Homer’s Iliad

Clst 181SK Ancient Greece and the Origins of Western Culture

Books 6, 9

Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, Aegean Sea, Egypt, Phoenicia, Peloponnesus, Ionia, Crete, Cyprus, Delphi, Mycenae, Pylos, Troy,

Aulis, Hellespont

Historical periods: overview !

c. 1450-1200 B.C. Late Bronze Age = Mycenaean Age !

c. 1200-750 B.C. Iron Age (= Dark Age) !

c. 750-480 B.C. Archaic Period !

c. 480-323 B.C. Classical Period (begins with defeat of Persians, ends with Alexander the Great)

!

"Homer" "wrote" the poems ca. 750 B.C.

!1. Classical Greece (fifth and fourth centuries: ca. 480-323 B.C.)

!Rhapsodes, at festivals and before large crowds

!memorized the Iliad and Odyssey (!)

!cf. Plato, Ion:

!rhapsode dressed in tremendous finery, with a golden wreath on the head, a ceremonial staff; a striking presence with the air of a religious figure. 20,000

people. !

How did the ancient Greeks read the Iliad?

2. Archaic Greece (eighth through sixth centuries B.C.) !

cf. folktales : Eumaeus (swineherd) in Odyssey 15: a vivid image of the age-old story swapping session:

!"Listen in silence and enjoy yourself; sit there and drink your wine. These nights

are endless. A man can sleep, or enjoy listening to stories; no need for you to go to bed before it is time. A lot of sleep is a bore."

!But Iliad and Odyssey are not that.

How did the ancient Greeks read the Iliad?

3. Iron Age Greece (1200 through 750 B.C.) !

verse sung as original compositions by professional poets !

Bard / Singer = aioidos, "singing" to the lyre. cf. Demodocus in Odyssey book 8 !

Generally, entertainers are treated as lowlife, but singers are treated with respect !

"cherished by the people", "loved by the Muse" !

Odysseus personally sends Demodocus a gift of meat, praises him lavishly, and declares that singers must be cherished and revered, b/c the Muse has taught

them and loves them. (Muse: inspiration: memory: where in Iliad?) !

Singing as a form of enchantment, a transport to a magical land of old, a yesteryear of gods, heroes, and heroic conflicts and ideals. Chanted or sung to

the lyre: chanting, hypnotizing, magical, almost religious?

How did the ancient Greeks read the Iliad?

How did the ancient Greeks read the Iliad?

Sung in dactylic hexameter verse (very strict, like the English sonnet) !

mênin aeide thea pêlêiadeô Achilêos - 6 “beats” Similarities and differences between the rhapsode of later times, and an aioidos like Homer. !

• Similar: professional, awe-inspiring, enrapts the audience !

• Different: lyre, audience & context, original composition vs memorized !Homeric bard was illiterate (!), making up the verses as he goes along! !

• a kind of traditional oral poetry!

How did the ancient Greeks read the Iliad?

formulaic poetry: !

"brilliant Odysseus", "godlike Achilles" or "Peleus' son" or "Achilles of the swift feet", "the son of Atreus Agamemnon", "man-slaughtering Hector"

!short: Beside the swift ships sat godlike Achilles ...

!medium: Drawing his sword Peleus' son Achilles ...

!long: In anger did Achilles of the swift feet ...

!Milman Parry and the oral poetry hypothesis

!Convincing parallels in Serbo-Croatia and Turkey (video next time)

How did the ancient Greeks read the Iliad?

Formulaic Poetry:!Not just formulaic lines however ("brilliant Odysseus", "godlike Achilles" or

"Peleus' son" or "Achilles of the swift feet", "the son of Atreus Agamemnon", "man-slaughtering Hector”)

!Type scenes!

Examples: sacrificing, feasting, suppliants Note: type scenes tend to reflect what is socially normalizing

!Paradigmatic/exemplary tales!

complex tales that reflect on proper/improper behaviors, often with relevance to the main plot line, but usually not exactly parallel

!

Homer’s Iliad

Clst 181SK Ancient Greece and the Origins of Western Culture

Book 6 !

Hector and Andromache

General character: Lingfei

Homer’s Iliad

Clst 181SK Ancient Greece and the Origins of Western Culture

Book 6

The principal new characters are: !

