The End of the Iliad and the Beginning of

the Odyssey

September 9, 2016

Last time
The Iliad and Homeric society

This time
More Iliad
Gods and humans in Homer
Introduction to the Odyssey

Exam coming!
Friday, September 23
Friday, October 28
Wednesday, December 14

Single combat in Homer

Personal
Individual honor at stake
Formulaic
A chance to win kleos
Unlike later Greek hoplites
Formula for single combat

Two heroes meet in battle

They talk about their families
They boast that they will kill each other
They fight, one dies

Hector and Achilles

Trojans retreat within the walls
But not Hector
Hector runs away
Hector ultimately stands and fights
Even Achilles calls him brave
Death of Hector = official end of Achilles rage
Achilles acknowledges Agamemnon is the best

Hector and Achilles

Trojans retreat within the walls
But not Hector
Hector runs away
Hector ultimately stands and fights
Even Achilles calls him brave
Death of Hector = official end of Achilles rage
Achilles acknowledges Agamemnon is the best (23.170173)
Son of Atreus you have the widest command
These men can mourn all they want, but for now
Disperse them from the pyre

Humanizing Hector
Gods will not allow body to
decay
Family, social ties emphasized
Emotional state highlighted
A more human Achilles?

Andromache (6.450-456)
Hector, you are my father, you are my mother,
You are my brother and my blossoming husband.
But show some pity and stay here by the tower,
Dont make your child an orphan, your wife a widow.
Station your men here by the fig tree, where the city
Is weakest because the wall can be scaled.

Andromache (6.450-456)
Hector, you are my father, you are my mother,
You are my brother and my blossoming husband.
But show some pity and stay here by the tower,
Dont make your child an orphan, your wife a widow.
Station your men here by the fig tree, where the city
Is weakest because the wall can be scaled.
Hector (6.463-466)
Yes, Andromache, I worry about all this myself,
But my shame before the Trojans and their wives
With their long robes trailing, would be too terrible
If I hung back from battle like a coward.

Apollo (24.33-38)
Now you are hard, you gods, and destructive. Now did not Hektor
burn thigh pieces of oxen and unblemished goats in your honour?
Now you cannot bring yourselves to save him, though he is only
a corpse, for his wife to look upon, his child and his mother
and Priam his father, and his people, who presently thereafter
would burn his body in the fire and give him his rites of burial.

Priam
Respect the gods, Achilles,
Think of your own father, and pity me.
I am more pitiable. I have borne what no
man
Who has walked this earth has ever yet
borne.
I have kissed the hand of the man who killed
my son.
He spoke, and sorrow for his own father
Welled up in Achilles. He took Priams hand
And gently pushed the old man away.
The two of them remembered. Priam,
Huddled in grief at Achilles feet, cried

Iliad 24.539-551

Important themes in the Iliad

Honor
Fate
Respect
Friendship
Family
The role of war in society
Individual glory vs. success of community
The role of the Gods in human affairs

Points to remember
Trojans and Greeks are the same
Same gods, language, customs
Justice is reciprocal

Gods and humans in Homer

Some enduring things (like sacrifice;
names/personalities of gods)
Some not (like direct interaction)

Greek religion
Polytheistic
Anthropomorphic

Greek religion
Polytheistic Worship of many (poly) gods (theoi)
Anthropomorphic Gods are shaped (morph) like
humans (anthropoi)

Greek gods
Houses on Mt. Olympus
Eat ambrosia, drink nectar
Receive sacrifice from humans
One big family
Spheres of influence

Sacrifice
After the prayers and the strewing of barley
They slaughtered and flayed the oxen,
Jointed the thighbones and wrapped them
In a layer of fat with cuts of meat on top.
The old man (priest) roasted them over charcoal
And doused them with wine. Younger men
Stood by with five-tined forks in their hands.
When the thigh pieces were charred and they had
Tasted the tripe, they cut the rest into strips,
Skewered it on spits and roasted it skillfully.
-Iliad 1.486-495

Sacrifice in Homer
Actions correct

Animal sacrifice and/or libations

Altars, tools, preparations, etc.
Inedible portions burned for gods
Edible portions distributed to humans

Scale too big (hecatomb)

Origins of Greek ritual

Hesiod

Late 8th c. BCE poet from Ascra

Theogony creation of order from Chaos
Works and Days practical wisdom and justice
Aition (pl. aitia)

