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June 6, 2001
The “Greek Miracle”: Greek civilization speaks to every generation.
Gods were super-human as opposed to being something totally different than humans.
What is it to be human?
VOCAB:
xenia: from xenos: friend, guest, stranger
how one is expected to behave as a stranger/guest
Many examples in the Odyssey, in fact the entire poem is almost one large example, of
how people behave/misbehave within code of xenia. (Polyphemus and Odysseus both
break the rules.)
Final information: Pick 15 lines from anything read in class, memorize, and regurgitate,
with an explanation of why the lines were chosen.
Main Themes:
1. Relationship of human to divine:
Humans: Mortal, bounded
VOCAB:
telos: has a bounded shape and therefore meaning.
Gods: immortal, unbounded, therefore what they do is trivialized, since if they make a
mistake they have the time to try again later.
Mortals have no time to make mistakes, so what they do counts.
To Greeks, the state of shapelessness has no meaning.
Pythagoras:
Good
limit
shape
male
odd
right
Evil
limitless
material (formless)
female
even
left
The Greek civilization initiated the beginning of science:
If thoughts can be logical enough, everything may be understood.
2. The nature of woman and the relationship to man.
3. Family vs. the state
The Greeks were very political. Everyone had a responsibility to the state to make it
work, but there were conflicts with the family.
4. Establishment of individual identity
How is someone defined? By their thoughts or their actions? If by their actions, how can
you know someone without knowing the thoughts behind the actions? How is self known,
by thoughts or actions?
The Iliad and the Odyssey
Homer may not have been a single person who wrote both poems.
The poems are a growth from oral culture, from episodes composed orally before writing
developed. Verse is much easier to remember than prose. It was composed while the
story was being told. This form still exists in pre-literate cultures – it is thought that the
development of writing destroys the ability to perform in this way.
Formulae – a group of words already in the correct rhythm, used to gain time to compose
further.
i.e, “swift-footed Achilles”
Type-scene: a scene that occurs over and over, i.e. an armouring scene, that can be
amplified or reduced depending on the importance of the episode. Sacrifices, meals, etc.
The longer a type scene is, generally, the more important the episode it follows or is
followed by.
Iliad – from Ilium, Greek name for Troy. Concerns Achilles.
Odyssey – from Odysseus, concerns his journey home.
The Iliad is seen as a poem of death, and the Odyssey as a poem of life. Iliad deals with
deeper questions, while the Odyssey is very optimistic, for the most part.
June 7, 2001
Iliad and Odyssey as oral poems: story formulae, type scenes.
The stories are not set in stone, but are remembered and recomposed for each telling.
Small episodes only are chosen for telling by the bard at a sitting.
But the Iliad and Odyssey are not just episodes strung together – the epics have unity,.
The Iliad focuses on the anger of Achilles, and the Odyssey on Odysseus’ journey home.
All the episodes in the poems bear on the central topic.
The Iliad begins with Achilles not accepting ransom, and ends when he does. The anger
of Achilles is never far from the poet’s mind.
Differences:
The Iliad is seen as legend – notable lack of miraculous events.
The Odyssey is seen as myth – many miraculous elements.
In the 19th century, the poems were taken as complete legend, ahistorical, until a young
German named Heinrich Schliemann set out to find Troy based on its description in the
Iliad. Found Troy and Mycenae.
This shows that there are historical elements in both poems. They may have started off
short and focused specifically on real people and events, but over years were expanded.
Elements in the poems are form different periods, from burial rites that were in practice
around 1400 BC and weapons of the Bronze Age, to artifacts and iron weapons in use
around 750 BC.
The poems were written down around 750 BC, and changed little afterwards.
1400 – 1100 BC
1100 – 800 BC
800 – 500 BC
500 – 323 BC
Bronze Age
Dark Ages
Archaic Period (Iliad, Odyssey, Sappho)
Classical Period (to the death of Alexander the Great)
Bust of Homer – blind, with beard
Blindness was associated with the ability to see beyond the world – a superior
way of seeing in other ways. Example, Teiresias.
