The aim of this thesis is to elucidate Homeric aesthetical, ethical, and political values; the relation between these values and those of the polis; and what this relation tells us about the place of Homeric society in our account of the development of the polis. I argue that the system of value that we find in the Iliad and the Odyssey is predicated on the ideas of portion, proportion, and proper distribution. These ideas, I contend, animate the Homeric conception of justice and of appropriateness. Further, I argue that this system shares much ground with the middling ideology of the polis, but is different from this ideology in respect of the discourse of sōphrosunē and of being mesos/metrios. From this, I maintain that the Homeric worldview reflects the social and material conditions of a world that shares the basic values of the polis but is not as sociologically complex as the polis. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

O objetivo desta tese é estudar os poemas homéricos do ponto de vista da história, a partir de um enfoque que consiga agregar uma análise de elementos internos e externos dos poemas. O ponto de articulação, o que direciona os temas a serem discutidos nesta tese, está relacionado a uma pergunta central: qual o papel da circulação da informação oral por longas distâncias e através do tempo nos poemas homéricos, seja do ponto de vista de sua própria composição e reprodução, seja do ponto de vista da representação dessas temáticas nas narrativas? Primeiramente, são analisadas as características da tradição poética da qual os poemas fazem parte. Em virtude da circulação em longas distâncias (espaciais e temporais) de formas orais de informação ser parte determinante para o que é mostrado aqui como o mecanismo de composição, apresentação, transmissão e recepção dos poemas da tradição hexamétrica, são propostas reflexões destas mesmas questões nas tramas dos poemas. O tipo de circulação da informação aqui enfocado abarca toda forma de transmissão que dependa da oralidade para ocorrer. Além disso, os processos que percorrem longas distâncias ou, ainda, têm alcance temporal mais extenso, são enfatizados. Nesse sentido, além dos mecanismos de funcionamento da composição e transmissão da poesia homérica e dos contextos históricos aos quais diriam respeito, as formas descritas nos poemas de circulação da informação são analisadas: os aedos e a própria circulação da poesia épica; os relatos, de diversos tipos; o espaço, as formas e os agentes envolvidos nesses processos de circulação. Na conclusão, a questão de se os poemas têm algo a dizer acerca da própria tradição de composição e transmissão de que fazem parte é debatida, articulando o que foi analisado tanto do ponto de vista interno, quanto do ponto de vista externo aos poemas. / The objective of this thesis is to study the Homeric poems from a historical point of view. The approach used intends to articulate an analysis of internal and external aspects of the poems. The juncture point, what propels the themes discussed in this thesis, is related to a central question: what is the role of the circulation of information through long distances and through time in the Homeric poems? This question is approached taking into account, first, the composition and transmission of this kind of poetry, and, second, the representation of those themes in the narratives themselves. The initial part of this study centers on the analysis of the poetic tradition the poems are part of. Because long ranged and long termed oral forms of circulation of information are a determinant part of what is shown here as the mechanics of composition, presentation, transmission and reception of the poems in this hexametric tradition, questions regarding those same issues are proposed in the study of their plot elements. The type of circulation of information here researched englobes all form of transmission that depends on orality to take place. Long distance and long-term processes are emphasized. In this sense, besides the composition and transmission mechanics of the Homeric poems and the historical contexts to which they are related, the poetic forms of circulation of information described in the Iliad and in the Odyssey are analyzed: the singers and the circulation of epic poetry; the many types of reports; the space, the forms and the agents involved in processes of circulation of information. In the conclusion, there is a debate of whether the Homeric poems have something to say regarding their own tradition of composition and transmission. Here, the themes analyzed relating both to internal and external elements of the poems are properly articulated.

