Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age [Paperback]

Analysing in detail ancient Greek culture and society, Gladstone achieves his aim 'to promote and extend' the study of Homer.Gladstones three-volume work represents an enthusiastic and exhaustive account of the history, culture, and literature of Homer and his age. Volume 2, Olympus, or the Religion of the Homeric Age considers the periods Theo-mythology and examines the relationship between this belief system and its presentation in Homers poetry.Gladstones three-volume work represents an enthusiastic and exhaustive account of the history, culture, and literature of Homer and his age. Volume 2, Olympus, or the Religion of the Homeric Age considers the periods Theo-mythology and examines the relationship between this belief system and its presentation in Homers poetry.Four-time prime minister William Ewart Gladstone (18091898) was also a prolific author and enthusiastic scholar of the classics. Gladstone had spent almost two decades in politics prior to his writing the three-volume Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age. This work and the preceding 'On the place of Homer in classical education and in historical inquiry' (1857), reflect Gladstone's interest in the Iliad and the Odyssey, which he read with increasing frequency from the 1830s onward and which he viewed as particularly relevant to modern society. As he relates, he has two objects in the Studies: 'to promote and extend' the study of Homer's 'immortal poems' and 'to vindicate for them & their just degree both of absolute and, more especially, of relative critical value'. Volume 2 presents an exhaustive study of the 'Theo-mythology', religious traditions and sources, and morals of Homer's age.1. On the mixed character of the supernatural system, or theo-mythology of Homer; 2. The traditive element of the Homeric theo-mythology; 3. The inventive element of the Homeric theo-mythology; 4. The composition of the Olympian court, and the classification of the whole supernatural order in Homer; 5. Thl“Ô