University of Basel

Department of
Ancient Civilizations

Department of Ancient Civilizations

Basel Homer Commentary

SNF research project

A project of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF).
Project management: Prof. Dr. Anton Bierl.

Published in the series "Sammlung wissenschaftlicher Commentare (SWC)," Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin (formerly K.G. Saur Verlag, Munich/Leipzig; formerly B.G. Teubner, Stuttgart and Leipzig).

A German-language complete scholarly commentary on Homer's Iliad has not appeared since the Ameis-Hentze-Cauer (1868-1913). In the meantime, Homer research has made considerable progress in all traditional subfields (language, realia, structure, etc.). In addition, many areas, such as narrative research, have been placed on a systematic basis. Finally, with mycology (Linear B) and oral poetry research, entirely new possibilities of text indexing have been added.

Based on the old Ameis-Hentze-Cauer, the new commentary takes up the developments mentioned above and comprehensively reflects the current state of knowledge of Homer research. A new concept in terms of content and form meets the needs of different user groups. The target groups are pupils, students, teachers and lecturers at universities and schools, not only in the field of Studies of the Ancient World, but also in the cultural sciences and humanities in general.

The project is financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Voluntary Academic Society Basel, the Max Geldner Foundation Basel, the Frey-Clavel Foundation Basel and the Hamburg Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Culture.

In the current project phase In the current project phase (since 1.4.17), Canto 21 is being worked on collectively by Dr. Marina Coray and Dr. Martha Krieter; Cantos 9 and 22 also remain in progress.

Team

Project management

Employees

Freelancers and consultants

On the basis of a cooperation agreement, the following are also collaborating:

  • Prof. Dr. em. Jürgen von Ungern-Sternberg (Ancient History, Basel)
  • Prof. Dr. Martin Guggisberg (Classical Archaeology, Basel; formerly: Prof. Dr. Rolf A. Stucky)
  • Prof. Dr. em. Fritz Graf (Latin Philology, Ohio State University)
  • Prof. Dr. Rudolf Wachter (Historical-Comparative Linguistics, Basel)

Former employees

  • Dr. phil. Magdalene Stoevesandt (completed: Prolegomena, 1st, 2nd, and 6th cantos; general editor, continuing advisor).
  • Dr. phil. Claude Brügger (completed: 2nd, 16th and 24th canto)
  • Prof. Dr. Katharina Wesselmann (completed: 7th canto)
  • Prof. Dr. Edzard Visser (in progress 4th canto)
  • Prof. Dr. Robert Plath (in progress: 22nd voice)

Prof. Dr. René Nünlist was involved in the preparation of Prolegomena and Volume I, and Prof. Dr. Edzard Visser in Volume II and XIII.

Foreign specialists

  • Prof. Dr. David F. Elmer (Department of the Classics, Harvard University)
  • Prof.Dr. Irene J.F. de Jong (Universiteit van Amsterdam, focus on narratology)
  • Prof. Dr. Françoise Létoublon (Centre d'Études Homériques, University of Grenoble)
  • Dr. Rudolf Führer and S.R. van der Mije (Lexicon of Early Greek Epic, Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, University of Hamburg)
  • Prof. Dr. René Nünlist (Classical Philology (Greek Philology), University of Cologne)
  • †Prof. Dr. Martin L. West (All Souls College, University of Oxford

Former specialists from abroad

Published so far

Homer's Iliad. Gesamtkommentar (Basler Kommentar / BK), ed. by Anton Bierl and Joachim Latacz:

