http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/homer Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Sun, 09 Aug 2026 21:47:47 -0400 Sun, 09 Aug 2026 21:47:47 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1882/penelope-helen-and-the-ancient-greek-spectrum-of-femininity-observations-of-womanhood-in-the-homeric-epics By Jenn Beardsley - Although most Ancient Greek literature focused on male characters, a literary analysis of Homeric poetry reveals an inquisition of femininity, motherhood, and what it meant to be a woman in Ancient Greece. Throughout the epic The Iliad and its sequel The Odyssey, the Homeric poets created a spectrum of ideal versus unideal femininity, with notorious Helen on one end and faithful Penelope on the other. Dissection of each epic unveils an exploration into this spectrum of femininity through the use of motifs, or the repetition of a theme throughout a narrative. Specifically, the poets utilized the... Fri, 26 Feb 2021 02:40 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1882/penelope-helen-and-the-ancient-greek-spectrum-of-femininity-observations-of-womanhood-in-the-homeric-epics http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1140/platos-republic-as-moral-poetry By Benjamin R. Tarr - One of the greatest ironies of Plato's Republic is that, although he condemns the poets and exiles them from his idyllic city, the Republic is perhaps one of the greatest literary works of all time, and a poem in its own right. Although written in prose, it is riddled with intricate symbolism and poetic elements. What sets it apart from the works of poets like Homer is that Plato makes every possible effort to educate his readers in a positive way, rather than presenting them with the dangerous sort of education he finds other poets guilty of. This is clear from many of the arguments presented... Mon, 14 Sep 2015 07:55 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1140/platos-republic-as-moral-poetry http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1015/the-many-faces-of-odysseus-in-classical-literature By Hayley E. Tartell - Throughout classical literature, the different depictions of Odysseus range widely: he is variably portrayed as a hero in Homer’s The Odyssey, a villain in Sophocles’ Philoctetes, a self-serving opportunist in Sophocles’ Ajax, a deceitful figure in Virgil’s Aeneid, and a scoundrel in Euripedes’ Hecuba. In The Odyssey, though stubborn and boastful, Odysseus otherwise exhibits courage, cunning, sharp intellect and concern for his men -– all traits that characterize the archetypal hero. In Philoctetes, Odysseus is deceitful and conniving, as he abandons morality... Wed, 18 Mar 2015 04:11 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1015/the-many-faces-of-odysseus-in-classical-literature http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/105/ovids-metamorphoses-and-the-plays-of-shakespeare By Katherine Blakeney - Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C – 17 A.D.), a Roman aristocrat and poet, wrote a collection of poems based on Greek and Roman mythology. Ovid called it “Metamorphoses” as he selected myths that dealt with the transformation of people, gods, and heroes into forces or features of nature. Metamorphoses became one of the most popular and influential literary works in the history of European civilization. Shakespeare must have read Ovid in Latin, as Metamorphoses was part of his school program. There is also a Latin copy of Metamorphoses with Shakespeare’s signature on it, but... Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:35 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/105/ovids-metamorphoses-and-the-plays-of-shakespeare http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/71/confrontation-with-death-illuminates-deaths-mystery-in-the-odyssey By Lindsay D. Clark - Even in fairy tales and fantastical legends, the trespassing of the breathing upon the domain of the spirits is rare. It is a disturbing idea; when the dead visit our world, we can at least find comfort in numbers. Yet the hero Odysseus braves the unknown and looks into the eyes of death. And as ghostly whispers blow across the hair on his arms we expect him to return traumatized, changed, darkly enlightened—but no. He emerges a little puffy-eyed, but very much himself. Several times Odysseus seems close to discovering some deathly mystery, brushing the stardust off some universally kept... Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:49 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/71/confrontation-with-death-illuminates-deaths-mystery-in-the-odyssey http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/62/the-emobidment-of-human-tragedy-in-the-illiad By Lindsay D. Clark - Why raise the curtain on this 45 day by 45 night saga? In a story whose ending everybody knows already, why choose these actions of these characters to expound upon? The Iliad is not a war tale one might tell in which friends love friends, who in conjunction hate enemies, and all fight quite openly for comrades, for righteousness, and for glory—for here wherein lies a single truth? Or a story worth telling? The Iliad instead is a story of confusion, of vagueness, of mixed messages and muddled motivations. And it achieves its primary meaning not through fearless Achilles or great Hector... Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:41 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/62/the-emobidment-of-human-tragedy-in-the-illiad