Are Homer’s Epics Unfinished?

 

   Are Homer’s Epics Unfinished?

For many years scholars have looked at the fact that the Iliad does not cover the entire Trojan War, and that Book 24 of the Odyssey appears to be a clumsy add-on to explain the resolution of the blood feud on Ithaca, to make the case that both of Homer’s epics are unfinished works. However, when one views the two works within the framework of the entire body of epic poetry of ancient Greece by numerous authors covering the subjects in question, one will certainly reach the conclusion that both epics are full and complete as we read them today.

First we have to remember that our current versions of the Iliad and the Odyssey were written down in some distant past and were the transcriptions of a long-standing oral tradition of poetic song. They were both parts of a very much wider body of works which taken together, cover the parts that are considered by many to be missing in what we determine to be Homer’s epics. There were several other works like the Cypria, the Aethiopis and the Iliou Persis, which told the story of the events leading up to the war, the death of Achilles and the eventual fall of the city of Troy. The Iliad covers only a 52 day period in the 10^th year of the war and despite what readers might expect, events beyond that period were never meant to be included in the epic.

While the backdrop for the action in the Iliad is indeed the Trojan War, Homer makes it very clear from the opening lines what the story is about:

Let wrath be your song O Goddess! Sing of the accursed rage of Achilles, son of Peleus, which brought untold woes to the Achaeans and banished to Hades many stalwart souls of heroes, turning them into carrion for dogs and birds of prey, thereby bringing to final fulfillment the plan of Zeus.

So the Iliad is a story with a limited scope focusing on the anger of Achilles and not the entire war. For this reason it feels incomplete to modern readers who are used to Hollywood endings with their final wrap-up and the hero riding off into the sunset, or the lovers disappearing down the beach hand in hand, or under the sheets gland in gland, with the screen fading to darkness.

The story of the fateful wrath of Achilles is told in three main parts and the remainder of the epic provides an entertaining canvas upon which this picture of anger is painted. The inciting incident that caused the wrath in the first place was the confiscation, by the commander-in-chief Agamemnon, of the war-prize Briseis who had first been granted to Achilles. This was considered by Achilles as a great insult to his personal honour and the result was a provocation of his immense wrath. He called the king every name imaginable and was on the point of rushing at him with his sword when he was restrained. In a fit of pique, he retired to his tent and refused to take any further part in the fighting, no matter what the dire consequences might be to the Achaeans.

The second part of the anger story is seen as the climax to the whole affair. Patroclus, the beloved companion of Achilles, convinced the hero to allow him to wear his armour and enter the battle in order to fool the Trojans into thinking that Achilles had returned to the fighting. He disobeyed the hero’s instructions and strayed too close to the Trojan walls and was ultimately slain by Hector. The death of his friend inflamed the rage of Achilles and drove him back into the fray. In an act of supreme revenge he killed the Trojan hero and then, acting like a madman, proceeded to desecrate Hector’s fallen corpse.

The third part of the story was the resolution of the wrath of Achilles. Hector’s grieving father King Priam made his way under the cover of darkness to the tent of Achilles and begged the Achaean hero to release his son’s body for burial. In a touching scene his anger is dissolved and he treats the old man like his own father. As he says to Priam,

But come now and sit down and we will allow our sorrows and pain to subside in our hearts for no good comes from cold grieving.

Homer’s story is complete and he has finished what he set out to relate. The fact that a time-out from the war was declared for the funeral of Hector is just further evidence that the wrath of Achilles has fully dissipated.

Then the swift-footed godlike Achilles answered him. This will all happen as you so desire aged Priam and I will hold us back from battle for as long as you have outlined to me.

Some scholars believe the Odyssey to be incomplete for two reasons. The ending of the epic has been debated and some think that the original version ended at the close of Book 23 and that Book 24 was a later addition by a different author(s). The major reason for this point of view is that the killing of the 108 suitors by Odysseus, Telemachus and their companions would have created a blood feud among the families of those slain and that this would have been a major issue in ancient Greece that would have required formal resolution. The conflict would have been left unaddressed, had not Athena and Zeus intervened to set up peace and stave off a civil war in the region. This has been seen as a clumsy attempt to tie up loose ends and one would have expected the poet to have composed a human-based solution to a human-caused situation, rather than a deus ex machina resolution, where a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and unexpectedly resolved by an unlikely occurrence or intervention. This type of divine intervention is seen as, abrupt, artificial or convenient and not a logical outcome to the story, and hardly Homeric.

The second reason why the Odyssey is seen by some as incomplete is that it does not tell the whole story of Odysseus. We learn nothing about his ongoing life as the king of Ithaca after his return, his subsequent travels, his additional children and finally his death. Now these subjects are covered in other works contained in the full epic cycle like the Telegony, but it begs the question as to whether it was ever Homer’s intent to include them in the Odyssey. Like the Iliad, we have to ask what the scope of the poem was intended to be. We know that the Iliad was a story about wrath and not war, and likewise with the Odyssey, it was not Homer’s intent to write a biography of Odysseus. The Odyssey also has a limited scope. It is the story of Nostos and Oikos, the journey home of a wanderer and the re-establishment of his household. Homer makes it very clear in the opening lines what the story is about.

