General introduction to Homeric Poetry
Juraj Franek (j.franek@mail.muni.cz)
Homeric question(s)
“Die Entwicklung der Forschung hat es bedingt, daß man von Homer nicht sprechen
kann, ohne die homerische Frage mitzumeinen.” (Albin Lesky)
• Who composed the Odyssey (and the Iliad)?
• When did this happen?
• What is the nature of their composition?
• Why is “Homer” quite repetitive?
• Is Odyssey (and Iliad) fiction or history? Is it both, but to a different degree?
• Which period of Greek history do the epics depict?
• Mycenaean? Dark ages? Archaic? A combination of different periods?
• Can archeological findings settle the questions in any meaningful way?
Who composed the Iliad?
• Friedrich Wolf, Prolegomena ad Homerum (1795)
• Epics are composed orally around 950 BCE
• Written down and edited by a compiler in 6th century BCE
• Karl Lachmann, Betrachtungen über Homers Iliad (1847)
• Just like the German Nibelungenlied, epics are collections of separate songs
• Songs have been composed with little to no relationship one to another
• Author is the “collective genius of Greek people”
• Analytical interpretation
• Unitarian interpretation
• Interpolationists (Hermann): Homer -> Interpolators -> Iliad
• Neo-analysts (Kakridis): Multiple oral traditions -> Homer -> Iliad
Internal inconsistencies: Iliad
“Son of Atreus, most lordly and king of men, Agamemnon,
none could scorn any longer these gifts you offer to Achilleus
the king. Come, let us choose and send some men, who in all speed
will go to the shelter of Achilleus, the son of Peleus;
or come, the men on whom my eye falls, let these take the duty.
First of all let Phoinix, beloved of Zeus, be their leader,
and after him take Aias the great, and brilliant Odysseus,
and of the heralds let Odios and Eurybates go with them.”
(Il. IX, 163-170)
Ἀτρεΐδη κύδιστε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν Ἀγάμεμνον
δῶρα μὲν οὐκέτ’ ὀνοστὰ διδοῖς Ἀχιλῆϊ ἄνακτι·
ἀλλ’ ἄγετε κλητοὺς ὀτρύνομεν, οἵ κε τάχιστα (165)
ἔλθωσ’ ἐς κλισίην Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος.
εἰ δ’ ἄγε τοὺς ἂν ἐγὼ ἐπιόψομαι οἳ δὲ πιθέσθων.
Φοῖνιξ μὲν πρώτιστα Διῒ φίλος ἡγησάσθω,
αὐτὰρ ἔπειτ’ Αἴας τε μέγας καὶ δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς·
κηρύκων δ’ Ὀδίος τε καὶ Εὐρυβάτης ἅμ’ ἑπέσθων. (170)
So these two walked along the strand of the sea deep-thundering
with many prayers to the holder and shaker of the earth, that they
might readily persuade the great heart of Aiakides.
Now they came beside the shelters and ships of the Myrmidons
and they found Achilleus delighting his heart in a lyre, clear-sounding,
splendid and carefully wrought, with a bridge of silver upon it,
which he won out of the spoils when he ruined Eëtion’s city.
With this he was pleasuring his heart, and singing of men’s fame,
as Patroklos was sitting over against him, alone, in silence,
watching Aiakides and the time he would leave off singing.
Now these two came forward, as brilliant Odysseus led them,
and stood in presence. Achilleus rose to his feet in amazement
holding the lyre as it was, leaving the place where he was sitting.
(Il. IX, 182-194)
Τὼ δὲ βάτην παρὰ θῖνα πολυφλοίσβοιο θαλάσσης
πολλὰ μάλ’ εὐχομένω γαιηόχῳ ἐννοσιγαίῳ
ῥηϊδίως πεπιθεῖν μεγάλας φρένας Αἰακίδαο.
Μυρμιδόνων δ’ ἐπί τε κλισίας καὶ νῆας ἱκέσθην, (185)
τὸν δ’ εὗρον φρένα τερπόμενον φόρμιγγι λιγείῃ
καλῇ δαιδαλέῃ, ἐπὶ δ’ ἀργύρεον ζυγὸν ἦεν,
τὴν ἄρετ’ ἐξ ἐνάρων πόλιν Ἠετίωνος ὀλέσσας·
τῇ ὅ γε θυμὸν ἔτερπεν, ἄειδε δ’ ἄρα κλέα ἀνδρῶν.
Πάτροκλος δέ οἱ οἶος ἐναντίος ἧστο σιωπῇ, (190)
δέγμενος Αἰακίδην ὁπότε λήξειεν ἀείδων,
τὼ δὲ βάτην προτέρω, ἡγεῖτο δὲ δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,
στὰν δὲ πρόσθ’ αὐτοῖο· ταφὼν δ’ ἀνόρουσεν Ἀχιλλεὺς
αὐτῇ σὺν φόρμιγγι λιπὼν ἕδος ἔνθα θάασσεν.
Internal inconsistencies: Odyssey
When Athene, lady of many counsels, puts it into
my mind, I will nod my head to you, and when you will perceive it,
take all the warlike weapons which are stored in the great hall
and carry them off and store them away in the inward corner
of the high chamber; and when the suitors miss them and ask you
about them, answer and beguile them with soft words, saying:
“I stored them away out of the smoke, since they are no longer
like what Odysseus left behind when he went to Troy land,
but are made foul, with all the smoke of the fire upon them.