Prometheus

(Kronos + Rhea)
Poseidon

Hades

Zeus

Hera

Demeter

Hestia

(Kronos + Rhea)
Poseidon

Hades

Zeus

Zeus = Sky, weather; king of the gods

Hades = Underworld
Poseidon = Sea
Hera = Marriage
Demeter = Grain; agriculture
Hestia = Hearth

Hera

Demeter

Hestia

(Kronos + Rhea)
Poseidon

Hades

Zeus
Ares
(War)

Hera

Demeter

Hephaestus
(Crafts, esp. metalworking)

Hestia

(Kronos + Rhea)
Poseidon

Hades

Zeus
Ares
(War)

(+ various goddesses & women)

Athena (Wisdom and war)
Aphrodite (Desire, sex, love)
Apollo (Prophecy, plague, light)
Artemis (Hunt, female youth)
Hermes (Messenger)
Dionysus (Wine)

Hera

Demeter

Hephaestus
(Crafts, esp. metalworking)

Hestia

Gods and humans

Real life
Interaction takes place in sanctuary

Temple = gods house

Urban center of a town
Extra-urban boundaries of a town
Temple of
Inter-urban (Panhellenic) e.g. Olympia (Zeus), Delphi (Apollo) Poseidon

Sacrifice to god = protection in gods sphere

Homer
Interaction takes place anywhere
Conversation, direct intervention in human affairs

Sounion

Gods and humans

Apollo heard his prayer and descended Olympus crags
Pulsing with fury, bow slung over one shoulder,
The arrows rattling in their case on his back
As the angry god moved like night down the mountain
He settled near the ships and let loose an arrow.
Reverberation from his silver bow hung in the air
Nine days the gods arrows rained death on the camp.
-Iliad 1.52-61

Gods and gods

Zeus, king of the gods:
This is disastrous. Youre going to force me
Into conflict with Hera. I can just hear her now,
Cursing me and bawling me out. As it is,
She already accuses me of favoring the Trojans.
Please go back the way you came. Maybe
Hera wont notice.
-Iliad 1.549-554

Gods and gods

Zeus, king of the gods:
Mortals! They are always blaming the gods
For their troubles, when their own witlessness
Causes them more than they were destined for!
-Odyssey 1.37-39

Greek gods
Powerful sources of order
Unpredictable
Important to keep them happy

The Odyssey
10 years after Trojan War ends
Odysseus the last hero still away from home
Penelope and Telemachus at home on Ithaca
Suitors

Plot of the Iliad

Conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon (Book 1)
Achilles withdraws from the fighting (Book 1)
Many Greeks die (Books 2-19)
Many Trojans die (Books 2-19)
Achilles special friend Patroclus dies (Book 16)
Achilles prepares to re-enter the fighting (Books 17-19)
Achilles kills huge numbers of Trojans, including Hector, the greatest Trojan
warrior (Books 19-22)
The Greeks bury Patroclus (Book 23)
Achilles dishonors Hectors body (Books 22-23), then returns it to Priam
(Book 24)
The Trojans bury Hector (Book 24)

Plot of the Iliad

Simple
Linear
Single narrator

Plot of the Odyssey

Suitors of Penelope are ruining Odysseus house (Books 1-22)
The gods decide it is time for Odysseus to return home (Book 1)
Athena sends Telemachus on a journey (Books 2-4)
Odysseus is stranded with Calypso (Book 5)
Odysseus is freed from Calypso and wanders alone (Book 6)
Odysseus lands with Phaeacians; they are hospitable (Books 6-8)
Odysseus tells his story (Books 9-12)
Phaeacians return Odysseus to Ithaca (Books 13-16)
Odysseus in disguise learns the suitors plan to kill Telemachus
(Books 17-20)
Contest of the Bow, Odysseus and Telemachus kill suitors (Books
21-22)
Odysseus and Penelope reunited (Book 23)
Odysseus, Telemachus, and Laertes fight suitors families (Book
24)

Plot of the Odyssey

Convoluted
Non-linear
Multiple narrators

Ithaca
Small, insignificant island
Home

Ithaca
Small, insignificant island
Home

Ithaca
Small, insignificant island
Home

The route of Odysseus?

This time
More Iliad
Gods and humans in Homer
Introduction to the Odyssey

Next Time
More Odyssey
Hesiod and individualism