Speak to me Muse of that man of many ins and outs who traveled far and wide after he had sacked the lofty citadel of Troy. 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.

The final conclusion of Homer’s story is what happened at the end of the Nostos, the journey. Odysseus was reunited with his wife, son and father and those who were destroying his household were themselves destroyed. The Oikos was re-established and any subsequent attacks on the allies of the suitors served the purpose of making sure that the Oikos was secure for the future. The fact that the resolution of the blood feud was taken care of by divine intervention is immaterial. The story was finished and there was no reason for Homer to carry it any further. Tracking Odysseus into the future was not the bard’s intent and his failure to do so cannot result in the conclusion that the Odyssey was incomplete. It was left to others to pick up that part of the story.

So both the Iliad and the Odyssey were complete and self-contained epics that covered the specific scopes that were intended for them. Both should be considered finished works, although the ending of the Odyssey might be debatable. Events that some feel should have been included in the two poems are covered by other works in the epic cycle and were outside of the stated scope of Homer’s works. What we have today are two standalone works that are part of a larger saga, but unfortunately many parts of that saga are missing and all we have extant are fragments of the works and literary or historical references to their existence.

Eumaeus – A Country Gentleman

 

   Eumaeus – A Country Gentleman

Eumaeus has been getting a bad rap from Homeric scholars for centuries. He is always referred to as the lowly or loyal swineherd of Odysseus. Eumaeus was much more than a swineherd who busied himself looking after the pigs on the royal farm. He was descended from royalty and a noble gentleman, a country squire and manager of the vast estate of a king who was off fighting and wandering. In the Odyssey Eumaeus represents the ideal of loyal servitude and willing hospitality and displays steadfast loyalty and devotion to his master. He is instrumental in the eventual success of Odysseus and plays a vital role in assisting him to regain and reclaim his throne from those bent on his destruction.

We first meet Eumaeus late in the story after Odysseus has returned to Ithaca and presents himself to his servant disguised as a beggar. Eumaeus knows well the demands of xenia and makes Odysseus welcome. Their first interchange establishes for us the relationship that Eumaeus has with his master and the love and loyal devotion that he bears for him and his son.

Odysseus rejoiced that he had been so welcomed and he spoke to the swineherd. ‘O stranger may Zeus and all the other immortal gods grant you whatever you desire because you have made me most welcome here with a ready heart.’ Then Eumaeus the swineherd answered him. ‘No stranger, it would not be right for me to ignore a foreigner, even if it was someone worse than you, for all strangers and beggars come from Zeus and a gift, even a small one, would be welcome from us, for this is the lot of slaves who live in fear, over whom their lords prevail, even young masters like ours. For truly the gods have delayed the return home of him whom I dearly love and who would have with kindness given me a house and property and a sought-after wife, even such things as a generous master would give to his slave who had worked hard for him and whose work the gods make to prosper, even as my work has done so.’

            So what do we know about this devoted and loyal servant? Fortunately he tells us his own story. He lived in a land that he called Syria and was the son of King Ctesius, the son of Ormenus who Eumaeus tells us, was likened unto the immortals. Since he says that his land was near Ortygia, it is likely that he was referring to Syracuse in Sicily. He was kidnapped by Phoenician traders after he had been betrayed by his Phoenician nurse who led him to their ship. The woman was killed at sea by Artemis and her body was thrown overboard. The traders landed in Ithaca and Eumaeus was purchased as a slave by Laertes, the father of Odysseus. He was treated with kindness by Laertes and his wife Anticleia and was raised by him as an equal to Odysseus and a member of the family. This upbringing was the root of the strong bond that existed between Eumaeus and Odysseus.

Over the years he took on more and more responsibility and managed the estate for Odysseus during his twenty year absence. Eumaeus lived in a humble home outside the city and from there he managed a small staff of herders and a servant named Mesaulius. He looked after the livestock and four dogs, whom he describes as being as savage as wild beasts. When Odysseus returned to Ithaca in disguise, the first place that he went was to the home of Eumaeus. The swineherd took him in and provided him with food and shelter and in doing so, demonstrated a high degree of hospitality and respect, even though the man that he was serving was dressed as an impoverished beggar. Eumaeus divided up the provisions that were available and made sure that everyone got a fair portion. Odysseus used the house of Eumaeus as a place to remain in hiding, safe from detection, giving him an opportunity to gather information about the suitors and their intent.

