# Anachronism in The Iliad **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2014, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995 "2014-06-04T04:52:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Waymore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Waymore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waymore)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/1 "2014-06-04T04:52:44Z")
I’ve checked out a couple of translations of _The Iliad_ recently, and I’ve noticed an anachronism. Often horses are said to be eating corn. But, I’m fairly certain that pre-Columbian Europeans didn’t know what corn was. The only translator I can site right now is Samuel Butler, but I’m fairly certain he’s not the only one to do this. Were the translators unaware of this? What is the common English name of the ancient Greek plant that’s being translated as corn? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/2 "2014-06-04T04:55:14Z")
Corn doesn’t always mean maize. Are you sure the translators are American? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/3 "2014-06-04T04:56:24Z")
in British English, “corn” is a general term for grains, not North American maize. See this column by **Cecil Adams** from 1978: [How could the Romans use corn? It’s American!](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/94/how-could-the-romans-use-corn-its-american) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/4 "2014-06-04T05:03:09Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > in British English, “corn” is a general term for grains, not North American maize. > > See this column by **Cecil Adams** from 1978: [How could the Romans use corn? It’s American!](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/94/how-could-the-romans-use-corn-its-american) In English English “corn” usually means wheat (possibly it usually means oats in Scotland). In general, it means the staple grain crop of the country. (However, British people do use the terms “sweetcorn” and “corn-on-the-cob” to refer to forms of maize.) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/5 "2014-06-04T05:21:51Z")
[Cambridge Dictionaries online](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/corn_1): “UK (the seeds of) plants, such as wheat, maize, oats, and barley, that can be used to produce flour” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/6 "2014-06-04T05:33:12Z")
Let’s not forget their iron weapons if we are going to go on about anachronisms. Troy was bronze age. ---
**Author:** ![Waymore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Waymore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waymore)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/7 "2014-06-04T06:10:19Z")
Thanks for the help guy. I’m American, and the translators (I presume) are British, hence the mix up. Two nations with a common culture and separate languages I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Waymore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Waymore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waymore)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/8 "2014-06-04T06:11:32Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Let’s not forget their iron weapons if we are going to go on about anachronisms. Troy was bronze age. That I was aware of. But Homer wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/9 "2014-06-04T11:24:24Z")
D’oh!! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/10 "2014-06-04T12:30:20Z")
IIRC “maize” was also referred to as “Indian corn”, hence the shortening to “corn” in N. America. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/11 "2014-06-04T14:47:51Z")
Troy was on the fringes of the Hittite empire, so it had access to iron. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/12 "2014-06-04T15:13:22Z")
_You_ call it corn. _We_ call it maize. Pass the margarine. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/13 "2014-06-04T15:21:33Z")
An unpublished extra chapter was recently found where Odysseus gets shipwrecked off the coast of Flanders. Stupid Flanders. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/14 "2014-06-04T15:31:23Z")
And cornholing? Is that something the Brits do? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/15 "2014-06-04T15:31:37Z")
And where Achilles eats corned ox. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/16 "2014-06-04T15:39:42Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Let’s not forget their iron weapons if we are going to go on about anachronisms. Troy was bronze age. My theory is that in British usage, “iron” is just a general term for metals. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/17 "2014-06-04T15:40:14Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > And where Achilles eats corned ox. That was really corny. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/18 "2014-06-04T15:57:03Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > _You_ call it corn. _We_ call it maize. > Pass the margarine. It hurts, hurts I say, to read that. Pass the butter. And that’s butter in the sense of actual butter, made from milk/cream, came from cows. Not “butter” meaning any pale yellow glop that some people put on bread. Kids these days don’t seem to know the difference. And what are they doing on my lawn? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/19 "2014-06-04T16:23:14Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > It hurts, hurts I say, to read that. Pass the butter. > > And that’s butter in the sense of actual butter, made from milk/cream, came from cows. Not “butter” meaning any pale yellow glop that some people put on bread. Kids these days don’t seem to know the difference. And what are they doing on my lawn? No, youngun’ you get off _my_ lawn! [Mazola Margarine](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuOlD0JZhM4&feature=kp) (FTR, the Devil household keeps a tub of some sort of oil-based product in the freezer for guests who for some reason want it (read: mothers in-law). Otherwise, all we keep in the fridge is butter (salted and unsalted), so I’m completely with you at the dig at the plasticine goop.) ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995/20 "2014-06-05T02:59:16Z")
I’ve seen more than one production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in which the “corn” is depicted as Maize. That’s not the worst anachronism, however, since Pharaoh is portrayed as Elvis. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anachronism-in-the-iliad/689995.md?page=2)