Joachim Latacz

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Joachim Latacz (born 4 April 1934, Katowice, Poland, at that time: Autonomous District of Upper Silesia) is a German classical philologist. Latacz is a specialist in ancient Greek literature and culture, and is widely considered one of the most important experts in the German-speaking world on Homer and epic.

1 Life and research
2 References

[edit] Life and research

For over twenty years he was one of the most important supporters of Manfred Korfmann, the archaeologist and Troy specialist. Latacz repeatedly defended the hypothesis that the Homeric account of the Trojan War essentially goes back to genuine historical events in the late Bronze Age.

From 1981 until his retirement Latacz was Ordinarius (Full Professor) of Greek Philology and Head of Department at the University of Basel (Switzerland). In addition to his teaching activity, he occupied himself with early Greek literature and published numerous works on Homer and the performance of Greek tragedy and lyrics.

At present, he is working on a complete commentary on the Iliad, with two volumes (text plus commentary) for each book of the epic (this will make it the largest commentary since that of Eustathius).^[1] A volume of prolegomena and two volumes of the commentary itself have been published so far.

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

(1966) Zum Wortfeld 'Freude' in der Sprache Homers
(1977) Kampfparänese, Kampfdarstellung und Kampfwirklichkeit in der Ilias, bei Kallinos und Tyrtaios
(1979) Editor: Homer. Tradition und Neuerung (Wege der Forschung 463), Darmstadt
(1985) Homer. Der erste Dichter des Abendlands (4th edition Düsseldorf/Zürich, 2003); in English as Homer: His Art and his World, Ann Arbor, ISBN 0-472-08353-8
(1991) Editor: Homer. Die Dichtung und ihre Deutung (Wege der Forschung 634), Darmstadt
(1991) Griechische Literatur in Text und Darstellung. I: Archaische Periode, Stuttgart, second edition 1998
(1991) Editor: Zweihundert Jahre Homer-Forschung. Rückblick und Ausblick
(1992) With B. Kytzler and K. Sallmann: Klassische Autoren der Antike'
(1993) Einführung in die griechische Tragödie, Düsseldorf/Zürich, second updated edition 2003
(1994) Erschließung der Antike (= Kleine Schriften)
(1995) Achilleus. Wandlungen eines europäischen Heldenbildes, second edition 1997
(1996) With B. Kytzler and K. Sallmann: Kleine Enzyklopädie der antiken Autoren
(1998) Fruchtbares Ärgernis. Nietzsches 'Geburt der Tragödie' und die gräzistische Tragödienforschung, Basel
(2000 onwards) General editor: Homers Ilias. Gesamtkommentar, München/Leipzig; prolegomena ISBN 3-598-74310-6; vol. 1 ISBN 3-598-74302-5 (text), ISBN 3-598-74303-3 (commentary); vol. 2 ISBN 3-598-74305-X (text), ISBN 3-598-74306-8 (commentary)
(2001) Troia und Homer. Der Weg zur Lösung eines alten Rätsels, München/Berlin; in English (2004) as Troy and Homer: Towards a Solution of an Old Mystery, Oxford, ISBN 0-19-926308-6, 5th updated and expanded edition, Leipzig 2005 (in Spanish 2003 ISBN 84-233-3487-2, modern Greek 2005 ISBN 960-16-1557-1)
(2001) Troia – Wilios – Wilusa. Drei Namen für ein Territorium, Basel, second edition 2002