It would appear that during the long-term absence of Odysseus, Eumaeus formed a strong relationship with his son Telemachus and took on the role of father-figure. Telemachus was only an infant when his father left for Troy and Eumaeus took on a paternal role during the hero’s tenure away from home. It is interesting to note that the first stop that Telemachus made on his return from Pylos and Sparta is not to his mother’s home, but rather to the house of Eumaeus in the countryside, just like his father did. Eumaeus had been raised like a son by Laertes and Anticleia and he performed the same function for Telemachus.

Eumaeus was a true and loyal friend to Odysseus and his family. The arrogant and selfish suitors had overrun the place and were depleting the family’s wealth and yet Eumaeus remained steadfast and loyal. His loyalty was selfless and he had no desire for personal gain. He was driven by only love and respect and this is borne out in every line that he speaks. The beggar to whom he offered unwavering hospitality eventually revealed himself to the noble swineherd as his master. The loyal servant offered his support and together with Odysseus and Telemachus, they created a plan to rid the land of the suitors and to take back what rightfully belonged to the family. Eumaeus played the role of valued informant and provided the hero and his son with invaluable information on the state of the palace and the actions of suitors whom he despised.

When the day of action arrived, Eumaeus proved himself to be a warrior and fought alongside Odysseus and Telemachus. His loyal behaviour stood in direct contrast with the greedy and selfish actions of the arrogant suitors and disloyal servants such as the goatherd Melantheus. In all respects he was the epitome of honor, integrity and deep morality. His actions and attitudes were such as we would expect from a loyal swineherd, a high-born prince and an adopted son of royalty.

Most of the heroes of the Iliad and the Odyssey had clay feet and we continually witness their massive flaws in addition to their heroic deeds. Eumaeus was different. He was not a hero, but most often referred to as a lowly swineherd. We come to realize that, in the person of that swineherd, we find embodied all the good things that we expect to find in the heroes of the epics. They fell short but Eumaeus measured up by every standard. Indeed, scholars have given him a bad rap, or at least have failed to recognize his true merits.

Epic Sex

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The Shield of Achilles

 

  The Shield of Achilles

More than just a piece of military defensive armour, the shield of Achilles is a work of art that can be interpreted in a number of different ways. The shield can be seen as representing all aspects of life in ancient Greece. Peace, justice and revelry are depicted in one city, while war is being waged in another region. The heavens are displayed in all their grandeur and beneath them images of nature show the abundance of life on earth. The shield is fashioned in a series of contrasts with war being shown next to peace and work being shown next to play. Keeping in mind that the shield is to be carried by Achilles, it is fair to assume that the contrasts that Homer depicts on the shield are representative of the contrasts and conflicts that abide in the hero himself. The shield is a parable for the events that have happened and are about to happen in the Iliad.

The events that led to the creation of the shield are narrated by the bard. After the death of his beloved comrade Patroclus, Achilles decided to re-enter the battlefield and to direct his wrath away from Agamemnon and towards the Trojan Hector instead. Patroclus had donned the armour of Achilles in an attempt to fool the Trojans and when he was killed, Hector stripped the armour from his body. Achilles promised his mother Thetis that he would not resume fighting until such time as he was suitably armed. Thetis approached the god Hephaestus and asked him to prepare a new suit of armour for her son.

That day they did battle around the Scaean Gates and that same day he laid waste the city, but after the brave son of Menoetius had caused great harm, Apollo killed him in front of the foremost fighters and endowed the victory on Hector. For that reason I have now come to your knees to see if you might be willing to give to my son, who is on the brink of death, a shield, a helmet, good greaves fitted with leg-guards on the ankles and a corselet. His own armour was lost when his trusted comrade was killed by the Trojans and my son is stretched out in grief on the ground.

Hephaestus agreed to her request and fired up his forge to fashion the new set of armour for the hero:

I will provide him with a set of beautiful armour that shall be the marvel of all men who behold it in times to come. Thus he spoke and then he left her and went back to his bellows and turned them towards the fire and made them work.

Homer provides us with an in-depth description of the shield that Hephaestus created:

The first thing he made was a strong shield, big and sturdy and fashioned on all sides with well-wrought decoration and around the rim he placed a bright and shining flashing in three parts with a broad strap made of silver. The shield itself was made of five layers and on them he created many curious embellishments, all finely crafted.

On the shield the god depicted the earth, the heavens, the sea, the sun and a full moon and all the constellations that could be seen in the sky. He then laid out the images of two cities on earth. The one showed a calm portrait of peace on earth with people partying, attending the market and engaged in civic activities, and in the picture of the second city he demonstrated the havoc caused by people and armies warring with each other and the impact of Strife, Tumult and deadly Fate on the population.

