Who Killed Homer?: The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom

Why, at the end of the 20th century, should we give a hoot in the first place about a brutal, misogynist society that rose to greatness on the back of slaves? Because, they argue, it was the first place; for all the faults of ancient Greece, the seeds of what Western civilization is today were planted there. "What we mean by Greek wisdom," they explain, "is that at the very beginning of Western culture the Greeks provided a blueprint for an ordered and humane society that could transcend time and space, one whose spirit and core values could evolve, sustain, and drive political reform and social change for ages hence."

But Hanson and Heath are not content to simply make a fiery, articulate case for what's right about understanding this particular ancient civilization in a contemporary world where more and more non-Western societies openly seek to embrace the democratic spirit. They go on to launch a deliciously vituperative jeremiad on what's wrong with the priorities of those entrusted with passing on this wisdom. Classics departments, as portrayed in Who Killed Homer?, appear to be filled with politically correct, insecure footnote fawners who, steeped in minutiae, miss the Big Picture. Hanson and Heath have a plan, sure to raise the hackles of tenured professors, for reviving classical studies that emphasizes the importance of teaching, communicating, and popularizing over publishing arcane monographs in journals not even the writer's family will ever read, insisting that the alternative--the extinction of a vivid intellectual pursuit--borders on cultural suicide. --Jeff Silverman

Product Description
With straightforward advice and informative readings of the great Greek texts, the authors show how we might still save classics and the Greeks for future generations. Who Killed Homer? is must reading for anyone who agrees that knowledge of classics acquaints us with the beauty and perils of our own culture.

But for those of you who are new to the debate, there may be some value in reading on. Victor Davis Hanson emerged on the scene in the early 1980s with a wonderful little book called yThe Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greecey. This readable, engaging tome was taken up by, among others, John Keegan who embraced some of the ideas and began to publicise them.

yWho Killed Homery emerged much later. It is a brilliant polemic y a fact that is often missed by the critics who belabour Hanson with the charge of being too controversial y I think that was rather the point. Hanson wrote in despair and anger. He despaired of the state of education in our colleges and universities. And he has written an impassioned, polemical diatribe on the subject. As Stephen Ozment remarked, ythis is a book for anyone who has loved or hated a college or universityy.

Like Bernard Knox who as a young man lashed out at the excessive technicality of classical studies (after reading an extended study in a classical journal entitled yThe Carrot in Ancient Greecey), Hanson is incensed at the dearth of true learning at universities. He would have us go back to general principals. He would have professors stop publishing and start TEACHING.

First and foremost, Hanson makes the case for Greek civilisation. However we get our Greek, he would say, we must get it. Western Culture, he says, is largely founded on Greek ideas, filtered through intervening civilisations and systems of thought. I despair of the school curriculum I see these days. My young nephews are offered, through something called ysocial studiesy, the fleeting opportunity in Grade 4 and 5 to learn about ancient cultures. The problem is that it is left to the teacher to decide WHICH cultures they study. It is entirely possible for students in Ontario to go through school without EVER studying Greek or Roman history. And whatever benefits may be derived from the study of meso-american culture or Chinese culture, they pale beside the importance of those which can be obtained through a study of the Greeks. For the study of other cultures does not speak to the core values of western civilisation. The values which, transmitted down through the centuries to us from the Greeks, have made our culture (for the time being) the dominant culture in the world.

Here is Hanson on the subject: yYet as magnificent and accessible as the Odyssey is, the Iliad is the greater poem, the more difficult and important challenge to teachers of Greek, who, if they be teachers or Greek at all, must teach the Iliad and teach it frequently. Most subsequent Greek ideas y learning comes through pain, reason is checked by fate, men are social creatures, the truth only emerges through dissent and open criticism, human life is tragically short and therefore comes with obligations, characters is a matter of matching words with deeds, the most dangerous animal is the natural beast within us, religion is separate from and subordinate to political authority, private property should be immune from government coercion, even aristocratic leaders ignore the will of the assembly at their peril y start with Homer, especially the Iliad, but never again are they presented so honestly, and without either apology or elaboration.y And these Greek values, he maintains were UNIQUE in the world. Democracy, free speech, separation of church and state, a civilian army y these idea (and others) ALL began in Greece and nowhere else. And yet the general public in the west knows less about itss origins that EVER before.

The dust jacket notes, yythe formal study of the origins of Western Culture is disappearing from American life at precisely the time when it is most needed to explain, guide and warn the public about both the wonders and dangers of their own culture.y

What you will come away with from this book, if you have an open mind at all, is either a new (or perhaps renewed) appreciation for Greek culture. You will want to read the Iliad again and you will want your children to read it.


Calling All Amateurs   October 2, 2002
Big Dave (Boise, Idaho)
88 out of 95 found this review helpful

The core of WKH? (as Hanson and Heath charmingly call their own book) is a savage indictment of university Classicists. The answer to the question "who killed Homer and why?" is classicists, and for filthy lucre. For money, career, fame and professional advancement, classicists have betrayed the Greeks by preferring academic heights to actual teaching, by turning Classical Greece into one more subject for multiculturalist, postmodernist, queer theorist, what-have-you studies, by ignoring the greatness and uniqueness of Greek culture and not caring what the Greeks actually have to say. The professors don't live like Greeks, they fail to match word and deed. So disinterested grad students (with their eyes firmly on the professorial heights) do all the actual teaching, and the students aren't coming anymore.

