The Homer multitext within the history of access to Homeric Epic

Abstract

Through a series of descriptive vignettes, this paper considers "access" at selected points within the long history of the Homeric epics to investigate our own principles of access in the Homer Multitext. We examine modes of access to the Iliad and commentary on it in four historical eras (5th-century BCE Athens, 2nd-century BCE Alexandria, 1st-century CE Rome, and 15th-century CE Venice). Using the contexts of these historical moments, we then reflect on our own point in that history: how are we as editors replicating, replacing, or reviving modes or limitations of access through the structures and intentional editorial decisions of the digital Homer Multitext?.