Homer’s Portrayal of the Elderly

 Homer’s Portrayal of the Elderly

The ancient Greeks had mixed feelings when it came to how they regarded the elderly in their societies. On the one hand, it is fair to say that the Greeks had a general disdain for the frailties that came with old age and the physical decline that accompanied aging, and the proximity of an impending death was certainly not a welcome thought. On the other hand, the wisdom and knowledge that came with growing older were highly respected and older men especially were turned to for their counsel, experience and strategic advice in military, political and civic matters. Youth and strength were highly prized by members of ancient societies and this fact can be seen demonstrated in the art and literature of the times. The young and the robust are seen actively engaged in warfare and athletics, both in real life and in artistic representations. But youth and virility do not last forever and that being the case, there was a societal expectation that the elderly would be cared for by their families because of the wide-spread Greek virtue of honoring one’s parents.

In the Iliad and the Odyssey, Homer portrays the elderly as sources of wisdom, experience and historical memory and he often casts them in the role of valued counselor. Their mental acuity is contrasted with their physical frailty. The elderly serve as an anchor point in the present time, connecting what has taken place and what was important in the past with what is anticipated and is about to happen in the future. Their glorious linkage to the heroic past inspires and guides the younger generation of heroes who are attempting to achieve the same glory for themselves. The elderly serve as advisors, preservers of history and symbols of tradition and act as moral compasses for the younger, more hot-headed warriors contending on the battlefield.

Then the horseman Nestor from Gerena answered him. “Son of Atreus, indeed I wish that I might be as young as I was when I slew the divine Eruthalion, but the gods never give all that is wished for to men at once. If then I was a young man, now old age takes me over. But even so, I will be with my chariot and urge on my men, for such is the work of an old man. But those who are younger than me, trusting in their great strength, shall be the ones who wield the spears.

We do not know how old King Nestor of Pylos was at the time of the Trojan War but we are told that he witnessed the passing away of two generations of men. When we meet him again in the Odyssey during the visit of Telemachus to his palace, he was another ten years older and provided his young visitor with hospitality and advice. He was clearly too old to fight on the front lines during the war, but the senior statesman did bring 90 ships and several thousand troops with him. Despite his inability to engage in active fighting, the Achaeans did rely heavily on his past experience in war and the shrewd counsel that he was able to offer.

Then among them stood up Nestor of the Pylians, the sweet-sounding orator with the clear voice from whose mouth flowed words sweeter than honey. Two generations of mortal men had passed on during his lifetime in the holy land of Pylos and now he was king of the third. With a pure heart he addressed those gathered together.

When the elders gathered in council to discuss strategy or to make plans, it was always Nestor who was the first to speak, either rising up and doing so on his own, or having been invited to be the first to comment. He often talked at length and he was not beyond boasting about his past achievements as he tried to inspire younger men like Patroclus and Diomedes. When he talked, the Achaeans listened and rarely was there any argument given against his advice. In the Iliad alone, Nestor makes at least 32 speeches and the are almost 500 references to the aged and wise counselor, an indication of the high regard in which he was held and the significant position in which Homer placed the elderly king.

After they had had food and drink to their heart’s content, the old man Nestor was the first to begin to weave wise counsel for them as his counsel had always before been held in high regard, and he began to speak and wrangle with them.

When they had had their fill of food and drink, the aged Nestor, whose advice was always the soundest, was the first to tell them what he had in his mind and with all kindness and good feeling, he spoke to them assembled.

Like the old men of Troy who sat on the city walls discussing a war that they could no longer fight but offering a perspective shaped by long life and experience, Priam, the aged and compassionate king of the Trojans, was another elderly character in Homer’s story who was too old to fight on the battlefield. He demonstrated his courage through his diplomacy and his offering of wise counsel rather than by wielding weapons at the enemy. Homer referred to him as the wise-hearted Priam. The old king could often be found standing on the walls of the citadel of Troy directing the action that was taking place below. In one instance he gave explicit instructions about the closing of the gates to safeguard his people and to keep the enemy at bay.

Keep the gates wide open until all the men who have taken flight have fled into the city for Achilles is nearby and is chasing them. We are in great danger now. When our people are inside the wall and are in safety, then close the gates and bar them with timbers for I fear that cruel man wants to get inside along with the others.

