Metaphor is a mechanism of language applied in everyday usage as a linguistic device for encouraging interaction between separate domains. Greek and Roman philosophers and grammarians created a bridge between the decorative, the cognitive and the semiotic metaphor, thus establishing the iconic character of the metaphoric sign (P. Swiggers, Glotta 62 [1984]; C. Rapp, Aristoteles. Rhetorik [2002], p. 369). Metaphor, although once less studied than Homeric simile, is a key aspect of Homeric narration and description. According to Aristotle (Rhet. 1411b30–12a9) Homeric metaphors promoted vividness within style, and their prominent feature was the animation of the inanimate.
Z.'s new book illuminates its readers with elaborate examples of Homeric metaphors within the domains of time, speech and thought, suggesting in its preface (p. vii) that readers should also consult F. Horn's work (Metaphern und mentale Infrastruktur in der frühgriechischen Dichtung [2017]), as the two monographs were written independently and will provide different perspectives on similar issues. Z.'s book consists of a long introduction, four chapters and two interesting appendices (along with a detailed bibliography, a general index and an index verborum and locorum).
In his elaborate introduction Z. examines conceptual metaphor theory, which argues that metaphor is not so much a function of language as of thought. Metaphor provides the conceptual structure that undergirds everyday expressions such as ‘going through life’, ‘overcoming obstacles’ (p. 2). A further important point in the study of conceptual metaphor to note here is the notion of embodiment: that all entities with the power of speech experience the world in roughly analogous ways by virtue of possessing similar bodies and that this plays a role in the metaphors we employ. Z. claims that conceptual metaphors exist on the level of thought and structure speech in non-poetic contexts; he also argues that there are instances where poetic metaphors do not appear to be based on systematic conceptual metaphors but rather on images, while there are also instances where numerous poetic metaphors derive directly from conceptual metaphors (described as ‘imaginative and creative instantiations of the conceptual metaphors found in standard speech’, pp. 10–11). Z. proceeds further explaining the so-called ‘conceptual blending theory’, which posits no fewer than four different spaces. Thus, the Homeric epics provide an opportunity to test some of the core tenets of conceptual metaphor theory on an early yet highly developed corpus of poetry and to determine whether the metaphors found in modern English are comparable to those of Homeric Greek (p. 21).
In Chapter 1, ‘Ancient and Modern Views on Metaphor in Homer’, Z. first gives some examples of what has been previously said about metaphor in the Homeric epics in order to examine what is new about recent discussions. In this context Z. considers four examples of ancient discussion: Aristotle's theory was seminal for the study of metaphor in general, while the Homeric scholia, ps.-Plutarch's Life of Homer and Porphyry's Homeric Questions serve as important windows onto how Homeric metaphor was read in antiquity. This chapter also discusses modern conceptions of metaphor (late nineteenth and twentieth centuries) in relation to the epics, where metaphor is frequently compared with Homeric simile. Finally, an awareness of conceptual metaphor theory began to be felt in more recent scholarship.
A crucial example for the exposition of conceptual metaphor was the notion of time (Chapter 2: ‘Conceptual Metaphors for Time in Homer’), which has long been recognised to be largely conceptualised with reference to the source domain of space. Z. discusses metaphors depending on the general metaphor time is space in Homer, demonstrating that each is represented in the early stratum of the literary record. This confirms certain explications of formerly puzzling expressions (πρόσσω / ὀπίσσω, p. 64), but also adds to the growing number of studies of metaphors for time across languages (pp. 65–94). At the end of this chapter Z. examines further metaphors that concentrate on other features and functions of time beyond its progression and sequence, and offers some brief remarks on the relevance of metaphor for the act of composition in performance (pp. 94–102).
Chapter 3, ‘Conceptual Metaphors for Speech in Homer’, looks at certain metaphorical bases for Homeric metalanguage (language for talking about language). Homer actually provides an important point of comparison for the modern metaphors for speech and communication. The depiction of language in the Homeric epics rests upon various folk models of communication that are manifested within the formulaic diction of the poetry itself (p. 104). Z. explores Homeric formulas and epithets that contain fossilised metaphors telling us about how language was implicitly conceptualised within the tradition (for example, in passing beyond the confines of the body, speech can be likened to arrows, snowflakes, wind, water or simply to objects ‘placed’ in the mind of the receiver). Furthermore, Z. deals with the difficulty in the Homeric descriptions of language arising from the unclear meaning of terms such as μῦθος and ἔπος, although he clarifies that he undertakes an investigation only into the metaphors in which these words are embedded.
Tightly aligned with the domain of speech is the domain of thought (Chapter 4: ‘Conceptual Metaphors for Mind, Intention, and Self in Homer’); not only do the two share items of vocabulary, but the one serves as the origin of the other: thought is translated into speech. However, thinking is an even more abstract activity than speaking, and the terms for speech in fact serve as the basis for many Homeric expressions for thought (note, for example, the verbs φημί and φάσκω, where we find a broad range of usages, among which is the application ‘think’, p. 165). Mental vocabulary is notoriously slippery. In Homer, terms such as νόος, θυμός, φρήν, κῆρ, which can on occasion be translated as ‘mind’, are highly polysemous, and this variety of meaning is no doubt due to metonymy as well as metaphor (for example, the metonymy source for product, p. 166). Z. then concludes that much of this vocabulary, however, viewed through the lens of conceptual metaphor theory, is evocative of the ways in which abstract or empirically inaccessible entities (here mind and thought) tend to be structured with reference to more concrete or experientially accessible domains (p. 200).
Z. offers his readers the possibility to explore metaphorical expressions in performance (Appendix 1: ‘Metaphor and Composition in Performance’); he speculates that conceptual metaphor played a role in the composition of the Homeric epics: building epithet-noun formulas, new terms could be supported by the metaphorical frameworks within the tradition, metaphors would have been a useful ‘crutch’ for the singer in performance and, last but not least, conceptual metaphor aided the selection of diction – a formula possesses a different essential idea by means of analogy. Finally, Z. argues in a second appendix (‘Homeric Metaphor and the Lexicon – The Case of ὄσσομαι’) that modern dictionaries can err in their assignment of meanings, due partly to their taking the arguments of the early commentators at face value and their willingness to assign a new meaning to a rare Homeric word where none is called for; the verb ὄσσομαι, thus, provides an excellent example of the way in which verbs of seeing can be transferred to provide vocabulary for mental visualisation (the interpretation of the verb to denote the announcement of presages to others, based upon the noun ὄσσα ‘voice’, is rejected by Z., p. 225).
There is much more in this book to provoke further thoughts and reactions, especially in the two appendices, where Z. offers his readers plenty of food for thought for future works on metaphor in antiquity. It is not an easy read, and it requires time and concentration fully to appreciate and assimilate the wealth of information, variety of themes and subtlety of the many interpretations of specific Homeric passages. But there is a coherence and power to the method overall, and it amply repays the reader's efforts. It is a valuable source not only for scholars or students, but also for anyone who wants to study Homeric metaphor in general.
