Marble bust of Homer of the "Hellenistic blind type"
or "Pergamon type". Found in Baiae, Bay of Naples,
Campania, Italy [see note 1]. Height: 57.15 cm.

A head of Homer similar to the one in the British Museum
(photo, left) on a modern bust.

Antonine copy (138-192 AD) of a 2nd century BC Greek
original, thought to have been made by the Rhodian School.
Height without bust 33 cm.

Replica of the Farnese bust of Homer in
Naples, made by Gaetano Rossi in 1875.

A plaster cast of a plaster cast of the Farnese
bust of Homer. This modern copy, in the
Pergamon Museum, Berlin, was taken from
the cast in the Goethe Nationalmuseum,
Weimar, which is thought to have belonged
to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Berlin, Abguss-Sammlung Antiker
Plastik der Freien Universität, VII 3470.

Marble herm bust of Homer of the "Hellenistic blind type".

Roman copy after a 2nd century BC Hellenistic original.
Like the head of the bust, right, it was also reported
to have been found in 1704 in the garden of the
Canonici Regolari di San Antonio Abbate, on the
Esquiline Hill, Rome [15]. Greek marble. Height 53 cm.

Marble head of Homer of the "Hellenistic
blind type" on a modern bust.

Roman copy after a 2nd century BC Hellenistic original.
Perhaps the head found in 1704 in the garden of the
Canons of San Antonio Abate, Rome [see note 15].
The nose and bust are modern additions. Luna marble.
Height 54 cm, with foot 71 cm.

Marble herm of Homer of the "Hellenistic blind type".

Roman copy after a 2nd century BC Hellenistic original.

Unusually, the poet is shown "veiled", that is with part of
his himation (cloak) drawn over the back of his head. The
end of the nose and the back of the head as well as most
of the neck and the herm have been restored. Luna marble.
Height 56.5 cm (head 29 cm). [16]

Marble bust of Homer of the "Apollonius of Tyana" type,
of which there are twelve extant examples, named due
to the previous belief that they were portraits of the 1st
century AD Pythagorean philosopher and miracle worker.
This bust was also once thought to depict Hesiod. [17]

Like the "Modena type" portraits of Homer
(see below), the subject is not evidently blind.

Hadrianic copy (117-138 AD) of a
late 4th century BC Greek original.

Only two almost identical busts of the "Modena type" are known, named after the example currently in the depot of the Galleria Estense, Modena, Italy. (Inv. No. 2121. Height 13.5cm, width 6.5 cm.) The subject of the Modena bust was identified from the inscription ΟΜΗΡΟC (OMEROS, Homer) on the chest. First recorded as being in the collection of Tommaso degli Obizzi at Padua around 1800, it was acquired by Francis IV of Habsburg-Este in 1822. (Read more about the Este family on the Dionysus page.)

The so-called "Homer" statue, a marble statue thought to represent either Homer or a philosopher.
The head is modern copy of the "Homer-Sophocles" type from a sculpture of the Farnese collection.

Found in 1752 in the rectangular peristyle of the Villa of the Papyri, Herculaneum. Height 198 cm.

The figure wears a himation (cloak) over a chiton (tunic), indicating that he is a Greek. His clothing and pose identify him as a mature intellectual, perhaps a writer or philosopher. A bundle of papyrus rolls on the base reinforce the identification, as well as providing part of the support for the figure, which also includes part of his himation and a long staff. The pose is reminiscent of the bronze statue of Homer in Constantinople described by Christodorus (see above), which depicted the bard "with his two hands supported by his staff, one on top of the other, like a real man".

As with many ancient sculptures in Italian museums, this statue has been extensively restored, and it is not always easy to spot which parts are modern additions. It was found headless and restorers added a modern head copied from an ancient marble head of the "Homer-Sophocles Farnese type", formerly in the Farnese Collection and now in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples (see photo, right). There are differences in the hair and beard of the copy on this statue, and the features are generally smoother and less severe. The type, of which there are around thirty two extant examples, is named after a Roman period herm bust from the Farnese Collection thought to represent the Athenian playwright Sophocles, copied from a 4th century BC Greek original.

According to the website of the Naples museum, it is currently believed that the statue may have originally represented the Athenian rhetorician Isocrates (Ἰσοκράτης, 436-338 BC). This theory is apparently based on the presence of the papyrus rolls that "represent the art of oratory which the character portrayed was linked to" and "the aspect of an elderly but vigorous man and the quiet attitude of a rhetorician".

See: www.museoarcheologiconapoli.it/en/3598-2/

However, these arguments are not convincing, particularly since there are no extant statues of Isocrates with which it can be compared. Scrolls on statues are not exclusive to those of orators, and the relationship of scrolls to orator statues is much debated. On the "Apotheosis of Homer" relief (see below) Homer is shown holding a scroll, as is the tragic playwright Euripides on the relief from Smyrna in Istanbul. A number of statues have been identified as orators because of scrolls, but those held by statues of Demosthenes, for example, are modern restorations (Braccio Nuovo, Vatican Museums, Inv. No. 2255; Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Kopenhagen, Inv. No. 2782; Newby Hall, Ripon, Yorkshire). The scrolls and the posture of this statue could indicate one of a number of mature, learned men of antiquity.

The blue-grey limestone block was found in May 1881 in the eastern part of the north stoa of the Sanctuary of Athena Polias Nikephoros, the area in which the Library of Pergamon is thought to have stood. Two foot-shaped indentations in the top of the block indicate that it was the base for a standing bronze statue. See below for details of the inscription.

Height 41.5 cm, width 70 cm, depth 75.5 cm. Height of letters 1.2 - 1.4 cm.

Bases for statues of other Greek poets and historians have also been found at the sanctuary: Alkaios of Mytiline, Apollonios, Balakros, Herodotus and Timotheos. The statues were probably part of a collection of monuments dedicated to famous writers exhibited in the library.

