The Birdman of Chios

 

The Birdman of Chios

            Over the course of history, the most unusual people often develop a keen interest in something that totally absorbs them. Take birds for example, and those who become ‘birders’, either casual observers of our feathered friends or dedicated enthusiasts who are keen on adding to their life-list of species observed. Robert Stroud, the ‘Birdman of Alcatraz’, is a prime example of an unusual man with a deep interest in birds. Stroud was one of the most violent and vicious criminals in the history of the US justice system, often held in solitary confinement for his crimes and for his attacks on fellow inmates. After being convicted of killing one man, he was then sentenced to death for the murder of a guard but his punishment was later commuted to life in prison. While in the prison yard one day, Stroud came across an injured canary and nursed it back to health in his cell. He eventually raised some 300 birds during his life as a prisoner and wrote two books on the health and diseases of canaries. Stroud’s story was featured in the 1962 Hollywood movie ‘The Birdman of Alcatraz’, starring Burt Lancaster.

            When we study the Iliad and the Odyssey we come across numerous references to birds. Homer frequently uses birds as similes and symbols to portray divine intervention or the actions of humans, as well as omens of good or evil things about to happen. We see him use birds in various contexts like representing the swiftness of gods, the movements of humans, the foretelling of events, or the characteristics of humans or immortals. What is very interesting from an ornithological point of view is that Homer accurately describes the physical details of the various bird species that he mentions. He seems to know a lot about birds, which is unusual for a wandering bard from the islands. Perhaps Homer was the ‘birdman of Chios’.

            Now there are those who have undertaken very in-depth studies of Homer and his birds and I, in no way, will attempt to do likewise. Extensive studies and articles on the subject abound, such as the 298 page PhD dissertation entitled ‘The Birds in the Iliad’ submitted by Karen Johansson in 2012. My approach to classical scholarship is a little more casual than Johansson’s and I think that a brief overview of Homer’s treatment of birds in his epics is enough to convince us that the man was a genius, insofar as his ability to talk with ease and in detail about so many topics or issues, birds being one of them.

            Birds were important to the ancient Greeks and featured prominently both in their culture and in their religion. Birds were considered to be more than just creatures of nature and were viewed as symbolic, as well as message bearers from the gods and portents of things to come. Bird sightings, behaviour and flight patterns were observed closely to gain insights into divine plans and different birds were symbolic of different attributes or qualities. For example, the owl was always considered a symbol of wisdom and was associated with Athena. As the patron of the city named after her, owls were featured on the coinage of Athens. The sighting of an eagle was regarded as witnessing Zeus in flight, and the swallow was viewed as the coming of spring. In later classical times, birds were depicted commonly on pottery, coins, sculptures, mosaics and other forms of art.

            When referring to birds in his two epics, Homer most often resorts to using the simile as a literary device and we will concentrate on passages such as those for the purposes of this study. The Homeric simile, also known as an epic simile, is an extended, elaborate poetic comparison, usually running for several lines, which uses vivid imagery to link a character's actions or a narrative event to something from nature or daily life that is familiar to the audience or listener. The purpose of a simile is to enhance the reader's understanding and appreciation of the narrative, by linking the unknown or the unusual to something well known or more commonplace. Homer also uses the simile to glorify a character or to call attention to them, or to heighten the intensity or importance of an event. A simile provides a way for the narrator to talk directly to the audience and to pause for a moment to build understanding while the action is taking place. According to Ian Johnston of Vancouver Island University, “What distinguishes the Homeric simile from an ordinary simile is its length, its detail, and often the energy of its impact, for the length and syntax of the trope (especially the longer versions) enable the lines to gather considerable momentum.”

            Birds are often used by Homer to signify omens or portents of things to come. In Book II of the Iliad he tells the story of a dreaded serpent that crawls out from under an altar where the Achaeans are offering a sacrifice. The serpent devours eight young nesting sparrows that are hiding in fear under the leaves and then snatches the mother that has been shrieking and lamenting their loss, with nine birds destroyed in total. The son of Cronos turned the serpent to stone as the Greeks stood wondering in amazement, trying to make sense of what they had seen. Calchas the priest interpreted it for them and Homer expresses the sign from the god with a beautiful simile:

But it was immediately afterwards that Calchas spoke to the assembly in prophecy. ‘Why are you now struck dumb my long-haired Achaeans? Zeus the wise counsellor has shown us this sign indeed of an event long in the future whose fame will never be destroyed. As the serpent devoured the eight young of the sparrow and then the mother, making her the ninth, thus then shall we war there for as many years, but in the tenth year we shall seize the city with the wide streets.’

            Flocks of birds and their movements and sounds are often used by Homer to portray the movement of troops on the battlefield. One might think that using birds in this context is unusual because we normally think of birds as small, graceful and peaceful creatures. Homer solves that problem by using large and raucous birds like cranes, geese and swans in his comparisons. The size of these birds and the din that a flock of them creates are perfect for painting a picture of screaming warriors rushing across a battlefield. As one who has often been treated to the sight and the sound of a sky full of vees of migrating Canada Geese flying past, I can attest to the amount of noise that a flock of such birds can create, and cranes and swans are even louder.

Just as the many flocks of winged birds like geese, cranes and long-necked swans fly here and there about the Asian meadow above the streams of the Cayster and exult in their wings and settle with such a noise that the meadow resounds, so also did the many tribes pour forth from the ships and the tents onto the Scamadrian plain so that the earth resounded mightily under the feet of the soldiers and their horses.

Once they had been arranged in the correct order with their leaders, the Trojans came forth like a great clamoring flock of birds. It sounded like the tumult of a multitude of cranes coming down from the heavens as when they have taken flight from winter and a thundering storm and fly with noise over the waters of the ocean to deliver slaughter and cruel fate to the Pygmies, bringing wicked strife to them as they fly aloft. But truly the Achaeans came on, breathing great rage in silence and eager in their minds to be of assistance to one another.

            Raptors in flight or in hunting mode are often featured in Homer’s bird similes and generally he compares these types of birds to either heroes or gods. This is only natural because humans tend to rank raptors like eagles, hawks and falcons as the highest and most powerful forms of birdlife. One has to only think of sports teams like the Toronto Raptors, Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Black Hawks and Philadelphia Eagles to see that this line of thinking that was common in Homer’s time, has extended into the present day as well. Somehow teams called the the Philadelphia Sparrows or the Atlanta Nightingales would not give rise to the same degree of respect on the playing field.

Birds of prey in Homer often represent the divine power of the gods and their influence over characters and events and many times are used as symbols or omens or foreboding signs. When the comparison of birds of prey is made to humans, it is done so to emphasize the power, strength and skill of the warrior hero in action. Homer uses the attributes that we ascribe to ferocious birds of prey to describe the character in question, human or divine and that in itself creates an extra level of comparison. When he describes a god as a bird of prey in one passage and then a warrior hero in the same way in another, by default we can say that he is also describing the hero as a god.

Like a swift-winged falcon, he flew forth and hovered above them over a sheer rock and darted across the plain like he was chasing another bird and even so did Poseidon the earth-shaker speed away.

Nor did Hector linger among the throng of the well-armoured Trojans, but as a fully-fledged eagle swoops down on a flock of winged birds that are feeding by the side of a river, wild geese or cranes or long-necked swans, so did Hector press on swiftly against the dark-prowed ships and from behind Zeus pushed him along with a strong hand and aroused the people with him.