Then on the shield Hephaestus fashioned rich and wide farmlands and a king’s domain where peasants were engaged in gathering in a rich harvest. The bounty of that harvest was beautifully displayed and in the midst of the workers he showed a boy making sweet clear sounds on a lyre and singing a beautiful song with his fine delicate voice while being accompanied by dancing and the stomping of feet as they all followed along behind him, dancing and exulting merrily. Pastoral scenes of cattle and sheep were displayed, along with a hunting scene that featured a lion and hunting dogs. Finally, on the outside rim of the strongly fashioned shield he set the great might of the river Oceanus. When he had finished the shield, he set his hands to the task of creating the rest of the armour.

When the famous god with the two crooked feet had created all this armour, he took it and laid it in front of the mother of Achilles. And like a falcon she flew down from snowy Olympus, bearing in her hands the armour from Hephaestus.

She laid the armour at the feet of Achilles and all its embellishments flashed brightly. All the Myrmidons trembled when they saw it and they could not look at it fully, for they were so struck with awe. But not Achilles, for the more he looked at it, the more furious he became and his eyes flashed brightly, for he was gladdened to hold the beautiful gift which the god had sent to him. After he had been delighted in his heart to gaze upon the lovely gift, he spoke to his mother with winged words. “Mother of mine, the god has given me armour suitable for an immortal which no living man could have created.”

            The shield of Achilles is significant because it functions as a picture of the universe and the range of human experiences within that universe. It portrays the calm of peace and the brutality of war, both of which are expanded upon in the broad texture of the epic. It shows how man and nature are intertwined and how mortals are engaged with immortals. It can be seen as a parable for the hero Achilles as he negotiates that turning point in his life that was occasioned by the death of Patroclus and his subsequent actions leading to the demise of Hector and the Trojan empire. The shield depicts all aspects of existence and the world and the universe in total. City and rural life, war and peace, the earth and what lies within it, below it and above it are all portrayed. The shield of Achilles shows the links between war and peace, deterrence and defense and the catalyst for action that leads from one situation to the other. It is also remarkable insofar as it deftly uses the literary device of ekphrasis to detail in words what has been depicted in an art form.

            It has been noted by scholars that the shield of Achilles serves as a symbol of fate, the cyclical nature of life itself and the inevitable cycle of events that defines mortal existence. As a gift from the gods, the shield also represents the concept of peace on earth as a coveted prize that is granted by a divine power, as well as a reminder to mankind that there exists indeed the potential for both harmony and justice in the world, if mortals are willing to embrace peace and eschew war. It serves as a glittering example of how Homer has positioned the Iliad as an anti-war poem.

Crime & Punishment in Homer

                                              Crime & Punishment in Homer

In the Iliad and the Odyssey, crime and punishment are not administered through a modern legal system of police forces and courts, but rather they are expressions and manifestations of a very strict honour-based social code and the will of the gods. The actions that are expected of a hero in battle and the demands of xenia are good examples of such honour-based social systems. Crime is seen as a disruption to the natural order of things and punishment is viewed as a method of re-establishing the balance that has been lost, either to the character of the hero or the divine order.

In my opinion, Crime and Punishment, published by Fyodor Dostoevsky in 1866, is the second greatest novel of all time. Similar to what we find in the Iliad and the Odyssey, Dostoevsky’s novel focuses on the mental anguish and the moral dilemmas facing his main character Raskolnikov. We see this same theme playing out in Homer’s epic works, and it comes as no surprise to find out that Homer greatly influenced the Russian novelist. Homer was one of the classic authors that Dostoevsky read from a young age and he held him in high regard. Homer’s elements provided a significant foundation to his writings and they influenced his style and his themes. As an aside, and again in my humble opinion, the greatest novel of all time was Lost Horizon, written in 1933 by James Hilton and telling the story of Shangri-La. I imagine that a lost horizon was a condition often experienced by Odysseus on his 10 year journey home. As I think about it, we should probably stop referring to Odysseus’s 10 year trip. In fact he spent only 2 years at sea and the other 8 years he spent canoodling around in the beds of the two floozies, Calypso and Circe. But I digress…

The Trojan War itself was rooted in crime, long before it ever began. The Judgement of Paris was an incident of blatant bribery, and the abduction of Helen was either kidnapping and robbery at its finest, or else adultery and theft committed by an unfaithful wife. Then we have the sacrificial killing of Iphigenia at Aulis, when Agamemnon committed paternal filicide. The Iliad depicts numerous actions committed within the context of war, including indiscriminate killings, the targeting of civilians, torture, mutilation, brutality, sexual assault, desecration of the dead and enslavement, all of which would be considered war crimes or crimes against humanity by today’s standards, but were just an acceptable part of warfare and commonplace in ancient Greek conflicts.

At the very start of the Iliad, Homer presents to us King Agamemnon of Mycenae, the leader of the Achaeans and a criminal by every stretch of the imagination. Ten years after the killing of his daughter, he was still doing evil things. In the first place, he kidnapped Chryseis, the daughter of the priest of Apollo and he had her installed in his tent as his personal sex-toy. He then contravened the honor-based social code by refusing the ransom offered to the girl, and then heaped abuse on her father and threatened him. This in turn angered the god Apollo, and he consented to the priest’s request to lower his wrath on the Achaeans. The god responded by inflicting the scourge of a terrible plague on the Greeks and the stench of death rose from their encampment. It is interesting to note that while Agamemnon’s personal crimes were many, the punishment for them was not directed at the king himself, but rather at his troops. He did get his comeuppance when he got home however.

