(Working draft of revised event guidelines provided by Lauren.)

1. Not every single thing that happens is an 'event.'

1. Not "Menelaus thoughtfully scratches his beard."

2. Do not include each conversational turn in an extend conversation into separate events.

1. Not event 1 "Odysseus greets Agamemnon," event 2 "Agamemnon greets Odysseus."

3. Do not include extraneous detail in event descriptions.

1. event_14011: "Hera goes to the room built for her by Hephaestus and makes herself look as lovely as possible."

1. why the detail about Hephaestus building the room? If this is important, it should be its own, separate event. If it's not important, don't include it at all.

4. Do not shoehorn events separated from each other in time or space together because they are narratively related.

1. event_14011 above.

1. Hera going into the room, and Hephaestus building the room, are separate events. They are not the same event just because they are mentioned closely together in the text.

5. Put event descriptions into clear, neutral modern English. Do not copy or imitate the archaic phrasing of the translations

1. Some examples of archaic words and phrases best avoided:

1. bid

2. quarrel

6. Avoid unnecessary adjectives and descriptions.

1. event_14012 "Hera lies to Aphrodite and asks if she will help her to procure some potent love charms to settle a quarrel between Rhea and Cronus, when she really intends to use them upon Zeus."

1. "potent" is extraneous.

2. event_14009 "Poseidon looses a fearsome battle cry and raises the morale of the Achaeans."

1. cut "fearsome."

7. Record events, not narrative explanations.

1. see event_14012 above. In general, say what happens, but do not include complicated plot-based explanations of why it's happening. The event above should be restated with something like "Hera gets a love potion from Aphrodite." You do not need to be utterly complete and include every detail from the text. Event descriptions point people to the texts if they want more detail; they do not replace the text.

8. Use standard, academic-writing type English grammar.

1. event_15020 "Poseidon warns Iris that if Zeus spares Troy, himself, Hera, Athena, Hermes and Hephaestus will be very angry."

1. "himself" is not standard here. "He" is usual, but if you want to emphasize that this is Poseidon (and not Zeus) you could write "he himself."

9. With the exception of the weirdness of the CoS, events happen only in one place. This is especially true when the happen in sequence rather than simultaneously.

1. event_15004: "Zeus rescues Hercules from Cos and brings him back to Argos." The place for this event is recorded as CoS, but this seems to also include Argos. The rescue should be separated from the return home.

10. Give preference to an action rather than the speech act which instigates or describes it.

1. event_3119: "Agamemnon commands the Achaeans to purify themselves an offer sacrifice to Apollo."

1. We are not here told whether or not the Achaeans actually did, only that Agamemnon commanded it. This would perhaps be okay if the text were silent on the issue of whether the command was carried out, but it is not.

11. Be careful of using the definite article without a clear antecedent (and event descriptions should generally be so short that there shouldn't be one).

1. e.g. event_14000: "Nestor goes to investigate the sounds of fighting by the ships."

1. Read in isolation "the ships" doesn't make any sense. "the Greek ships" is better.

2. If you need to choose, the description should be of an action taking place, rather than an action about to take place or having just taken place.

1. e.g. event_14000: "Nestor goes to investigate the sounds of fighting by the ships". "Nestor investigates" would be better.

2. Of course, if the antecedents of an event are important, they may be included as their own event. They should not, however, be included instead of the main event.

3. In general, verbs that describe a state of being or a state of mind should not be the focus of an event or an event description.

1. e.g. event_14005: "Agamemnon believes that Zeus has turned on the Achaeans and orders the ships drawn down into the water while the battle rages so that some may have a chance of escape."