Homer: Iliad VIII and IX 085668628X, 9780856686283

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HOMER

Iliad Books VIII & IX

Edited with an Introduction, Translation and Commentary by

C.H. Wilson

Advisory Editor: M M * Willcock

HOMER ILIAD BOOKS VHIANDIX

E d i t e d w i t h a n Introduction, Translation by

& Commentary

Christopher H. Wilson

A R I S & PHILLIPS L T D - W A R M I N S T E R - E N G L A N D

© Christopher Η. Wilson 1996. A l l rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including photocopying without the prior permission of the Publishers in writing.

British L i b r a r y Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Contents Preface Abbreviations Bibliography

ISBNs

0 85668 627 1 0 85668 628 X

(cloth) (cloth) INTRODUCTION A. Homer and the I l i a d 1. The Mycenaean and Dark Ages 2. The Epic Cycle 3. Homer 4. Oral Poetry: Formulas and Themes B. Books V I E and DC 5. Books V m and DC and the I l i a d 6. B o o k V m 7. Book DC

Basic Homeric Grammar

Scansion: The Homeric Hexameter

TEXT AND TRANSLATION I l i a d VIII I l i a d DC

COMMENTARY I l i a d VIII I l i a d DC Printed and published in England by Aris & Phillips Ltd, Teddington House, Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 8PQ

Index

ν

Preface This edition is intended primarily for students. The text is that of Allen's 1931 edition (Oxford), with one or two small changes, all of which follow at least one of Allen's Oxford Classical Text and Willcock's 1978 edition. There is no apparatus c r i t i c us, but it is hoped that the grammatical and linguistic notes at the bottom of each page of the text and translation will help to make I l i a d VBL and I X accessible to students who are not yet very familiar with Homer's Greek. In anglicizing Greek proper nouns and their derivatives, I have usually transliterated; but I have retained familiar forms such as Argive, Helen, Hellespont, Peloponnese, and Priam. Professor J. Griffin's H o m e r I l i a d I X (Cambridge, 1995) was unfortunately not available to me before I had finished my own work. I should like to thank the General Editor of this series, Professor Malcolm Willcock, for encouraging me to undertake this work, for the great help that he has given me over matters both large and small and for saving me from a great number of mistakes. There is the usual caution to be made about the errors that still remain i n my work. Christopher H . Wilson Tonbridge, Autumn, 1996

Vll

vi

Abbreviations acc. act. adj. adv.

accusative active adjective adverb

A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l of P h i l o l o g y aorist B u l l e t i n of t h e I n s t i t u t e of C l a s s i c a l Studies Classical Quarterly CQ dat dative fem. feminine ftlt. future G r e e c e a n d Rome G&R GB Grazer Beitrage gen. genitive GRBS Greek, Roman & B y z a n t i n e Studies H S C P H a r v a r d Studies i n C l a s s i c a l Philology II. Iliad imperat. imperative imperf. imperfect AJP aor. BICS

infin. intrans. JHS LSJ m. mid. ms(s). n. nom. Od optat. part. pass. perf. pers. pi. plupf. pres. s. subjunc. trans. voc.

infinitive intransitive J o u r n a l of H e l l e n i c Studies The Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell & Scott masculine middle manuscript(s) neuter nominative Odyssey optative participle passive perfect person plural pluperfect present singular subjunctive transitive vocative

