The Homeric Epic HUM 2051: Civilization I Fall 2013 Dr. Perdigao August 28, 2013

Timeline BCEHeight of Minoan civilization BCE Height of Mycenaean civilization c BCEFall of Troy BCEDark Age, from Mycenaean to Hellenic civilization 8 th c. BCEHomer, Iliad c BCE

Transitions Linear A: Minoan :: Linear B: Mycenaean Greek and Greek civilizations at origin Minoans displaced by Mycenaeans Period of Calamities: B.C.E. Account of Troy around 1200 BCE not 800 BCE when Homer writes it German businessman Heinrich Schliemann in 1871 excavates Mycenae, believes he finds Agamemnon’s grave though archaeologists now believe that the graves predate the Trojan War ( BCE) British archaeologist Arthur Evans in 1900 discovers Minoan civilization on Crete (Perry 51-52)

Transitions From spoken: written language Religion—festivals, rituals, games, sacrifices, not shared beliefs but actions and practices Sense gods intervened in their world Gods, demi-gods, heroes (humans with god-like status), spirits with overlapping roles so communities chose groups, specific deities to worship Gods capable of jealousy, love, rage—like humans; are immortal, can’t suffer and can’t learn—unlike humans; huge contrast between gods and humans

Origins Half-mythical blind bard Homer—single creator but combination from oral tradition of bards Homer—writing within Dark Age but will be replaced by new one Looking back at lost golden age with sense of what has been lost Myth: Hecuba/Priam/Paris : Thetis/Peleus/Achilles

Frame Story Myth underlying The Iliad : poet does not lay out, assumed we know Hecuba (wife of Priam), while pregnant, has dream she gives birth to a firebrand that will destroy Troy, tells husband—Paris’ birth Thetis and Peleus (Achilles’ parents) to marry; invite all except Eris=strife, struggle—because forgot—so doomed to succumb to it Apple of discord—Eris inscribes with “for the fairest”: Hera (wife of Zeus, marriage); Athena (wisdom); Aphrodite (beauty) Paris goes against Greek values—power, fame—chooses short-term with beauty, sensual pleasures, loses Hera, Athena in war

Structure and design of The Iliad Oral epic: repetition (memory/improvisation): as “oral epic”—what is not necessary in writing Keys to memory, falls into patterns Dactylic hexameter (- u u): one long, two short beats six units in each line but can have variation meter of poem like fate—wander but then always ends the same way in each line Homeric epithets (rosy-fingered dawn, fleet-footed Achilles)

Conventions of the Epic Invocation to the muse Beginning in medias res Use of Homeric epithets Use of Homeric or epic similes Use of catalogues Long set speeches by major characters

Structural Design Two parallel stories of two families Poem about anger Role of strife Begins in rage, mania, anger, violence, differs from Christian worldview of perfection, then fall; here, strife is always present Timé: esteem, reputation with others Kudos: praise, glory Arêté: excellence, potential Goal of timé, arêté=immortality through memory