  • Prolegomena. Contents: On the commentary on Homer. From the beginnings to this commentary (Latacz) - History of the text (West) - Formulaicity and orality (Latacz) - Grammar of the Homeric language (Wachter) - Homeric metrics (Nünlist) - On the figure stock of the Iliad: Gods (Graf), humans (Stoevesandt) - On the structure of the Iliad (Latacz) - Homeric poetics in keywords (Nünlist / de Jong) - Figure index (Stoevesandt) - Word index Homeric-Mycenaean (Wachter). 3rd, revised edition, de Gruyter : Berlin/New York 2009 (1st ed. 2000, 2nd ed. 2002). SWC. XII, 256 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-022153-4.
  • Vol. I: First Canto (A). Fascicle 1: Text and translation. Text and apparatus by Martin L. West, translation by Joachim Latacz. 3rd, revised edition, de Gruyter : Berlin/New York 2009 (1st ed. 2000, 2nd ed. 2002). SWC. XX, 39 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-022118-3.
  • Vol. I: First Canto (A). Fascicle 2: Commentary. By Joachim Latacz, René Nünlist, and Magdalene Stoevesandt. With assistance from Claude Brügger, Rudolf Führer, Fritz Graf, Irene de Jong, Michael Meier-Brügger, Sebastiaan R. van der Mije, Rolf Stucky, Jürgen von Ungern-Sternberg, Rudolf Wachter and Martin L. West. 3rd, revised edition, de Gruyter : Berlin/New York 2009 (1st ed. 2000, 2nd ed. 2002). SWC. XVI, 213 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-020611-1.
  • Vol. II: Second Canto (B). Fascicle 1: text and translation, by Martin L. West (text) and Joachim Latacz (translation), K.G. Saur : Munich/Leipzig 2003. SWC. XVIII, 57 pp. ISBN 978-3-598-74305-4.
  • Vol. II: Second Canto (B). Fascicle 2: Commentary, by Claude Brügger, Magdalene Stoevesandt, and Edzard Visser under the direction of Joachim Latacz. 2nd, revised edition, de Gruyter : Berlin/New York 2010 (1st ed. 2003). SWC. XV, 346 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-022495-5.
  • Vol. III: Third Canto (Γ). Fascicle 1: text and translation, by Martin L. West (text) and Joachim Latacz (translation), Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/New York 2009. SWC. XX, 21 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-020143-7.
  • Vol. III: Third canto (Γ): fascicle 2: commentary, by Martha Krieter-Spiro, Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/New York 2009. SWC. XIII, 192 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-020144-4.
  • Vol. IV: Sixth Canto (Z). Fascicle 1: text and translation, by Martin L. West (text) and Joachim Latacz (translation), Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/New York 2008. SWC. XVI, 36 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-020146-8.
  • Vol. IV: Sixth canto (Z): fascicle 2: commentary, by Magdalene Stoevesandt, Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/New York 2008. SWC. XV, 201 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-020145-1.
  • Vol. VI: Nineteenth Canto (T). Fascicle 1: text and translation, by Martin L. West (text) and Joachim Latacz (translation), Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/New York 2009. SWC. XVI, 29 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-020615-9.
  • Vol. VI: Nineteenth Canto (T): fascicle 2: commentary, by Marina Coray, Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/New York 2009. SWC. XV, 209 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-020616-6.
  • Vol. VIII: Twenty-fourth canto (Ω). Fascicle 1: text and translation, by Martin L. West (text) and Joachim Latacz (translation), Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/New York 2009. SWC. XVI, 51 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-020619-7.
  • Vol. VIII: Twenty-fourth canto (Ω): fascicle 2: commentary, by Claude Brügger, Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/New York 2009. SWC. XIII, 322 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-020620-3.
  • Vol. X: Fourteenth Canto (Ξ): fascicle 1: text and translation, by Martin L. West † (text) and Joachim Latacz (translation), Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/Boston 2015. SWC. XVI, 35 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-039966-0.
  • Vol. X: Fourteenth canto (Ξ): fascicle 2: commentary, by Martha Krieter-Spiro, Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/Boston 2015. SWC. XIII, 299 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-039967-7.
  • Vol. XI: Eighteenth Canto (Σ). Fascicle 1: text and translation, by Martin L. West † (text) and Joachim Latacz (translation), Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/Boston 2016. SWC. XVI, 39 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-039970-7.
  • Vol. XI: Eighteenth Canto (Σ). Fascicle 2: commentary, by Marina Coray, Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/Boston 2016. SWC. XIII, 313 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-039971-4.
  • Vol. IX: Sixteenth Canto (Π): fascicle 1: text and translation, by Martin L. West † (text) and Joachim Latacz (translation), Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/Boston 2016. SWC. ISBN 978-3-11-042647-2.
  • Vol. IX: Sixteenth canto (Π): fascicle 2: commentary, by Claude Brügger, Berlin/Boston : Walter de Gruyter 2016. SWC. ISBN 978-3-11-042646-5.
  • Vol. XIII: 4th canto (Δ): fascicle 1: text and translation, by Martin L. West † (text) and Joachim Latacz (translation), Walter de Gruyter: Berlin/Boston 2017. SWC. ISBN 978-3-11-046639-3.
  • Vol. XIII: 4th canto (Δ): fascicle 2: commentary, by Marina Coray, Martha Krieter-Spiro, and Edzard Visser, Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter 2017. SWC. ISBN 978-3-11-046640-9.

