SOURCE: Lardinois, A.. “Characterization through Gnomai in Homer's Iliad.” Mnemosyne 53, no. 6 (December 2000): 641-61.

In the following essay, Lardinois considers the characteristic use of gnomai (or wisdom-sayings similar to proverbs) by Achilles, Nestor, Odysseus, and the gods in the Iliad.

Characterization in Homer is a controversial subject. For a long time scholars denied the possibility of any consistent characterization in Homer, believing the poems to be written by multiple authors, or perceiving the technique of oral composition or the state of the archaic Greek mind to be insurmountable obstacles.¹ Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, for example, claims that “to speak of a character of the Homeric Achilles or Odysseus at all is a piece of stupidity, as different poets conceive the same hero differently” (1912: 12), and Geoffrey Kirk maintains that “the depiction of the heroic character is limited both by the technique and aims of oral poetry and by the simplicity of...