Homer, Iliad, and Odyssey

HOMER Eighth century BCE

Greek literature begins with. . .

Greek literature begins with two masterpieces, the Iliad and Odyssey, Odyssey, which cannot be accurately dated (the conjectural dates range over three centuries) and which are attributed to the poet Homer, about whom nothing is known except his name.

The blind bard Demodocus

The Greeks believed that he was blind, perhaps because the bard Demodocus in the Odyssey was blind and seven different cities put forward claims to be his birthplace.

Cithara/ Lyre

APOTHEOSIS OF HOMER By Ingres

Homer: Oral Tradition

It was a blurred memory (Homer does not remember the writing, for example, or the detailed bureaucratic accounting recorded on the tablets) and this is easy to understand: some time in the last century of the millennium the great palaces were destroyed by fire.
Alice Y. Chang 9

Mycenaean wealth Age

the Dark

With them disappeared not only the arts and skills that had created Mycenaean wealth but even the system of writing. For the next few hundred years the Greeks were illiterate and so no written evidence survives for what, in view of our ignorance about so many aspects of it, we Greece. call the Dark Age of Greece
Alice Y. Chang 10

Alice Y. Chang

11

Dolphin fresco
A detail of the restored Dolphin fresco on the wall of the Queens Room in the Minoan palace at Knossos. The rosette pattern below the dolphins is typically Minoan and the whole fresco probably dates from the last phase of the 1450BCE New palace, around 1450-1400 BCE.

Alice Y. Chang

12

the Trojan War and Mycenaean Age

The stories told in the Homeric poems are set in the age of the Trojan War which archeologists War, (those, that is, who believe that it happened at all) date to the twelfth century B.C. Though the poems do preserve some faded memories of the Mycenaean Age as we have Age, them they probably are the creation of later centuries, the tenth to the eighth B.C., the socalled Dark Age that succeeded the collapse (or destruction) of Mycenaean civilization.

Alice Y. Chang

13

Iliad and the Ionian landsacpe

The Iliad contains several accurate descriptions of natural features of the Ionian landscape but his grasp of the landscape, geography of mainland, especially western, Greece is unsure.

About to the age of writing

The two great epics that have made his name supreme among poets may have been fixed in something like their present form before the art of writing was in general use in Greece Greece; it is certain that they were intended not for reading but for oral recitation. The earliest stages of their composition date from around the beginnings of Greek literacythe literacy late eighth century B.C. The poems exhibit the unmistakable characteristics of oral composition.

the immense poetic reserve

Of course he could and did invent new phrases and scenes as he recitedbut his base was the immense poetic reserve created by many generations of singers who lived before him. When he told again for his hearers the old story of Achilles and his wrath he was wrath, recreating a traditional story that had been recited, with variations, additions, and improvements, by a long line of predecessors.

Magnificently ordered
The Iliad and Odyssey as we have them, however, are unlike most of the oral literature we know from other times and places. The poetic organization of each of these two epics, the subtle interrelationship of the parts, which creates their structural and emotional unity, suggests that they owe their present form to the shaping hand of a single poet, the architect who selected from the enormous wealth of the oral tradition and fused what he took with original material to create, perhaps with the aid of the new medium of writing, the two magnificently ordered poems known as the Iliad and Odyssey.

The Iliad
Sing, goddess, the rage of Achilles the son of Peleus, the destructive rage that sent countless ills on the Achaeans...

Iliad
750725

The Achaeansthe Hellenes (Greeks), Danaans, and Argives

Agamemnon King of Mycenae; leader of the Greeks. Achilles King of the Myrmidons. Odysseus King of Ithaca; the wiliest Greek commander, and hero of the Odyssey. Menelaus King of Sparta; husband of Helen.
Aias (Ajax the Greater) son of Telamon, with Diomedes, he is second to Achilles in martial prowess. Aias (Ajax the Lesser) son of Oileus, often partner of Ajax the Greater. Diomedes son of Tydeus, King of Argos.

The Trojan men

Priam the aged King of Troy. Hector son of King Priam; the foremost Trojan warrior. Paris Helens lover-abductor. Agenor a Trojan warrior who attempts to fight Achilles (Book XXI). Dolona spy upon the Greek camp (Book X). Antenor King Priams advisor, who argues for returning Helen to end the war; Paris refuses. Aeneas son of Anchises and Aphrodite. Deiphobus brother of Hector and Paris. Polydorus son of Priam and Laothoe.