And on the other side, Patroclus jumped from his chariot board when he saw him. Just like vultures with crooked talons and hooked beak fight with loud screams on a high rock, in the same way these two rushed at each other with blood-curdling screams.

Then grief came over Patroclus on account of his slain comrade and he flew forward into the fray like a swift falcon that puts to flight jackdaws and starlings.

And so speaking, the fair-haired Menelaus stepped away and glanced around in every direction like an eagle that men say has the keenest eye of all flying things under heaven’s skies. Though it flies on high, it can still spot a swift-footed animal that cowers under a leafy bush and makes a quick dive at it and swiftly takes away its life. Even so did the bright eyes of Menelaus who was cherished by Zeus, range in all directions over the throng of his comrades, trying to determine if Nestor’s son might still be alive.

Other similes like the above are given to us by Homer in the Iliad and include the Achaeans fleeing in fear like a flock of jackdaws or starlings that have spotted a falcon, Achilles running as fast as a black eagle plummets from the sky, Artemis rushing from the battle and crying like a pigeon speeding from a hawk, and Achilles chasing Hector around the walls of Troy like a mountain falcon after a trembling pigeon. We find similar passages in the Odyssey where Homer uses bird similes to compare gods and heroes with images familiar to his listeners. For example, he tells us of Hermes riding over the crowded waves like a cormorant in flight, and Odysseus pursuing the suitors like a falcon with hooked talons and a curved beak swooping down from the mountains chasing birds.

Homer sometimes uses bird similes to describe emotions being felt by his characters. Similes involving birds are used to illustrate both the appearance and emotional states of characters, especially in battle. Additionally, bird imagery is used to convey the intensity of emotions like grief or ferocity, often drawing on the natural behaviors of birds, such as a mother bird protecting her young or, as we have seen from our examples above, birds of prey attacking their victims.

Destruction comes both to him who does nothing as well as to him who works the hardest. There is no gain for me who has suffered greatly in spirit and who has risked his life in fighting. Even as a bird brings to her unfledged chick in her beak whatever she finds but herself goes hungry, even so have I spent many sleepless nights and spent many blood-filled days waging war and fighting along with warriors for the sake of their wives.

Bird similes expressing emotions are more often found in the Odyssey and less so in the Iliad. The primary reason for this is that the Iliad is a story of battles and there is, in the main, only one overriding emotion in the story, that is the wrath of Achilles. The Odyssey, on the other hand, is a story filled with emotions of all sorts and as a consequence, one would expect to find in this story more similes that detail emotions. The reunification of Odysseus and Telemachus was filled with emotion.

So he spoke and sat down and Telemachus wrapped his arms around his goodly father and lamented and wept tears and a longing for grief rose in the hearts of both of them. And they cried aloud more than close-packed birds of prey or vultures with crooked talons, whose young ones people take from the nest before they are fully fledged. In such manner did they piteously let the tears fall from their eyes.

Penelope is filled with anxiety and talks about the emotions which prey upon her each night as she wrestles with her uncertainty about which path to follow.

But some god has given me sorrows beyond all measure, for every day I find my joy in mourning and weeping while I care for the work and the maids of my house, but when night comes and grasps all things, I lie upon my bed and sharp woes crowd in on my distressed heart and upset me as I lament. Just like the daughter of Pandareus, songstress of the green woods, sings ever so sweetly when spring arrives as she perches amid the thick leaves of the trees and with many changing sounds sings richly in a voice of lament for her dear child Itylus, who she had one day killed with a sword by mistake, he being the son of king Zethus, in the same way my heart is broken in two and sways this way and that way, whether to continue to live with my son and keep all my things safe, my possessions, my slaves, my great high-roofed house, paying attention to the bed of my husband and the will of the people, or to go now with whichever one is deemed the best of the Achaeans who proposes marriage to me in my great hall and who offers me countless bride gifts.

Homer has an innate ability to describe events in the clearest way possible and the bird simile is the key poetic and literary device that makes this possible. Two final examples will underscore this point. The first is from the final book of the Iliad and Homer tells us about Zeus sending an eagle as an omen to Priam. The second example is found late in the Odyssey as we learn the fate of the twelve handmaidens who were unfaithful to Penelope and aligned themselves with the suitors.

Thus he spoke in prayer and immediately Zeus the counsellor sent a bird of omen, a dark coloured eagle that is the surest of omen-bearing birds and hunters, the one that men call the black eagle. Its wings to this side and that are as wide as the well-fitted and bolted door of some rich man’s high-roofed treasure chamber. It appeared to them from the right side and darted across the city and at the sight of it they all rejoiced and their hearts in their breasts were cheered on.

Thus he spoke and he tied the cable from a dark ship to a great pillar and tied it around the dome, binding it tightly on high so that none of them would be able to touch the ground with their feet. Just like when long-winged thrushes or doves strike against an enclosure that is set up in a thicket when they try to reach their perches and hated is the bed that greets them, even so all the women held their heads in a row and around their necks nooses were placed so that they would die in a most pitiable manner. Their feet writhed for a short time but not for long.

Of the many symbols found in the Odyssey, birds are one of the most frequent motifs. Homer uses them to symbolize peace, bad omens and emotions. They are sent from the gods to be portents of things to come and to reveal the good and the bad in characters. In the Iliad, we see birds being used to symbolize communication between immortals and mortals and especially so when birds act as omens and messengers. In this role they detail to humans the will of the gods, warnings of doom and prophecies of future events. Birds of prey, like the raptors, are frequently used to show the power, strength, ferocity and skill of characters, whether human or divine. As I stated at the beginning, Homer accurately describes the physical details of the various bird species that he mentions. He seems to know a lot about birds, which is unusual for a wandering bard from the islands. Perhaps Homer was the ‘birdman of Chios’.

New Discovery at Troy

Groundbreaking Discovery at Ancient City of Troy May Prove Legendary Trojan War True

By OSHEEN YADAV FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Published: 17:34 EDT, 15 July 2025 | Updated: 07:15 EDT, 16 July 2025

 

Archaeologists digging at the ruins of ancient Troy have unearthed fresh evidence of a violent Bronze Age conflict, one that mirrors Homer's Iliad.

According to Homer's Iliad, the war began after Paris of Troy abducted Helen, wife of the Spartan king, triggering a Greek siege lasting 10 years. 

The most famous scene of the tale is the wooden horse used by the Greeks to sneak into the city and destroy it from within.

 

Now, a team of Turkish researchers have uncovered dozens of clay and smoothed river rock sling stones, unearthed just outside what would have been the palace walls, along with arrowheads, charred buildings, and hastily buried human skeletons.

Together, experts say, the clues paint a chilling picture of close-range fighting and a sudden, catastrophic fall, just as the ancient Greeks described.

'This concentration of sling stones in such a small area suggests intense fighting, either a desperate defense or a full-scale assault,' said Professor Rustem Aslan of Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, who is leading the excavation.

The sling stones, smoothed to aerodynamic perfection, were one of the Bronze Age's deadliest weapons, capable of cracking skulls at range when hurled from leather slings.

The stones found at the site date to around 3,200 to 3,600 years ago, exactly the period believed to match the Trojan War, which according to Greek historians took place around 1184 BC. 

