Homer the Theologian: Neoplatonist Allegorical Reading and the Growth of the Epic Tradition (Transformation of the Classical Heritage)
"Extraordinarily thought-provoking for all theologicans and  especially  for biblical theologians, since both are concerned with inspired and  normative  ancient narratives."  --A. T. Kraabel, Religious Studies Review"It is Robert Lamberton's task in this dense and closely argued  book to  show how. . . . Homer was to become in the hands of the Third-Century  A.D. Neo- platonists Porphyry and Plotinus a wholly and quite intentionally  allegorical  bard, imbued with a mystical understanding of nature and of the fate of  souls,  and who could be quoted as authoritative evidence against Christianity  in much  the same way as the scriptures were quoted for it."   --Peter Jones, London  Times"Lamberton has written an important history that is not just  literary,  but also cultural and intellectual."  --William G. Thalmann, Philosophy  and  Literature"This is real scholarship. It is also, I submit, a far more  valid  version of Classical studies, and a work of far more central concern to  the real  meaning of any education, but particularly the Classical, than most of  what  passes for Classical scholarship today."  --Ingrid D. Rowland, Favonius