Homeric Similes:
User Guide

A. General Information

The Homeric simile website provides access to the similes and other similar figures both in the original Greek and translation. Individual similes can be accessed through a selection list. The list can be modified by changing a variety of selection criteria such as the length of the simile or what books of the poems the similes come from. The resulting list includes the similes and similar figures that satisfy all of the selection criteria.

Six arrow buttons above the list of selected similes allow navigating through the list, which is limited to at most 20 similes to avoid excessive length. The selection list identifies each simile by poem (Iliad or Odyssey), book number and line number. In addition the selection list includes three columns for attributes selectable by the user through dropdown menus.

An individual selected simile is shown to the right of the selection list. This simile is selected by:

1. Click on Row. Clicking anywhere on a row in the selection list shows the corresponding simile.
2. Arrow Buttons. Two arrow buttons on the left above the selected simile allow jumping to the prior or next simile in the selection list.
3. Select by Poem, Book and Line Number. Dropdown menus on the right above selected simile allow selecting the simile by poem, book number and line number. Clicking on the "Go to" button shows the corresponding. The line number list shows all lines in the selected poem and book number with similes or other similar figures discussed in figure type below.

The display of the selected simile shown on the right includes the following:

1. Simile Attributes. At the end of the attributes section, there is a link to Perseus. Clicking on this link opens in a separate tab the Perseus page which contains the simile in the broader context of the poem.
2. Greek Text. The Greek text is color coded to show the various elements (e.g. tenor, vehicle).
3. Translation. The translation is also color coded to show the elements. The translations tend to be more literal than many published translations so as to better illustrate the functionality of the similes.
4. Summary. A functional summary shows how the tenor relates to the vehicle.
5. Notes. Occasional notes are provided for some similes.

B. Simile Elements

The elements of a simile can be illustrated by a typical simile (Iliad Book 2 Line 147 – 148):

1. As when Zephyrus arrives / rushing rapidly, he stirs a deep field of grain and causes the ears of grain to droop, / even so their whole assembly was stirred

The following are the elements of the simile shown by this example:

1. As when is the marker (prothesis) introducing the simile and in particular the vehicle.
2. field of grain is the vehicle (to which the tenor is being compared).
3. even so is the apothesis (often not included) that here introduces the tenor.
4. their whole assembly is the tenor of the simile. The tenor is the aspect of the main narrative being illustrated figuratively by the simile.
5. Gray shading is used to identify the figurative part of the simile, including the prothesis, the vehicle and often further explanatory material.

Various authors have used different terms for the elements of a metaphor. For the examples of metaphors and other figure types shown in this website, we have used the terms tenor and vehicle by analogy to similes.

The following sections describe the various criteria for the selected list of similes.

C. Poem and Book

The similes from one or both poems, (Iliad or Odyssey), can be selected by checking the corresponding poem checkbox. The range of books within the selected poems can be adjusted with the Book # inputs.

D. Figure Type

This collection includes a complete list of similes plus examples of other similar figures. These other figures involve comparisons and have at least some of the elements typical of a simile such as a tenor and vehicle. These other figure types may be searched by checking the corresponding check boxes. The types of figures include:

1. Simile. The similes included in this list have a prothesis, a vehicle, and a tenor that is understood from context if not explicitly expressed. Some of the similes also have an apothesis. The comparison here is always figurative in nature, not literal as in a factual comparison (e.g., Achilles is taller than Hector).
2. Divine Comparisons. A divine comparison involves a comparison between a mortal and a divine being such as "Achilles like a god". Other collections such as the Lee list have included some of these divine comparisons in their lists of similes. In this collection, examples of divine comparisons have been made a separate figure type.
3. Transformations and Disguises. In both poems, there are numerous transformations and disguises in which an individual (typically a god) undergoes a metamorphosis to another being. The description of these transformations and disguises have many of the elements of a simile including a tenor (the individual being transformed), a vehicle (transformed being) and a prothesis, but they are literal rather than figurative.
4. Metaphor expls.. A metaphor is a literary device whereby a word or phrase is used to describe something to which it is not literally applicable (based on the Oxford Dictionary). Thus a metaphor is a semantic word-play whereas a simile is a grammatical construction. This collection includes a few typical examples of metaphors.
5. Factual Comparison. A factual comparison has the elements of a simile, but the comparison is factual rather than figurative. This collection includes a few examples of factual comparisons.
6. Other. This category includes other figures such as parable.