King Priam braved going to the Achaean camp in order to plead with Achilles for the return of the body of his son Hector. He appealed to the warrior’s pity by reminding him of his own father and his fearless act ultimately moved Achilles to end his desecration of the Trojan’s corpse and to return his body to his father. It must be noted that Priam insisted on going to the camp of the Achaeans and making his plea, despite the stern opposition of his wife Hecuba who accused him of having a heart made of iron. But Priam was steadfast in his resolve and made his case to his grieving wife.

Then the old godlike Priam answered her. “Do not try to hold me back for I am going and do not become of bird of ill omen in my house for you will not persuade me otherwise. If any other man on the face of the earth had asked this of me, whether they be soothsayers or priests, I might have considered it to be false and turned away from it, but I looked upon the face of the goddess herself and heard her words and so I will go and her message will not have been delivered in vain. If it is my fate to lie dead by the ships of the bronze-clad Achaeans, then so be it. Let Achilles go ahead and kill me once I have held my dear son in my arms and have ceased my willingness to continue to wail and weep.”

Another aged member of the Danaan force who offered his advice was Phoenix. He was an elderly mentor of Achilles and was one of those sent to the warrior to try to persuade him to rejoin the war effort. It is interesting to note that Phoenix was the first one who was nominated by Nestor as being suitable for the embassy to Achilles.

So come, let us choose some representatives to go quickly to the tents of Achilles the son of Peleus. Instead, let whomever I choose to go give assent to doing so. Phoenix, who is beloved by Zeus, should be the first to go and then Ajax the greater and godlike Odysseus and let the heralds Odius and Eurybates follow along with them.

Those who met with Achilles were unsuccessful in their attempts to persuade him and the warrior suggested that Phoenix stay behind after the others had left so that he could sail back home with him the next day. In his reply, Phoenix provided us with some insight into the relationship that he had with Achilles and the importance of an elderly mentor to a younger fighter.

The old horseman Peleus sent me to you the day he sent you forth to Phthia to Agamemnon. You were just a boy who knew nothing about the evils of war or of the assemblies wherein men wax eloquently. For this reason he sent me forth to teach you everything, to be a speaker of words and a doer of deeds.

But Achilles ignored the sound advice of his mentor to stay and fight and in his wrath was insistent on returning home because of the insult that had been laid upon him by Agamemnon. We know that he ultimately changed his mind and re-entered the battle after the death of Patroclus and finally achieved his Kleos by dying in battle. But his rebuke of Phoenix was noteworthy.

Then is answer to him, the swift-footed Achilles spoke as follows. “Old father Phoenix, I have no need to be honoured thus for I have been honoured by Zeus the dispenser of honours and such honour shall be mine beside the curved-prow ships as long as the breath stays in my breast and my knees stay working well. And I will say this to you and you bind it to your heart, do not attempt to assail my spirit with weeping and wailing just to please the soul of the son of Atreus. Do not claim him as your friend in case I, who indeed am your friend, now begin to hate you. It is indeed better that you hate those whom I hate as well. You are a king as I am and you share half of my honour. They will deliver my message for me but you come and lie down on a soft couch and come tomorrow we will decide whether to stay here or return to our homeland.”

Also in the Iliad we find Calchas, an aging seer who played a key role at the opening of the epic and described by Homer as the son of Nestor. He advised Agamemnon that he had to return the girl Chryseis to her father and the king of the Mycenaeans soundly rebuked him for doing so. Of course we know the severe consequences that ensued because the king failed to heed the wisdom of the seer.

Thus he spoke and then sat down and there rose among them Calchas son of Nestor, a highly talented diviner of birds who knew what is, what was and what is to come. He had guided the ships of the Achaeans to Ilium by using the prophetic powers which Phoebus Apollo had bestowed upon him. He spoke to those gathered there in assembly with a pure heart.

Calchas you prophet of doom, never have you spoken a civil word to me! Your thoughts are always full of evil towards me and never have you prophesised about something good nor ever brought anything good to pass.

In the Odyssey Homer further explores the subjects of aging, loyalty and loss through elderly characters and in particular, he contrasts the profound grief suffered by the devoted father Laertes to the steadfast devotion to her master displayed by loyal nurse Eurycleia. In both the Iliad and later in the Odyssey, Odysseus is often referred to as the divine-born son of Laertes, a common descriptive epithet that places both the son and his aged father in an honourable light. He is also called wise and great-hearted by Homer.