The so-called "Homer" marble statue of a seated man.

Classical period, 4th century BC. Found in 1952 in Klaros (Κλάρος, today Ahmetbeyli,
south of Izmir, Turkey). Height 169 cm, width 64 cm, width 100 cm.

Also known as "the Relief of Archelaos", signed by the sculptor Archelaos, son of Apollonios of Priene, it is thought to have to have been made in Alexandria, Egypt in the 3rd or 2nd century BC, perhaps during the reign of Ptolemy IV Philopater (222-205 BC) and his queen (sister and wife) Arsinoe III Philopater, who built a temple of Homer in the city. It has been suggested that the relief may have been a prize awarded to a poet, and even that the poet shown standing on a pedeatal (see number 13 in the key below) may be meant to represent the winning bard.

The religious ceremony in which Homer is elevated to divine status by deities, Muses, mythical characters and personifications was a popular subject in the art of antiquity. [19] Here some of the participants are identified by captions in inscribed in Greek below the respective figures (see drawing below):

Οἰκουμένη (Oikoumene, Inhabited World), Χρόνος· (Chronos, Time), Ἰλιάς (Ilias, The Iliad),
Ὀδύσσεια· (Odysseia, The Odyssey), Ὅμηρος· (Omeros, Homer), Μῦθος (Mythos, Myth),
Ἱστορία (Ostoria, history), Ποίησις· (Poiesis, Poetry), Τραγῳδία (Tragodia, Tragedy),
Κωμῳδία· (Komodia, Comedy) Φύσις (Physis, Nature), Ἀρετή (Arete, Virtue),
Μνήμη (Mneme, Memory), Πίστις (Pistis, Good Faith), Σοφία (Sophia, Wisdom).

The bard (Omeros, Homer), enthroned before an altar, holds a sceptre and a scroll. The two smaller-scale figures at Homer's side and directly in front of him, have been identifed as The Iliad (Ilias) and The Odyssey (Odysseia) respectively, perhaps as his "children". The scene is observed from above by Zeus, reclining on a rock (or cloud?), immediately below which is a panel containing the inscribed signature of the sculptor. The seated female figure below (perhaps the Muse Euterpe) appears to point to it with her raised right hand.

Ἀρχέλαος Ἀπολλωνίου
ἐποίησε Πριηνεύς

Archelaos, son of Apollonios,
made it, of Priene.

Inscription IG XIV 1295.

It is thought that Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III may be portrayed standing behind Homer, as Chronos (Time) and Oikoumene (Inhabited World), who is crowning the poet.

The Roman author Aelian (Κλαύδιος Αἰλιανός, Claudius Aelianus; circa 175-235 AD) mentioned Ptolemy Philopater's temple and statue of Homer, as well as a satirical drawing by the artist Galaton.

"Ptolemaeus Philopator having built a Temple to Homer, erected a fair Image of him, and placed about the Image those Cities which contended for Homer. Galaton the Painter drew Homer vomiting, and the rest of the Poets gathering it up."

1 Zeus, reclining on a rock or cloud, with his eagle
2 Mnesmosyne ?, mother of the Muses by Zeus

3 Muse (Klio ?)
4 Muse
5 Muse (Erato ?)
6 Muse (Euterpe ?)
7 Muse

8 Muse (Terpsichore ?) with lyre
9 Muse (Ourania ?) with the celestial globe (?)
10 Muse (Polyhymnia ?)
11 Apollo Kitharoidos, standing by an omphalos in a cave
12 Muse
13 statue of a poet ? * on a pedestal (perhaps Apollonius,
author of the Argonautica, 2nd century BC)

14 Oikoumene (Arsinoe III) ? wearing a tall polos, crowning Homer
15 Chronos (Ptolemy IV) ? behind 14
16 The Iliad, as a child, kneeling at the near side of the throne
17 Homer, enthroned
18 The Odyssey, as a child, in the far side of the throne (only her head and raised arm are visible)
19 Mythos (Myth), as a child

A cylindrical altar, behind which stands a sacrificial bull or ox

Part of a marble statue representing
the personification of The Iliad.

2nd century AD. The identification of the
statue is based on an inscribed base
found with it (IG II² 2776). Height 143 cm.

Part of a marble statue representing
the personification of The Odyssey.

2nd century AD. Height 129 cm.

The two statues were found in 1869, during excavations by the Greek Archaeological Society in Athens, built into the walls of the now demolished Church of Panagia Pyrgiotissa (Παναγία Πυργιώτισσα or Chrysopyrgiotissas, εκκλησίας της Χρυσοπυργιώτισσας), constructed in the northern tower of a gate in the Post-Herulian Wall [20], at the south end of the Stoa of Attalos in the Athenian Agora. They were identified as personifications of The Odyssey and The Iliad about twenty years later by the German archaeologist Georg Treu, who also suggested that the object on the left shoulder of the Odyssey may have been part of an acplaston (steering oar). [21]

They are thought to have stood in the Library of Pantainos (Βιβλιοθήκη Πανταίνου), built around 100 AD, just west of the Gate of Athena, the Doric gateway of the market of Caesar and Augustus (also known as the Roman Agora), immediately south of the Stoa of Attalos. [22] The statues were in National Archaeological Museum, Athens (Inv. Nos. 311 and 312) until August 1958 when they were transferred to the Agora Museum.

Each of the statues, now missing heads, forearms and legs, was carved from a single piece of Pentelic marble. Each depicts a figure wearing military garb, including a cuirass (breastplate) and cloak. They are both described as being female figures, but although the Odyssey (right) obviously has a right breast, the gender of the Iliad is not easily distinguishable. The Odyssey's cuirass is decorated with reliefs depicting characters from The Odyssey (see photo below), and her pleated skirt is inscribed with the sculptor's signature (see photo right):

ΙΑCΩΝ
ΑΘΗΝΑ[Ι]
ΟC ΕΠΟ[Ι]
ΕΙ

(Ἰάσων Ἀθηνα[ῖ]ος ἐπο[ί]ει.)