The beard is a sign of age and wisdom.
Bard with lyre – early Bronze Age civilization.
Rhapsodes – memorized the written poems and recited them, completing the entire
poems in relays over several days.
History behind the Iliad
Priam, king of Troy, had two sons, Hector, and Paris or Alexander.
Paris the Shepherd (shown with lyre, a sign of aristocracy).
The goddess Eris, of Discord, had not been invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis.
She rolled a golden apple into the wedding party, inscribed “To the Most Beautiful”.
None of the mortals or lesser goddesses wished to compete against Athena, Hera, and
Aphrodite, and Paris was chosen to judge between the three.
Athena – shown with the helmet and aegis (cloak of snakes).
Hera – shown with wedding knot and staff of leadership.
Aphrodite – surrounded by Erotes or Cupids.
They tried to bribe Paris.
Athena – more wisdom than anyone
Hera – more power than anyone
Aphrodite – the most beautiful woman in the world.
Paris is rather young, so he chooses the woman, which is Helen, the queen of King
Menelaos of Sparta.
Paris seduces/kidnaps Helen, who goes willingly/unwillingly.
Helen’s father Tyndareius amde every swear an oath to support him if Helen was ever
abducted, since she was the world’s most beautiful woman. Upon this oath, Menelaos
called the princes of Greece, the most important of which was Agamemnon the king of
Mycenae and the brother of Menelaos, and who leads an expedition to retrieve Helen.
They lay seige to Troy, but no one gains the upper hand, and the Iliad opens after nine
years of stalemate.
The child of Thetis the goddess and Peleus the man is mortal Achilles, who has a
foreknowledge of his fate from his mother. It is either to stay at Troy, and die famous but
young, or to go home and live a long life in obscurity.
VOCAB – kleos, renown
Thetis married a mortal because none of the gods would have her. It had been prophesied
that her son would be more powerful than his father, which for a mortal is desirable since
a son is his father’s legacy after death, but for immortal gods is undesirable.
Map – Greek fleet assembled in Aulis.
Troy commands the approaches to the Bosporous.
Schliemann found Troy on the Turkish coast, at Hisarlik, after looking for a location that
contained all the elements in the poems. Dug down through various levels of the ancient
city and named one of the lowest as the ancient Troy, but it is now thought it is level 6 or
7 from the evidence of a battle at those levels. The traditional date of the fall of troy is
1127 BC and levels 6 and 7 date from around then.
Therefore, there may be a historical nugget in the Iliad. Many of the Linear B tablets
from Mycenae bear names from the Iliad.
Evidence of padding – description of chariots not the way Greeks used them to fight, but
described as “taxis”. Armor actually found at Mycenae differs from description in Iliad.
Shame culture – a person’s worth judged by others
Guilt culture – a person’s worth judged by himself.
Tripods – like bowling trophies.
Nestor’s cup as described in the poems matches one found at Mycenae.
Archaic vs. Classical art/literature.
Kouros – statues from archaic period, all almost identical, with left foot forward.
Classical period statues are much more natural.
Artists from the archaic period tried to distill the essence of humanity.
Classical artists tried to create the ideal of humanity.
June 8
The poems are written in dactylic hexameter. Sometimes patronyms instead of actual
names are used to fill the meter.
Agamemnon has taken Briseis from Achilles. This lessens his kleos – it is diminished by
the loss of his prize. Agamemnon’s kleos has been diminished by the return of Chryseis.
A ransom was offered for Chryseis but Agamemnon refused it and brought down
Apollo’s wrath. Calcuas the seer understands.
Greek men had deep affection for their wives, and an appreciation of their intelligence.
Agamemnon gives Chryseis back without ransom for the good of the army.
I.131-140 – Agamemnon asserts his authority.
Achilles is the greatest fighter, but Agamemnon is the Supreme Commander, who does
not always show good judgment. But he is still in charge.
I.169 – Achilles threatens to go home.
I.350 – 355: one fate of Achilles.
I.405-410: “If I was dead they’d be sorry.”
The episodes of gods accompanying men in their chariots – the gods give help to those
who deserve it.
