epithets in Homer

A characteristic of Homer's style is the use of recurring epithets, such as the rosy-fingered dawn or swift-footed Achilles. These epithets were metric stop-gaps as well as mnemonic devices for the aoidos (singer), both signs of the deep oral tradition that preceded the written codification of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Moreover, epithets in epic poetry from various Indo European traditions may be traced to a common tradition going much deeper into pre-history; for example, the phrase approximating "everlasting glory" or "undying fame" can be found in the Homeric Greek kleos aphthiton and the Sanskrit śrávo ákşitam; they "were, in terms of historical linguistics, equivalent in phonology, accentuation, and quantity (syllable length). In other words, they are descendants from a fragment of poetic diction (reconstructable as Proto-Indo-European *klewos ņdhg^whitom) which was handed down in parallel over many centuries, in continually diverging forms, by generations of singers whose ultimate ancestors shared an archetypal repertoire of poetic formulae and narrative themes." (John Curtis Franklin, Structural Sympathies in Ancient Greek and South-Slavic Heroic Singing.)

A name plus an epithet constitute a formula which exactly fits the metric structure of the verse. The use of formulas is characteristic of ancient epic poetry.

List of epithets in Homer

• Abantes
  • great-hearted

• Achaeans
  • flowing-haired
  • bronzed-armored
  • strong-greaved
  • glancing-eyed
  • far-famed

• Achilles
  • son of Peleus
  • swift-footed (podas ôkus)
  • god-like (dios)
  • shepherd of the people
  • leader of men

• Agamemnon
  • son of Atreus
  • wide-ruling
  • lord of men
  • godlike
  • powerful
  • shepherd of the people
  • brilliant

• Agenor
  • high-hearted

• Aias/Ajax
  • "Great" Aias
  • swift
  • gigantic
  • high-hearted

• Aphrodite
  • laughing

• Athena
  • Pallas
  • gray-eyed

• Atreus
  • breaker of horses

• Diomedes
  • high-spirited

• Hector
  • tall

• Hera
  • ox-eyed lady
  • goddess of the white arms

• Iris
  • wind-footed

• Kronos
  • devious-devising
  • all-powerful

• Menelaus
  • red-haired king
  • master of the war-cry
  • fair-haired
  • son of Atreus
  • the war-like

• Naubolos
  • great-hearted

• Nestor
  • splendid
  • Gerenian horseman

• Odysseus
  • brilliant
  • sacker of cities
  • god-like
  • resourceful

• Onchestos
  • the sacred

• Paris
  • godlike

• Polites
  • son of Priam

• Polyphemos
  • godlike

• Thetis
  • lovely-haired

• Thersites
  • of the endless speech

• Trojans
  • breakers of horses

• Tydeus
  • driver of horses

• Zeus
  • mighty

Source

Howe, V.J. "Epithets in Homer." Online. Available http://www.angelfire.com/art/archictecture/articles/008.htm. 16 October 2007.

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