Most of what we would deem as misdeeds or possible crimes in the Iliad all take place within the context of war and are therefore seen as admissible by ancient standards. One exception could include the stripping of the armour from the body of Patroclus by Hector, a clear violation of the heroic code and a terrible disrespect shown to the corpse of a fallen warrior. The wrath that Achilles showed at the death of his comrade and his subsequent violation of Hector’s corpse, as an outlet for his rage and a punishment for the Trojan’s crime, are clearly linked to Hector’s own actions. An unspeakable crime in the mind of Achilles can only be followed by a likewise unspeakable punishment. There are those who hold that the death of Patroclus himself can be seen as a punishment inflicted by Zeus on Achilles for his refusal of the embassy that was sent to him to reconsider fighting and for his pride or hubris.

The warrior Diomedes attacked and wounded the immortals Aphrodite and Ares, a violation of the natural order of things and an action that incurred the wrath of the other gods, but there was no punishment levied on the hero that we are aware of in the Iliad. Diomedes was struck on the foot and pinned to the ground by an arrow shot by Paris and he had to withdraw early from the battle. His death is not recorded in the Iliad and in fact, tradition holds that he survived the war and returned to his kingdom. One tradition holds that as a punishment and in revenge for wounding her, Aphrodite caused the wife of Diomedes to be unfaithful to him, and he discovered this when he returned to Argos. But unlike Agamemnon, his wife didn’t kill him in his bathtub on his first day back home.

In the Odyssey, the entire story of the Cyclops Polyphemus is a continuous loop or cycle of crime leading to punishment, leading to further crime, leading to additional punishment. The monster started it off by refusing to offer xenia or guest-friend hospitality to the visiting Odysseus and his crew and going even further in this violation by killing and eating a number of those present. Odysseus and his men inflicted punishment on the Cyclops by blinding him. That action was seen as a crime by the god Poseidon, and he in turn sent his wrath in the form of violent punishing storms against the wanderer and his crew. In the end, Odysseus arrived back in Ithaca totally alone, having lost all his men along the way through divine retribution.

Polyphemus was punished by mortals because he inflicted harm on humans and Odysseus and his men were punished because they offended a god. The message was clear that all hell would be paid if mortals offended the immortals. In fact, Poseidon was not the only god who sought to punish Odysseus and his men for their crimes. For eating his sacred cattle, the sun god Helios punished the crew by destroying their ship with a thunderbolt, killing everyone on board except Odysseus who had ordered his men not to eat the cattle. Once more we see divine retribution in action.

The actions of the suitors and their ultimate demise are another example of crime and punishment in action. The suitors had violated the honour code of xenia by dishonouring the home of Odysseus by consuming his wealth and by pressing his wife Penelope to marry one of them. In addition, they committed the ultimate outrage against xenia by plotting to kill Telemachus, a severe violation of the sacred laws of hospitality. Odysseus and his son dispatched the suitors without mercy, an act seen as justified payback for their violation of the social order. One questions however, the actions taken against the 12 disloyal handmaidens. Their only crime appears to have been that they allowed themselves to be seduced by the arrogant suitors, and yet they were hung for their misdeeds. It’s like the son of Lord Ponsonby seduced the milkmaid and the downstairs char girl, and had his actions dismissed as just sowing his wild oats or ‘boys will be boys’, and in the meantime, the unfortunate girls were severely dismissed without a reference and forced to wear Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter. Their punishment did not seem fair for the supposed crime that they had committed.

The two epics show us a world where justice is a personalized and emotional act of revenge, with not much distinction shown between mortal and divine motivations. Crime and injustice are seen as violations or transgressions of the social order or the divine cosmos and for which balance must be restored. The severity of the crime determines the severity of the response and in every case both the crime and the punishment serve the bard’s purpose of exploring the themes of pride, vengeance, justice and the consequences of human actions, whether they have been leveled at other humans or against the gods themselves. Justice and retribution are administered through heroic revenge, divine intervention or social sanctions, and in each instance the message is clear – if you do the crime, you do the time.

How does your garden grow?

 

     How does your garden grow? 