Odysseus's Boar's Tusk Helmet

                                         Odysseus's Boar's Tusk Helmet - Iliad Book X

    Thus he spoke and the two of them clothed themselves in their terrible armour. To the steadfast Thrasymedes the son of Tydeus was given a two-edged sword, for he had left his by the ship, and a shield. On his head was placed an ox-hide cap without a horn or a crest, usually call a leather helmet and worn by sturdy young men. Meriones gave Odysseus a bow, a quiver and a sword and on his head he placed a helmet made of strong hide and made solid with leather straps on the inside. On the outside were the bright teeth of a white-tusked swine, close set together on one side and the other and lined with a felt of soft wool. This was the helmet that Autolycus once stole out of Eleon when he had broken into the well-built house of Amyntor, son of Ormenus, and he gave it to Amphidamas from Cythem to take to Scandeia, and Amphidamas gave it to Molus as a present, but he gave it to his son Meriones to wear, and now it rested there, covering the head of Odysseus.

Iris the Goddess of the Rainbow Visits Delphi

                                        

                              Iris the Goddess of the Rainbow Visits Delphi

Divine Intervention & Ungodly Behaviour

 

Divine Intervention & Ungodly Behaviour

            It’s all a bit of a muddle really! In the Iliad and the Odyssey we have gods acting like mortals and humans acting like immortals. High on Mount Olympus and down from its heights we witness rage, petty jealousy, revenge, lust and manipulation, all of which you would anticipate encountering on the wide avenues of Troy or inside the Lion Gate at Mycenae. By the same token, we see human acts of courage and heroism, love and filial piety, wisdom and understanding, all of which you would expect to see demonstrated by those who live high in the ether among their fellow gods and goddesses. The Iliad is a chronicle of godly behaviour by men and ungodly behaviour by gods, as well as divine intervention and meddling and human pleas for divine assistance. The Odyssey carries the same themes, but to a lesser and perhaps different extent.

            In the Iliad, this recurrent theme of the gods with their hands on the affairs of men should come as no surprise to us, since the whole Trojan War mess started out as an exercise in divine intervention and manipulation in the first place. In Greek mythology the legend is called The Judgement of Paris. Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, the future parents of Achilles. In order to stir up a ruckus, she rolled a golden apple into the crowd, an apple that was inscribed with the words ‘to the fairest’. The goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite all claimed the prize and after much argument finally agreed to have Paris, the Trojan prince, make the final judgement of who was the fairest. The three of them tried to lure him with significant bribes but he chose Aphrodite, because she offered him the most beautiful woman in the world, who happened to be Helen of Sparta, the wife of King Menelaus. Whether the prince kidnapped her to take her to Troy, or whether she went willingly with Paris, her husband got his brother King Agamemnon of Mycenae to mount an invading army to attack Troy and to get her back, along with the treasure with which the two had absconded.

            As a result of The Judgement of Paris, the gods took sides in the conflict and often intervened to attempt to have an impact on events or on key characters, all the while acting in the most ungodly fashion. The Achaeans had the backing of Hera, Athena, Poseidon, Thetis, Hephaestus and Hermes. Hera and Athena supported the Greeks because Paris had chosen Aphrodite instead of either of them in the beauty contest. Poseidon was angry with the Trojan leadership because they had not paid him for the walls that he had built surrounding their city. Thetis was behind the Achaeans because she was the mother of Achilles, and Hephaestus supported her by fashioning new armour for Achilles at her request. Hermes the messenger was generally in favour of the Greeks, while Zeus himself tried to be neutral, so that he did not rile his wife/sister Hera. There were times however when the father of the gods appeared to support the Trojans. Aphrodite gave her full support to the Trojans because Paris had chosen her as the fairest in the contest. Apollo was behind the Trojans because the Greeks had dishonoured his priest Chryses, and Artemis usually supported Apollo in all matters. Ares, the god of war, was aligned with Aphrodite and therefore supported the Trojans as well. Divine support and intervention in the Odyssey was much simpler. Athena, the goddess of wisdom, warfare and crafts fully supported ‘the wily Odysseus of the many counsels’ on his journey home, because he displayed the same qualities that gave the goddess her reputation. Poseidon, on the other hand, had a grudge against Odysseus because he had blinded his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus. A bit of a muddle indeed!

            Despite the kidnapping of Helen and the recovery effort mounted by the two sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaus, right at the start of the Iliad Homer instead credits Apollo with being the one who ignited the flames of war. Was the war caused by divine will rather than by human motives in Homer’s opinion? If that was indeed the case, everything that happens in the story is pre-ordained and out of the hands of mankind. Homer seems to be telling us that human willpower has no chance when stacked against divine intervention. Man is a puppet in the hands of the gods and we see much evidence of this in the epic.

Which of the gods then brought these two together in conflict? It was none other than the son of Leto and Zeus, for he, having been provoked by the king, inflicted a fatal pestilence on the army and a host of men perished, all because the son of Atreus had brought dishonour upon Chryses the priest.

            We know what happened next. Agamemnon agreed to send Chryseis back to her father but vowed to seize Briseis from Achilles as her substitute. The latter was prepared to unleash his sword and rush through the crowd to kill Agamemnon, but Athena held him back and reasoned with him. In response to her entreaty, Achilles provides us, in his own words, the rationale for humans accepting the intervention of the gods in their lives.

The bright-eyed goddess Athena then answered him. “I have come down from heaven to quell your rage if you will obey me. The white-armed goddess Hera has sent me here since she loves and cherishes both of you in her heart. So cease your anger and do not draw your sword from its sheath. Taunt him with words and tell him what will happen. For I say to you that this will truly come to pass. You will receive three times as many gifts because of his insolence towards you, but you must stand down now and obey us.”

In answer to her spoke the swift-footed Achilles. “It is better for a man to obey the commands of both of you O goddess, no matter how distressed he might be in his own heart, for the gods give ear to those who follow their orders.”

            Book I of the Iliad ends with an extended picture of the intrigue and wrangling that was happening on Mount Olympus as the various divine players lined up their strategies and support for the two sides in the war. What is evident from this scene is that the humans who were involved in the conflict would continue throughout the story to be moved about like pieces on a chessboard and that very little that happened directly to them or around them would be in their control. We know from the prediction of Hephaestus exactly how things will turn out.

The immortal gods groaned throughout the house of Zeus and Hephaestus, the skillful craftsman, rose up to harangue the gathering, hoping to bring solace to his dear mother, white-armed Hera. “Truly these will be destructive and intolerable events if you two argue thus on account of mortal men and bring discord among the gods.”

            After over nine years of fighting, the gods decided to end things and so Zeus sent a dream to Agamemnon in the night to advise him that it was time to put on the final push to conquer the Trojans. Despite several setbacks along the way, this is exactly what would unfold and ultimately the Achaeans were successful. The Iliad traces this story in great detail, but because it is the father of the gods who has spoken, we know from the start what the final conclusion will be. Troy will be taken in the end, but not that day, and not without significant losses on both sides.

Now listen to me closely. I am a messenger to you from Zeus, who though he might be far away from you, cares greatly for you and bears pity for you. You are to arm quickly the long-haired Achaeans for now you will be able to take the city of Troy with its wide streets. All of those immortals who have their homes on Olympus have ceased quarreling with one another. Hera has swayed them all to her thinking and Zeus is about to bring great grief to the people of Troy.

