Eustathius of Thessalonica, Commentary on the Odyssey cover image

This online publication offers the complete critical edition of Eustathius’ Commentary on the Iliad by Marchinus van der Valk, printed in 4 volumes by Brill (Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem pertinentes ad fidem Codicis Laurentiani editi, 1971-1987), as well as a new critical edition of Eustathius’ Commentary on the Odyssey, edited by Eric Cullhed (University of Uppsala) and S. Douglas Olson (University of Minnesota). The latter includes an up-to-date standard text, critical, citation and source apparatus, and English translation. The work is still ongoing, but the preface and the commentary on books 1-4 (α – δ) are now available. Both editions follows the pagination of the sixteenth century edition by Nicolaus Majoranus.

The Byzantine scholar and rhetorician Eustathius of Thessalonica composed his two commentaries during the latter half of the twelfth century CE. The Commentaries collect material from a wide range of different sources which explain or expand on words, phrases and ideas in the Homeric epics. Original comments are blended with extracts from earlier commentators, especially the Homeric scholia. The text is an important source for fragments of otherwise lost works of ancient literature, for the history of exegesis and lexicography, and for Byzantine cultural history. .

Read more