Why Homer Matters
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Narrated by:
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John Lee
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By:
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Adam Nicolson
About this listen
Adam Nicolson sees the Iliad and the Odyssey as the foundation myths of Greek - and our - consciousness, collapsing the passage of 4,000 years and making the distant past of the Mediterranean world as immediate to us as the events of our own time. Homer's poems occupy, as Adam Nicolson writes, "a third space" in the way we relate to the past: not as memory, which lasts no more than three generations, nor as the objective accounts of history, but as epic, invented after memory but before history, poetry that aims "to bind the wounds that time inflicts".
The Homeric poems are among the oldest stories we have, drawing on deep roots in the Eurasian steppes beyond the Black Sea. These poems, which ask the eternal questions about the individual and the community, honor and service, love and war, tell us how we became who we are.
©2014 Adam Nicolson (P)2015 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Paying attention to every detail, Amy Hughes collected many stories, myths, legends, and tales of the pagan Scandinavian rituals, gods, and heroes. Narrated in such a descriptive way, the stories will transfer you to a time long gone, and you’ll feel as if you’re been a witness to the Viking’s incredible history! But this book does not only present the mythological, abstract world of Scandinavian beliefs and religion.
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just terrible...
- By Chelsea B. on 06-14-22
By: Amy Hughes
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Japanese Mythology
- A Captivating Guide to Japanese Folklore, Myths, Fairy Tales, Yokai, Heroes and Heroines
- By: Matt Clayton
- Narrated by: Dryw McArthur
- Length: 1 hr and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Japan is a single nation, but its origins are so old, and often, so fragmented, that unified mythology and folklore can be difficult to point to. Still, there are some key texts, tales, and characters we can focus on which will give us a pretty good sense of Japanese mythology. In this audiobook, you'll discover stories of mystery, horror, and romance while simultaneously learning about the Japanese culture.
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Please get a native speaker to read.
- By Anthony on 08-03-18
By: Matt Clayton
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Mythology: Mega Collection
- Classic Stories from the Greek, Celtic, Norse, Japanese, Hindu, Chinese, Mesopotamian and Egyptian Mythology
- By: Scott Lewis
- Narrated by: Madison Niederhauser, Oliver Hunt
- Length: 31 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Do you know how many wives Zeus had? Or how the famous Trojan War was caused by one beautiful lady? Or how Thor got his hammer? Give your imagination a real treat. This Mega Mythology Collection of eight audiobooks is for you....
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An interesting set of introductions.
- By Kevin Potter on 05-30-19
By: Scott Lewis
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The Songs of the Kings
- By: Barry Unsworth
- Narrated by: Andrew Sachs
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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A thoroughly modern tale of politics, spin-doctoring, and media manipulation. As the harsh wind holds the Greek fleet trapped in the straits at Aulis, frustration and political impotence turn into a desire for the blood of a young and innocent woman - blood that will appease the gods and allow the troops to set sail. And when Iphigeneia, Agamemnon's beloved daughter, is brought to the coast under false pretences, it looks as if the ships will soon be on their way.
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The politics of power haven't changed.
- By susan on 12-06-12
By: Barry Unsworth
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Odyssey of the Gods
- The History of Extraterrestrial Contact in Ancient Greece
- By: Erich von Däniken
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Legendary UFO expert Erich von Daniken stirs up another controversy with an imaginative supposition: What if the myths of ancient Greece were attempts to describe events that really happened? What if ancient peoples were visited, not by imaginary gods and goddesses, but by extraterrestrial beings who arrived on earth thousands of years ago? The author's research into both ancient mythology and current archaeological discoveries leads him to some explosive hypotheses.
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Good Research, but Draw Your Own Conclusions
- By Troy on 07-18-13
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Leaves of Grass
- The Original 1855 Edition
- By: Walt Whitman, American Renaissance Books
- Narrated by: Sam Torode
- Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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When Walt Whitman self-published "Leaves of Grass" in 1855, he rocked the literary world and forever changed the course of poetry. In subsequent editions, Whitman continued to revise and expand his poems - but none matched the raw power and immediacy of the first edition. This volume presents the 1855 "Leaves of Grass" in its entirety, unchanged, along with Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous letter to Whitman.
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A brilliant classic
- By M.Biblioswine on 12-02-18
By: Walt Whitman, and others
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Odin
- Ecstasy, Runes, & Norse Magic
- By: Diana L. Paxson
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Odin: Ecstasy, Runes, and Norse Magic is the first book on Odin that is both historically sourced and accessible to a general audience. It explores Odin's origins, his appearances in sagas, old magic spells, and the Poetic Edda, and his influence on modern media, such as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Each chapter features suggestions for rituals, exercises, and music so that listeners can comprehend and become closer to this complicated god.
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Too Much Wicca
- By Christopher M. on 11-03-21
By: Diana L. Paxson
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Egyptian Mythology
- Fascinating Myths and Legends of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes and Monster from the Ancient Egyptian Mythology
- By: Simon Lopez
- Narrated by: Neil Hamilton
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
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Do you know that Egyptians had over 2000 gods and goddesses? To understand how the ancient Egyptians saw the world around them, we begin our journey by exploring their beliefs of how the world and man came to be. Get this audiobook and discover the fascinating world of Egyptian Mythology today!