E. Prothesis

The simile is identified by a prothesis typically near its start. Homer uses a wide number words or phrases for the prothesis. For this website, several of the similes have protheses not typically considered to be associated with similes in prior studies. Examples include constructions with ἔχων (e.g., Iliad 21.252) and comparative adjectives (e.g. Iliad 1.249). The dropdown menu lists the various protheses used in Homeric Greek. The selection criteria for the prothesis include:

1. Type of Prothesis. If "None" is selected, any simile or figure that has a prothesis is excluded from the selection list leaving only figures that have no marker (i.e., metaphors). If "Any" is selected, a figure without a marker (i.e., a metaphor) is excluded from the selection list; all others are allowed if other criteria are satisfied. If "No criterion" is selected, no additional restriction is placed on the selection list. If any specific prothesis type is selected, only those similes and figures with that prothesis are allowed in the selection list; inflected variant forms are allowed.
2. Prothesis Location. If "Any" is selected, no additional restriction is placed on similes and other figures included in the selection list. Otherwise, the location of the start of the prothesis in the hexameter line must be consistent with the selected location (i.e., "1st two ft.", "Middle two ft.", or "Last two ft.").

F. Apothesis

Longer similes frequently have a marker to indicate the end of the simile or a return to the main narrative. Nearly all of the short similes and figures have no such marker. This marker, when present, typically introduces the tenor. For this marker, we have created the term "apothesis" analogous to the term "prothesis" which introduces the simile. The selection criteria for the apothesis include:

1. Type of Apothesis. If "None" is selected, any simile or figure that has an apothesis is excluded from the selection list leaving only figures that have no apothesis. If "Any" is selected, a figure without an apothesis is excluded from the selection list; all others are allowed if other criteria are satisfied. If "No criterion" is selected, no additional restriction is placed on the selection list. If any specific type of apothesis is selected, only those similes and figures with that apothesis are allowed in the selection list; inflected variant forms are allowed. If "Other" is selected, any simile or related figure with an apothesis not otherwise included in the dropdown list is allowed.
2. Apothesis Location. If "Any" is selected, no additional restriction is placed on similes and related figures included in the selection list. Most apotheses are at the start of a line in the first foot so one option is to limit the selection list to those with apotheses in the first foot. The other option limits the selection list to those with apotheses in the rest of the line.

G. Tenor

The selection list may be limited by selecting a particular type of tenor from the dropdown menu. Selecting "Any" makes the choice of tenor unrestricted in generating the selection list. The dropdown menu includes broad categories of tenors, (e.g. Greek hero or Supernatural as well as more specific tenors such as Achilles or Athena) ,which are typically subsets of the broader categories. In the selection list itself, the specific tenor rather than the broader type of tenor can be shown in one of the last three, user-selected columns.

H. Vehicle

The selection list may be limited by selecting a type of vehicle from the dropdown menu. Selecting "Any" makes the choice of vehicle type unrestricted in generating the selection list. The dropdown menu includes broad categories of vehicles such as Human activity or Animal as well as narrower subsets (e.g. lion or farming) of these broad categories. In the selection list itself, the specific vehicle(s) and the associated vehicle type(s) can be shown in separate columns in the last three, user-selected columns.

I. Speaker

The selection list may be limited by selecting a speaker from the dropdown menu. Selecting "Any" makes the choice of speaker unrestricted in generating the selection list. Most of the similes are spoken by the Narrator. The dropdown menu includes an option for limiting the selection list to the Narrator; selecting "Not Narrator" limits the selection list to similes (or related figures) spoken by someone other than the Narrator. Options are also provided for specific speakers such as Achilles and Odysseus. The "Other speaker" option results in including those similes (and related figures) spoken by other than the Narrator or the other speakers specifically listed in the dropdown menu.