With three notable exceptions, most of Homer’s references to the flora of his time are either contained in Homeric similes wherein he compares, for example, the fall to the ground of a stricken warrior to the crashing of a mighty tree, He fell down like an oak tree or a poplar or a tall pine tree on a mountain which the shipwrights fell with a newly-whetted axe for use on a ship, or a reference to a ferocious beast dwelling or hiding in a heavily wooded copse of trees or brambles. The three exceptions are his description of the fields, farms and pastures depicted on the shield of Achilles, the lush gardens belonging to King Alcinous and Queen Arete on their lands in the Phaeacian territory of Scheria, as well as the well-ordered gardens of Laertes, the father of Odysseus, on the island of Ithaca. In total, the Iliad and the Odyssey do contain nearly 90 references to specific plant species and they do indeed demonstrate his extensive and practical knowledge of the flora of the countryside of ancient Greece and Troy. Homer talks about plants as decorative elements of the landscape and also presents them as potent symbols, tools and medicines. We learn from the bard that the ancient Greeks used plants for food, medicine, construction and ritual purposes.

As mentioned, a common image of Homer’s is the likening of the fall of a warrior to the fall of a tree. The death of Simoisius at the hands of Ajax is a fine example, as are the deaths of the sons of Diocles by Aeneas. The savage rage of a wildfire striking a forest is also featured.

He fell down in the dust on the ground just as a poplar tree, which having sprung up and grows on an extensive marshy land, is smooth below and bears branches and leaves at the top, is cut down by a charioteer with his shining blade so that he can bend it into wheels for his chariot, and now it lies drying on the banks of the river. Such as this did the illustrious Ajax destroy Simoisius son of Anthemion.

 

In the same manner they were both overcome by the hands of Aeneas and fell like lofty pine trees.

As when a destroying fire falls upon a virgin forest and the raging wind blows it everywhere and the trees fall utterly as they are assailed by the rushing fire, such as this, under the attack of Agamemnon the son of Atreus, did the heads of the Trojans fall as they fled.

But not all of Homer’s tree similes relate to warriors falling like felled trees. Sometimes he portrays them as standing tall and straight, and in another instance, he compares a warrior’s death to a mere sapling being torn out of the ground by a high wind.

These two stood firmly in front of the high and lofty gates like high-topped oak trees on a mountain that stand like stalwarts in the wind and the rains of the day, anchored well by their firm and long roots. In the same way, trusting in their own strength, these two stood firm against the coming of the great Asius and did not turn and flee.

Like a man who raises a young well-growing sapling of an olive tree in a lonely place where the water wells up abundantly and the north winds make it shudder and it flourishes luxuriantly and bursts with white flowers, but suddenly there comes a blowing blast of wind with a furious storm and it is torn out of the ground and stretched out there dead, even so did Menelaus the son of Atreus slay the son of Panthous, Euphorbus of the mighty spear of ash wood and stripped him of his armour.

Wild beasts are often associated with wooded areas by Homer, where they either have their lairs or flee to while being hunted. In one reference, we see a wild boar doing great damage to trees and property.

Thereupon the arrow-shooting child of Zeus was provoked and sent against him a fierce white-tusked wild boar and it did much harm to the harvest lands of Oeneus. It uprooted many tall trees and cast them upon the ground along with roots and apple blossoms.

            We know from the bard’s many references that forests abounded in ancient Greece and Troy. It is commonly held that the Greeks basically deforested their land in order to get enough wood to build their massive navy, but there is some question about the validity of this statement. In the passage wherein Homer describes the wildfire that Hephaestus started on the plains of Troy to incinerate the dead, we get a pretty good picture of what the riverbanks looked like at the time.

So was all the plain dried up and all the corpses were consumed by the fire and then against the river he focused his gleaming flame. The elm trees, the willows and the tamarisks were all set afire as were the lotuses, the reeds and the galingale that grew in plenty around the fair stream.

Likewise in the Odyssey, when Odysseus washes up in the land of the Phaeacians, Homer describes what the flora by the seashore looked like when the hero was looking for a place to sleep for the night.

He thought about this and decided which was best and he went into the woods and near the water found a clearing and he crawled under two bushes that grew together, one a thorn bush and the other an olive tree. These grew so closely together and intertwine with each other, that the might of the wet winds, the rays of the bright sun and the rain could penetrate them.

            There are several references in the epics to trees being cut and used for construction, for example the palisade that the Achaeans built on the shoreline at Troy and the marital bed that Odysseus made for Penelope and himself, fashioned out of a living olive tree that was growing through their house. Also in the Odyssey, the hero cuts trees to build a vessel so that he can sail away from Calypso’s island.

Then she led him to the distant part of the island where tall trees grew, alder and poplar and fir trees that reached to the sky, well-dried and seasoned and capable of floating well. But when she had shown him where the tall trees grew, the beautiful goddess Calypso returned home again. 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.

            Homer also tells us that the ancient Greeks used plants for medicinal purposes, whether it was an antiseptic or pain-killing lotion made from herbs that Patroclus applied to wounds, or soothing and calming drugs designed to induce peace and forgetfulness, such as the potion that Helen offered to Telemachus at the banquet in Sparta when stories of the Trojan War started to be told. At times potions were used for evil purposes, such as on the occasion when Circe administered an evil drug to Odysseus’s crew and turned them into swine. The hero himself escaped the same fate when he consumed the antidote moly.

