3/11

Did Homer actually exist?

• the Homeric "question"- Homer may have been a mythical character himself
• blind wandering minstrel; a heroic figure
• Iliad and Odyssey maybe the culminations of many generations of story telling
• or... Homer actually existed and he was just that awesome
• polis: fundamental political unit, made up of a city and the surrounding countryside; politics (affairs of the city), policy, political, etc.
• monarchy: rule by a single person (a king in Greece)
• aristocracy: rule by a small group of noble, very rich, landowning families
• oligarchy: weal thy groups, dissatisfied with aristocratic rue, who seized power often (with military help)
• tyrant: powerful individual who seized control by appealing to the common people for support