Introduction

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. .

Commentary on the Iliad

This edition traces the development of the text from its origins in Constantinople to its final redaction in Thessalonica, noting additions made by Eustathius to the margins of his own working manuscript. The online version includes van der Valk’s extensive Latin preface and an extensive source and critical apparatus.

This edition of Eustathius of Thessalonica, Commentary on the Iliad follows the pagination (physical structure) of the sixteenth century edition by Nicolaus Majoranus. This also applies to the Commentary on the Odyssey.

An edition based on the physical structure of the printed Van der Valk edition - its volumes, pages, and lines - can be downloaded here. This file is in CTS-compliant TEI XML. Please bear in mind that it contains no text-critical or other annotations.