Odysseus’s father Laertes is a symbol or metaphor for the loss and grief caused by war - that wretched man, he who for such a long time has been grieving for Odysseus. During the 20 year absence of his son he had stepped back from his royal duties as king and had become a miserable and solitary recluse, living on the family farm and refusing to enter the city. Physically and psychologically he had declined and in his old age he no longer bore any resemblance to the mighty king that he once was. Always referred to as the old man Laertes, he was thought to be near death, for Penelope was weaving him a burial shroud - it is a shroud for the hero Laertes to be used when the fate of grievous death takes him down.

Laertes is still alive and prays constantly to Zeus that his life might leave his limbs within his halls. He grieves wondrously for his son who has gone and for his wise wife, whose death has troubled him most of all and has brought old age upon him.

Go and ask the old hero Laertes if you like, he who does not come to the city any longer but who bears his misery far away near the fields, waited on by an old woman who serves him food and drink after his limbs have become weary from creeping and crawling along the floor of his threshing place.

But despite his aged condition, his frailty and his isolation, Laertes was still considered to have significant influence and Penelope suggested that her farther be turned to in the hope that he might be able to devise a plan to rid the kingdom of the suitors who were destroying it.

But now someone call my old servant Dolius, who my father gave me before I ever came here, he who tends to my orchard of many trees, so that he may go and sit beside Laertes and tell him about all these things, in the hope that Laertes might be able to weave together some plan in his mind to go out to the people with great weeping and make a plea to those who want to destroy his race and that of the godlike Odysseus.

In the final battle with the families of the suitors, who were intent on seeking revenge for the slaughter of their sons and brothers by Odysseus and his cohort, Laertes was rejuvenated by the goddess Athena so that he could take his place beside his son and grandson. This powerful figure who represented the demise caused by sorrow and aging, moved on to become a symbol of the power of endurance and the restoration of family and kingdom. His transformation from being a grief-stricken victim of war to becoming once more a powerful ruler, is proof of the glory that remains steadfast in those who have lived the good life and have fought the good fight.

The final senior citizen that we need to consider is Eurycleia, the loyal and aged servant and nurse of the family of Odysseus. We are told that she originally joined the royal staff when she had been purchased by Laertes many years before when she was just a girl.

Eurycleia was the daughter of Ops who was the son of Peisenor. Laertes had purchased her long ago when she was in the prime of her youth, paying for her from his wealth the price of twenty oxen and he treasured her just as he did his own wife in his great palace but he never laid with her in love and thereby avoided the wrath of his wife.

This trusted servant performed many duties, including standing guard over the royal treasury. The close-fitted double doors of the chamber were shut and day and night a stewardess watched over the place in her wisdom, namely Eurycleia the daughter of Ops the son of Peisenor. She also acted like a surrogate mother to Telemachus and cautioned him about leaving home and travelling to Pylos and Sparta. Thus he spoke and the dear nursemaid Eurycleia shrieked aloud and spoke to him with feathered words. Why my dear child has this thought come to your mind? Why are you thinking about traveling over the wide earth, you who are an only child and well-loved?

In a very touching scene the loyal nurse recognized her master from the old scar on his leg while she was washing his feet. Odysseus took her into his confidence and she participated freely in making the preparations that were needed for his successful attack on the suitors, as well as being put in charge of cleaning the palace after the slaughter. Eurycleia was also the source of the information about which of the handmaidens were disloyal and therefore played a crucial role in their demise. It was also Eurycleia who was chosen to bear the news to Penelope that her husband had returned, and then played a part with the queen in the ruse about moving the olive-wood marriage bed. This well-respected elderly woman played a significant role in so many of the events surrounding the return of her master to Ithaca and in doing so demonstrated her enduring loyalty.

The elderly played a number of roles in Homer’s epics. In the first place, they acted as a collective repository of society’s memory. Ancient Greece was a pre-literate society wherein oral tradition and memory were key to preserving history. Elderly characters like King Nestor of Pylos served as living archives, able to recount past glories and to provide lessons and examples to guide and inspire a new generation. People like Laertes and Nestor also connected the current generation of striving heroes with a previous heroic age. Their memory and experience were deemed as more important than their faded military prowess and strength. With their ability to look back at history and to link causes with effects, the elderly were in a position to be able to issue cautionary warnings to the young and to help them to protect their own families and inheritances. Homer’s depiction of the elderly in the Iliad and the Odyssey is a reflection of ancient Greece’s view of the aged as commanding authority and of being worthy of respect. The limitations imposed on old age and the prowess of the young together provide a perfect balance for the wisdom, knowledge and advice of old age. Those attributes of the aged were being put into practice by the young and the fit of the day, those who were strong enough to carry out that mission for the benefit of both the young and the old.