Jason the Athenian made it

Inscription IG II² 4313.

In 1953 archaeologists of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) discovered fragments of an inscribed base believed to belong to the Iliad statue (see photo below) in a Byzantine period well near the east end of the Middle Stoa of the Agora. The well had been constructed with ancient stones including fragments of sculpture, inscriptions and architectural members, among them bases and capitals apparently from the Gymnasium, built in this area around 400 AD. Also found were part of a life-size left foot in a heavy boot and a non-fitting left leg, thought to belong to the statue. The statue base of Pentelic marble was reconstructed from over sixty fragments, and the inscribed distich on the front was reconstructed by the American archaeologist Homer A. Thompson to read:

λιὰς ἡ μεθ' Ὅμηρον ἐγὼ καὶ πρόσθεν Ὁμήρ[ωι]
πάρστατις ἵδρυμαι τῶι με τεκόντι νέω[ι].

The Iliad, I that was both after Homer and before Homer,
have been set up alongside him that bore me in his earlier years.

Agora Museum, Athens. Inv. No. I 6628. Inscription SEG 29:192.

Thompson pointed to an ancient view that Homer wrote The Iliad in his youth and The Odyssey in his old age, citing a passage by Longinus (On the Sublime, 9, 13). He also suggested that the figures may have been part of a group, and stood either side of a larger scale statue of Homer seated "with sceptre and scroll in his hands".

See: Homer A. Thompson, Excavations in the Athenian Agora: 1953, The Iliad base. In: Hesperia, Volume 23 (1954), No. 1, pages 62-65. PDF at ascsa.edu.gr. With bibliographical references and a photo of the base (plate 14c).

According to one theory, the statue of The Iliad may have originally stood next to a statue of the Athenian general (and perhaps poet) Gaius Iulius Nikanor (Ἰούλιον Νικάνορα, 1st century BC), a friend of Emperor Augustus. The pentameter on the base would then refer to the older Homer, the author of The Iliad, and the "New Homer" ("νέον Ὅμηρον", Neos Homeros) identified as Nikanor, who is known from inscriptions from the Athens Acropolis, Piraeus and Eleusis (IG II² 3786-3789 and I.Eleusis 362) to have been honoured by the Athenians as "the New Homer and New Themistokles". Nikanor's 1st century BC statue may have later been placed in the Library of Pantainos and added to a group which included the 2nd century AD statues of The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Part of a large polychrome floor mosaic, measuring around 380 x 440 cm, from a rectangular room of the villa, thought to have been a triclinium (dining room). It was discovered by chance in 1907 by a Circassian family living in the ruins of the ancient city, and excavated between 1907 and 1935. The twenty two fragments of the floor now in the Berlin State Museums (SMB) were purchased in 1908, following the first excavation by Gottlieb Schumacher, and parts uncovered subsequently are in other museums and private collections. [23]

The floor mosaic had a 20 cm wide frame with a continuous guilloche pattern, enclosing a wider border within which ran a series of busts of Muses alternating with ancient Greek writers, including Homer, Thucydides (see the bust on the Thucydides page), as well as the poets Anakreon, Alkman and Stesichoros. Each of the busts is shown above part of a long garland, continuous along each side of the border, festooned with leaves and fruit (in this case pine cones), supported by Erotes (Cupids) and hung with theatre masks. Various birds stand on the garland, flanking the busts. To the left of Homer's head is what appears to be a parakeet (see a mosaic of an Alexandrine parakeet Pergamon gallery 2, page 12), and to the right a duck. At each of the four corners of the border was a round medallion containing a bust of one of the Seasons (Horai).

The centre of the mosaic is thought to have been divided into four large emblemata (panels) with depictions of Dionysian scenes with several figures: one surviving emblema shows a Triumph of Dionysus (see the Dionysus page), and another a Dionysian procession with a drunken Herakles among Satyrs, Silens and Maenads.

The Dionysian themes and the presence of the Muses has led to the suggestion that the villa's owner may have had some connection with the theatre. However, none of the surviving busts portray playwrights, and apart from the actors' masks there is no specifically theatrical imagery. It may be more likely that the central panels reflect the use of the room for symposia (drinking parties), and the Muses and writers were meant to broadcast the owner's claim to literary taste.

Homer's name in Greek is written in black tesserae, in two parts, ΟΜΗ ΡΟC (OME ROS), to either side of his head. Much of the head has been restored, and in its present state does not appear similar to surviving sculpture portraits of the poet; it may have been a product of the mosaic artist's imagination or copied from unknown work, perhaps a painting. He is depicted as a middle-aged man with long dark hair and greying beard, his head turned slightly to face the viewer's left. He wears a white chiton (tunic) and a himation (cloak) over his shoulders. The mosaic fragments in the museum are currently displayed in a large glass cabinet and it is difficult to see whether Homer's eyes have been given irises. In contrast to the detailed and highlighted eyes of all the other faces in the border, including that of Thucydides and the masks, Homer's eye sockets appear dark and empty, and he may have been depicted as blind.

In The Iliad Homer referred to the besieged fortified city of Priam as Ilion (Ἴλιον, Ilion, or Ἴλιος, Ilios; Latin, Ilium), hence the title of his poem (ἡ ποίησις Ἰλιάς, the poem of Ilion). He also wrote of Troy (Τροία, Troia, or Τροίας, Troias; Latin, Troia), sometimes referred to as the Troad (Τρωάδα, Troada), the area around the city, the homeland of the Trojans. The names were later confounded and both used to refer to the city and the surrounding country.

