Plato's Rhapsody and Homer's Music: The Poetics of the Panathenaic Festival in Classical Athens

by Gregory Nagy

The festival of the Panathenaia, held in Athens every summer to celebrate the birthday of the city's goddess, Athena, was the setting for performances of the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey by professional reciters or "rhapsodes." The works of Plato are our main surviving source of information about these performances. Through his references, a crucial phase in the history of the Homeric tradition can be reconstructed. Through Plato's eyes,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674009630
• ISBN13: 9780674009639
• Release Date: December 2002
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.1" x 7.7"