Grasping Homer II
 

1

The Judgment of Paris & The Nature of Centaurs
Antoine Watteau, considering marriage prospects for the young successor to the Sun King, Louis XIV of France, about 1720, turns to Greek myth to visualize and dramatize current events and and future prospects. Phidias, supervising sculpture which which will inform Athenian governance in 450 bc, visualizes and dramatizes the character and activities of centaurs.

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2

Shades of the Past

“Today I have looked upon the face of Agamemnon”
Heinrich Schlieman, announced in 1875 fresh from his excavations at Mycenae. A merchant experienced in travels, fluent in many languages, Schliemann sensed from reading Homeric Greek that Troy and Argos were historical sites, that Homer's legendary heroes lived in fact. His excavations at Mycenae and later at Troy invited rereadings of Homer attentive to historical particularities. Greek burial urns frequently display scenes of mourning. Markers of graves, the hollow-bottomed urns allowed offerings of wine to sink into ground. Shades below, momentary refreshed with wine and its implied company, would speak again to living suppliants. The Greek Anthology collects messages spoken in such circumstances:

Here lies Timokritos: soldier: valiant in battle.
Ares spares not the brave man, but the coward.

                              — Anakreon                             
The Greek Anthology             

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3

Heroes

I am the tomb of a mariner shipwrecked.
Sail on:
Even while we died the others rode out the storm.

— Theodoridas of Syracuse,       
The Greek Anthology             

These words. rising from a watery grave, identify the speaker as an adventurer, as one who faced adversity, discovered self-reliance and the company of those who face death together. Such an adventurer, perhaps Odysseus, still floats at sea on the keel of his wrecked ship, as others drown, food for fish. Venturesome sailors noting a cliff-top pyramid of stones marking the burial site of a drowned sailor might appreciate the courage and costs of the risk taker by sailing away from the rock ledge that might undermine future ships. The hunting dogs converging on an antelope offers a parallel message: hunter and hunted, man and animal, share the ebbs and flows of mortal life. Odysseus after surviving such a shipwreck, swims for days lost at sea, seeing at last a distant shoreline. Nearer shore, he discovers too late the surf-lashed rocks which threaten to pound him senseless. Thrust shoreward he grasps a rock awaiting the backsurge which will pull him off. Pulled off, his arms, legs, and torso appear as suckers, so fully did he hold to the rock.
Flowing freely about its home, the octopus shares with Odysseus the exploration of water-worlds, the appreciation of retreat after the pleasures of adventure. Creatures of many turnings, each survives through adaptations to changing circumstances.

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4

Songs

You are a human, therefore seek not
to foretell what tomorrow may bring,
nor how long one’s happiness may last.
For not even the flutter of the fly’s wings
is as fast as the changing of fortunes.

                                                                      Simonides, Threnos

Simonides' lament accompanied worthy dead, the threnos (dirge) mirroring and animating the moods of those left behind. Simonides' experiences, together with his songs, invite appreciation of actions which will ultimately fade. Scopias, a powerful nobleman, had commissioned from Simonides a song of praise. Simonides' song praised not only Scopas, but also the divine heroes Castor and Pollux, Scopas, seeing himself discounted by the praise of Castor and Pollux, offered Simonides half the agreed-upon payment, instructing Simonides to collect the other half from Castor and Pollux. Receiving a message that two travelers wished to speak to him outside, Simonides, looking in vain for the messengers, felt the ground roll as an earthquake brought down the palace of Scopas, burying all within. His absent visitors, apparently Castor and Pollux, had rewarded him by removing him from the disaster.

Centuries earlier, the island of Thera, an outpost of Crete, exploded, spreading volcanic ash which would block sunlight, eventually destroying the civilization of Crete as well. Centuries later, Athenian vases recollect the power of fate. Achilles and Ajax, awaiting one more approaching battle, pass time with dice. Athenians would know that Achilles shortly will die, the helmet and shield behind him a prize to be bestowed on his successor as a leading fighter. Crafty Odysseus, not the straightforward champion of forthright arms, Ajax, receives recognition. Ajax, shamed and angry, plants his sword in ground, preparing his suicide. Greeks appreciate less triumph, more struggle.

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5

Developing Homeric Readings
Reading sections of the Iliad should prepare you
for more efficient, more energetic and more productive further reading, and should inform your participation–
as a listener as well as a speaker–in discussion forums. Each week your approach to reading should develop, preparing you also for your written account of one
passage for your first paper. Each week concentrate
on central texts, but also explore readings
in varied media.

Pandarus Strikes
Iliad IV ll 100ff (Fagles, p 148)