The names are thought to be derived from the Hittite Wilusa and Truwisa. However, Homer provided a typically Greek geneaology of a local royal dynasty to explain the names, starting with Dardanos (Δάρδανος), a son of Zeus and founder of Dardania (Δαρδανία), the city and area at the northwestern edge of Anatolia, south of the western entrance to the Dardanelles (Δαρδανέλλια, later known as the Hellespont, Ἑλλήσποντος), the straits between the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. His son King Erichthonius (Ἐριχθόνιος) was the father of Tros (Τρώς or Τρωός), after whom Troy and the Trojans were named. In turn, Ilos (Ἶλος), a son of Tros and grandfather of Priam, founded Ilion, the city of Ilos.

Just before he is about to fight the Achilles, the Trojan prince Aeneas boasts to the Greek hero of his illustrious lineage.

"Howbeit, if thou wilt, hear this also, that thou mayest know well my lineage, and many there be that know it:

At the first Zeus, the cloud-gatherer, begat Dardanus, and he founded Dardania, for not yet was sacred Ilios builded in the plain to be a city of mortal men, but they still dwelt upon the slopes of many-fountained Ida. And Dardanus in turn begat a son, king Erichthonius, who became richest of mortal men.

Three thousand steeds had he that pastured in the marsh-land; mares were they, rejoicing in their tender foals. Of these as they grazed, the North Wind [Boreas] became enamoured, and he likened himself to a dark-maned stallion and covered them; and they conceived, and bare twelve fillies. These, when they bounded over the earth, the giver of grain, would course over the topmost ears of ripened corn and break them not, and whenso they bounded over the broad back of the sea, would course over the topmost breakers of the hoary brine.

And Erichthonius begat Tros to be king among the Trojans, and from Tros again three peerless sons were born, Ilus, and Assaracus, and godlike Ganymedes that was born the fairest of mortal men; wherefore the gods caught him up on high to be cupbearer to Zeus by reason of his beauty, that he might dwell with the immortals.

And Ilus again begat a son, peerless Laomedon, and Laomedon begat Tithonus and Priam and Clytius, and Hicetaon, scion of Ares. And Assaracus begat Capys, and he Anchises; but Anchises begat me and Priam goodly Hector. This then is the lineage amid the blood wherefrom I avow me sprung."

Homer, The Iliad, Book 20, lines 213-240. At Perseus Digital Library.

The name Erichthonius is also known in connection with the ancient history of Athens (see Athens Acropolis gallery, page 18). In Greek myth Ganymede (Γανυμήδης) was abducted by Zeus, a popular subject in ancient Greek and Roman art. Zeus, sometimes depicted as an eagle, was said to have carried away the handsome youth from Mount Ida (Όρος Ίδη or Ἴδα; Turkish, Kazdağı, Goose Mountain) near Troy. Boreas (Βορέης or Βορίας), the North Wind, was also depicted in Greek art (see Homer part 3).

1. Head of Homer found at Baiae, Italy

Marble herm bust with an imaginary portrait of the poet Homer as an elderly blind man, with Greek letters carved on each side of the terminus.
White marble. Height: 57.15 cm (22.5 inches).
British Museum, London.
Main floor, Room 22, Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic world.
Invoice Number GR 1805.7-3.85 (Sculpture 1825).

Thought to be a Roman copy of a lost Hellenistic original of the 2nd century BC. It belongs to the so-called "Hellenistic blind type" or "Pergamon type" of depictions of Homer, the style of which has been compared with the sculpted figures of the Gigantomachy frieze on the Great Altar of Pergamon (circa 175 BC). The original of the type may have been created for a statue which stood in the Pergamon Library. See also the base of a statue of Homer from Pergamon above.

The bust is in the form of a "terminus", i.e. the top part of a herm. Terminus was the Roman god who protected boundaries, and stone pillars known in Latin as terminii were set up as boundary markers in a similar way to which herms were used by the Greeks. Such busts of gods and famous humans were made for the private collections of wealthy people. See more about herms on Pergamon gallery 2, page 15.

It was found in 1780 among the ruins of the ancient city of Baiae, on the Bay of Naples, Italy. It was purchased in late 1780 for £80 by the wealthy English collector Charles Townley (1737-1805) from the Scottish painter, antiquarian and antiquities dealer Gavin Hamilton (1723-1798). It was acquired, along with around 300 ancient artefacts of the Townley Collection, by the British Museum after Townley's death.

See:

Taylor Combe, William Alexander, George Cooke, A description of the collection of ancient marbles in the British Museum: with engravings. [Marbles in the third room of the Gallery of Antiquities] Part II. W. Bulmer and Co., London, 1815.

G. M. A. Richter, The portraits of the Greeks. Phaidon, London, 1965.

Examples of "Hellenistic blind type" heads of Homer in major collections (including those shown on this page):

2. The "Epimenides type" Homer

The "Epimenides type" head of Homer is named after the first known example, the herm bust in the Museo Pio-Clementino shown here. This was at first named the "Sleeping Epimenides" and believed to depict the 7th century BC Cretan philosopher Epimenides, following a proposal by the Italian antiquarian and art historian Ennio Quirino Visconti (1751-1818), papal Prefect of Antiquities. It was first identified as Homer by the archaeologist Franz Winter (1861-1930) in 1890, and subsequently by Adolf Furtwängler.

All known examples of the type are believed to have been made in the Roman period as copies of a prototype speculatively dated around 460 BC, due to the style of the carving and the features. This period would coincide with the earliest known statue of Homer which, according to Pausanias, was dedicated by Mikythos at Olympia [see above and note below].

Apart from the examples of the type shown on this page, others include:

3. Lycurgus, Peisistratos and Homer

Diogenes Laertius (Διογένης Λαέρτιος, 3rd century AD), a biographer of Greek philosophers, credited the Athenian statesman, lawmaker and poet Solon (Σόλων, circa 630-560 BC, archon 594 BC) with the introduction of public recitations of Homer to Athens.