The Trojan women

Hecuba Priams wife; mother of Hector, Cassandra, Paris, and others. Helen Menelauss wife; espoused first to Paris, then to Deiphobus. Andromache Hectors wife; mother of Astyanax Cassandra Priams daughter; courted by Apollo, who bestows the gift of prophecy to her; upon her rejection, he curses her, and her warnings of Trojan doom go unheeded.

Cassandra
In Greek mythology, Cassandra, "she who entangles men"; also known as Alexandra) was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy. However, when she did not return his love, Apollo placed a curse on her so that no one would ever believe her predictions.

Painting by Evelyn De Morgan.

Ajax taking Cassandra,

tondo of a red-figure kylix by the , ca.

440-430 BC, Louvre

Cassandra 'syndrome
The Cassandra metaphor (variously labelled the Cassandra 'syndrome', 'complex', 'phenomenon', 'predicament', 'dilemma', or 'curse'), is a term applied in situations in which valid warnings or concerns are dismissed or disbelieved.

Nostos homecoming
occurs seven times in the poem (II.155, II.251, IX.413, IX.434, IX.622, X.509, XVI.82); thematically, the concept of homecoming is much explored in Ancient Greek literature, especially in the post-war homeward fortunes experienced by Atreidae, Agamemnon, and Odysseus (see the Odyssey), thus, nostos is impossible without sacking Troy King Agamemnons motive for winning, at any cost.

Richmond Lattimore translates:

For my mother Thetis the goddess of silver feet tells me I carry two sorts of destiny toward the day of my death. Either, if I stay here and fight beside the city of the Trojans, my return home is gone, but my glory shall be everlasting; but if I return home to the beloved land of my fathers, the excellence of my glory is gone, but there will be a long life left for me, and my end in death will not come to me quickly.

tim respect, honor

the concept denoting the respectability an honorable man accrues with accomplishment (cultural, political, martial), per his station in life. In Book I, the Greek troubles begin with King Agamemnons dishonorable, unkingly behavior first, by threatening the priest Chryses (1.11), then, by aggravating them in disrespecting Achilles, by confiscating Bryseis from him (1.171). The warriors consequent rancor against the dishonorable king ruins the Greek military cause.

Kleos glory, fame

is the concept of glory earned in heroic battle; for most of the Greek invaders of Troy, notably Odysseus, kleos is earned in a victorious nostos (homecoming), yet not for Achilles, he must choose one reward, either nostos or kleos. In Book IX (IX.41016), he poignantly tells Agamemnons envoysOdysseus, Phoenix, Ajax begging his reinstatement to battle about having to choose between two fates (9.411).

The Wrath of Achilles

His personal rage and wounded soldiers vanity propel the story the Greeks faltering in battle, the slayings of Patroclus and Hector, and the fall of Troy. In Book I, the Wrath of Achilles first emerges in the Achillesconvoked meeting, between the Greek kings and Calchas, the Seer. King Agamemnon dishonours Chryses, the Trojan Apollonian priest, by refusing with a threat the restitution of his daughter, Chryseis despite the proffered ransom of gifts beyond count; [12] the insulted priest prays his gods help and a nine-day rain of arrows falls upon the Greeks.

Zeuss divine intervention

After that, only Athena stays Achilles' wrath. He vows to never again to obey orders from Agamemnon. Furious, Achilles cries to his mother, Thetis, who persuades Zeuss divine intervention favouring the Trojans until Achilles' rights are restored.

Hector kills Patroclus.

Meanwhile, Hector leads the Trojans to almost pushing the Greeks back to the sea (Book XII); later, Agamemnon contemplates defeat and retreat to Greece (Book XIV). Again, the Wrath of Achilles turns the wars tide in seeking vengeance when Hector kills Patroclus. Aggrieved, Achilles tears his hair and dirties his face; Thetis comforts her mourning son

Moirae

Fate, destiny

propels most of the events of the Iliad. Once set, gods and men abide it, neither truly able nor willing to contest it. How fate is set is unknown, but it is told by the Fates and Seers such as Calchas. Men and their gods continually speak of heroic acceptance and cowardly avoidance of ones slated fate.