[…] but leave behind, for you and me alone, a pair each
of swords and spears and a pair of oxhide shields, to take up
in our hands, and wield them, and kill these men; and Zeus of the
[counsels
and Pallas Athene will be there to maze the wits in them.”
(Od. XVI, 281-298)
ὁππότε κεν πολύβουλος ἐνὶ φρεσὶ θῇσιν Ἀθήνη,
νεύσω μέν τοι ἐγὼ κεφαλῇ, σὺ δ’ ἔπειτα νοήσας,
ὅσσα τοι ἐν μεγάροισιν ἀρήϊα τεύχεα κεῖται,
ἐς μυχὸν ὑψηλοῦ θαλάμου καταθεῖναι ἀείρας (285)
πάντα μάλ’· αὐτὰρ μνηστῆρας μαλακοῖσ’ ἐπέεσσι
παρφάσθαι, ὅτε κέν σε μεταλλῶσιν ποθέοντες·
‘ἐκ καπνοῦ κατέθηκ’, ἐπεὶ οὐκέτι τοῖσιν ἐῴκει,
οἷά ποτε Τροίηνδε κιὼν κατέλειπεν Ὀδυσσεύς,
ἀλλὰ κατῄκισται, ὅσσον πυρὸς ἵκετ’ ἀϋτμή. (290)
[…] νῶϊν δ’ οἴοισιν δύο φάσγανα καὶ δύο δοῦρε (295)
καλλιπέειν καὶ δοιὰ βοάγρια χερσὶν ἑλέσθαι,
ὡς ἂν ἐπιθύσαντες ἑλοίμεθα· τοὺς δέ κ’ ἔπειτα
Παλλὰς Ἀθηναίη θέλξει καὶ μητίετα Ζεύς.
‘Father, now I will go and bring you a shield, and two spears,
And a helmet all of bronze fitting close to your temples.
I too will go and put on armor, and give the swineherd
And oxherd more to wear. It is better for us to be armored.’
Then in turn resourceful Odysseus spoke to him in answer:
‘Run and fetch them, while I have arrows still to defend me,
Or else, while I am alone, they might force me from the doorway.’
So he spoke, and Telemachos obeyed his dear father,
And went on his way to the inner room, where glorious
Armor was stored away […]
(Od. XXII, 101-109)
“ὦ πάτερ, ἤδη τοι σάκος οἴσω καὶ δύο δοῦρε
καὶ κυνέην πάγχαλκον, ἐπὶ κροτάφοισ’ ἀραρυῖαν,
αὐτός τ’ ἀμφιβαλεῦμαι ἰών, δώσω δὲ συβώτῃ
καὶ τῷ βουκόλῳ ἄλλα· τετευχῆσθαι γὰρ ἄμεινον.”
τὸν δ’ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς· (105)
“οἶσε θέων, εἷός μοι ἀμύνεσθαι πάρ’ ὀϊστοί,
μή μ’ ἀποκινήσωσι θυράων μοῦνον ἐόντα.”
ὣς φάτο, Τηλέμαχος δὲ φίλῳ ἐπεπείθετο πατρί,
βῆ δ’ ἴμεναι θάλαμόνδ’, ὅθι οἱ κλυτὰ τεύχεα κεῖτο.
External (in)consistencies
Top:
Gold signet ring from shaft grave IV, Mycenae (LH II), ca. 1500
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
Left:
Late Helladic (IIIA) terracotta chariot krater, ca. 1375-1350
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Cypriot bronze rod tripod
Late Bronze Age, ca. 1250-1050
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Cypro-Archaic cauldron and stand
Orientalizing Period, ca. 800-700
Cyprus Museum, Nicosia
Jacques-Louis David, The Funeral of Patroclus, 1778, National Gallery of Ireland
“Treasury of Atreus”, Mycenae, c. 1250
The discovery of Troy (Hissalrik) and Mycenae
Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) Wilhelm Dörpfeld (1853-1940) Carl Blegen (1887-1971)
Troy VIIa (destroyed around 1250 BC)
“Priam’s treasure” (belonging to Troy II stratum), now mostly in Pushkin Museum, Moscow
Archeological site at Mycenae, aerial view
“Mask of Agamemnon” and “Treasury of Atreus”, Mycenae
“Entrance to Tomb of Agamemnon, Conqueror of Troy (B.C. 1194), Mycenae, Greece”
Odysseus’ travels, Scheria and Greek colonization
Odysseus and Ithaca?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8buaCDlYU2U
Milman Parry (1902-1935) Albert Lord (1912-1991) Avdo Međedović (ca. 1875-1953)
Modern view
“In sum, with due regard to the unknowables, I would argue that the Iliad and Odyssey
were conceived as new kinds of text by their oral poet(s). The notion that they wrote
and lovingly revised their texts with pen in hand seems anachronistic, but it is possible
that large portions of the songs, through premeditation, came to be fixed. Their
contemporary recording in writing cannot be coincidental; but which is cause, and
which is effect? The pairs ‘unfixed/fixed’ and ‘oral/written’ are not exactly synonymous.
Perhaps one could describe the progression thus: (1) non-fixed, because oral; (2) oral,
with many consciously fixed passages; (3) mostly fixed, and therefore written; (4)
written to start with, and therefore fixed. In Homer’s day, I suggest, Greek epic moved
through (2) to (3).” (Robin Fowler)