Mycenaean Bronze Age Civilisation

2000-1100BC Characterised by: Individual city-states, often built on hills More like a fortress than a city Most people lived in surrounding villages

Each city had its own king, but the king of Mycenae was the most important. Advice from Nestor to Achilles about Agamemnon: Although you are powerful and the mother who bore you is a goddess, Agamemnon is superior and he rules over more men. Iliad I.280ff

Bronze Age society

The Mycenaeans traded with each other but they also attacked other cities as a way of increasing their wealth and importance. Could this be another motive for waging war in Troy? Why was increasing wealth important?

Always be bravest and best and excel over others Homeric Hero’s Code Glaucus sums up the Homeric hero’s code when he tells of the advice his father gave him: Always be bravest and best and excel over others Iliad VI.208 Heroes were mostly concerned with their own glory and not how their actions would affect society as a whole

Homeric Hero’s Code timē – honour; the opinion other warriors had of you. This was in proportion to your aretē (excellence). This could be an abstract quality (honour) or the actual prizes a hero received for doing something well (killing enemies, sacking a city...) kleos – glory; this was linked to timē and refers to the glory or fame of each hero. The more timē one had, the more kleos too, and vice versa. Kleos was also a way of gaining a kind of immortality. The more famous you were, the more likely you were the be remembered after you died.

Homeric Hero’s Code xenia – hospitality or the guest-host relationship. It is governed by Zeus and dictates how you should treat a guest in the Homeric world. They should be given food and there should be an exchange of gifts on parting. This gift giving increases the participants’ time. nostos – return; in itself, almost a sub-genre of epic poetry in which heroes return home from war. The importance of family, both past and future, to the hero necessitates this return.

The importance of xenia in The Odyssey During his nostos, Odysseus stops in many places. Nearly every encounter is concerned with xenia. How he is received in each place differs, providing examples of good and bad xenia. The action of the Odyssey (unlike the Iliad) is no longer primarily concerned with the war at Troy. Therefore, military achievements cannot be used to increase a hero’s timē. However, xenia, and a character’s approach to it, can.

The importance of timē in The Odyssey At the end of their meeting in Book I, Telemachus offers Athene a gift. Gifts like these are a way of measuring one’s timē. The better the gift, the better it reflects on both the giver and the receiver. Crucially, this is a mutual exchange. Athene warns Telemachus: Make it the best [gift] you can find, and you won’t lose by the exchange. Odyssey 1.318 The Suitors abuse this relationship by continuing to take and deplete Odysseus’ resources, without offering anything in return. They therefore lack timē.

The importance of kleos in The Odyssey Athene is also concerned with Telemachus’ kleos. She sends him to Pylos and Sparta not so much to hear about Odysseus’ return (for Athene already knows he will return) but so that Telemachus can start making a name for himself, both in his own right and as Odysseus’ son, hearing stories about him. In the council of the gods, Athene talks about sending Telemachus on this journey: It is possible that [Telemachus] may hear of [Odysseus], and so win the praise (kleos) of men. Odyssey I.94-5

What are the similarities between Orestes and Telemachus’ positions? The importance of kleos in The Odyssey Kleos is spread by having people talk about you. Athene expresses the hope to Telemachus that “future generations will sing your praises” (I.302) just as they now do for Orestes. What are the similarities between Orestes and Telemachus’ positions?