Homerus als grammaticus, retor en bron van alle wijsheid: Eustathius' Parekbolai op de Ilias

This article discusses the Parekbolai on the Iliad by the twelfth-century Byzantine scholar Eustathius of Thessalonike. It aims to give an impression of the various types of information included in the Parekbolai, for which it takes as its starting point Eustathius’ ‘table of contents’ as listed in the proem. Each of the items on the list is illustrated with examples from the Parekbolai and interpreted within the context of the twelfth-century intellectual world. The examples demonstrate that Eustathius mainly composed his Parekbolai with writers of rhetorical
prose in mind, offering them material for creative reuse in writings of their own and providing much additional information to expand the readers’ learning. Eustathius projects his own didactical program on the poet and shows how Homer teaches
the same things as Eustathius intends to do: the poet, too, is a teacher of rhetoric and grammar, and provides information on manifold subjects to bring his audience to great learning. The didactic program of both commentator and poet reflects the way in which Homer was read and used in twelfth-century Byzantium.
Moreover, the literary principles that are advocated in the Parekbolai can be helpful in understanding twelfth-century rhetorical writings.