Bibliography Adkins, A W H (1960) M e r i t a n d r e s p o n s i b i l i t y , Oxford. _ (1972) 'Homeric gods and the values of Homeric society', J H S 92, 1-19. Ameis, K F , Hentze, C & Cauer, Ρ (1965) H o m e r s Was, reprinted, Amsterdam. Andersen, 0 and Dickie, M , eds. (1995) H o m e r ' s W o r l d , Bergen. Andrewes, A (1961) 'Phratries in Homer , H e r m e s 89,124-35. Arend, W (1933) D i e t y p i s c h e n Scenen b e i H o m e r , Berlin. Blegen, C W (1963) T r o y a n d t h e T r o j a n s , London. Boardman, J (1985) G r e e k A r ? , London. Bremer, J M , de Jong, IFF & Kalff, J eds. (1987) H o m e r : b e y o n d o r a l p o e t r y . Recent t r e n d s i n H o m e r i c i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , Amsterdam. Burkert, W (1976) 'Das hunderttorige Theben und die Datierung der Ilias', W i e n e r S t u d i e n N.F. 10. (1985) G r e e k r e l i g i o n , trans. J. Raffan, Oxford. Camps, W A (1980) A n i n t r o d u c t i o n t o H o m e r , Oxford. Carpenter, T H (1991) A r t a n d m y t h i n a n c i e n t G r e e c e , London. Chantraine, Ρ (1968-80) D i c t i o n n a i r e i t y m o l o g i q u e de l a l a n g u e g r e c q u e , Paris. Coffey, Μ (1957) The function of the Homeric simile', A J P 78, 113-32. Davies, Μ (1989) The e p i c c y c l e , Bristol. Davison, J A (1962) 'The Homeric question', in Wace & Stubbings (1962), 234-65. de Jong, IJF (1987) N a r r a t o r s a n d f o c a l i z e r s : t h e p r e s e n t a t i o n of t h e s t o r y i n t h e I l i a d , Amsterdam. Denniston, J D (1934) The G r e e k p a r t i c l e s , Oxford. Dickinson, Ο (1994) The Aegean b r o n z e age, Cambridge. Dindorf, G & Maass, Ε (1875-88) S c h o l i a G r a e c a i n H o m e r i I l i a d e m , Oxford Dodds, E R (1951) The Greeks a n d t h e i r r a t i o n a l , Berkeley & Los Angeles. Dowden, Κ (1992) The uses of G r e e k m y t h o l o g y , London. Easton, D (1985) 'Has the Trojan war been found?', A n t i q u i t y 5 9 , 188-96. Edwards, M W (1970) 'Homeric speech introductions', H S C P 74,1-36. (1987) H o m e r poet of t h e I l i a d , Baltimore & London. (1991) The I l i a d : A C o m m e n t a r y . V o l u m e V: books 17-20, Cambridge. Emlyn-Jones, C , Hardwick, L & Purkis J eds. (1992) H o m e r , r e a d i n g s a n d images, London. Erbse, Η (1969-77) S c h o l i a G r a e c a i n H o m e r i I l i a d e m , Berlin. Evelyn-White, H G (1936) H e s i o d , t h e H o m e r i c H y m n s a n d H o m e r i c a , Loeb, Cambridge, Mass. Fagles, R trans. (1991) H o m e r ; The I l i a d , London. 1

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Fenik, Β (1968) Typical battle-scenes i n t h e I l i a d , Hermes Einzelschriften 21, Wiesbaden. Finkelberg, Μ (1991) 'Royal succession in heroic Greece', C Q 41, 303-16. Fitzgerald, R trans. (1984) H o m e r ; The I l i a d , Oxford. Foxhall, L & Davies, J K eds. (1984) The Trojan w a r . i t s h i s t o r i c i t y a n d c o n t e x t , Bristol. Gieenhalgh, P A L (1973) E a r l y G r e e k warfare: horsemen a n d chariots i n the H o m e r i c a n d a r c h a i c ages, Cambridge. Griffin, J (1976) 'Homeric pathos & objectivity', C Q 26, 161-87. (1977) The epic cycle and the uniqueness of Homer', J H S 97, 39-53. (1980) H o m e r o n life a n d d e a t h , Oxford. (1986) Words and speakers in Homer', J H S 106, 36-57. Hainsworth, JB (1966) 'Joining battle in Homer', G & R 13, 158-66. (1968) The flexibility of t h e H o m e r i c f o r m u l a , Oxford. (1984) The fallibility of an oral heroic tradition', in Foxhall & Davies (1984), 111-28. (1990) The I l i a d : A C o m m e n t a r y . V o l u m e III: books 9-12, Cambridge. Hammond, Μ trans. (1987) Homer: The I l i a d , London. Heubeck, A , West, S and Hainsworth, JB (1988) A c o m m e n t a r y o n H o m e r ' s Odyssey. V o l u m e I , Oxford. Hooker, JT (1987) 'Homeric society - a shame-culture?', G & R 34, 121-5. Hope Simpson, R and Lazenby, JF (1970) The c a t a l o g u e of t h e ships i n H o m e r ' s I l i a d , Oxford. Janko, R (1992) 77z* I l i a d : A C o m m e n t a r y . V o l u m e I V : books 1 3 - 1 6 , Cambridge. Jones, P V (1988) H o m e r ' s Odyssey: a c o m p a n i o n , Bristol. Kakridis, JT (1949) H o m e r i c Researches, Lund. (1971) H o m e r R e v i s i t e d , Lund. Kirk, GS (1962) The songs of H o m e r , Cambridge. (1985) The I l i a d : A C o m m e n t a r y . V o l u m e I : books 1-4, Cambridge. (1990) The I l i a d : A C o m m e n t a r y . V o l u m e I I : books 5-8, Cambridge. Lattimore, R trans. (1951) The I l i a d of H o m e r , Chicago. Leaf, W (1900) The I l i a d . V o l . I : Books I - X I P , London. Liddell, H G and Scott, R (1940) A G r e e k - E n g l i s h L e x i c o n , revised by Jones, H S , Oxford (referred to as LSI). Lloyd-Jones, Η (1983) The j u s t i c e of Zeus , Berkeley & Los Angeles. Lohmann, D (1970) D i e K o m p o s i t i o n derReden i n d e r l l i a s , Berlin. Lord, A B (1960) The s i n g e r of t a l e s , Cambridge, Mass. — (1991) E p i c s i n g e r s a n d o r a l t r a d i t i o n , Cornell Lorimer, H L (1950) H o m e r a n d t h e monuments, London. Luke, J (1994) The k r a t e r , k r a t o s , and the p o l l s ' , G & R 51, 23-32. Macleod,CW { m i ) H o m e r : I l i a d B o o k XXIV, Cambridge. 9