            Of course Homer makes note of the fact that the Danaans and the Trojans made use of growing plants for food and most often mentions grains, olives and grapes, all used to subsidize a menu that featured meat as the staple provision. The reference to food leads us to a discussion of the three lengthy passages that describe the farms, fields, gardens and orchards that Homer depicts on the shield of Achilles in the Iliad, and the gardens of royal family of Scheria and that of Laertes, the elderly king of Ithaca, in the Odyssey.

            There are many references to plants and growing things on the shield of Achilles that Hephaestus fashioned for the hero at the request of Thetis. These give us a great picture of the abundance that the land must have provided, but certainly not in a time of war.

Then on the shield he fashioned rich and wide farmlands

On the shield he also portrayed a king’s domain wherein servants were reaping grain

On the shield he also fashioned a threshing floor heavily laden with clusters of grapes, a fine vineyard made of gold. The bunches of grapes were a rich black colour and were made to stand on vine poles fashioned of silver.

Then the famous god with the two lame feet created a pasture in a wooded glen

            By far the most luxurious garden of all is that which belonged to the royal family of Scheria, the Phaeacians Alcinous and Arete. The abundance of this garden is a testament to what can be created in peaceful times, when attention can be turned to agriculture and not warfare. I think that this description is a deliberate one on Homer’s part and he presents it in direct contrast to the violence that is depicted elsewhere in the Odyssey, as well as principally in the Iliad.

Outside in the courtyard near the door there is a large orchard four acres and around each side of it there is an enclosure. In it great trees bring forth luxuriant fruit, pears and mulberries and beautiful bright apples and figs sweet to the taste and flourishing olive trees. The fruit does not fail these trees or die, neither in the winter or summer, but lasts all year long. The West Wind blows constantly and brings some fruit to life and ripens others. Pear after pear ripens, apple after apple, one bunch of grapes after another, fruit after fruit. There the bountiful vineyard is planted, one part of the crop being dried in the wind on a level sunny spot, another part being gathered in and another being squashed underfoot and out in front, unripe grapes are dropping their blossoms while still others are beginning to turn a dark colour. There by the final row of vines grow well cared-for garden plots of all kinds that bear produce all year long.

            The old man Laertes likewise had a beautiful garden and Odysseus commented on it when he approached him in disguise and then later as he revealed himself.

He was digging around a plant with his head down and his glorious son came up to him and spoke. “Old man, not without skill do you tend an orchard and your level of care is good in total, for there is not a plant, or fig tree, or grapevine, or olive tree, or pear tree, or plot in the entire garden that lacks good care.

And come now and let me point out to you the trees in the well-tended orchard that you had given to me when I was but a child and we were strolling through the orchard and asking for one thing and another. We passed through these trees and you named them all, telling me what there were. You gave me thirteen pear trees and ten apple trees and forty fig trees. You also promised me fifty rows of vines and each of them bore grapes in succession with clusters of grapes of all sorts, whenever the seasons of Zeus weighed them down.

            Finally, it should be noted, that in addition to presenting the flora of his times as part of the landscape and being used for food, medicine, construction and for ritual purposes, such as wood for firing funeral pyres and sacrificial altars, Homer also uses plants and trees as symbols and often connects them with the human life cycle. For example, trees with their alternating seasons of growth, decay and re-growth, symbolize the fleeting nature of mortals and the ongoing cycle of succeeding generations. Homer compares the generations of men to the falling of leaves:

And they stood in the Scamadrian plain in just the same numbers as the multitude of leaves and flowers that are produced in the springtime.

They are crossing the plain to attack the city as thick as leaves on the trees or as the sands on the seashore.

Just as the wind scatters the leaves on the ground and the luxuriant woods produce even more and in the season of spring they come forth, so also in the race of men some spring up and others cease to exist.

The Use of Bronze in Ancient Greece

 

   The Use of Bronze in Ancient Greece

In ancient Greece, bronze (χαλκός) was used extensively by the military for spears, arrows, armour and helmets and by artists for casting large statues and smaller statuettes. The metal was also used for household goods like cooking vessels, tripods and mirrors. Bronze was strong and durable and non-corrosive and was easily cast, worked and hammered and was therefore ideal for purposes such as these. It was not considered as precious as gold or silver but was still highly regarded by the ancients and was a symbol of wealth and power and there are many references in the Iliad and the Odyssey of huge treasures of bronze being piled up along with gold and silver.

Various civilizations in ancient Greece started working with bronze prior to 3,000 BCE and what has come to be known as the Bronze Age spanned the years from 3,000 to 1,000 BCE. The Stone Age preceded it and the Iron Age followed. Major civilizations of the Bronze Age period included the Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean cultures. Homer’s focus was on the Mycenaeans, led by their chieftain King Agamemnon of Mycenae and his brother Menelaus of neighbouring Sparta. The two brothers were responsible for launching the attack on Troy and starting the Trojan War. Mycenaean Greece was the last phase of the Bronze Age in ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BCE.