"He [Solon] has provided that the public recitations of Homer shall follow in fixed order: thus the second reciter must begin from the place where the first left off. Hence, as Dieuchidas says in the fifth book of his Megarian History, Solon did more than Pisistratus to throw light on Homer. The passage in Homer more particularly referred to is that beginning 'Those who dwelt at Athens ...' [Iliad, Book 2, lines 546-558]"

Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 1, chapter 2, section 57. At Perseus Digital Library.

The subject of early written forms of Homer's works, and the alleged part played by Lycurgus, Peisistratos and others, is too large and involved to go into deeply here. A number of scholars have discussed it in various articles and books.

Having pointed out the late appearance of reports of Lycurgus' involvement, scholars still cite even later commentators, such as the Byzantine poet and grammarian John Tzetzes (Ἰωάννης Τζέτζης, circa 1110-1180), and other Medieval witers of scholia (commentaries on literary works). They recorded the tradition that the editor of the "Peisistratean recension" was Onomakritos (Ὀνομάκριτος), thought to be the person mentioned by Herodotus as an Athenian diviner or compiler of oracles and close friend of Hipparchos (Histories, Book 7, chapter 6, sections 3-4), and by Pausanias as a poet (Description of Greece, Book 1, chapter 22, section 7; Book 8, chapter 31, section 3, and chapter 37, section 5).

The Syrian theologian Tatian (Τατιανός, circa 120-180 AD) wrote that Onomakritos was the author of the songs of Orpheus.

"And Orpheus lived at the same time as Hercules; moreover, it is said that all the works attributed to him were composed by Onomacritus the Athenian, who lived during the reign of the Pisistratids, about the fiftieth Olympiad [580 BC, too early]. Musaeus was a disciple of Orpheus."

Tatian, Address to the Greeks, section 41 (Oratio ad Graecos). At ToposText.

4. Xenophanes on Homer

The works of Xenophanes of Colophon are known only from fragments quoted by later writers and commentators, including the biographer Diogenes Laertius (Διογένης Λαέρτιος, Diogenes Laertios; circa 3rd century AD).

"Xenophanes, a native of Colophon, the son of Dexius, or, according to Apollodorus, of Orthomenes, is praised by Timon, whose words at all events are:

'Xenophanes, not over-proud, perverter of Homer, castigator.'

His writings are in epic metre, as well as elegiacs and iambics attacking Hesiod and Homer and denouncing what they said about the gods."

R.D. Hicks, Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 9, chapter 2, section 18. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 1972 (First published 1925). At Perseus Digital Library.

Fragments criticizing the portrayal of the gods by Homer and Hesiod:

Fragment B11
"Homer and Hesiod have attributed to the gods all sorts of things that are matters of reproach and censure among men: theft, adultery, and mutual deception."

Fragment B12
"...as they sang of numerous illicit divine deeds: "theft, adultery, and mutual deceit."

5. Pausanias on the Thebais, Calaenus and Homer

When discussing the earliest mention of Homer in ancient literature, many modern authors cite a single mention in Pausanias in which an epic poem titled Thebais (Θηβαΐς), about the legendary war between Argos and Thebes, was attributed to Homer by Calaenus (Κελαινός, Kelainos). Pausanias gives us no further information about this person, who appears to be otherwise unknown.

"And this is the war which is celebrated in verse. Calaenus, making mention of these verses, says that they were composed by Homer; and many celebrated persons are of the same opinion. Indeed, I consider these verses as next in excellence to the Iliad and Odyssey. And thus much concerning the war, which the Argives and Thebans waged for the sake of the sons of Oedipus."

Pausanias, The description of Greece, Volume III (of 3), translated by T. Taylor, Book 9, chapter 9, page 19. Richard Priestley, London, 1824. At googlebooks.

However, the translations most referred to by scholars render the name as Callinus (Καλλῖνος, Kallinos), the name of a Greek elegiac poet who lived in Ephesus in the mid 7th century BC. Presumably, when the translators came across the unknown name Calaenus, they considered it an error or corruption and conjecturally substituted it with that of Callinus, who is known to have written poems about war; he may have seemed more fitting and had the added advantage of living at a time closer to Homer, which would give his opinion on the authorship of the Thebais more credibility.

No mention of the Thebais has been found among the surviving fragments of Callinus' works. Although Peter Levi also translated the name as Kallinos, he pointed out in his notes, that "this casual reference is not among his surviving work" (Pausanias, Guide to Greece 1: Central Greece, page 327, note 49. Penguin Classics, 1979).

This error was pointed out by the classics professor John Adams Scott as early as 1921, but few seem to have noticed.

"Not a single manuscript has the word Callinus in this place, but all have Calaenus, so that Callinus is simply an emendation. The word Callinus is a pure conjecture."

John Adams Scott, The Unity of Homer, pages 15-16. Sather Classical Lectures Volume I. University of California Press, Berkeley, California, 1921. At the Internet Archive.

Scott made the same argument in: John A. Scott, Homer as the Poet of the Thebais, Classical Philology, Vol. 16, No. 1 (January 1921), pages 20-26. University of Chicago Press. At Jstor.

The subject of the Thebais was the war for the kingship of Thebes between the brothers Eteocles and Polyneikes (Polynices), sons of Oedipus, in which Polyneikes was supported by King Adrastos of Argos. The content of the poem is known only from a handful of fragments, short quotes and mentions in the works of later writers, none of which are very enlightening. One fragment mentions Homer as the author:

"Homer travelled about reciting his epics, first the Thebaid, in seven thousand verses, which begins: 'Sing, goddess, of parched Argos, whence lords...'"

Hugh Gerard Evelyn-White (translator), Hesiod, the Homeric hymns and Homerica, Thebais, pages 484-487 (seven fragments in Greek and English). William Heinemann, London; Macmillan Co., New York. 1912. At the Internet Archive.

See also: Gottfried Kinkel, Epicorum graecorum fragmenta Volume I, pages 9-13. G. Teubner, Leipzig, 1877. At the Internet Archive.