Having spoken thus, the dream disappeared from him and left him pondering in his mind about those things that were never to come to pass. For he, fool that he was, thought that he would take the city of Priam that day and he had no idea about what it was that Zeus had actually planned. Zeus was about to deliver great hardship and groaning to both the Trojans and the Danaans through fierce struggles on the battlefield.

            Agamemnon decided to test the loyalty and fighting spirit of his men by suggesting to them that they should just give up and go back home. He expected that they would rail against such an idea and that they would rush to arm themselves motivated by their fearsome pride. Instead they rushed to the ships thinking that Agamemnon had made a pretty good suggestion. Seeing that the plans of the gods were being undone, it took the intervention of Athena to quell the retreat as she approached the wily Odysseus to cajole him into halting the flight of the Achaeans.

Standing near him, bright-eyed Athena addressed him. “Zeus-born son of Laertes, O crafty Odysseus, will you thus flee home to your beloved fatherland having rushed to your well-benched ships? And will you leave in the hands of Priam and the Trojans the trophy of Argive Helen, on whose behalf so many Achaeans perished in Troy, far away from their homes? But go now to the people of the Achaeans and do not cease to compel each man by your gentle words to stop dragging the double-oared ships into the sea.”

Athena was successful and Agamemnon raised his hands in prayer to Zeus, the father of the gods. He knew that success was his if he had the gods on his side. Zeus was prepared to give him victory but not before the sun set that day. There would be many more sunsets awash in the blood of warfare before victory was his.

And King Agamemnon rose up to speak to them in prayer. “O all-powerful Zeus who dwells amongst the black clouds of Heaven, let not the sun sink and darkness come upon us before I throw down the burning citadel of Priam and torch its gates with hostile fire. May I tear the tunic of Hector and slash his breast with my weapon and let his many companions around him bite the dust of the earth with their teeth.”

Thus he spoke but the son of Cronos did not bring to pass what he asked of him.

            We often see gods and goddesses in the Iliad actually taking part in what was happening on the battlefield itself. We see warriors being shrouded in mists to make them invisible to their enemies, arrows and spears being diverted in mid-flight so that they do not strike their intended targets, warriors being physically lifted from the battle and being deposited elsewhere in safety and bodies of slain heroes being protected by the gods so that their corpses cannot be defiled or stripped of their armour. One such event occurs during the duel between Menelaus and Alexander, as they fight to see which of them will claim Helen as his own. Menelaus has overpowered Alexander and is dragging him by the helmet to his death when Aphrodite breaks the chin-strap on the helmet and plucks Alexander from the fray.

Thus he spoke and he hurried over and grabbed the horse-hair crest of his helmet and dragged him toward the well-greaved Achaeans. Alexander was being choked by the much-embroidered strap under his chin which was fastened there to keep the helmet on his head. And now Menelaus would have dragged him and achieved an immense amount of glory had not Aphrodite the daughter of Zeus, who witnessed what was happening, did not break the ox-leather thong under his chin. The empty helmet came off in his hands and the hero wheeled around and threw it towards the well-greaved Achaeans and his trusty comrades caught it. He rushed back at his enemy, fully wanting to kill him with his bronze lance but Aphrodite, goddess that she was, easily rescued him. She hid him in the mists and deposited him back in his sweet-smelling perfumed bed chamber.

            The other common form of divine intervention that we witness in the Iliad is when a god or goddess takes on a disguise and approaches a human with a message from the gods or with some advice. Such appearances by the gods are called theophanies and they permit the gods to influence the war, give aid to heroes and to even engage in what is going on. Apollo appeared to the Trojans as one of their warriors to rally them in battle. The sea-goddess Thetis, the mother of Achilles, often appears to him in human form to offer advice or to console him. Zeus himself gets involved when he sends Iris as his messenger. An example of this is when Pallas Athena, in the guise of Laodocus the son of Antenor, went looking for Pandarus on the battlefield or when Zeus sent Iris to advise Helen and she took on the likeness of Laodice. Helen’s feelings were stirred by the visit of the goddess.

Disguised as her husband’s sister who was the wife of the son of Antenor, the goddess Iris went to white-armed Helen. She appeared as Laodice, wife of lord Helicaon the son of Antenor and the loveliest of the daughters of Priam.

Having spoken thus, the goddess placed in her mind tender thoughts about him who had been her husband, her city and her parents.

But Helen too is just a puppet controlled by the gods. She has no control over what is happening to her and around her as Aphrodite plainly points out:

Then the much provoked Aphrodite called out to her. “Do not anger me you wretched woman lest being provoked, I hate you and I abandon you to the same degree that I have heretofore loved you. Yet I can contrive to create a great hatred against you in the middle of the Trojans and the Danaans so that your black fate is sealed.”

            At the start of Book IV of the Iliad we are reminded again about the part played by the gods in the affairs of men. The scene very much reminds me of the science fiction novel “Under the Dome”, published by Stephen King in 2009. The people in a small town in Maine are suddenly cut off from the rest of the world and sealed under an invisible and impenetrable dome where they are manipulated by unseen hands. They must work together to survive and uncover the mystery surrounding their captivity and the characters display heroism and love as well as cunning and villainy. No spoiler alerts here – you will have to read the book to find out the origin of the dome, but there certainly parallels to what was being discussed on Mount Olympus.

At that time the gods were seated on the golden floor near Zeus and were assembled in discussion. Among them was the divine Hebe who was pouring out nectar for them. They offered golden goblets to one another and looked down towards the city of Troy. At once the son of Cronos tried to irritate Hera by throwing malicious words at her in the assembly. “Two of the goddesses appear to be helping Menelaus. Hera is for the Argives as well as Athena the Alalcomenean. These two sit apart and have fun looking on while laughter-loving Aphrodite continues to protect Alexander and keep cruel fate away from him. And now she has saved him again as he thought he was about to die. But indeed victory belongs to the war-loving Menelaus. So let us discuss with one another how we might bring all these things to an end, whether we again give rise to horrible war and the piercing of battle cries, or else throw a friendly reception for both sides. If this then is pleasing to all of us, then let the city of Priam the king be again inhabited and let Menelaus lead home the Argive Helen.”

            So the war waged on and the gods involved themselves wherever they could. They continued to take sides in the conflict and worked hard to ensure the safety, well-being and victory of their favourites.

Indeed, Ares urged on these Trojans and the bright-eyed Athena supported the other side. Terror and Fear and relentless Strife waged on as well and the man-slaying sister of Ares was likewise a companion, she being small at first but then she raised her head to the heavens and stalked about on the earth. She then heaved dissension into the mix of them and destruction moved through the ranks increasing the groaning of the men.

            One of the major themes that makes the Iliad a true marvel is the continued presence of divine intervention in the story. Divine intervention and the actions of the gods add a level of complexity to the tale and position it as a story that has more to it than just human conflict. It also highlights the power and the influence of the divine in the lives of the ancient Greeks. The theme makes us question the very notion of free will and fate and whether humans can act on their own or are just subject to the whims of the gods. The theme of divine intervention and the sight of gods acting in ungodly ways add drama to the narrative and help to engage the audience more fully. 