Aeneas survives the Trojan War

Divinely-aided, Aeneas escapes the wrath of Achilles and survives the Trojan War. Whether or not the gods can alter fate, they do abide it, despite its countering their human allegiances, thus, the mysterious origin of fate is a power beyond the gods.

the Three Fates

Fate implies the primeval, tripartite division of the world that Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades effected in deposing their father, Cronus, for its dominion. Zeus took the Air and the Sky, Poseidon the Waters, and Hades the Underworld, the land of the dead yet, they share dominion of the Earth. Despite the earthly powers of the Olympic gods, only the Three Fates set the destiny of Man.

The Moirae, as depicted in a 16th century tapestry

 Clotho ("spinner") spun the thread of life from her distaff onto her spindle. Lachesis ("allotter" or drawer of lots) measured the thread of life allotted to each person with her measuring rod. Atropos ("inexorable" or "inevitable", literally "unturning. sometimes called Aisa) was the cutter of the thread of life. She chose the manner of each person's death; Her Roman equivalent was Morta ('Death').

the three Moirae

Classical images illustrating the Iliad.

Repertory of outstanding painted vases, wall paintings and other ancient iconography of the War of Troy.
http://www.uark.edu/campusresources/achilles/iliad/iliad.html

Trojans and Greeks, illustration from the Vergilius Romanus

Book One and Book Two

Book 1: After nine years of the Trojan War, King Agamemnon seizes Briseis, Achilless war-concubine, for having relinquished Chryseis; dishonoured, Achilles wrathfully withdraws; the gods argue the Wars outcome. Book 2: Testing Greek resolve, Agamemnon feigns a homeward order; Odysseus encourages the Greeks to pursue the fight; see the Catalogue of Ships and the Catalogue of Trojans and Allies.

war
Of the two poems the Iliad is perhaps the earlier. Its subject is war war; its characters are men in battle and women whose fate depends on the outcome.

the Achaeans v.s. the Trojans v.s.

The war is fought by the Achaeans against Helen, the Trojans for the recovery of Helen the wife of the Achaean chieftain Menelaus Menelaus; the combatants are heroes who in their chariots engage in individual duels before the supporting lines of infantry and archers. The comparison of Patroclus to an angler emphasizes another aspect of battle, its excitement.

angler
noun: a fisherman who uses a hook and line noun: a scheming person; someone who schemes to gain an advantage noun: fishes having large mouths with a wormlike filament attached for luring prey

Hector
The great champion of the Trojans, Hector, fights bravely, but reluctantly. War, for him, is a necessary evil and he evil, thinks nostalgically of the peaceful past past, though he has little hope of peace to come.

Achilles slays Hector

Hector and Achilles

We see Hector, as we do not see Achilles, against the background of the patterns of civilized lifethe rich city with its life temples and palaces, the continuity of the family. family The duel between these two men is the inevitable crisis of the poem, and just as inevitable is Hectors defeat and death.

Hectors death
At the climactic moment of Hectors death, death as everywhere in the poem, Homers firm control of his material preserves the balance in which our contrary emotions are held; pity for Hector does not entirely rob us of sympathy for Achilles Achilles.

The Funeral of Hector

War and Peace

This tragic action is the center of the poem, but it is surrounded by scenes that remind us that the organized destruction of war though an integral part of human war, life is still only a part of it. life, The yearning for peace and its creative possibilities is never far below the surface.

The Shield of Achilles

 These two poles of the human condition war and peace, with their corresponding aspects of human nature, the destructive and the creativeare implicit in every situation and statement of the poem, and they are put before us, in symbolic form, in the shield that the god Hephaestus makes for Achilles, with its scenes of human life in both peace and war. Whether these two sides of life can ever be integrated, or even reconciled, is a question that the Iliad raises but cannot answer.

Hephaestus
a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan. He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes. Hephaestus was lame, which gave him a grotesque appearance in Greek eyes. He served as the blacksmith of the gods, and he was worshipped in the manufacturing and industrial centers of Greece, particularly in Athens. The center of his cult was in Lemnos.

http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html

The Iliad By Homer Written 800 B.C.E Translated by Samuel Butler