The story of the Theban War became more widely known from Aischylos' play Seven against Thebes, produced in 467 BC. The Thebais is also known from later versions by other poets, including Antimachus (Ἀντίμαχος, Antimachos of Colophon or Claros, flourished about 400 BC, a pupil of Panyassis), and the Latin Thebaid of Publius Papinius Statius (circa 45-96 AD).

The elegiac poet Sextus Propertius (circa 50-15 BC) appears to be referring to a poem on the Theban War by Homer in a Latin elegy addressed to Ponticus (a contemporary of Ovid), who wrote on the same subject:

"While you tell of Thebes and Cadmus, Ponticus,
and the tragedy of fraternal warfare,
and, if I may say, you contend with Homer himself
(may the fates just go easy on your songs),
I pursue my loves, as is my wont,
and look for something against my hard mistress."

6. Herodotus on Hesiod and Homer

Herodotus, The Histories, Book 2, chapter 53, translated by A. D. Godley. Harvard University Press, 1920. At Perseus Digital Library.

7. Aulus Gellius on Homer's native city

Ἑπτὰ πόλεις διερίζουσιν περὶ ῥίζαν Ὁμήρου,
Σμύρνα, Ῥόδος, Κολοφών, Σαλαμίς, Ἴος, Ἄργος, Ἀθῆναι.

These two lines have been quoted innumerable times without citations or references. One source attributes the epigram to Antipater of Sidon. It has also been paraphrased by several authors, including Vasari and the English playwright and poet Thomas Heywood.

"... even as seven cities contended for Homer, each claiming that he was her citizen..."

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), Lives of the artists (first published in 1550), Part III, "Life of Baldassare Peruzzi painter and architect of Siena".

"Seven cities warr'd for Homer, being dead;
Who, living, had no roofe to shrowd his head."

9. Pausanias on ancient Smyrna

10. Strabo on Kreophylos and Aristeas

Strabo, Geography, Book 14, chapter 1, section 18. Loeb Classical Library edition, translated by H. L. Jones. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts and William Heinemann, London, 1924. At Perseus Digital Library.

The epigram by Kallimachos appears as Epigram VII in the Loeb Classical Library collection of his surviving works and fragments, as well as those of two other Hellenistic poets, Lykophron (Λυκόφρων) of Chalcis, Euboea, and Aratos (Ἀραρατος) of Soli in Cilicia. A footnote to the text of the epigram briefly summarizes the mythical plot of The Capture of Oechalia:

"Eurytus, king of Oechalia, variously localized in Thessaly (Iliad, Book 2, line 730), Messenia, and Euboea. He offered to wed his daughter Iole, or Ioleia (Hesiod ap. schol. Soph, Tr. 263), to him who should defeat him in archery. Heracles defeated him, but he refused to give Iole to Heracles, who thereupon destroyed Oechalia, killed Eurytus, and carried off Iole."

11. Mikythos

Mikythos (Μίκυθος: Latin, Micythus), Son of Choiros (Latin, Choerus), was the tyrant and regent of Rhegion (Ῥήγιον; Latin, Rhegium), Magna Graecia (today Reggio di Calabria), on the southwestern tip of Italy, and Messine (Μεσσήνη, or Messana; until around 494 BC known as Zankle, Ζάγκλη), on the opposite shore on the northeastern tip of Sicily, 476-467 BC.

Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus wrote that he was originally a slave of Anaxilas (Ἀναξίλας or Ἀναξίλαος), the tyrant of Rhegium, but became a trusted servant. Before his death in 476 BC, Anaxilas named Mikythos as guardian of his two sons, and regent until they reached adulthood. Nine years later, when the sons had grown up and demanded their inheritance (encouraged by Hieron, the tyrant of Syracuse), Mikythos took his accumulated wealth and sailed to retirement in Tegea in Arcadia.

Fragments of an inscribed marble statue base with a metrical dedication by Mikythos to all gods and goddesses have been discovered at Olympia (Olympia Archaeological Museum, Inv. No. 660, inscription IvO 268), as well as a 12 metre long, rectangular poros stone foundation of a base for statues, at the northeast corner of the Temple of Zeus (lying parallel to the north side).

See, for example:

It has been suggested that Mikythos dedicated the statues while still tyrant, rather than during his retirement in Tegea, as the extant inscription fragments mention only Rhegion and not Tegea. This would make the date of the statues earlier than the conjectural 460 BC.

The reference by Pausanias to the statues next to the temple, including those of Homer and Hesiod, has been translated as:

"The offerings of Mikythos I found were numerous and not together ... Along the left side of the great temple Mikythos dedicated other offerings: the Maid [Persephone], daughter of Demeter, Aphrodite, Ganymede and Artemis, the poets Homer and Hesiod; then again deities, Asklepios and Health [Hygieia]." (Book 5, chapter 26, section 2)

However, the foundation was discovered on the right side of temple, when viewing it from the front (east). Tonio Hölscher has pointed out that the passage from Pausanias should be read: "on the side of the temple to the left hand side", i.e. to the left of Pausanias' route through the sanctuary.

12. The Homereion of Alexandria

13. Pliny on statues of Homer in libraries

14. Christodorus on the statues in the Baths of Zeuxippus in Constantinople

Christodorus (Χριστόδωρος) was a Greek epic poet from Coptos in Egypt who flourished during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I (491-518 AD). He wrote an ekphrasis (from Ancient Greek ἔκφρασις, description), a poem in 416 hexameters describing 80 statues of deities and famous mortals in the Baths and Gymnasium of Zeuxippus in Constantinople.

The public baths-gymnasium was originally built by Roman Emperor Septimius Severus (reigned 193-211 AD), in the centre of the city near the Hippodrome, and decorated over time with artworks shipped from various parts of the Roman Empire. These works were probably destroyed when the building was burnt down during the Nika Riots in 532 AD. Archaeologists discovered inscribed statue bases at the site which relate to works described in the poem. In 1556 the Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan built the Haseki Hürrem Sultan Hamamı (Turkish baths) on the site.