I.457-474: An elaborate type scene. Serves to show Achilles’ sulkiness.
I.477 – formula of morning.
Why is there such an elaborate scene?
Achilles is still angry and stands out in his voluntary isolation. Sacrifices were communal
events and Achilles refuses to join with the community.
9 days of plague, sacrifice on the 10th.
12 days elapse before Thetis could see Zeus.
Some of Agamemnon’s faults shown in reaction to the false dream.
Thersites and his ugliness – therefore unworthy. But he speaks truth; doesn’t matter
because he is not in charge, and Odysseus answers by beating him. No dissension in the
ranks.
Book 5 – the aristeia of Diomedes.
Diomedes and Glaukos. The grandfather of Diomedes was Oine, and the grandfather of
Glaukos was Bellerophon, joined by xenia in the past.
III.330-339 – arming type scene.
4 major battles in Iliad.
The one-on-one between Paris and Menelaos – taken back to the beginning of the
conflict.
Helen – in love with Menelaos but drawn by Eros to Paris.
Hera wants the Trojans to break the cease-fire first, and the war starts again.
There are many war scenes, each made up of individual and gruesome deaths. Part of the
focus of the Iliad is on mortality. Some personal stories are given on the men killed, to
show that even though they are not much more than Star Trek red-shirts, they are still
human. Serves to show the horribleness of war. (Later) But it is not depressing – one is
stirred by heroism and epic feats.
June 11
VOCAB – polis – city-state. There aren’t any in the Iliad.
Women’s civic duty is largely religious. Men run the city and fight.
VI.263 – Hektor tells women to propitiate Athena.
The two seers of Troy – Helenos, and Polydamas
VI.237
Skaian gates – the main entrance to Troy. Hektor meets his wife here, at the edges of
their respective spheres of influence.
VI.321 – Hector goes to find Paris. It’s only in the light of what happened in Book III that
we know why Paris is in the city. Illustrates unity of the poem.
III.125 – Aphrodite and Helen. Whenever women are seen, they are always working,
usually weaving.
VI.360 – Helen’s lust – men don’t sit down with women unless they’re going to be
intimate. III.423 – Aphrodite brings a chair for Paris to sit in.
This replaces what should be Hector’s interaction with his wife, but he refuses to sit.
VI.370 – Finds Andromache, his wife, with Astyanax by the Skaian gates, where their
worlds collide.
Astyanax – “lord of the trojans.” He is thrown from the walls during the sack of Troy.
VI.467 is ironic and sad.
VI.431 – Andromache gives Hector military advice, which he refuses only because it
would shame him, not because it is not sound (VI.440). Polydamas later gives the same
advice (to stay near the weak part of the wall).
VI.467 – Hector passes from military into family life by removing his “shining helmet”,
the formula that he is usually known by.
Paris returns to fighting in the end of Book VI.
Book VII – end of first battle, that started with the oath-breaking by Pandorus, during the
mano a mano of Menelaos and Paris.
VII.67 – Hector challenges the Greeks and Aias responds, when his lot is drawn, and
Menelaos has volunteered and been put down.
VII.408 – burning bodies – important that dead be respected. For the most part they are,
even though a common threat is to desecrate the body.
VII.268 – Hector’s on the losing end. Zeus intervenes to save him because of his promise
to Thetis.
Hector is the only real Trojan champion to match the greatest of the Greeks. But he
knows Troy will fall, he believes Helen should be returned, and he is fighting past his
capabilities.
VIII.538 – Hector’s hubris – “overweening arrogance”.
A mortal trying to take attributes of immortality is always punished by the gods.
Diomedes walks a fine line, and Hector crosses it.
V.821 – Diomedes stabs Aphrodite, but he has Athena’s directions to do so (856).
V.440 – He oversteps his bounds when he attacks Apollo, but he stops when told to.
VIII.550 – gods won’t take any part.
VII.362 – Paris refuses to return Helen. This seems to be against the wishes of the
majority VII.293 – A bit of animosity to Paris.