O objetivo desta tese é estudar os poemas homéricos do ponto de vista da história, a partir de um enfoque que consiga agregar uma análise de elementos internos e externos dos poemas. O ponto de articulação, o que direciona os temas a serem discutidos nesta tese, está relacionado a uma pergunta central: qual o papel da circulação da informação oral por longas distâncias e através do tempo nos poemas homéricos, seja do ponto de vista de sua própria composição e reprodução, seja do ponto de vista da representação dessas temáticas nas narrativas? Primeiramente, são analisadas as características da tradição poética da qual os poemas fazem parte. Em virtude da circulação em longas distâncias (espaciais e temporais) de formas orais de informação ser parte determinante para o que é mostrado aqui como o mecanismo de composição, apresentação, transmissão e recepção dos poemas da tradição hexamétrica, são propostas reflexões destas mesmas questões nas tramas dos poemas. O tipo de circulação da informação aqui enfocado abarca toda forma de transmissão que dependa da oralidade para ocorrer. Além disso, os processos que percorrem longas distâncias ou, ainda, têm alcance temporal mais extenso, são enfatizados. Nesse sentido, além dos mecanismos de funcionamento da composição e transmissão da poesia homérica e dos contextos históricos aos quais diriam respeito, as formas descritas nos poemas de circulação da informação são analisadas: os aedos e a própria circulação da poesia épica; os relatos, de diversos tipos; o espaço, as formas e os agentes envolvidos nesses processos de circulação. Na conclusão, a questão de se os poemas têm algo a dizer acerca da própria tradição de composição e transmissão de que fazem parte é debatida, articulando o que foi analisado tanto do ponto de vista interno, quanto do ponto de vista externo aos poemas. / The objective of this thesis is to study the Homeric poems from a historical point of view. The approach used intends to articulate an analysis of internal and external aspects of the poems. The juncture point, what propels the themes discussed in this thesis, is related to a central question: what is the role of the circulation of information through long distances and through time in the Homeric poems? This question is approached taking into account, first, the composition and transmission of this kind of poetry, and, second, the representation of those themes in the narratives themselves. The initial part of this study centers on the analysis of the poetic tradition the poems are part of. Because long ranged and long termed oral forms of circulation of information are a determinant part of what is shown here as the mechanics of composition, presentation, transmission and reception of the poems in this hexametric tradition, questions regarding those same issues are proposed in the study of their plot elements. The type of circulation of information here researched englobes all form of transmission that depends on orality to take place. Long distance and long-term processes are emphasized. In this sense, besides the composition and transmission mechanics of the Homeric poems and the historical contexts to which they are related, the poetic forms of circulation of information described in the Iliad and in the Odyssey are analyzed: the singers and the circulation of epic poetry; the many types of reports; the space, the forms and the agents involved in processes of circulation of information. In the conclusion, there is a debate of whether the Homeric poems have something to say regarding their own tradition of composition and transmission. Here, the themes analyzed relating both to internal and external elements of the poems are properly articulated.

The thesis has been written as part of the AHRC collaborative research project Greek Epic of the Roman Empire: A Cultural History. This project seeks to give the first cultural-historical analysis of the large, underexploited corpus of Greek epic poetry composed in the transformative period between the 1st and the 6th centuries C.E. The thesis focuses on questions of literary identity in one of the most challenging texts from this corpus, the Posthomerica by Quintus of Smyrna (c. 3rd century C.E.). My central contention is that Quintus’ mimicry of Homer represents a radically new formative poetics, suggesting a cultural movement towards mimesis, necromancy and close encounters with the past. After a detailed study of what I term the reanimating culture of imperial Greece (chapter 1), and a comprehensive reanalysis of the compositional techniques of the text (chapter 2), I identify a number of tropes of poetic identity from different ancient literary modes: programmatic proems (chapter 3), memory (4), filiation (5) and temporality (6). I show how Quintus co-opts these themes for his new poetics, to turn the symbolic toolkit of contrast imitation into a defence of writing inter-Homeric epic. This analysis insists on rethinking the nature of the relationship between the poetry of this era and that of previous aesthetic traditions: particularly, I argue against a view of the Posthomerica as Alexandrian, and see it instead pushing back against the Callimachus school of small, new poetry. Ultimately, the thesis aims to show how the Posthomerica could be pivotal for unpinning current critical assumptions about imperial Greek poetry; revealing a palpable shift in tone in the construct of the literary self.