Strife (Eris) -- between ages of Bronze and Iron, there was an age of heroes.

This is when the Iliad and the

Odyssey would take place. Let human beings fight each other, not the gods!
• Heroic age sees Strife moving from the realm of the gods to the world of human beings.
• The problem of evil. How does evil enter the world according to other traditions? Adam and Eve;
Pandora and her box -- released evils on the world (pandora -- “all gifts”). Pandora was crafted by the
gods -- to be beautiful -- but was crafted in a way that she causes all sorts of trouble.

The Trojan Cycle

• The Iliad represents a small window of time.
• Cycle carries action from the birth of important figures in the poem to the homeward journeys of Greek
heroes.
• All of Greek literature is filled with different stories (even the tragedies) with the cycles. So the Iliad is
just one part of this window of time. It also includes the homeward journey -- the nostoi.

Prophecy about Thetis -- the whole Trojan war begins with a prophecy. It is connected with the issue of
succession. Zeus is paranoid -- the prophecy says Zeus will have a child. So there is a wedding arranged
for Thetis and a human (Peleus). The gods forget to invite Eris (Strife). Eris crafts a golden apple with an
inscription (to the fairest). Thetis picks up the apple and they want to know who is the fairest. They ask
Zeus, but he declines and appoints a shepherd to judge who is the fairest. Each goddess offers their own
gift. Paris picks Aphrodite as the fairest. The others are outraged. So in a way, this is how the Trojan war
begins. Aphrodite gives Paris the power to seduce Helen. It’s called the rape of Helen (snatched Helen for
himself). Paris takes her back to Troy.
All the suitors competing are obligated to swear an oath. The oath was that if Helen is in trouble
that they will come to the rescue.

What is a hero? (see slide for chart)

• Joseph Campbell’s hero quest cycle --
• a call to the adventure (like Forrest Gump, Star Wars)
• a gathering of spiritual guides
• crossing the threshold, abduction, sight-sea journey, dismemberment, crucifixion
• batting ogres and dragons
• atonement with the father
• finding the boon of success, return/rescue/resurrection
• giving the boon to the world ... and back to the call to adventure.
• Hero cult
• What makes these guys heros? A person rises up for a cause greater than himself. A dire situation
arises and persons rise up. For the Greeks this didn’t have a lot of weight. There was a different idea --
these guys are concerned about “me.” What is good for me! Also they are semi-divine -- they are
connected (or somehow related) to the gods. They usually have one parent as a god. They also,
somewhere down the line, rebel against the gods. Heracles fought godlike creatures.
The Greeks didn’t really know the “hero cycle.” But there were general features that follow a
pattern.
Cult: there were sacrifices not only to the gods but also to heroes. Heroes could bring help. The
people would sacrifice for the hero in order to get help for their crops, etc. The worship of heros comes
before, and operates independently of, the Trojan cycle.

Characteristics of Homeric Epic

• Oral composition -- old stories passed down from generation to generation. Often times families,
friends, people come before the leaders or kings and would recite songs or poems. There were meters of
rhyme that helped with memorizing an epic.
• Begins in medias res -- in the middle things. The Iliad starts with the Greeks in Troy. It actually begins
with an argument between Achilles and Agamemnon. But at the very beginning there is a prayer to the
Muse.
• Invocation of Muse -- probably referring to a single goddess. “Sing, o goddess, the story of ...” There is
a connection and claim to be associated with the divine.
• Formulaic, stock scenes, repeated, lined, epithets -- it was very formulaic, e.g., swift-footed Achilles,
bright-eyed Athena. There are stock scenes: sacrifice scenes, arming for battles. Repeated lines: dawn,
fresh and rosy-fingered.
• Meter -- dactylic hexameter (see chart) -- meter is like a syllable. There a six verses of dactyles that
provides rhythm to the poem.

Epic similes (simile -- like)

In Maeonia and Caria women stain ivory
With scarlet, to be cheek pieces for horses.
Such a piece will lie in a treasure chamber,
And though many horsemen pray to use oit
As an ornament for the horse and glory
For the driver, it lies there as a king’s prize.
That, Menelaus, was how your thighs were stained
With blood, and your fine shins and ankles beneath.
• Notice that in this piece the beauty of it. Beauty even attached to violence. Beautiful rhyme, high poetic
and flowery language.
• What does this say about the culture in which it was written? How is it different from ours? They
celebrate war in a way we might not be comfortable with. These poems were circulated with in mind
that many men were obligated to go to war. At least part of the poem of the Iliad, war is glorified -- “a
wound in war is a beautiful thing.”

The Iliad in Greek (sample) -- the opening lines (and onward) have this sense of a drum beat -- the drum
beat of war. Militant sounding.