          Divine intervention also plays a significant role in the Odyssey. In this epic, it is a central theme, with divine beings actively shaping the narrative and influencing the fates of mortals, particularly Odysseus. Athena, Odysseus's divine patron, plays a significant role in guiding him home, while Poseidon opposes him because of his past actions, particularly his role in blinding Polyphemus. These interventions point out the close relationship between the divine and human realms in the epic, showcasing the power of the gods to bestow both good fortune and bad on mankind.

            The divine interventions in the Odyssey demonstrate the power of the gods and their influence on human destiny. Like their counterparts in the Iliad, they also raise questions about fate, free will, and the consequences of actions, as the gods' interventions can be both helpful and detrimental. The story emphasizes how the gods can shape events, but also how mortals' choices, like Odysseus's cleverness and his crew's recklessness, contribute to their experiences.

Athena, in particular, works repeatedly to advocate for Odysseus and protect him. She intervenes by begging Zeus to make Calypso free Odysseus and Zeus agrees and sends Hermes to deliver the message. Athena also provides Telemachus with advice and then disguises herself as a young man in order to encourage him on his journey to find his father. Athena accompanies Telemachus on this journey disguised as Mentor.

Later on Athena arranges the meeting between Nausicaa and Odysseus and then hides the hero in a fog so that he can sneak into the palace and plead his case before Queen Arete. During his stay in the land of the Phaeacians, Odysseus recounts his encounter with Polyphemus and how blinding the Cyclops brought down the wrath of Poseidon on him.

Several other gods also make their appearance in the Odyssey. The involvement of Hermes in defeating Circe is another example. Helios demands that Zeus punish Odysseus after the Ithacans eat his sacred cattle, and the tempest that Zeus unleashes leaves Odysseus as the sole survivor of his fleet. After Odysseus leaves Scheria and returns to Ithaca, Poseidon punishes the Phaeacians for helping Odysseus by turning their ship to stone. Athena makes her presence felt again and intervenes to help Odysseus now that he is back on Ithaca. She disguises him as a beggar so that he can better position himself to retake control of his household.

These are just some of the many examples of the gods interceding and intervening on behalf of mortals. Throughout this second epic, the gods set up paths for mortals to take - paths to their ultimate destinies, but it is up to the mortals to take advantage of the situations the gods put them in through their own intelligence and cunning. Unlike in the Iliad, where the concept of free will seems to have been eliminated, in the Odyssey we find characters that appear to have much more control over their fates and their destinies. It forces the question as to whether Homer has adopted a new line of thinking about the role that the gods play in the lives of men, or whether we are peering into the thought processes of a different Homer.

More Than a Trojan Horse

 

More Than a Trojan Horse

            Horses played an important role in ancient Greece, long before the time of the Trojan War. Archaeologists have discovered the remains of horses on mainland Greece from the Middle Bronze Age (1800 BCE) as well as evidence from Mycenaean shaft graves which depicts the use of horses and chariots dating from 1650-1550 BCE, some 300 or 400 years earlier than the Trojan War. Horses were used as riding animals and for pulling chariots, as well as for heavy transport. The rocky and mountainous topography of mainland Greece meant that raising horses on a large scale was usually limited to regions like Thessaly, Epirus, Macedonia, and Argolis that Homer refers to as ‘the feeder of horses.’ It was expensive to own and raise a horse and having one was seen as a status symbol, generally reserved for the wealthy and aristocratic.

            Homer makes many references to horses in the Iliad and their use in battle as pullers of chariots is well-documented by him. Both the Achaeans and the Trojans had horses and their presence on the battlefield forms an ongoing part of Homer’s narrative. The horse was the emblem of Troy and Hector was often referred to as ‘the tamer of horses’, as indeed were the Trojans themselves, who raised horses and exported them to other regions. Though there is no mention of horses in Homer’s famous catalogue of ships, we know that the Achaeans brought horses with them to Troy because we find several references in the Iliad to Xanthus and Balius, the immortal horses of Achilles who were the offspring of Podarge and Zephyrus, the West Wind. The ancient Greeks transported horses across the seas using special horse transports called ‘hippagogos’. They must have brought mules with them as well for heavy transport, because Homer mentions that the mules were the first victims of the plague that was brought upon the Greeks in retribution for the kidnapping of Chryseis. Perhaps the mules came from the land of the Paphlagonians where the author tells us, ‘the mules run wild in great herds.’

            Horses in the Iliad are always described as swift-footed, speedy, single-hoofed, with beautiful manes or golden frontlets. They are essential to the war and are featured on the battlefield on many occasions. No battle is complete without some reference to horses and chariots.

Let everyone sharpen his spear, prepare his shield and feed his swift-footed horses. Having examined his chariot closely let each man consider battle carefully so that we might spend all day long engaged in the cruel battles of Ares.

Do not down sit to rest, not even for a moment until night comes and separates us from the anger of men. The broad strap of the shield which covers the breast of the entire man will be drenched in sweat and the hand which holds the spear will tire. The horse too will sweat from the labour of drawing the well-polished chariot.

The earth resounded mightily under the feet of the soldiers and their horses.

            When we consider the use of the chariot in warfare, we need to see it as a means of transporting a warrior to the fight and not as a platform from which combat was made. Typically the chariot held two people, a charioteer who drove the cart and a warrior who would jump from the chariot into the melee.

Such as this was Menelaus delighted to espy the godlike Alexander, for he was determined in his mind to seek revenge on the evil-doer. Immediately he leapt onto the ground from his chariot with his weapons.

Thus he spoke and fully armed he leapt from his chariot onto the ground and the bronze on the chest of the leader made a terrible din as he rushed forward to battle.

At one point Pandarus complained to Aeneas that he had left his eleven beautiful chariots and their teams of horses back home where they were safe and well-fed, and he had come on foot to Troy, relying solely on his bow and arrows. He would not risk bringing them to war.

Both horses and chariots are not here that I might mount. But somewhere in the great rooms of Lycaon there are eleven newly made beautiful chariots with coverings spread over them and beside each of them stand a team of double-yoked horses feeding on white barley and rice wheat.

I had to spare my horses, lest they want for food being shut up with the men and used to eating their full.

Even King Agamemnon used his horses and chariot for transport and stepped down from his vehicle in order to move among his men and offer them encouragement.

He left his horses and his bronze-decorated chariot and his attendant Eurymedon, the son of Ptolemaeus son of Pirais, held his snorting steeds to one side. Agamemnon told him to hold his horses in readiness in case he should get weary from going about being in command of so many men. On foot he moved about the ranks of his men and he greatly encouraged the Danaans with their swift horses who were standing there.

On rare occasions we see that fighting was sometimes carried on from the chariot itself, but most times the warrior stepped off. However, Nestor had seen enough fighting in his day to suggest to the charioteers that reaching out with a spear to knock an opponent off his chariot could be a good strategy to employ.

He put the charioteers with their horses and chariots in the front and placed the many brave foot soldiers in the back so that they might hem in the fighting. He put the cowards in the middle so that even if they did not want to fight, they would be forced to do so. He gave the first order to the charioteers and told them to rein in their horses and not to move in a tumult through the crowd. He ordered those who were skilled charioteers and eager to fight the Trojans not to go it alone, either up front or behind the lines, because they would be more easily conquered if caught fighting alone. He advised that any man in a chariot coming upon another should reach out with his spear towards that man, for that would be a better move.

            There is an interesting conversation that takes place between Aeneas and Pandarus that very well summarizes how horses were used in the battle.