The Greeks build a wall. Why haven’t they done this before, at the beginning of the
battle?
They no longer have Achilles; but there is still no reason to panic.
At the end of Book VIII, the Trojans are camped in the plain, and the Greeks are
panicking. They send an embassy consisting of (IX.167) Odysseus, Aias, and Phoinix to
Achilles, to try and convince him to return to the fighting.
IX.115 – Agamemnon admits his error.
Oppose this to VI.345, where Paris does not.
IX.336 – A rather rude refusal by Achilles.
IX.411 – The fates of Achilles.
Achilles is drawn to his kleos, but he seems to be cutting off his nose to spite his face.
Eventually he loses what is most dear to him, and then it is too late. He is only interested
in himself, until the death of Patroklos shocks him.
IX.183 – Out of place – written in the dual number when in fact there are three in the
embassy. The poet must have reworked the rest of the poem in composition to add a
third in the embassy, but did not change the number of this passage.
IX.190 – Patroklos does not approve of Achilles’ actions.
IX.201 – the mixing of wine. Unmixed wine was seen as barbaric.
IX.230 – Odysseus’ three reasons: the vessels may be destroyed, kleos, Briseis and a lot
of loot.
IX.300 – recap.
IX.485 Phoinix’s appeal as stepfather/godfather.
IX.529 – Meleagros’ story – Phoinix reassures Achilles.
Even though Achilles emphatically refuses the offer, he still does not leave as he
threatened to do. He is still torn. After this point, he is wrong to hold back, since every
attempt has been made to see what he wants.
Book X – the night raid by Odysseus and Diomedes.
Book XI – the aristeia of Agamemnon and the beginning of the long battle.
XI.252 – Agamemnon wounded.
June 12
Book XII – Trojan success.
Apollo and Poseidon are not happy about the Greek wall at the end of Book VII.
They are afraid it might eclipse their own work on the walls of Troy, and also no one
made sacrifices while they were building it.
VII.459
XII – destruction of wall begun.
XII.200 – a bad omen for the Trojans.
XII.235 – Hector doesn’t care, since Zeus says it’s OK.
XIII.825 – More of Hector’s hubris.
Hector is being asked to perform beyond his capabilities, and he does, but he also goes
beyond his station, as when he wears the armor of Achilles which he stripped from the
corpse of Patroklos.
gnothi seauton – “know thyself” (inscribed on Apollo’s temple at Delphi).
The Greeks believed that if you had no proper understanding of you and your limits and
place, you wouldn’t perform well.
XVII.200 – Hector and Achilles’ armor.
XVI.860 – Hector is confident.
but when Patroklos was killed, XVI.806, Hector had quite a bit of help.
Sarpedon – the mortal son of Zeus. Zeus agonizes over his fatem XV.67
Is Zeus ruled by or the ruler of fate?
Sarpedon’s body taken away after he is killed. Much fighting occurs over Patroklos
because the Trojans don’t know what happened to the body of Sarpedon.
Foreshadowing of Hector’s death.
XVI.20, 786 – Homer addresses Patroklos directly. A sign of fondness.
XVII.670 – A direct address of Menelaos, after he has spoken of Patroklos.
XVI.2 – Achilles is concerned for Patroklos but not for the Achaians.
XVI.16 – some sarcasm.
XVI.97 – he wishes they were all gone.
XVI.83 – “win honor for me!”
The long battle ends with the return of Achilles.
“kestos” of Aphrodite – the magic sash. The power of Eros
The Greeks considered Eros a very important power/god that could be destructive if not
controlled, e.g. Paris.
Mortals are never innocent of their own fates – their actions lead them to it.
XVI.684 – Patroklos brings on his own fate, by forgetting Achilles’ command not to get
involved.
XIII.167 – Deiphobos goes to get another spear, foreshadowing the death of Hector when
Athena takes his appearance, and has no extra spear.
XV.44 – Zeus reveals his plan. The “designs of Athena” are mentioned, meaning the
Trojan horse.
XVII.426 – the immortal weeping horses, upset over the death of Patroklos.