The Quarrel (for next time)

Day 4, Sept 06, 2007

The Quarrel -- talking about the Iliad itself. What is it about? About the Trojan War or something else?
The poem of the Iliad is about Achilles being angry. Look at the very beginning. He is full of rage. What
does the poet tell us about this wrath of Achilles? Agamemnon took some of the spoils of war. So there
seems to be some kind of Homeric code. What characterizes the Homeric composition? Huberis -- a way
of expressing pride (Greek tragedy). Is this what defines the hero? Another theme is selfish greed. They
want glory and honor in physical stuff (to prove it -- to show they have the “trophy”).
Achilles calls Helen τιμη (timē) -- honor. There is some material sense in achieving glory and
honor. The more stuff, the bigger person I am. Notice the arms of Achilles -- lots of attention and detail
in the poem. Notice Hector’s armor, too.
After acquiring all this stuff you keep it and enjoy it. But what if you’re dead -- what is all the stuff
good for then? For your memory -- kleos (deathless, immortal glory). When a hero/soldier dies, they are
a hero -- they die the “right way” -- exemplars of how to go heroically. You want people to see your name
for generations to come. The immortal glory was big and apparently it was popular to achieve.
 What are the responsibilities of a hero (on the battlefield)? What is the difference between an
American general and a Homeric hero. The Homeric hero is risking his life in the middle of the
vanguard.
At the same time in Homer the focus is usually on (one) particular hero(s). In the Iliad what
makes a hero is being on the front line. Achilles gets frustrated with Agamemnon who is not at the front
of the war (like an American general, strategy-making).
Notice Thersites: what is his status? He is “low man on the totem pole.” Note that he is “ugly
morally and physically.” He would fit well in “Revenge of the Nerds.” The Greeks thought there was a
connection with one’s physical appearance with moral character.
What is the hero ideally supposed to look like? There is certainly a pecking-order. Usually the
hero is good-looking, has a strong/important lineage. In ancient battles there is a status element (Who are
you? What is your lineage?). *In Bronze Age (or Dark Age) they valued highly the guest/host
relationship. Most people were tied to their land and didn’t travel much. The elite travel. When they stay
at a place they stay at other elite’s dwellings. The hosts take good care of their guests. This is part of an
aristocratic ethic.

Does the Epic hero evolve or does he stay the same? If Achilles is the central heroic figure is the same
throughout or does he evolve? He seems to gain insight. His decisions hinge on very personal events.
First he is dishonored by Agamemnon; Achilles then leaves the war. We’re left waiting for Achilles to
return to battle. Patroclus enters into the battle when Achilles is still unwilling to fight. Patroclus
disguises himself in Achilles’ armor. Hector kills Patroclus, thinking he was Achilles. Achilles is outrages
and returns to battle bent on taking Hector down.
Achilles gives back Hector’s body to King Priam. When he first killed Hector he tied him to the
back of his chariot and dragged him around. The body becomes a trophy (like the stringing up of the
bodies in Predator). It was “payback” time. Collecting “trophies” is to show your power, to intimidate. It
is a completely dehumanizing of the enemy. (note: the Holocaust when the Germans dehumanize the
Jews in order to say it’s OK to kill them)
Then Priam comes, with the help of Hermes, to get back the body of his son Hector from Achilles.
Priam comes to beg as a father instead of a king. Achilles thinks of his father. This opens up a small
window of humanization (Hector becomes a human again instead of a trophy) and connects with what
Priam is saying. So there is some psychological development.

So is the Iliad a pro-, anti-war poem? Which? Seems to be pro-war. Or is it? It may be a mix of both.
On the anti- side we can see Agamemnon as this crude, terrible guy. One thing, when Hector goes to fight
Achilles, he does it out of honor and respect. Notice also, before going, when Hector is with his family, he
whips out his helmet and the baby starts crying. This is a family moment, but dad has to go to war. The
helmet -- made of bronze, crest made of horse-hair making you appear taller than you are. But when the
baby cries, the family laughs.

How does the poem end? It ends with the burial of Hector. If this is a poem glorifying war why does it
end with a funeral?

The Shield of Achilles -- ornate piece of armor crafted by the gods. What place does war have on the
shield? It is only one of many things on the shield -- there is market, harvest time, dancing -- in an
entirety. This is the Greek people. War is just a smaller piece of the bigger picture. So is it pro- or anti-
war? Seems it would be hard to argue definitely for either side.

Day 5, Sept. 11, 2007

Wrapping up the Iliad: the nature of the gods in the epic. Greek religion is polytheistic -- it has many
gods. Notice the story: Zeus, Apollo, Athena, Hera, and others. We see the gods are not omniscient.
They are anthropomorphic. They are petty, conniving -- arguing over people, matters, events, etc.
Notice that key figures, heros, etc., they pray for intercession -- the ones praying are worrying
about the here and now -- the present. There is less concern for the afterlife. Glory (kleos) is really the
thing to achieve in the present life, as we see in the story. There are other myths and stories that do talk
about the afterlife -- for example the Elysian fields.
Everything centers around people -- the gods are very much like humans in their characteristics.
This was later criticized by philosophies. In the classical period, the gods deceive -- they’re just people
with superhuman powers.