And Hanson and Heath confess that they don't believe that university Classics can be saved.

(Incidentally, the authors make it pretty clear that taking the Greeks seriously is antithetical -- and may be a good antidote -- to nonsensical multiculturalism. There is truth, there is virtue, and all things are not equal.)

Interestingly, this core is sandwiched between introductory chapters which set out the unique importance of the Greeks and also the history of Classical Studies, emphasizing the sometimes revolutionary contributions of amateur classicists and a closing chapter giving an introductory syllabus and commentary to aspiring amateur classicists, ten books by Greeks and ten books about Greeks. Hanson and Heath say they hope for another Homer, but they seem to be sending out a homing beacon to another Schliemann, Parry or Ventris.

Good for them. Their devastating scorched earth criticism and their fluent, accessible writing make this book a fun read as well as a compelling one.


Shrill and hyperbolic - whatever happened to Greek stoicism?   May 23, 2003
Christoph Stappert (Munich, Germany)
47 out of 111 found this review helpful

Since the trial of Socrates, it is deemed fashionable in some circles to condemn intellectuals for the corruption of youth, an ancient tradition which Hanson and Heath proudly carry on in "Who killed Homer?". A quirky and polemic book designed for provocation, it really has more to tell us about contemporary American academia and political discourse than about ancient Greece. In short, the authors argue or rather insist that the classics are in demise at the American university, that this can be directly attributed to the incompetence and careerism of the present generation of professors, and that this decline is not merely an academic matter, but has dire cultural ramifications as well, as the wisdom of the Greeks "alone inaugurates the Western experience" and is essential for understanding contemporary society and values.

First of, the blunt assertion that the classics are truly and irrevocably dying may baffle some teachers, who will tell you that they had more classics majors and undergrad enrollments than ever, at the time when "Who killed Homer?" was still in writing. In any case, Homer seems comfortably safer today than he was in, say, 410 AD when the Goths sacked Rome and Germanic tribes were streaming into the empire. Even if we concede this point for the sake of the argument, however, it remains doubtful if today's scholars, whom Hanson and Heath have singled out as the amoral defilers of tradition, are indeed alone to blame for the development.

Rather, the problems they diagnose are things that afflict all the humanities, and the entire university, for that matter. And while some of it certainly is down to the lacking ethos of individual professors, a more impartial observation reveals that the failure lies at a higher level, the inability of the university as an institution to address its own changing situation. Real issues such as these - the social and economic pressures that shape the structures of our schools, the utilitarian or ill-defined goals with which present day students are imbued, and a contemporary culture which does not encourage the kind of meditative, in-depth learning that the study of ancient texts demands - require a serious and careful analysis that Hanson and Heath are unable or unwilling to provide.

Instead, the authors assume that given enough ad hominem attacks and righteous anger, the ills of Western civilization will be cured. The tone is accusatory, shrill and dismissive throughout, which is fun to read, but not particularly endearing. Still, the best parts of "Who killed Homer?" are the hilarious quotes from contemporary essays and books, so high-flown and obtusely written that they are indeed ripe for parody. But while Hanson and Heath are justified in their lampooning of high theory and pretentious jargon, their own self-righteous meandering gets tedious just as fast, and the solutions they themselves offer are naive at best. For example, the teaching methods they envision seem more suited to a teenaged audience than university students, who are supposed to begin to distance themselves from the subject of study and learn critical thinking. The notion of learning Latin and ancient Greek to actually "think like the Greeks" falls into the same adolescent vein (besides, whether one really leads to the other is debatable).

But Hanson and Heath just love the Greeks and descend with the tempestuous fury of Poseidon upon those whom they perceive to defile that noble tradition: "multiculturalism", "postmodernism", "feminism", "political correctness" and all the other beloved spectres of the academic right. Before long, Hanson and Heath abandon their original subject in favour of a nebulous lamentation about contemporary moral decay, and it quickly becomes apparent that their real agenda is not merely the rescue of the classics, but rather more sweeping and political.

So what about Homer, actually? After all, the main argument here is that the Greeks deserve a unique kind of attention as the central progenitors of Western civilization (indeed, "Greek" and "Western" are blended together in a rather curious and undefined mixture). True enough, Greco-Roman culture is certainly one of the cornerstones of our culture, the other being Christianity. Christianity the authors find "classical, unmistakably Western in spirit", it may come as a surprise to some. It is as if there was no "real" history after 400 AD, and as if the enormous influence that Puritanism and other modern schools of thought had in shaping American society simply did not exist. Hanson and Heath also seem unable to grasp that democracy has come a long way, and that some of the aspects of Greek society, like imperialism, slavery or the subordination of women, are hardly role-models for today.

