Homer, the source and bond of European civilization

Abstract

The fi rst part of the article shows that the turn to Homer (the publication of his poems, their translation, study, etc.) is a sign of introduction of a particular people to European civilization at all the main stages of its development. The second part of the article identifi es in Homer’s poems a new way of viewing and describing reality, i.e.“realistic” (or “illusionist”) which allows one to introduce visual impressions and emotional affects into the space-time continuum and present them as “possible from the point of view of probability and necessity” (Aristotle) and therefore recognizable and verifiable. The assimilation of this view of reality and its implementation in various types of creativity led to the development of arts (e.g., of drama) and sciences (e.g., geometry); these, being institutionalized (mainly in the form of various schools and research centres), determined all the further development of European civilization.

Keywords

• homer
• greek culture
• european civilization and europeans
• european culture
• mimesis
• realism
• educational and academic centres
• гомер
• греческая культура
• европейская цивилизация и ее носители
• европейская культура
• мимесис
• реализм
• учебные и научные центры