The Evidence from the Rhetoric

This chapter attempts to expand our knowledge of Aristotle’s Homeric Problems through an examination in context of a select number of references to Homer in Aristotle’s Rhetoric. The first half of the chapter deals with Homeric problems involving emotions (namely lamentation, anger, and indignation). Odysseus’ interaction with the Cyclops Polyphemus receives special attention. The second half deals with literary style, specifically problems concerning epithets, asyndeton and repetition, and metaphors. It is argued that references to Homer in Aristotle’s Rhetoric likely provide additional evidence about the content of the Homeric Problems. Or at the very least, they give us a better idea of how Aristotle would have approached some of the debates engaged in by Homeric scholars in antiquity.