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Homer and Classical Philology

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About this book

At his 1869 inaugural address at Bâle University, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche considers a discipline pulled between close scholarship and admiration for ancient art. Classical philology, he argues, brings together history, the study of language and judgments about beauty, while also serving the practical needs of education. These purposes do not always sit comfortably together, and the lecture gives their disagreements a place in its argument.

Homer provides the central example. Nietzsche examines competing accounts of how the ancient epics took shape, including theories of a single gifted poet, later additions and a broader popular tradition. He challenges the sharp division between individual creation and poetry attributed to a whole people.

About the author

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German philosopher whose critiques of religion and morality, and his ideas of the will to power and eternal recurrence, left a deep mark on twentieth-century thought. His late works, written in isolation, grew increasingly urgent before mental collapse ended his career.