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Are Homer's works historical?

They are hysterical according to Bart.

Oh! I bet you did not mean Homer Simpson, huh?

The works attributed to Homer are historical in that they relate to antiquity and events of that time. There is no biographical validation that they can actually be attributed to Homer or that Homer himself was a real person. Scholars debate this today even as they did in Homer's time.

LOL - Glad we cleared up the "Homer" issue.

You are right. I have an article coming out in a couple of months addressing this very topic. I think too often people think "historical" means completely accurate.

You know, I think you are right, Rebecca. Just because something is considered "historical" it does not mean it is accurate. Many historical "facts" were passed from person to person and most likely, in many cases, the wordings were changed or embellished over time.

If a group of 30 or more people are placed in a circle and some information was whispered in the first person's ear to pass on to the next person, by the time it got back to the creator of the information, it will more than likely be quite different than the original phrase. So one can imagine that in times of oral history the story could have been greatly changed from the original.

I believe that all too often we change the meaning of words and put more emphasis on them then there should be. Was Homer's works historical? Yes, in my opinion. Were they completely accurate? No. History can be gleaned from them as scholars have already shown. Gone with the Wind is historical though not a true story. Dances with Wolves is historical though not true.

So - does that mean Sleepy Hollow is historical - or is that a hysterical thingy?

What about "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"?

Now I think we have entered the semantic zone.:) Some could argue that. This is where "historical" and "accurate" get misunderstood.

Ask someone that loves Monty Python and they'll swear it is the gospel