The Iliad is a poem of death, but it is not saying humanity is dismal. The gods don’t
understand the human wish to be great while they are alive, and be remembered
afterwards.
telos – limit, end, boundary – the gods do not understand this.
Humans often seem irrelevant when placed next to the gods, but not in Greek literature.
Antilochus – the youngest hero at Troy. He tells Achilles of the death of Patroklos.
XVIII.81
Achilles has now been hurt by his own actions.
XVIII.101 – chooses his fate.
pathei mathos – learning through suffering.
Learning isn’t easy for humanity. There is no such thing as second – hand learning, one
must suffer and learn.
XVIII.21 – All the mourning for Patroklos.
XVIII.30-50 – foreshadows the fate of Achilles.
Book XVIII – Achilles finally becomes concerned.
The shield of Achilles: XVIII.478
In the archaic period, it was the essence that was striven for in literature and art. In the
Iliad, the essence is the warrior, and the essence of Achilles is a warrior.
End of Book XVIII – hugely magnified arming type scene.
Achilles anger at Agamemnon is overcome by anger at Hector.
XIX.76 – Agamemnon is wounded.
XIX.85 – Blames it on delusion/fate
Achilles isn’t any better off once he accepts the gifts, now – he could have had the gifts
and Patroklos would still be alive.
He is still withdrawing from communal activities.
XIX.300 – Patroklos was loved by all, unlike Achilles.
XIX.404 – Xanthos the talking horse, refusing blame for Patroklos’ death.
Book XX – The Theomachy – battle of the gods.
XX.30 – division of the gods:
Hera vs. Artemis
Athena vs. Ares
Poseidon vs. Apollo
Hephaistos vs. Xantho
Hermes vs. Leto
Zeus is amused. Fighting will kill men, but for the gods, it is much more trivial. Zeus
treats it as a pasttime.
Another example of essence – “pious Aeneas”. His essence is to be dutiful to the gods.
XIX.434 Hector knows himself, but he is fulfilling his reponsibilities.
XXI.17
Xxi.27 – The blood lust of Achilles is going out of control.
A simile for the anger of Achilles – Hephaistos is the god of fire. It is an elemental battle.
XXI.66 – Hector begins to realize Achilles isn’t following the heroic code.
XXII.296 – Hector is deluded by Athena, but doesn’t shirk his fate.
XXIII.69, XIV.117 – The treatment of Hector’s body is shown to be wrong.
agon – a contest. The Greeks are very agonistic.
Achilles acts as a peacemaker during fights in the funeral games, but doesn’t join in the
games themselves.
XIV.601 – The blood lust of Achilles leaves him when he sees Priam.
philos – friend.
9 days – desecration of Hector
10th day – XXIV.107.
12-Day Truce.
This matches the beginning:
9 days of plague,
10th, Chryseis returned
12 days of Zeus’ absence.
In the two-months’-span of the Iliad, the whole ten years’ war is replayed by various
methods.
June 14 – The Odyssey
The Iliad explores the ways in which death gives meaning to life.
The Odyssey has many examples of xenia and breaches of same.
The first four books of the Odyssey are known as the Telemacheia. One of the themes of
the Odyssey is the maturation of Telemachos.
Why hasn’t Telemachos thrown out the suitors?
- He’s too young at first.
- He is just now beginning to assert himself, and there are too many suitors. They are
plotting to get rid of him.
II.115 –attributes of Penelope. Her essence is not so much beauty as intelligence.
nous – native intelligence
logos – reason, argument, speech
Both Odysseus and Penelope have nous – they understand each other better than anyone
understands them, even Telemachos.
Both the Iliad and the Odyssey begin in media res – the whole story is told in each
through history and foreshadowing.
The suitors have been in the house about four years.
The relationship between Athena and Odysseus is unusual.
Odysseus is a “trickster hero”. Almost every culture has one – Captain Kirk seems to
have been patterned on Odysseus.
IV.836 – Athena won’t help Penelope with useful information.
Penelope is isolated in her home – she cannot confide in anyone.
The parallels between Orestes and Telemachos – Orestes killed his father’s murderer.