J. Spacing

The spacing is the approximate number of lines between the end of one simile and the beginning of the next simile (or related figure), The length of the simile itself is excluded. Fractional line spacings are obtained using the approximate location of the prothesis marker (assumed to be at the beginning of the simile) and the length of the simile in feet (six feet per line in hexameter). The selection list may be limited based on the following criteria:

1. Min Spacing. The Min Spacing selection criterion excludes similes for which the larger of the spacing before or after the simile is greater than the selected Min Spacing. This selection criterion is intended to identify large gaps between similes
2. Max Spacing. The Max Spacing selection criterion excludes similes (or related figures) for which the smaller of the spacing before or after the simile is less than the selected Max Spacing. This selection criterion is intended to identify closely spaced similes such as those which might occur in clusters of similes
.

The criteria for spacing are disabled and do not limit the selection list if any figure type other than "Simile" is selected or if repeat groups of similes are shown.

K. Length

The length of the similes and related figures is measured in feet counting six feet per line. Length here refers to the length of the figurative portion of the simile shown by gray shading. The selection list may be based on the following selection criteria:

1. Short-Scene. The similes (and related figures) have been categorized as to being "short" with single words of short phrases or longer "scenes". Similes shorter than six feet are in the "short" category, and similes longer than two lines (12 feet) are in the "scene" category.
2. Length (feet). Setting the "Min" length to greater than 0 excludes those similes (or related figures) less than the "Min" length. Setting the "Max" length to less than 100 excludes those similes (or related figures) greater than the "Max" length.

L. Multiples

Some of the similes have multiple tenors or vehicles. The selection list may be limited by the following options from the Multiples dropdown menu:

1. Single Tenor-Veh.. The simile selection list is limited to similes (or related figures) with a single tenor and a single vehicle.
2. Multi Tenor-Vehs.. The simile selection list is limited to similes (or related figures) which have more than one tenor and more than one vehicle. The separate tenors and vehicles are separated by ">" symbols in the selection list and the list of attributes for each simile on the right. The sequence of tenors separated by ">" matches the corresponding sequence of vehicles separated by ">".
3. Multi Vehs./tenor.. The simile selection list is limited to similes (or related figures) with more than one vehicle associated with a single part of the tenor. There may be more than one tenor, but at least one of the tenors has more than one associated vehicle. The multiple vehicles assigned to an individual tenor are not separated by ">" symbols.

M. Repeats

Some similes are repeated. The selection list can be limited to those similes that repeat by choosing "Repeating similes" from the Repeats dropdown menu. When the "Group repeats" checkbox is checked, the sequence of similes in the selection list is modified to show the repeating similes in groups. With "Group repeats" checked and both poems selected, the first 24 groups are similes that repeat only in the Iliad; groups 25 to 33 are similes that repeat only in the Odyssey; groups 34 to 40 are similes that occur at least once in both poems.

N. Lee's List

Lee’s List A (D. J. N. Lee, The Similes of the Iliad and the Odyssey Compared, Melbourne University Press, 1964) was the starting point for the list of similes in this collection. Lee's list included as similes several figures such as divine comparisons that have been separately categorized in this collection. In addition, some similes have been added that were not included in the Lee list. Check boxes allow distinguishing between those similes and related figures that are in Lee's list and those that are not. Lee's list can be reconstructed with all the figure types checked and "Not in Lee" unchecked with other criteria set to be inclusive.

O. Negative / Positive

Most similes (and related figures) are positive in the sense that the tenor is being equated to the vehicle. A few of the similes are negative in that tenor is identified as being unlike the vehicle. Typically, negative similes are found in conversation often with the imperative. The "Neg./Pos." check boxes allow the positive and negative similes and figures to be distinguished.