Surely it would be unfair to focus on these failings at the expense of the achievements, and the Greeks were still the most advanced civilization of their time. But the romanticized and olive-coloured picture which the authors paint here with broad, generalizing brushes, and their narrow and exclusive focus cross the line into revisionism. And even the most passionate Hellenophile most acknowledge that laws and customs which worked fine in small, Mediterranean city-states 2500 years ago are no patent solution for the complex challenges of the global, industrialized, information-age society of the 21st century. An inspiration, surely, and a vital tradition, among others - but not a blueprint.

But that is what the authors take their beloved Greeks for. "Even the most vociferous academic critic of the West would prefer to fly Swissair [or] check into the Mayo Clinic" they argue, "rather than board a Congolese airliner [or] leave his appendix in Managua General... Why? The Greeks." Indeed, the industrial age, powered flight, airline security, modern surgical techniques - why not call it all "Greek"? Absurd and a little sad, for Hanson and Heath seem unable to celebrate Greek culture without downgrading all others, which stains their idyllic canvas. In the end, what started out as a seemingly noble cause degenerates not only into eyebrow-singeing assaults on their fellow academics, but into similarly chauvinistic Western triumphalism at large. So unnecessary, so avoidable, so tragic - and in that respect, so Greek.


Important Wake-up call!   January 10, 2000
Harry A. Smith (Tallahassee, Fl)
44 out of 51 found this review helpful

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Itawoke in me a new desire to reclaim a classical education (which I am now doing by learning Ancient Greek!).

It is important in today's era of "multiculturalism" to recognize that not all cultures are created equal. The Greco-Roman tradition gave us the foundation for our own form of a Democratic Republic. While it is the PC fashion now to criticize the Greeks for their treatment of women and slaves let us not forget that many countries/cultures still engage in slavery (West Africa), or brutal treatment of women (Islamic). As so elegantly pointed out, the *only* culture which took major steps to eradicate these inequities were the Western ones and most specifically the United States.

Even in Ancient Greece, many voices (Aristophanes, Euripides) can be read as speaking out against social injustice. If we let the classics die in our colleges and universities upon the sacrificial altar of feminism, multiculturalism, or political correctness, we will have lost part of the American soul and more importantly - our intellectual heritage! This book is a clarion call to what is so wrong in academia today and to the fact that we had best wake up before it is too late!

By the way - I am a liberal, but not a radical leftist!


A silver book with a golden message   March 4, 2001
41 out of 42 found this review helpful

I've gotten a kick out of reading others' impressions of this book. As a former Classics B.A., I can sympathize with lots of sides of this argument, and so the book comes off a little bombastic. That said, the message that classical education should be saved from extinction is a very important one, and deserves as wide an audience as possible.

The issue is relevant to everyone, on one of any number of levels: the importance of history, the value of translation, the psychological insights into ancient culture and therefore human nature, I can go on. Studying ancient languages,as a general exercise, can serve a valuable individual, and en masse cultural purpose in the pursuit of meaning and the construction of better ways of living for the present. It runs the gamut of educational value: as philosophy, as politcal science, as psychology. I think most people, at least in theory, would agree with this.

All the authors are saying is that the value of studying ancient languages is simply not being preserved by any particular stewards, as in centuries past. They are concentrating on Greek and Latin because those ancient languages are the key to understanding our Western culture. They are not saying that Chinese or South American ancient languages are less import PER SE, they are simply saying that Greek and Latin are the MOST RELEVANT languages to our Western culutre, whose values have influenced more and more cultures across the world. These values- democracy, equality, freedom, etc.- are taken for granted by my post-Vietnam generation, and so studying their roots may not seem very PRACTICAL. But one can only hope that some cultural awakening may open more young peoples' eyes to the value of understanding the past and the rich intangible personal rewards of initimately knowing an ancient text.

Which brings me to the point of contention most fervently drawn out by the authors: that the intrinsic value of classical stewardship (as "the keepers of the flame") seems to have been lost in a selfish, uppity, ridiculously esoteric publishing game that leads the profession, and its subject matter, into a dead end. Although it is important to find new ways of looking at things to reach new understanding, the authors seem to suggest that it's more important at this point in time to abandon the incestuous pursuit of arcane, often boring and largely irrelevant dintinctions and "discoveries" and re-assume the duty of passing on tradition.

I'm not saying that comparative studies of literature and language are without purpose; rather, the degree to which it has become the focus of Classics departments in the US seems to have reached the point of absurdity. Granted, there is intense competition for very few jobs, so who could be blamed for scraping the bottom of the intellectual barrel for kernels of academic novelty? But at what price? Whatever it is, it's too great. That seems to be what the authors are saying, and I think the authors say it courageously. The need for this book being great as it is, its sometimes extreme tone and POV can be overlooked.

On a personal note, If there were more jobs in academe, especially Classics, I would have probably foregone the business world. But there is a culutral amnesia that belittles the value of understanding the past, and thus the demand for Classics classes is just low. This book is very valuable, in that it courageously draws first blood against the cultural forces threatening the preservation of the historical roots of the West.