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Manning, S (1992) 'Archaeology and the world of Homer: introduction to a past and present discipline', in Emlyn-Jones, etc. (1992), 117-44. Monro, D B (1891) A g r a m m a r of t h e H o m e r i c d i a l e c t , Oxford. (1894) H o m e r : I l i a d Books I - X I I , Oxford. Mooro, D B and Allen, T W (1920) H o m e r i o p e r a I : I l i a d I - X I I , Oxford Classical Text, Oxford. Moorehead, C (1994) The l o s t t r e a s u r e s of T r o y , London. Moulton, C (1977) S i m i l e s i n t h e H o m e r i c poems, Hypomnemata 49, Gottingen. Murray, Ο (1993) E a r l y G r e e c e , London. Nilsson, M P (1932) The M y c e n a e a n o r i g i n s of G r e e k m y t h o l o g y , Berkeley & Los Angeles. (1933) H o m e r a n d M y c e n a e , London. Owen, E T (1947) The s t o r y of t h e I l i a d , London. Page, D L (1959) H i s t o r y a n d t h e H o m e r i c I l i a d , Berkeley & Los Angeles. Parry, A (1971) The m a k i n g of H o m e r i c verse: t h e c o l l e c t e d p a p e r s of M i l m a n P a r r y , Oxford. (1989) The l a n g u a g e of A c h i l l e s a n d o t h e r p a p e r s , Oxford. Pfeiffer, R (1968) H i s t o r y of c l a s s i c a l s c h o l a r s h i p , Oxford. Pinsent, J (1984) T h e Trojans and the Iliad', in Foxhall & Davies, (1984). Potscher, W (1993) 'Die homerische Presbeia in religioser und i n poetischer Sicht ihre Duale und deren Sinn', G B 19,1-33. Redfield, J M (1975) N a t u r e a n d c u l t u r e i n t h e IUad: t h e tragedy of H e c t o r , Chicago & London. Reinhardt, Κ (1961) D i e Was u n d i h r D i c h t e r , Gottingen. Richardson, Ν (1993) The I l i a d : A C o m m e n t a r y . V o l u m e VI: books 21-24, Cambridge. Rosner, J A (1976) 'The speech of Phoenix: I l i a d 9.434-605', P h o e n i x 30, 314-27. Rutherford, R B (1986) The philosophy of the Odyssey', J H S 106,145-62. Schadewaldt, W (1965) V o n H o m e r s W e l t u n d Werk*, Stuttgart. Segal, C (1968) T h e Embassy and the Duals of IUad 9. 182-98', GRBS 9, 101-14. Sherratt, E S (1992) 'Reading the texts: archaeology .and the Homeric question', in Emlyn-Jones, etc. (1992), 145-66. Silk, M S (1987) H o m e r : t h e I l i a d , Cambridge. Snodgrass, A M (1964) E a r l y G r e e k a r m o u r a n d weapons, Edinburgh. (1971) V i e d a r k age of G r e e c e , Edinburgh. (1974) Ά η historical Homeric society?', J H S 94,114-25. Taplin, Ο (1992) H o m e r i c s o u n d i n g s : t h e s h a p i n g of t h e I l i a d , Oxford. Taylour, Lord W (1983) The M y c e n a e a n s , London. Wace, AJB and Stubbings, F H eds. (1962) A c o m p a n i o n t o H o m e r , London. West, M L (1981) The singing of Homer and the modes of early Greek music', J H S 101, 113-29. (1988) 'The rise of the Greek epic', J H S 108,151-72. 2

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χ Willcock, M M (1964) 'Mythological Paradeigma in the I l i a d , C Q 14, 141-54. (1970) 'Some aspects of the gods in the I l i a d , ' B I C S 17, 1-10. (1976) A c o m p a n i o n t o t h e I l i a d , Chicago & London. (1978) The I l i a d of H o m e r Books I - X I I , and (1984) The I l i a d of H o m e r Books XIII-XXIV, London. (1990) The search for the poet Homer', G & R 37, 1-13. (1995) The importance of I l i a d 8', in Andersen & Dickie (1995), 113-121. Wood, Μ (1985) I n s e a r c h of t h e Trojan w a r , London. Yamagata, Ν (1991) Thoinix's speech - Is Achilles punished?', C Q 41,1-15. Zanker, G (1992) 'Sophocles' A j a x and the heroic values of the I l i a d , C Q 42, 20¬ 25. (1994) The h e a r t of A c h i l l e s : c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n a n d p e r s o t i a l e t h i c s i n t h e I l i a d , Michigan.