Intended for publication

Homer's Iliad. Gesamtkommentar (Basler Kommentar / BK), ed. by Anton Bierl and Joachim Latacz:

  • Vol. V: Ninth Canto (I). Fascicle 1: Text and translation, by Martin L. West (text) and Joachim Latacz (translation), Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/New York.
  • Vol. V: Ninth Canto (I): Fascicle 2: Commentary, by Joachim Latacz, Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/New York.
  • Vol. VII: Twenty-second canto (X). Fascicle 1: text and translation, by Martin L. West (text) and Joachim Latacz (translation), Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/New York.
  • Vol. VII: Twenty-second canto (X): fascicle 2: commentary, by Robert Plath, Walter de Gruyter : Berlin/New York.
  • Seventh canto: commentary by K. Wesselmann (in preparation).

Homer's Iliad. The Basel Commentary (BKE).

In 2013, together with the publisher Walter De Gruyter, the contract for the revised and updated translation of the Basel Commentary on Homer 's Iliad: Gesamtkommentar (BK) in English was concluded, bringing the standard work to worldwide attention.

The third-party-funded work Homer's Iliad. The Basel Commentary (BKE), edited by Anton Bierl and Joachim Latacz, is supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, New York , the Freiwillige Akademische Gesellschaft (FAG), Basel and the L. & Th. La Roche Foundation, Basel.

Prof. Dr. Stuart Douglas Olson, a Greek scholar at the University of Minnesota, serves as General Editor of the English Edition. Under his leadership, his team of Dr. Sara Strack and Dr. Benjamin Mills translates the volumes updated by the Basel team. Dr. Magdalene Stoevesandt is also the Managing Editor on the Basel side.

Volumes published so far

  • vol. I: Prolegomena, Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter 2015. Contents: Introduction: Commenting on Homer. From the Beginnings to this Commentary (COM) (Latacz) - History of the Text (HT) (West) - Formularity and Orality (FOR) (Latacz) - Grammar of Homeric Greek (G) (Wachter) - Homeric Meter (M) (Nünlist) - Cast of Characters of the Iliad: Gods (CG) (Graf), Cast of Characters of the Iliad: Human Beings (CH) (Stoevesandt) - The Structure of the Iliad (STR) (Latacz) - Homeric Poetics in Keywords (P) (Nünlist / de Jong) - New Trends in Homeric Scholarship (NTHS) (Bierl) - Character Index (Stoevesandt) -Homeric - Mycenaean Word Index (MYC) (Wachter).
  • vol. III: Book III (M. Krieter-Spiro), Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter 2015.
  • vol. VI: Book VI (M. Stoevesandt), Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter 2015.
  • vol. XIX: Book XIX (M. Coray), Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter 2016.
  • vol. XXIV: Book XXIV (C. Brügger), Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter 2017.
  • vol. XIV: Book XIV (M. Krieter-Spiro), Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter 2018.
  • vol. XVI: Book XVI (M. Brügger), Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter 2018.
  • vol. XVIII: Book XVIII (M. Coray), Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter 2018.

Reviews and critiques

  • Herbert Bannert, in: Wiener Studien 116, 2003, 277-281 (on Prolegomena and vol. I).
  • Johannes Haubold, in: BMCR 2001.09.01 (on volume I).
  • Julian B. Lethbridge, in: BMCR 2005.08.16 (on Volume II).
  • Malcolm M. Willcock, in: CR 52, 2002, 229-231 (on prolegomena and volume I)
  • Malcolm M. Willcock, in: CR 55, 2005, 4f. (on volume II)
  • Christoph Dieffenbacher, in: UniNova 98, November 2004 (pp. 30f.)
  • Michael Siebler, in: FAZ 28.04.2004
  • Edzard Visser, in: Pegasus-Onlinezeitschrift 2/2008, 53-88 (§ B4)
  • Evert van Emde Boas, in: BMCR 2016.08.22 (on Prolegomena).
  • Colin Leach, in: Classics for All (on Prolegomena).
  • Donald Lateiner, in: Classics for All (on Iliad 3)
  • Colin Leach, in: Classics for All (on Iliad 6)
  • Rachel H. Lesser, in: BMCR 2017.04.25 (on Iliad 19)
  • Christopher Pelling, in: Classics for All (on Iliad 24)
  • Michael Siebler, in: FAZ 14.12.2015
  • Giuseppe Lentini, in: Maia 69/2, 2017, 410-412 (on English Prolegomena).
  • Giuseppe Lentini, in: RFIC 138, 2010, 221-228 (on vol. VIII).
  • Ronald Blankenborg, in: BMCR 2017.11.47 (on Iliad 16).
  • Peter Jones, in: Classics for All (on Iliad 16)
  • Rui Carlos Fonseca, in: Euphrosyne 45, 2017, 581f. (on Iliad 19)
  • Margalit Finkelberg, in: Gnomon 90, 2018, 361f. (on vols. X and XI).
  • Ruth Scodel, in: BMCR 2018.02.51 (on Iliad 24).
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