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Ancient Egypt Mythology
- By Cindy Lawrence on 04-26-21
By: Simon Lopez
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Primitive Mythology
- The Masks of God Series, Volume I
- By: Joseph Campbell, David Kudler - editor
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 19 hrs and 1 min
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The author of such acclaimed books as The Hero With a Thousand Faces and The Power of Myth discusses the primitive roots of mythology, examining them in light of the most recent discoveries in archaeology, anthropology, and psychology.
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Epic speculation into the origins of our mythic consciousness
- By BGZ on 01-10-19
By: Joseph Campbell, and others
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What listeners say about Why Homer Matters
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Adam
- 11-02-22
Read “Who Killed Homer” instead
This was not super helpful. It might have made me appreciate Homer less if I had trusted the author. If you must read this one, put it at the bottom of your reading list.
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- Edmond Martinez
- 03-25-22
A Good Challenge
I started WHM after reading an essay by Simon Winchester, who recommended WHM. I read the Odyssey in high school, but I did not understand, for lack of a better description, the depth of The Odyssey. I put WHM down for a few months and reread the Odyssey. My experiences and evolved reading skills helped me appreciate The Odyssey and Homer in a way the young me in high school could ever appreciate. Coming back to WHM, I could now relate to the analysis and life Nicolson breathed into Homer. I now view Homer as not just a poet, real or not, but a theory for thinking about history, storytelling, struggle, life, language, duty, and cunning.
I understand why Winchester recommends WHM because Nicolson and Winchester have very similar methods to research and descriptions of topics and people we take for granted.
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- Ella M. Foshay
- 04-22-20
Why Homer? Adam answers the question full. This bookIs must read.
A superb work of imaginative, intellectual and beautifully written piece of history about Homer and The Illiad and the Odyssey. And it is about so much more than Homer and the stories. The author spreads tentacles out to reach the the cores of the many Bronze Age civilizations from which Adam Nicolson believes the Homeric myths derive. The connections he draws between
Them and his penetrating suggestions of meaning are nothing short of dazzling. Nicholson's book should be read And reread.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mark W. Neville
- 07-08-24
Profound Insight Into Homer Poetically Expressed!
This was the most engaging, enlightening, and currently relevant presentation of Homer’s epics I’ve ever heard. It brings Homer’s wisdom from the past to right now.
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- Travis Gist
- 08-31-20
Amazing book
Easily the most interesting book on Homer I’ve ever read. The author speaks on the universal human themes in the stories and relates them to his own life. There is a portion where the author recounts being the victim of a sexual assault while visiting a foreign country. This section in particular is beautiful written and spoke to me on a personal level.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mark Dyal
- 06-25-21
We all get the Homer we deserve
Nicolson is hopelessly romantic about Homer in the very best way. His Homer is a fount of beauty and violence - and the heroic ethics that come from their mutual expression in the world. As such he brings us into Homer’s world, to see the Achaeans as steppe warriors in an overly civilized eastern Mediterranean world; just as he brings Homer to our world. In this, Homer is not omnipresent, but instead only to be found in milieus of danger, courage, intensely earned and felt beauty, and natural solemnity. Although by rather cowardly suggesting in his Conclusion that Homer offers no life lessons, the lessons both he and Nicolson provide in the preceding 12 chapters are enough to reinvigorate our flaccid and fear-driven way of life. An extraordinary book that I will cherish unto death, masterfully told by John Lee.
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- SS
- 09-09-23
Flawed but worth the listen.
Skip the chapter about how the Greeks were just like inner city American gangsters (LOL)
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- Jean
- 05-04-15
Fascinating
I have not read Homer since University. I find it amazing that we are still reading in the original or in translation something written in 700 B.C. The events depicted in the epics are thought to have taken place, as early as 1800 B.C.
Nicholson explores the age old question of was there such a person as Homer or more than one person. The author covers the history of Homer, Nicholson says the linguistic analysis suggest that “The Iliad” was first then “The Odyssey”. Nicholson sums up what we still look for in Homer: “Wisdom, his fearless encounter with the dreadful, his love of love and hatred of death, the sheer scale of his embrace, his energy and brightness, his resistance to nostalgia.”
Nicholson has written a beautiful study: full of insight, generosity and unaffected passion, the book is about what Homer means to him. One of my favorite narrators John Lee narrated the book.
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15 people found this helpful
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- Happy Zorro
- 09-08-16
An enjoyable study.
Pleasing narration and a fascinating subject. One of my best audible experiences. Well with the time.
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6 people found this helpful
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- A. Taylor
- 09-12-21
Beautifully written
I had no idea when I bought this that the author is the same author of A Seabird's Cry. I picked it up early on, though. This book is also uniquely beautifully written. The author brings poetry to history and science like no other. Whether your interest is Homer, the Bronze Age, or just good writing, you will not regret this book. Glad I bought an audiobook though I'm going to need multiple listens to process the information thoroughly.
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