Then Aeneas, the leader of the Trojans, came near him and spoke again. “Do not speak like that for none of that can happen unless first we go against this man with horses and chariots and give him grief in hand-to-hand combat. But come now and get into my chariot so that you can witness what kind of horses the Trojans have, rushing skilfully over the plain, pursuing rapidly here and there and then retreating. These two horses will bring us safely to the city, if once again Zeus should shower glory on Diomedes the son of Tydeus. Come now and take the whip and shining reins in your hands and I will dismount from the chariot in order to fight on foot, or would you rather fight the man and leave the horses to me?”

Then the noble son of Lycaon answered him. “Hang onto the reins yourself and the two horses for they will manage the curved chariot better if they are under the command of their regular charioteer if we flee in terror the son of Tydeus. We do not want them to panic and slow their speed or be unwilling to take us away from the battle, having missed the sound of your voice and us being attacked by the mighty son of Tydeus only to have him slay the two of us and drive the horses away himself. So drive your chariot and the two horses yourself and I will greet him with my sharp spear when he advances upon us.”

            Homer describes with infinite detail the outcome of chariots racing through throngs of fighting warriors:

Thus he spoke and whipped the horses beautifully maned with the shrill sounding lash and perceiving the terror they rushed quickly through the Trojans and the Achaeans, treading over both corpses and shields. Blood was all over the axels and sprinkled the chariot board from beneath and the rims of the car with drops of blood splattering them from the horses’ hooves and the wheels.

Chariots were generally described as well-polished, beautifully decorated, light, open and swift. However, no chariot driven by the Achaeans or the Trojans could compare to the one driven by Hera, the queen of the gods.

And Hera, the honourable daughter of the great Cronos, approached and harnessed the golden-bridled horses. And Hebe immediately fastened round eight-spoke bronze wheels to the iron axels on both sides of the chariot. The hubs were made of imperishable gold and the rims above were of bronze, a wonder to behold. The round naves on both sides were of silver and the chariot board itself was held in place with gold and silver thongs and there were two circular edges from which extended a silver chariot pole. At its end she bound the beautiful golden yoke and on it she placed lovely leather straps. And Hera, longing deeply for battle, led the swift-footed horses under the yoke.

Perhaps only King Rhesus of Thrace can come close to matching her:

If you plan on infiltrating the throng of the Trojans, here on the outside of all are the newcomers, the Thracians and with them their king Rhesus the son of Eioneus. He has the most beautiful and biggest horses I have ever seen, white as snow and as fast as the wind. His chariot is fashioned from silver and gold and the armour he brought with him is all gold and huge and a wonder to behold. No mortal man should wear such armour, only the immortal gods.

            The most famous horses in the Iliad are those that belonged to Achilles. We know that Achilles kept horses in Pythia for he had mentioned to Agamemnon that the Trojans had never driven off his cattle or his horses there. It is also obvious that he had brought his horses with him because Dolon, the Trojan spy, told Odysseus and Diomedes that Hector had promised them to him. ‘Hector promised to grant me the single-hooved horses of the noble son of Peleus along with his richly wrought bronze chariot.’ When Patroclus was about to enter the battlefield dressed in the armour of Achilles, Automedon was ordered to prepare the famous steeds for him.

At his urging, Automedon harnessed the horses, Xanthus and Balius, they that flew as swiftly as the wind and were born by the Harpy Podarge to the West Wind Zephyr as she grazed in the meadow beside the stream of Oceanus. In the side traces he harnessed the goodly Pedasus that Achilles had brought away when he sacked the city of Eetion, but being a mortal horse, it followed after the immortal steeds.

            When Patroclus was killed in battle by Hector, the two horses refused to leave the field and stood weeping for the dead Patroclus.

The horses of the son of Aeacus were far off and were wailing for they had learned that their charioteer was lying in the dust, having fallen under the hands of Hector the man-slayer. In truth, Automedon the brave son of Diores was whipping at them with his swift lash and was talking at them with honeyed words and sometimes with threats. But the two of them were not willing to go back to the ships at the wide Hellespont, nor into the battle with the Achaeans. They remained firmly set like a block of stone that stands on the grave of a dead man or woman and stood there immovable with their heads down beside the beautiful chariot. Hot tears flowed from their eyes and trickled onto the ground as they stood there weeping for their lost charioteer. Their beautiful manes were stained and begrimed under the yoke pad, streaming down from the yoke.

The son of Cronos saw them mourning and had pity on them and shook his head and spoke unto his own heart. “O you unhappy pair, why did we give you to a mortal, to king Peleus, when you yourselves are ageless and immortal? Was it so you could be wretched among the pangs of mankind? For all the things that move and breathe on the earth, there is nothing more miserable than man. But I will not allow Priam’s son Hector to mount you or ride on your richly embellished chariot. Is it not enough that he has taken the armour and boasts about it? I will deliver strength to your knees and your hearts so that you might rescue Automedon from the war and bear him to the hollow ships.

            After the death of Patroclus, Achilles prepared himself to re-enter the battle in order to take his revenge on Hector. He spoke to his horses and Xanthus, having been granted a human voice, answered him back.

Then he shouted out to his father’s horses with a great cry. “Xanthus and Balius, renowned children of Podarge, remember in some way to bring your charioteer back safely to the host of the Danaans when we have had our fill of war and do not leave him out there dying as you did with Patroclus.”

Then from under the yoke, the swift-footed horse Xanthus spoke to him and straightway bowed down his head and all of its mane drooped down freely from the yoke and touched the ground and the white-armed goddess Hera gave him a human voice with which to speak. “We will assuredly save you this time mighty Achilles even though your day of doom is nigh at hand, but we will not be the cause of that for that will happen because of a mighty god and overpowering Fate.”

When he had thus spoken, the Erinyes stopped up his voice. Sorely vexed, the swift-footed Achilles made a response. “Xanthus, why you have made a prophecy of my death? You need not have done so. I know already that it is my fate to die here far away from my beloved father and my mother but I will not stop until such time as I have given the Trojans their fill of war.”

            In the ultimate twist of irony, the horse-rearing Trojans who were led by Hector the horse-tamer and whose symbol was the horse, were outdone by a horse – The Trojan Horse. Horses had long been part of the history of Troy, dating back to the time of Dardanus.

Dardanus begat a son and this was King Erichthonius who became the richest of all mortal men. He had three thousand horses grazing in the marsh meadow, all of them mares rejoicing in their gamboling foals. The North Wind lusted after them as they grazed and he appeared to them as a dark-maned stallion. Some became pregnant and he begat twelve foals. When they leaped and bounded over the fields of grain, they would skim the top and not break a stalk and when they frisked and jumped over the wide sea, they would just merely touch the surface of the foamy waves.