Christodorus' Ekphrasis, Ἔκφρασις τῶν ἀγαλμάτων τῶν εἰς τὸ δημόσιον γυμνάσιον τα ἐπικαλουμένον τοῦ Ζευξίππου, forms the second book of the Anthologia Palatina (Palatine Anthology), II, 311-349. The manuscripts of this collection of Greek poems and epigrams, compiled around 980 AD by four scribes, were discovered in 1606 by Claudius Salmasius (Claude de Saumaise, 1588-1653) in the Palatine Library in Heidelberg, Germany.

You can read the description of the statue of Homer in Greek, with a translation in English at:

livingpoets.dur.ac.uk/w/Christodorus,_Ekphrasis_314-350

By the time of Christodorus ekphrases had become a literary genre, and many such poems described works of art, monuments and cities. One of the oldest examples of ekphrasis is Homer's description of Achilles' shield in the Iliad (Book 18, lines 478-608, at the Internet Classics Archive).

15. Capitoline Museums, head of Homer, MC 557 and herm of Homer, MC 559

Some confusion appears to have arisen over the history of the several portraits of Homer from Rome, particularly the head and the herm in the Palazzo Nuovo of the Capitoline Museums, and the herm now in the Louvre, Paris, Inv. No. MR 530 (Ma 440). The confusion was compounded by varying accounts in reports and catalogues, and differing reference numbers given to the sculptures by each publication.

According to Wolfgang Helbig (1839-1915), the head (Inv. No. MC 557) was found built into a wall in the garden of the Palazzo Caetani, near the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggioro, Rome, and purchased by the antiquarian Francesco de' Ficoroni (1664-1747), who sold it to Cardinal Alessandro Albani, who gave it to Pope Clement Xll:

"Found among the stones of a wall in the garden of the Palazzo Caetani, not far from S. Maria Maggiore. It came first into the possession of Ficoroni and then into that of Cardinal Albani, the latter ceding it to Pope Clement XII (Ficoroni, in Fea, Miscellanea, I, p. CXXI, No. 9; Röm. Mitth., VI, 1891, p. 59, note 205). The nose and bust have been restored."

Wolfgang Helbig, Guide to the public collections of classical antiquities in Rome, Volume I, Room of the Philosophers, No. 480 (44). Head of Homer, page 354. English translation by James Fullarton Muirhead and Findlay Muirhead. Karl Baedeker, Leipzig, 1895. At the Internet Archive.

Helbig also stated that the herm of Homer now in the Palazzo Nuovo, Capitoline Museums, Inv. No. MC 559 (see above) was found in the garden of the Canonici Regolari di San Antonio Abate, on the Esquiline Hill:

"482 (46). Herma of Homer.
Found on the Esquiline, in the garden of the Canonici Regolari di S. Antonio Abhate (Ficoroni, in Fea, Miscellanea, I, p. CXXI, No. 9). The nose is modern.
Bottari, Mus. Cap., I, 55. Montagnani. III, 2, T. 55. Visconti, Iconogr. gr., I, T. I, 1, 2, p. 60 (comp. Opere varie, IV, p. 406. No. 242). Baumeister, Denkm. d. kl. Alterthums, I, p. 698, Fig. 755."

Helbig, Guide to the public collections of classical antiquities in Rome, Volume I, Room of the Philosophers, No. 482 (46), page 355.

However, Henry Stuart Jones (1867-1939) believed the head may be the one found in 1704 in the garden of the Canons of San Antonio Abate. In a note, he also stated that the portrait of Homer found in the wall of the Palazzo Caetani is the herm now in the Louvre.

"The coarse workmanship, and especially the free use of the drill, points to a fairly advanced date in the second century A.D. The original was one of those in which the pathetic features of the ideal type of Homer were strongly accentuated and was therefore of fairly advanced Hellenistic date. The marked upward gaze of the head (noted by Visconti) is at least partly due to the modern restorer. This is probably the head found (according to Ficoroni, Mem. 9, ap. Fea, Miscellanea, I, p. CXXI) in 1704 in the garden of the Canons of S. Antonio Abate."

Henry Stuart Jones (editor), A catalogue of the ancient sculptures preserved in the municipal collections of Rome: The Sculptures of the Museo Capitolino, Stanza dei Filosofi No. 44. Bust of Homer (plate 54), page 235. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1912. At the Internet Archive.

"Another herm of Homer (Inv. Albani, B 59 ; Bottari, I. 55 ; Bernoulli, Gr. Ikon., I, p. 10, No. 10) was removed to Paris in 1797, and is still in the Louvre (Cat. Somm. 440); cf. p. 7, n. 5. This was the herm stated by Ficoroni, Vestigia, 1744, p. 56, to have been found broken in two pieces in a wall of the Villa Caetani near S. Maria Maggiore. It was sold to Ficoroni, and by him to the dealer Borioni (Venuti, Collectanea Antiqu. Rom., pl. 10), from whom it passed to Card. Albani."

Henry Stuart Jones, Stanza dei Filosofi No. 45. Herm of Homer, note 1, page 236.

See also: arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/objekt/39115

16. Capitoline Museums, herm of Homer, MC 558

"45. Herm of Homer (pl. 54).

Height 56.5 cm. Luna marble.

The mask and upper part of the head are antique, but have been much worked over, especially the hair and forehead. The greater part of the nose, the projecting locks of hair on both sides of the face, and a patch (in plaster) over the r. brow are modern. The line of breakage passes behind the r. ear, across the back of the crown, and through the middle of the l. ear. At the back a veil has been attached by the restorer, and the hair worked away at the point of juncture. The upper portion of the veil is of Parian marble, and is probably a fragment of antique origin. The lower portion, together with the locks of hair behind the ears, is of Luna marble of a different quality from that of the mask.