Agamemnon is the parallel of Odysseus.
Telemachos hears the story of Orestes from everyone.
However, the relationship of Agamemnon and Klytaimnestra is different than the
relationship between Odysseus and Penelope. Agamemnon kept a watch on
Klytaimnestra, while Odysseus left Penelope in charge.
III.304 Orestes reached manhood and exacted his revenge.
Menelaos and Helen – their only daughter is Hermione, who is about to marry
Neaptolemus, the son of Achilles.
Nestor and Eurydice – their son is Peisistratos, who is the companion of Telemachos.
Telemachos is moving out into the world and making connections.
oikos – the household unit. Includes everything – the family economic unit.
The health of a polis depended on the health of its oikoi. Penelope is fully identified with
the oikos of Odysseus because she is weaving a shroud for Laertes.
Penelope plays a waiting game, until either Telemachos is old enough or Odysseus comes
home.
I.113 – Appearance of Telemachos.
IV.156 – The same picture of Odysseus.
I.122 – xenia – the stranger/guest – host relationship.
I.154 – non-xenia
I.186 – xenia – “guest-friends”
I.311 – guest gifts
I.196 - Athena gives Telemachos a hint, but changes the facts a little.
I.297 – Athena urges on Telemachos.
I.345-359 – Telemachos begins asserting himself.
I.377 – 382
IV.140 – Helen recognizes Telemachos by his similarity to Odysseus.
June 15
Odysseus is held against his will for seven years on Ogygia with Kalypso. She offers
him immortality to stay with her.
VI.57 Nausikaa and Odysseus’ diplomatic touch.
Portrait in Book Vi of a community of women, eating and playing games.
VI.158 – Odysseus’ tact. He won’t violate the xenia of his host.
VI.184 – In Greek culture, one wished his enemies to hate him. The Judeo-Christian idea
of “love your enemies” came later.
VII.299 - Alkinoos.
Nausikaa has a huge crush on Odysseus.
Women are viewed in a different sphere of activity.
Agamemnon’s misogyny in XI.456.
VII.53 – Arete is supplicated first – shows the importance of women in their sphere.
VII.238 – After xenia, questions.
IX.19 – identification of Odysseus.
VIII.500 – When the Cyclops found out who he was the first time, he was cursed, so he’s
much more careful with the Phaiakans.
Nous vs. thumos.
nous - control
thumos – spirit, desire
IX.475 - Odysseus occasionally cannot control his thumos, and it gets him into trouble.
IX.526 – the curse of Polyphemos.
Cannibalism – blatant violations of xenia.
X.212 – Kirke’s men.
X.156 – Odysseus shoots a stag, but was it?
The Greeks did not have much of an idea of the afterlife – other than the Elysium fields.
XI.488 – Achilles wishes he were alive.
The two epics together round out what it is to be human. Death and comfort. Note the
many eating and comfortable sleeping scenes in the Odyssey.
Sirens – Scylla – Charybdis. Odysseus doesn’t tell his men about Scylla.
XII.110 – A few lost for the many.
Thrinakia – nous vs. thumos.
Odysseus is learning that his nous isn’t strong enough – sometimes his thumos gets the
better of him.
VIII.565 – foretelling of the stone ship.
The end of Book XII is the end of the fairy-tale portion of the Odyssey. When Poseidon
turns the ship into stone, he gives up his wrath against Odysseus.
Odysseus tests everyone while he is in disguise.
IX – XII – We only have Odysseus’ word for his travels.
“All Cretans are Liars”, said the Cretan. Usually Crete shows up in tall tales.
XII.389 – had to provide a mechanism for his alleged knowledge of the
gods’conversations.
XIII.287 – Athena’s admiration.
XIII.330 – She seems to treat Odysseus like a beloved pet. She enjoys his mind.
Eumais – O my swineherd! – and xenia.
XVI.274 – more nous vs. thumos.
Odysseus is obviously remembering the fate of Agamemnon in his house.
Melanthios, and Melantho, the two bad ones.
XVI.400
XVIII.125 – Amphinomos