            The undoing of the Trojans by the Achaeans and their wooden horse is one of the most famous events in history. With Hector dead, the Trojan War was rapidly drawing to its conclusion when ‘the wily and crafty Odysseus, he of the many counsels’, pulled off the greatest deception of all time and a stroke of pure military tactical genius. The events surrounding the use of the Trojan horse are not even reported in the Iliad and are only briefly mentioned in the Odyssey. It is mainly from accounts such as Vergil’s Aeneid and other ancient literary works that we find out what happened. The tactic was brilliant in both its conception and its undertaking and is the only report of any kind of siege weapon used in the ten years of the Trojan War. Odysseus had the Achaeans construct a huge wooden horse that was capable of concealing thirty warriors in its body. They dragged the wooden horse to the gates of Troy in the middle of the night and left it there. The Danaan fleet then sailed off, as if for home, but only went so far as the island of Tenedos, where they hid from the view of the Trojans. They were assisted by Sinon, who passed himself off as a Greek defector. Sinon convinced the Trojans that the Danaans had given up the fight and had sailed home and had built the horse as an offering to Athena, in atonement for them having previously desecrated her temple in Troy. He told them that the Greeks had built it too big to take into the city, so that the Trojans could not bring it in and gain the favour of the goddess themselves. However, if they were to remove a portion of their city wall, they would be able to drag it inside, and this they did. Under the cover of darkness the Greek warriors, captained by Odysseus, descended from their hiding place within the horse, opened the city gates to their comrades and sacked Troy.

            In Homer's works, particularly the Iliad, horses are frequently mentioned and play a significant role in the story. They are not just presented as instruments of war and games, but also as characters with their own feelings and purposes. They are not merely passive instruments of human action, but are described as having emotions, exhibiting bravery and fear, and even forming strong bonds with their owners, such as Xanthus and Balius with Achilles or even grief at the death of someone who is dear to them, such as Patroclus. Heroes are often described with epithets that highlight their characteristics or roles. Several of these relate to horses, such as horse-breaker or horse-tamer, and they emphasize qualities like strength, skill in horsemanship, and even the ferocity of battle. These epithets are not just decorative; they are poetic devices that reveal deeper aspects of a character's identity and role in the narrative. Homer has taken the noble steed and has weaved its importance in ancient Greek culture very skillfully into his story. There is more to horses in Homer than just a Trojan Horse.

Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea – Part 2: The Odyssey

 

Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea – Part 2: The Odyssey

            In Homer’s Odyssey, the sea serves as both a pathway for Odysseus to achieve his Νόστος or homecoming, as well as a vast barrier that stands in his way of attaining that end. As a sea-based story, it is not surprising that we find a host of nautical and maritime references in the epic. In a similar study of the Iliad, we noted that Homer appeared to be very familiar with all things nautical, to the extent that one wondered if he had ever been a seafarer. The notion that he had once been a sailor is given further credence by his treatment of the same theme in the Odyssey. It is indeed rich with maritime and nautical references, which not only reflect the importance that seafaring had on the lives of the ancient Greeks, but also the central place that the sea holds in the telling of the tale of the return of Odysseus to Ithaca, a place borne of the sea. One comment of Homer’s gives us further insight into the importance of shipbuilding to the peoples of the era.

There are many ships in sea-surrounded Ithaca, new ones and old ones and from these I will choose the best one for you and we will quickly make it ready and launch it on the wide sea.

For the Cyclopes have no red-sided ships, nor do they have any ship builders who can make well-benched ships that would accomplish the purpose of going to the cities of other people as men often do as they cross the sea to visit each other, craftsmen who could have turned this into a well-built island for them.

Perhaps sung by a fellow sailor, the Odyssey is the story of a warrior turned sailor who endured all things on his journey home:

He came to know many cities and the thoughts of many men and many were the evils he suffered at sea while trying to save himself and secure the safe return home of his comrades.

            Though there is no actual evidence that proves Homer was a seafarer, it is very difficult to believe that he had never been to sea or knew nothing about how to sail a ship. He describes the actions that Telemachus and his crew take when they set sail for Pylos and Sparta, and his detail is so complete that one must assume that he had witnessed such events happening several times over the course of his life or had actually performed the same activities himself.

Then Telemachus stepped on board and Athena went before him and seated herself in the stern with Telemachus seated beside her. The men untied the ropes, got on board and sat down on the benches. The flashing-eyed Athena sent them a fair wind, a strongly blowing Zephyr that sounded over the wine-dark sea. Telemachus urged on his comrades and bade them to take hold of the rigging and they listened to what he said. They raised the mast of fir and set it in its hollow socket and bound the forestays and raised the white sails held with well-twisted leather thongs. The wind filled the middle of the sail and the dark waves echoed loudly with the sound of the prow cutting through them as the ship went on its way. After they had tied down the rigging in the dark ship, they brought out the bowls filled with wine and made libations to all the immortal gods and above all to the flashing-eyed daughter of Zeus. And so all through the night and into the dawn, the ship sliced its way through the waves.

            Homer demonstrates a good knowledge of maritime geography and the impact that winds and currents have on travelers. He seems to have a considerable grasp on sailing routes, landmarks and navigational practices, as well as knowledge of seasonal winds and variants. This is particularly evident in the description that Nestor of Pylos gives to Telemachus about their journey home from Troy.

Fair-haired Menelaus came behind me after a time and met us in Lesbos where we were discussing the long voyage, whether to sail to rugged Chios toward the island of Pryria or to sail on with it on our left underneath Chios past windy Mimas. We asked the god to show us a sign and he did so and ordered us to sail through the middle of the sea to Euboea so that we might take flight from the worst of our troubles. A strong wind started to blow and the ships ran quickly over the fish-laden waters and at nightfall we pulled into Geraestus. There on the altar of Poseidon we placed many thighs of bulls, happy to have traversed the sea. It was on the fourth day when the companions of Diomedes the son of Tydeus the tamer of horses beached their balanced ships in Argos. But I kept on sailing towards Pylos for the wind was favourable and had not ceased from the time the god had first sent it to blow.

We were going by sea from Troy, the son of Atreus and I, in total friendship. When we came to sacred Sunion, the cape of Athens, there Phoebus Apollo cast his gentle missiles against him and slew the steersman of Menelaus as he held the steering oar of the speeding ship in his hands. The steersman was Phrontis the son of Onetor, he who was better than all the tribes of men in steering a ship when the stormy winds blow strong. Menelaus stayed there a while, though he was eager to travel onwards, so that he could provide his comrade with funeral rites and suitable burial gift offerings. But when he sailed over the wine-dark sea in his hollow ships and arrived in swift course at the height of Malea, then wide-eyed Zeus, whose voice is carried from afar, planned for him a horrid journey and poured over him blasts of raging winds and the waves thickened into mighty things like mountains. Then dividing his fleet in half, some drew near Crete where the Cydonians dwelt around the streams of Iardanus. There is a smooth high cliff, high up facing the sea on the edge of Gortyn in the dark misty ocean, where the Southwest Wind drives huge waves against the headland on the left toward Phaestus and a little rock holds back the great swell. Some of his ships came there and with great effort the men escaped utter destruction but the ships were broken into pieces, dashing against the reef. But the other five dark-prowed ships were born on the wind and the waves brought them to Egypt.

As Menelaus himself said, I tell you in truth that after eight years of wandering about with great woes, I brought my wealth home in my ships. I wandered over Cyprus and Phoenicia and Egypt and I came to the Ethiopians and the Sidonians and the Erembi and to Libya, where the lambs are born with horns.

While Nestor in Pylos and Menelaus in Sparta were hosting Telemachus, the arrogant suitors were laying plans to ambush the boy and kill him when he returned. Homer’s report of their plans gives us further insight into his knowledge of ships and maritime geography.

