Picturing Homer as a cult hero

Abstract

This posting for 2016.03.03 in Classical Inquiries centers on the head of a bronze statue, dated somewhere between 227 and 221 BCE. The bronze head, on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC until 2016.03.20, is on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and a photograph of this head has been featured as the cover illustrations for two other postings in Classical Inquiries, 2016.02.22 and 2016.02.29. As Claudia Filos and Keith Stone report in the second of these two consecutive postings, there was a panel discussion concerning this bronze head at a public event held at the National Gallery of Art, 2016.02.25. In the context of that discussion, Gloria Ferrari Pinney argued that the Houston head is a representation of Homer. Taking my lead from that argument, I argue here in this posting for 2016.03.03 that Homer is in this case imagined not only as the greatest of all poets but also as a cult hero.