Homer Quiz

Question 1

What is the primary source of knowledge about Homer?

Answer 1

Tradition and legend

• almost everything known about Homer is based on tradition and legend, very little is known for sure.

Question 2

The study of Homer is filled with ____?

Answer 2

Controversy

Question 3

Scholars have long debated what about Homer?

Answer 3

That he even existed.

Question 4

Some scholars believe that Homer is actually an amalgam of ____?

Answer 4

Many writers over the years who wrote and complied the stores in the Iliad and Odyssey

Question 5

Currently, scholars lean toward the idea of _____ for the Iliad and Odyssey because of _____?

Answer 5

• Single-authorship
• many stylistic similarities in the Iliad and Odyssey

Question 6

Where was Homer said to have been born?

Answer 6

Ionian region of Asia Minor at Smyrna

Question 7

Homer lived between what years?

Answer 7

900 and 700 BCE

Question 8

Some scholars date HOmer living as far back as ____?

Answer 8

1250 BCE - near the time of the Trojan War

Question 9

Nearly all legends about Homer agree on one main point - that Homer was ____?

Answer 9

Blind

Question 10

Homer’s profession was a ____

Answer 10

Bard - a profession poet and storyteller

Question 11

What is a bard?

Answer 11

A professional poet and storyteller

Question 12

Homer is credited with “writing” the two great epics of Greek civilization, known as ____ and ____?

Answer 12

• Iliad
• Odyssey

Question 13

What are the two great epics of Greek civilization?

Answer 13

• Iliad
• Odyssey

Question 14

The Iliad and Odyssey are considered _____ in human literature.

Answer 14

Landmarks

Question 15

Homer is often cited as the starting point of _____

Answer 15

Western literary tradition

Question 16

It is likely that Homer and his audience were members of what type of culture?

Answer 16

Preliterate, oral culture

Question 17

Most of Homers poem were probably ______ long after their original composition

Answer 17

Written down

Question 18

What is the definition of Oral Tradition?

Answer 18

The process of memorizing and reciting works, because writing is unavailable.

Question 19

20th Century studies of preliterate societies have shown that lengthy works can be composed _____ by poets whose recitations belong to a long tradition of _____

Answer 19

• Orally
• Storytelling

Question 20

Societies that didn’t have writing are capable of _____ and ____ incredibly long passages.

Answer 20

• Rembembering
• Reciting

Question 21

Home’s epics became ____ for many later writers.

Answer 21

Models

Question 22

What three writers did Homer’s writing become a model for?

Answer 22

• Virgil
• Milton
• Dante

Question 23

What was the name of the epic and culture of Virgil?

Answer 23

• The Aeneid
• Roman

Question 24

What was the name of epic and culture of Milton

Answer 24

• Paradise Lost
• Christian

Question 25

What was the name of the epic and culture of Dante?

Answer 25

• The Divine Comedy
• Christian

Question 26

The characters and themes of the Iliad and Odyssey are center Al to _____ ____ and ____

Answer 26

Western literature and culture

Question 27

The ___ and ___ of the Iliad and Odyssey are central to Western literature and culture.

Answer 27

• Characters
• Themes