Lucian Verae historiae 2.20 and the Relative Chronology of the Homeric Poems

At Lucian Verae historiae 2.20 Homer is asked whether he wrote the Odyssey before the Iliad, as most people say. In the form in which it is transmitted, the text implies that the view that the Odyssey was composed before the Iliad was the (by far) prevailing one in antiquity. This paper argues that such an assumption is contradicted by all the positive evidence provided by literary sources and scholiography. The problem can be solved by correcting the transmitted tau?nu ?delta sigma sigma epsilon iota alpha nu tau n sigma ?lambda iota delta omicron sigma into tau n sigma ?delta upsilon sigma sigma epsilon alpha sigma tau?nu ?lambda iota delta alpha. Thus emended, the passage reads: whether he wrote the Iliad before the Odyssey, as most people say.

Automated summary

This paper discusses the order of composition of the Odyssey and the Iliad, challenging the prevailing ancient view that the Odyssey was written before the Iliad. By correcting textual errors, it concludes that the Iliad was written before the Odyssey.