Word: rhapsodists
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Dates: during 1890-1890
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From about 600 B. C. we find the Homeric poems recited by the rhapsodist, or professional reciter, and not by men who were themselves poets. They spread the study of Homer over all Greece, and in all the leading cities the rhapsodists gathered. As they commenced a recitation, they would invoke Zeus with the words, "Beginning with praise of Thee, would I celebrate deeds of men." Prizes were offered to the rhapsodist who best recited, and often the reward of such a competition was a tripod. But far above these mere reciters were the old minstrels who combined the orator...