PPT -- Dark Ages.

The Greeks, emerging out of the Dark Ages (1100-900)
Objectives --
• Track how Greek civilization rose from the ashes of Mycenaean civilization -- very few places were left
where the Mycenaeans took refuge (one being Athens).
• See the continued importance of the East to the development of Greece -- trade, language, story. Greek
contact with other cultures was important.
• Observe the formation of Classical Greek institutions and forms -- “Golden Age” -- a city-centered
culture.

Why call it Dark?

• We know little about 1100-800 BC
• Mycenaean civilization falls -- quality of pottery, lack of good like jewelry. There isn’t grand building
structures.
• Literacy ends-goodbye, Linear B! -- Its use was, essentially, not practical.
• An end to grand, stone architecture
• Contact with the East dwindles -- they were isolated (?)
The Dark Ages might be best described as a village life time period.

Migrations
In some places the population drops by 70%. But many migrate to other places. Some migrate
East towards Asia Minor (Turkey).
• Greeks abandon old homes and move around Mediterranean
• Defined by dialect -- when they migrated they took their languages.
• Aeolians -- they had an Aeolic dialect.
• Ionians -- Ionic (mid west Asia Minor)
• Dorians -- Doric (around Rhodes, Halicarnassos)

Life in a Dark Age

• Village chief, or basileus, rises to prominence -- buried with his horses. It seems that they might have
collapse the whole house on them. This may be the place where this chieftain was worshiped.
• Central social institution: oikos -- the house (not the palace)
• Oral tradition that becomes Homer -- ancient societies that were quite oral -- their stories passed down
by tradition and word of mouth. This might be how Homer’s works evolved.
• Largest structure: apsidal building
• Lefkandi

Basileus
• Becomes word for king, but was a minor official -- he gets the majority of the goods.
• Basileis become leaders of Dark Age Greek society
• Provide military leadership
• Sit in judgment
• Get personal honors

Hesiod (ca. 700 BCE), Works and Days -- dispute over property.
• “For we had already divided our inheritance, but you seized the greater share and carried it off, greatly
swelling the glory of our bribe-swallowing lords who love to judge such a cause as this.”
• They didn’t sit in judgment for nothing. They expected something for this duty.

Homer, The Iliad

• “Glaucus, you know how you and I have the best of everything in Lycia--seats, cuts of meat, full cups,
everybody looking at us as if we were gods? Not to mention our fine estates on the Xanthus… Well, now
we have to take our stand at the front, where all the best fight, and face the heat of battle…”
• People expect this. They don’t expect general to be in the back in the bunker.

Lefkandi
• ca. 950 BCE
• Large, apsidal wooden structure
• Exterior colonnade like later Greek temples
• No evidence of habitation
• Burials: cremated man, female inhumation, horses
• Cremation like funeral of Homeric heroes
• Evidence of hero worship?

Cyprus: Gateway to the East

• Phoenecians lived there (people of the East). Cyprus was a great place for interaction of different
cultures.

Cyprus
• Mycenaeans reach island 1230, become central in island’s cultural development
• Through upheaval influence persists
• Literacy: Cypriot-Minoan syllabary
• Greeks mix with old Hellenized Cypriots
• Cyprus important for metal-work (Iron Age), eastern contacts -- ore was discovered and smelted with
different metals.

Archaic period: 800-490 BC -- Greek civilization comes back!

• Sometimes called Orientalizing Revolution
• Greek literacy is reborn -- Hesiod, Homer! Lyric poetry, written from a very personal perspective,
springs up during this time. What does this show? It shows the individual is very important (those
written to or about in the Lyric poetry) -- the individual is born.
• The birth of the Greek polis (city) -- people are important for their feelings, votes, battles.
• Rise of Panhellenic sanctuaries -- Olympia (sanctuary of Zeus), Delphi
• Period of colonization
• Heyday of Greek tyrants
• Birth of hoplite warfare -- YouTube search Ancient Greek Hoplites. Impact is key in Hoplite warfare.
This is totally different from Homeric warfare. The armor wasn’t cheap. Artisans and farmers probably
created the armor.
Orientalizing Revolution
• Renewed contacts with East through trade
• Eastern influences on Greek art and literature

Art
• Sphynx -- from Delos, one in Egypt
• kouros -- two types. Notice the style. They’re similar. The Greeks borrowed from the Egyptians. The
Egyptian one is of a pharaoh. The Greek style is just of a regular guy.