By reason of the restorations this head possesses little iconographic value. The copy is of somewhat earlier date than No. 44 [Inv. No. MC 557, see note above]. Visconti regards the veil as a symbol of apotheosis.

Inv. Albani, B 65."

Henry Stuart Jones (editor), A catalogue of the ancient sculptures preserved in the municipal collections of Rome: The Sculptures of the Museo Capitolino, Stanza dei Filosofi No. 45, Herm of Homer (plate 54), page 236. Oxford University Press, 1912. At the Internet Archive.

17. "Apollonius of Tyana" type, portrait as Hesiod

18. Dimensions of the Apotheosis of Homer relief

As is the case with many artworks, various sources state different dimensions (see, for example, the note on the Alexander Mosaic from Pompeii). The dimensions for the "Relief of Archelaos" given here are from the British Museum website. It is surprising that they can only provide approximate dimensions, and that nobody appears to have measured the work, despite the fact that it has been in the museum for over 200 years.

19. The Apotheosis of Homer in ancient art

The Apotheosis of Homer is also depicted, for example, in relief on a cup (goblet) now in National Archaeological Museum, Naples. Inv. No, 25301.

"1879. Show case III. 25300. Goblet with handle adorned with ivy and vine tendrils in relief. N. 25301 is a similar goblet, but without a handle, embossed with the apotheosis of Homer (Fig. 93). The poet holding a scroll is being carried up to the sky by an eagle. On one side the Iliad is represented by a woman bearing arms, on the other the Odyssey by a woman with an oar."

20. The Herulian invasion, 267 AD

21. Georg Treu on the Iliad and Odyssey statues

See: Mittheilungen des deutschen Archäologischen Institutes in Athen, Band 14 (1889), pages 160-169.

22. The Library of Pantainos, Athens

The library was probably built around 100 AD as part of a complex of buildings around an inner courtyard, with several rooms and stoas (colonnades). It has been named after an inscribed dedication on a marble door lintel, excavated in 1933, referring to T[itus] Flavius Pantainos, who is thought to have paid for its construction.

"To Athena Polias and to the Emperor Caesar Augustus Nerva Trajan Germanicus and to the city of the Athenians, the priest of the wisdom-loving [philosophical] Muses, Titus Flavius Pantainos, the son of Flavius Menander the diadoch [head of a school], gave the outer stoas, the peristyle, the library with the books, and all the furnishings within them, from his own resources, together with his children Flavius Menander and Flavia Secundilla."

Agora Museum, Athens. Inv. No. I 848.

Pantainos refers to himself as a priest of the philosophical muses and the son of the head of a philosophical school. He may have been the same person as Pantainos of Gargettos, who served as eponymous archon after 102 AD. He was presumably a wealthy Athenian citizen (or a foreigner who became a citizen), and probably a member of a family with Roman citizenship.

Part of the complex may have been used for the cult worship of Trajan. Another inscription found in the ruins of the building contains the only known surviving rules of an ancient library, inscribed on a marble herm shaft.

No book shall be taken out,
since we have sworn thus.
[The library will be] open from the first
hour until the sixth.

Agora Museum, Athens. Inv. No. I 2729.

The library is not named in any surviving ancient text, and was not mentioned by Pausanias. It is thought to have been destroyed during the sack of Athens during the Herulian invasion in 267 AD [see note 20]. The north stoa was partly rebuilt in the early 5th century AD and incorporated in a two-storey complex, probably an official residence, which included bathing facilities and a small courtyard.

Part of the ruins of the complex now lie below the level of the modern Pikilis Street and Vrysakiou Street (see photo below), with other parts visible to the south of the Stoa of Attalos. Part of the street which ran between the south end of the Stoa of Attalos and the north stoa of the library is also still visible.

23. The mosaic of the Muses and Poets from Jerash

See:

Carl Hermann Kraeling (1897-1966), Appended note on mosaics from two private houses. In: Carl H. Kraeling (editor), Gerasa, city of the Decapolis, pages 351-352, Plate LXXXV, and Inscription No. 240, pages 458-459 (with plan of the mosaic floor). American Schools of Oriental Research, New Haven, Connecticut, 1938. PDF at the Hathi Trust.

Kraeling had not seen the mosaic fragments in Berlin and depended on archaeological reports, particularly those of Gottlieb Schumacher, as well as photos and descriptions sent to him by Dr. Robert Zahn, Director of the Berlin State Museums (SMB). He cited Schumacher's plan of Gerasa which included the location of "the mudir's house", the findspot of the mosaic: Zeitschrift des deutschen Palästinavereins (ZDPV), 1902. Considering the inscriptions (page 458) he commented:

"The date of this mosaic makes it one of the earliest instances of the assignment of the Muses to definite fields of literary activity, and of their association with a representative of each (cf. O. Bie, Roscher's Lexikon, II, 2, 1894-1897, 3295; M. Mayer, R-E, XVI, 1, 1933, 726). The pairing Calliope-Homer is canonical; with Urania should have been paired Aratus, with Thucydides Clio (though Herodotus is more commonly the type historian). The Muse of Stesichorus is sometimes Euterpe, sometimes another. The mosaic is too poorly preserved for the attributes of the Muses to be determined. A similar mosaic from Trier * has long been known, G. Lafaye, A. Blanchet, Inventaire des Mosaiques de la Gaule, I, 1909, pp. 121 f., no. 1231, and bibliography."

* The very fragmentary "Monnus mosaic" from Trier, which depicted Homer and the Muses. 3rd century AD. Found in 1884 and named after the inscription MONNVS FECIT (CIL XIII. 3710).

For a discussion on the restoration of the Gerasa mosaic fragments in Berlin and attempted reconstruction of the composition of the whole work, see:

Irmgard Kriseleit, Ein Fußbodenmosaik aus Gerasa; Die Restaurierung der Berliner Fragmente. In: Forschungen und Berichte Band 24, Archäologische Beiträge (1984), pages 75-97 +T15-T20. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz. At Jstor.

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