Just as the Homeridae”: They used to say in ancient times that the Homeridae were the descendants of Homer who used to sing his poetry in turns. But later on, the rhapsodes no longer attributed their lineage to Homer. But once the performers around Kynaithos became well-known—those ones who people claim composed many verses and inserted them into Homer’s poetry. Kynaithos’ was from Khios and he is said to have composed the Hymn to Apollo among those poems attributed to Homer. This Kynaithos was the first to sing the poems of Homer as a rhapsode among the Syracusians during the sixty-ninth Olympiad, as Hippostratus claims.
῞Οθεν περ καὶ ῾Ομηρίδαι: ῾Ομηρίδας ἔλεγον τὸ μὲν ἀρχαῖον τοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ ῾Ομήρου γένους, οἳ καὶ τὴν ποίησιν αὐτοῦ ἐκ διαδοχῆς ᾖδον· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ οἱ ῥαψῳδοὶ οὐκέτι τὸ γένος εἰς ῞Ομηρον ἀνάγοντες. ἐπιφανεῖς δὲ ἐγένοντοοἱ περὶ Κύναιθον, οὕς φασι πολλὰ τῶν ἐπῶν ποιήσαντας ἐμβαλεῖν εἰς τὴν ῾Ομήρου ποίησιν. ἦν δὲ ὁ Κύναιθος τὸ γένος Χῖος, ὃς καὶ τῶν ἐπιγραφομένων ῾Ομήρου ποιημάτων τὸν εἰς ᾿Απόλλωνα γεγραφὼς ὕμνον ἀνατέθεικεν αὐτῷ. οὗτος οὖν ὁ Κύναιθος πρῶτος ἐν Συρακούσαις ἐραψῴδησε τὰ ῾Ομήρου ἔπη κατὰ τὴν ξθ′ ᾿Ολυμπιάδα, ὡς ῾Ιππόστρατός φησιν (FHG IV 433).
“In addition: The rhapsodes etymologize “rhapsodes” because they proceed through Homeric poetry with the rhabdos . Callimachus writes, “I am forever singing the story woven on a rhabdos as a received it…”
Other people claim that Homeric poetry was not brought together into one corpus, but that it was spread around and separated into pieces. When they would act as rhapsodes, they would make something like a series or a stitch as they brought it together into the same composition.
This is what Pindar means too. Some people claim that previously each of the competitors sang whatever part of the separated poem he wanted and that the prize for the victors was a lamb which is why the performers was called “lamb-singers” but that once each of the poems was introduced, the competitors would listen to one another’s parts and go through the whole poem, they were called rhapsodes. Dionysios the Argive claims these things. But Philokhoros says that they were called this from the collocation and stitching of song. Hesiod clearly writes: “Homer and I were then the first singers / who performed at Delos, stitching together song among the new hymns / for Phoibos Apollo, of the golden sword whom Leto bore”. Nikokles says that Hesiod was the first to rhapsodize. Menaikhmos records that rhapsodes were called stikhodes because rhabdoi are called stikhoi by some.
ἄλλως. τοὺς ῥαψῳδοὺς οἱ μὲν ῥαβδῳδοὺς ἐτυμολογοῦσι διὰ τὸ μετὰ ῥάβδου δηλονότι τὰ ῾Ομήρου ἔπη διεξιέναι.
Καλλίμαχος (fr. 138)·
καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ ῥάβδῳ μῦθον ὑφαινόμενον / ἠνεκὲς ἀείδω δεδεγμένος.
οἱ δέ φασι τῆς ῾Ομήρου ποιήσεως μὴ ὑφ’ ἓν συνηγμένης, σποράδην δὲ ἄλλως καὶ κατὰ μέρη διῃρημένης, ὁπότε ῥαψῳδοῖεν αὐτὴν, εἱρμῷ τινι καὶ ῥαφῇ παραπλήσιον ποιεῖν, εἰς ἓν αὐτὴν ἄγοντας. οὕτω καὶ ὁ Πίνδαρος ἐκδέδεκται. οἱ δὲ, ὅτι κατὰ μέρος πρότερον τῆς ποιήσεως διαδεδομένης τῶν ἀγωνιστῶν ἕκαστος ὅ τι βούλοιτο μέρος ᾖδε, τοῦ δὲ ἄθλου τοῖς νικῶσιν ἀρνὸς ἀποδεδειγμένου προσαγορευθῆναι τότε μὲν ἀρνῳδούς, αὖθις δὲ ἑκατέρας τῆς ποιήσεως εἰσενεχθείσης τοὺς ἀγωνιστὰς οἷον ἀκουμένους πρὸς ἄλληλα τὰ μέρη καὶ τὴν σύμπασαν ποίησιν ἐπιόντας, ῥαψῳδοὺς προσαγορευθῆναι. ταῦτά φησι Διονύσιος ὁ ᾿Αργεῖος (FHG III 26). Φιλόχορος (FHG I 417) δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ συντιθέναι καὶ ῥάπτειν τὴν ᾠδὴν οὕτω φησὶν αὐτοὺς προσκεκλῆσθαι. δηλοῖ δὲ ὁ ῾Ησίοδος λέγων (fr. 265)·
ἐν Δήλῳ τότε πρῶτον ἐγὼ καὶ ῞Ομηρος ἀοιδοὶ
μέλπομεν, ἐν νεαροῖς ὕμνοις ῥάψαντες ἀοιδὴν,
Φοῖβον ᾿Απόλλωνα χρυσάορον, ὃν τέκε Λητώ.
ῥαψῳδῆσαι δέ φησι πρῶτον τὸν ῾Ησίοδον Νικοκλῆς (FHG IV 464). Μέναιχμος δὲ ἱστορεῖ τοὺς ῥαψῳδοὺς στιχῳδοῦς καλεῖσθαι διὰ τὸ τοὺς στίχους ῥάβδους λέγεσθαι ὑπό τινων.“Another version is this: the Homeridai were once the children of Homer and then later on the rhapsodes around Kunaithos. These are the people who remembered the Homeric poetry that had been scattered around and they performed it. But they totally ruined it. They always begin their poems by making a proem to Zeus. And sometimes the Muses.
Ἄλλως. ῾Ομηρίδαι πρότερον μὲν οἱ ῾Ομήρου παῖδες, ὕστερον δὲ οἱ περὶ Κύναιθον ῥαβδῳδοί· οὗτοι γὰρ τὴν ῾Ομήρου ποίησιν σκεδασθεῖσαν ἐμνημόνευον καὶ ἀπήγγελλον· ἐλυμήναντο δὲ αὐτῇ πάνυ. αἰεὶ οὖν τὴν ἀρχὴν ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον ἐκ Διὸς ἐποι-οῦντο προοιμιαζόμενοι, ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ Μουσῶν.
Some links on this passage: Greg Nagy in classical inquiries; Derek Collins in Master of the Game; Nagy again in Homer the Preclassic; and José M González, ., The Epic Rhapsode and His Craft: Homeric Performance in a Diachronic Perspective.