Bronze is a metal alloy that consists primarily of a mixture of copper and tin, with the latter metal accounting for 10%-12% of the total. Sometimes in modern times other ingredients are added to modify the properties of bronze, including aluminum, manganese, phosphorus and silicon. The alloy is known for its hardness, strength, low friction and resistance to corrosion, even in salt water. Bronze is made by melting the copper and then adding the tin and other ingredients at their specific proportions. The resulting mixture is then cast into molds or formed into various shapes like spearheads or metal sheets that can then be hammered or artistically engraved.

Mycenaean Greeks obtained much of their copper from the island of Cyprus, and in fact the word copper is derived from the ancient name of the island. Modern day Turkey, Iran and Palestine were also well-known sources of copper in ancient times. There is a reference in the Odyssey to Sidon that abounds in bronze. Tin was much more hard to come by and the very few known sources included the British Isles, southern Spain and central Europe. Phoenician traders were thought to be the major suppliers of tin to Bronze Age Greeks.

Homer was an Iron Age writer, but he set his stories of wars and heroes in Bronze Age Greece. Sometimes the bard struggled to keep anachronisms out of his works. For example, the use of bronze armour and weapons clearly dates the Iliad to the time of the Trojan War in the Bronze Age, but the references to cremation of dead heroes is certainly an Iron Age slip-up. Homer does mention iron in his works, but it is seen as more practical and utilitarian in nature and not as highly prized as bronze, the metal of gods and heroes and treasured as a spoil of war, filling palaces and tents with its lustre. Homer’s concentration on bronze was a deliberate attempt on his part to firmly position his epics in the period of what he viewed as heroic Mycenaean Bronze Age Greece.

Homer often refers to the bronze-armoured or bronze-clad Achaeans and Trojans and the sight of them in full gear must have been quite the display on the battlefield, with soldiers flashing gloriously in armour of gleaming bronze.

Like a devastating blaze consumes an immense forest at the top of a summit and the splendour of its glowing is seen from afar, so was the amazing sight of the shining bronze armour of those marching to war seen radiant in the heavens.

While Homer does highlight the lustre of the metal and often refers to bronze as flashing, gleaming, fiery, shining or blazing, he also variously describes it as sharp, finely-worked, well-beaten, sharp-edged, cold, loud-clanging, resounding and flesh-piercing. At times he even makes bronze come alive and describes it in human terms as being relentless, ruthless, pitiless, cruel or heartless.

Homer lists countless examples of weapons and armour crafted from bronze, including spears or lances tipped with bronze, arrowheads, swords, clubs, shields, helmets, cheek guards, greaves, axes and corselets fitted with bronze protective plates. Bronze was used by the ancient Greeks on land and sea and Homer references the bronze-armoured ships of the Achaeans as well as bronze-decorated chariots fitted with bronze-spoked wheels and bronze rims and axles, drawn by bronze-hoofed horses.

To highlight the value of bronze and its shining characteristics, Homer describes the palaces of both Zeus and Hephaestus as being constructed from bronze, complete with a bronze threshold, walls, doors and a bronze key with an ivory handle. Bronze was also well-used within the home and he tells us of bronze bowls, cauldrons, water pots, baskets, tripods and even a bronze cheese grater. In the Odyssey, Homer tells us of a goldsmith whose tools included a bronze anvil, hammer and a pair of well-wrought fire tongs.

Homer refers to a bronze or brazen sky several times in both epics, such as when he tells us, The Sun rose up in the bronze-hued heavens. This imagery conveyed the overwhelming brilliance and intense, dome-like quality of the sky during the day, much like the shining surface of bronze. The use of bronze in this context reflects the ancient Greek way of describing intensity and a gleaming quality, rather than a specific hue in the way that we understand color today. Their colour words described shade, intensity, light and contrast and not so much a particular colour. In a similar vein, Homer describes Stentor and Achilles as being bronze-voiced, or in other words, powerful speakers.

Homer used the word bronze to describe weapons and armour over 500 times in the Iliad, making it one of the most frequently used nouns in the epic. Because Homer's poems often use epithets to refer to objects, the consistent use of bronze as a modifier for things like spears, shields, and helmets is a hallmark of his style, and also reflects the historical period of the Bronze Age that is being depicted in the work. It is important to remember that Homer was writing in the Iron Age, and despite a couple of anachronistic missteps, he did an overall fine job of using his multiple references to bronze to position his story in time. Because of the nature of the tale, references to bronze in the Odyssey are fewer in number, likely in the region of 80, depending on the translation used. However, those references also help position the second epic as also occurring in the late Bronze Age. It is true genius that an author can use one simple word to accomplish so much.