Thus he spoke and he chose twenty of the best men and they went their way to the seashore and the swift ship. First of all they drew the ship down to the depth of the salt sea and set up the mast and the sails in the dark ship and fitted the oars into the leather locks and spread the white sails.

The suitors embarked and sailed on their watery way and pondered in their minds about the sheer murder of Telemachus. In the middle of the ocean there is a rocky island called Asteris, midway between Ithaca and rugged Samos. It is not very big but it has a harbour with good anchorage and an entrance on both sides. There the Achaeans waited, preparing to waylay Telemachus.

            All the while, Odysseus was trapped on the island of Calypso and was unable to make his way home because he lacked a ship and men to crew it.

He suffers great pain and lives on the island in the halls of the nymph Calypso and she restrains him there and he is unable to return to his fatherland for he no ships with oars and no comrades to help him make his way over the broad expanse of the sea.

The nymph finally relented and promised to help him return home. As far as a ship was concerned, she told him to build his own and in this part of the story, we get further insight into Homer’s knowledge of ships and shipbuilding. Many references to this point in the epic mirrored the description of ships that we found in the Iliad. Ships were dark, hollow, curved, well-benched, double-oared, swift or speedy and also carried sails. Now we are given further details about how they were constructed.

Do not cry any longer here, unhappy man, and do not let your life slip away in grief, for I am now willing in my heart to send you on your way. Go now and cut tall beams with an axe and make a broad raft and fashion a half-deck above it so that it can carry you across the dark sea.

He started cutting tree trunks and his work went quickly. He cut down twenty in all and he hewed them with the axe and then smoothed them all and made them straight. In the meantime, the beautiful goddess Calypso brought him augers and he drilled holes in all of them and fitted them all to one another and fastened them with bolts and hammered them all together. In the same way that a skilled boat-builder lays out a flat bottom and wide beam of a ship, so also did Odysseus fashion the width of his raft. He built a half-deck and set the ribs close together and finished the raft with long side planks. He set up a mast and a yard arm and fashioned a steering arm with a rudder. Then he fenced in the whole raft from bow to stern with closely-woven willow wicker and filled it all with lots of brush to protect the raft from the waves. Meanwhile the beautiful goddess Calypso brought him a cloth with which he could make a sail and he did so with much skill. He rigged all the sails, braces and ropes fast to the raft and then inched it down to the bright sea using levers.

With a joyful heart the godlike Odysseus spread his sail to the wind and sat and guided his raft skillfully with his well-crafted rudder.

            Odysseus ended up shipwrecked in the land of the Phaeacians and their king Alcinous welcomed him into his home, listened to the tales of his wanderings and then helped him along his way. The ship that he provided for him was fairly large because it carried a crew of over 50 men.

The fifty-two chosen youths went to the shore of the relentless sea as they had been commanded and when they had come down to the ship and the sea, they dragged the dark ship in the deep and set the mast and the sail on the black ship and fitted the oars into their leather straps all in order and then raised the white sail.

            One of the tales that Odysseus told was a harrowing account of his ship being assailed by a hurricane. The story is so realistic that we can only assume that this is something that Homer himself personally experienced, and again we can reach the conclusion that he was at one time a seafarer.

Zeus, the cloud-gatherer, persuaded the North Wind to assail our ships with a violent hurricane and hid the land and the sea with clouds and night descended from heaven. Immediately the ships were driven at an angle and their sails were torn to bits by the violence of the wind. So we lowered the sails onto the ships and feared destruction and in great haste began to row the ships towards the mainland. For two days and two nights we lay by, plagued in our hearts with weariness and sorrow. But on the third morning when fair-haired Dawn brought the day to life, we set up the mast, hoisted our white sails and took our seats and the wind and the steersman made straight. Now I should have made my way to my homeland unscathed, but the North Wind and the waves pushed me back as I was coming around Malea and caused me to wander in my course past Cythera.

            The Strait of Messina separates Sicily and Italy and is home to a rare nautical phenomenon, the meeting of cold and warm currents, the meeting of the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas, each with a different temperature and level of salinity, and a place where there are very sudden shifts caused by tides, winds and underwater topography. This is the home of the legendary Scylla and Charybdis, and one of the major maritime sailing challenges that faced Odysseus and his crew. Odysseus gave his crew orders on how to sail safely through the strait, but unfortunately lost six men in the process.

But come now and do as I say and everyone obey me. Keep your seats on the benches and smite the deep waves of the sea with your oars, in the hope that Zeus may allow us to flee and escape death. And to you steersman, I give this command and you take it to heart, since you are the one who is steering the hollow ship. Keep the ship well away from the smoke and the billowing surf and aim for the lookout spot so that the ship does not, without us realizing it, run off to sea and heave us into our destruction.

We then sailed up the narrow strait, groaning as we did so. On the one side there was Scylla and on the other side was the divine Charybdis who terribly sucked down the water of the salty sea. Whenever she spewed it out, she was like a cauldron on a great fire, seething and bubbling in great turmoil and high over the tops of both of the cliffs, the spray would fall. But as often as she gulped down the water of the salty sea, she could be seen in utter turmoil inside, and all round the rock roared terribly, while down below, the earth appeared black with sand and yellow fear seized my men. So we looked in her direction and feared for our demise and Scylla seized six men out of my hollow ship, those who had the most strength and who were the bravest.

            Finally, after enduring so many woes over the course of his ten year journey home from Troy, Odysseus landed on Ithaca and Homer reported the moment that the ship touched shore. The hero was asleep when they landed, exhausted from his travels and relieved that he was finally headed for home.

Then for the sake of Odysseus, they spread a rug and a blanket on the half-deck of the hollow ship so that he could sleep there undisturbed at the stern and then he went on board and lay down in silence.

They rowed in here because they knew the place beforehand and immediately ran the ship ashore, halfway up her keel because she was moving so swiftly with the rowers plying their oars with such strength in their arms. They stepped ashore out of the well-benched ship onto the mainland and the first thing they did was to lift Odysseus out of the hollow ship in the rug and blanket and they laid him down on the beach because he was still overcome with sleep.

            In the meantime, his son Telemachus was making his own way home to be reunited with his father and together they would take their revenge on the arrogant suitors. In the report of his sailing, we get another glimpse into Homer’s knowledge of seafaring.

Then he sat down in the stern and made Theoclymenus sit beside him and the men loosened the stern cables. Telemachus urged on his companions to prepare the tackle and they rushed to obey him. They raised the fir mast and set it in its hollow socket and bound the fore-stays and hauled up the white sail using ropes made of twisted ox-hide. Flashing-eyed Athena sent them a favourable wind that blew strongly from the heavens so that speeding quickly, the swift ship might make its way over the salty sea.

            I come from a long line of sailors and seafarers from the Canadian province of Newfoundland. My grandfather was first mate on a ten dory schooner, a fishing vessel that plied the waters of the Grand Banks. My great-grandfather operated the mail boat in the region. There is a Newfoundland folk song that is called “Jack Was Every Inch a Sailor” and it is a re-telling of the Jonah story. The last two lines of the chorus are:

Jack was every inch a sailor

He was born upon the bright blue sea

 

Based upon my study of the extensive and detailed maritime and nautical references in the Iliad and the Odyssey, and the obvious knowledge that Homer displays about the sea and the ships that sail it, I think we can reasonably change the lines of the song to be:

 

Homer was every inch a sailor

He was born upon the wine-dark sea