•Diomedes, son of Tydeus (the great Greek warrior who is the focus of book 5) •Glaucus, Trojan hero who exchanges his golden armor for Diomedes' bronze armor •Bellerophon, ancestor of Glaucus •Hekabe/Hecuba, wife of Trojan king Priam, mother of Hector (and many others) •Andromache, wife of Hector •Astyanax, infant son of Hector (name ironically means “defender of the city”)

Type Scene !

Suppliant scene Book 6 lines 46ff (pp. 159f)

Menelaus, Agamemnon

Paradagmatic/Exemplary Tale !

Bellerophon story Glaukos and Diomedes the son of Tydeus

Book 6 lines 144ff (pp. 163ff) !

key terms, elements: leaves simile, xenia = guest friendship (Bellerophon and Proitos, also Diomedes and Glaukos), woman’s seduction/deceit, “baleful/deadly signs,” heroic “labors” (cf labors of Hercules/Herakles), trading gold for bronze

1. Relation to Paris? 2. Relation to Hektor? 3. Juxtaposition

with what comes next?

Generations of leaves: esp. Zhifan, also Qin, Wenjia, Lingfei, Arabella.

Hector and Andromache Episode

1. Mother (Hekabê/Hecuba) 2. Sister-in-law, seductress (Helen) 3. Wife and child (Andromache and Astyanax)

Andromache as mad woman: Jerry (“reasonable”)

Hector: “let the heaped up earth hide me, did, before I hear your cry as they drag you away…”: Yi.

Compare Helen and Andromache: Arabella

Hector and Andromache Episode

1. Mother (Hekabê/Hecuba) 2. Sister-in-law, seductress (Helen) 3. Wife and child (Andromache and Astyanax)

How does the domestic scene here contrast with those we've seen elsewhere (i.e., the scenes on Olympus, as at the end of book 1)?

Hector and Andromache Episode

How does the domestic scene here contrast with those we've seen elsewhere (i.e., the scenes on Olympus, as at the end of book 1)?

• real humanness, not a caricature • seen through the eyes of the Trojans, the “enemy,” the victims • Hector’s kindness towards Helen; realistic assessment of the military situation; warmness

towards wife and son • parting statement on the mortality of man and the necessity to do one's duty in life

Paris as stallion: esp. Wingjia, Ted, also Lingfei, .

Homer’s Iliad

Clst 181SK Ancient Greece and the Origins of Western Culture

Book 9 !

The Embassy

Homer’s Iliad Book 9 !

The Embassyatê - "blind folly": clouds a man's sense of what is right and makes him err against his will: both Agamemnon and Achilles exhibit this in book 1 timê - "honor" in the sense of the status, respect, or dignity that the community assigns you: similar to our word “prestige" geras - the "prize" which is the objective sign of timê kleos - the "fame" or "glory" the hero seeks, but this too is oddly bound up with objective signs of the glory: see the centrality of gifts in the Meleager tale by Phoenix, lines 586ff, or in Ajax’s brief remarks at 618ff (and cf. the odd details in the Dolon episode, where Diomedes and Odysseus seem equally interested in the "glory" of the daring exploit and the "glory" of the prized horses they bring back as the sign of that exploit) hybris (or hubris) - the "arrogance" of a man that does not know his limits: he does not regard the motto of the temple of Apollo at Delphi, to "know thyself", that is, to understand how one is limited by the mortal condition: we are not gods, we are social animals that must confine ourselves to prescribed social behaviors, etc.

Homer’s Iliad Book 9 !

The Embassy

Gift exchange, gift giving, gifts as the basis of timê in the shame culture, in a way very different from our internal evaluation of what is “worthy"or “honorable” in our guilt culture

Homer’s Iliad Book 9 !

The Embassy

The "gift attack”: Agamemnon, lines110ff !

Odysseus, line 263ff: what is different about Odysseus' speech? (1) beginning, (2) end !

Achilles' reply: Radical? Rebellion? A new standard? !

lines 305ff. lines 310ff !

The "choice of Achilles" - kleos or life - lines 406ff !

Reply to his teacher Phoenix - a new kind of timê? - lines 597ff !

Like a bird, lines : esp. Zhifan, Wenjia, Jerry, also Qin, Wenjia, Arabella.