1

Introduction N o t e : D a t e s t h r o u g h o u t a r e B . C . unless

otherwise stated

A . Homer and the I l i a d 1. The Mycenaean and the D a r k Ages Homer announces the subject of the I l i a d with the invocation to the Muse with which he begins the poem - 'Sing, goddess, the anger of the son of Peleus, Akhilleus, the accursed anger, .. - from the time when they first separated in quarrel, the* son of Atreus, the lord of men, and the godlike Akhilleus' (11-7). The son of Atreus was Agamemnon, who was the commander-in-chief of a punitive expedition which the Greeks, or, as Homer commonly calls them, the 'Akhaians', launched against the city of Troy, in the north-west corner of Asia Minor. Akhilleus was the leading warrior on the Akhaian side. When the poem begins the Akhaians are encamped, as they have been throughout the previous nine years since the war began, on the shore outside the walls of Troy. A s it is related by Homer, the story of the quarrel occupies a space of about twenty-four days, during which time the war drags remorselessly on, the warriors k i l l and are killed, and the gods intervene on behalf of their favourites, now on one side and now on the other. When the poem ends, the Akhaians have not yet taken Troy, as they will eventually do. The I l i a d , therefore, gives us no more than an insight into the Trojan war as a whole. Homer gives hints, both of how the war began and of how it will end; and some of his scenes may be thought of as generic ones, which convey a typical picture of incidents that must have been continually repeated throughout the ten years of the war. The poem seeks to give a flavour of what the whole war was like; but the I l i a d is very far from being a historian's account of the war. The questions of whether there ever was a Trojan war, and of whether any germ of truth underlies the events of the I l i a d , were raised in ancient times, and are still a matter of much debate today. We do not yet know of a historical Agamemnon or Akhilleus. But we do know that during the later Bronze Age, from, very approximately, 1600 to 1100, a number of palace centres were established in Greece, including one at Mukenai, the site in the north-east of the Peloponnese which Homer represents as the capital of Agamemnon. During this period, which is commonly called 'the Mycenaean age', the Greek language was first spoken on the mainland, and the mainland Greeks, Homer's Akhaians, established considerable trading contacts overseas. Judging from the Greek pottery discovered there, one overseas centre where such contacts were particularly flourishing was that at Hissarlik, in north-west Turkey, just inland from the entrance to the Dardanelles from the south. It was at Hissarlik that the celebrated Heinrich Schliemann in the I870's uncovered a

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INTRODUOTON

massive ancient site that he himself had no doubt was Troy. Schliemann's archaeological methods were, by modern standards, primitive, and his attitude to the truth sometimes cavalier; but few scholars would now be disposed to doubt that the identification of the Hissarlik site with Troy is correct. The site has been the subject of extensive excavation since Schliemann's day, up to and including the present; and it seems highly likely that it underwent violent destruction somewhere around 1220, a date which on other grounds seems a likely one for a possible Trojan war. But indisputable evidence for such a war remains absent; that the I l i a d represents a war that really did take place remains no more than an assumption, albeit an attractive and interesting one. The end of the second millennium was a period of widespread destruction throughout the eastern Mediterranean world. If the Mycenaean Greeks did sack Troy, then this must have been one of their final achievements. Somewhere around 1100 the palaces on the mainland were destroyed - it is not known for certain by whom; and with them their culture perished too. The art of writing was lost, overseas trade declined, and there ensued a period that is known as the Dark A g e - partly because our knowledge of it is so scanty, and partly because such knowlege as we do have shows an age that was much inferior culturally and economically to the ages before and after. This Dark Age continued into the eighth century. For Greece in the Bronze Age, and for the Mycenaeans, see Dickinson, and Taylour. For the archaeology of the site of Troy, see Manning; for archaeology and the Trojan war, Easton; and for Schliemann, Moorehead. Wood gives a colourful account of the story of the archaeologists' search for the Trojan war. On the Dark A g e , see Snodgrass 1971. See also Section 3 of this Introduction. 2. The Epic Cycle The I l i a d narrates directly no more than 24 days or so of the final year of the Trojan war; but there are frequent references in it to episodes of the war that occurred outside this brief period. A t DC 129 and 366-7 we hear of the raiding operations that Akhilleus had carried out in the towns and islands around Troy; from the moment that Akhilleus finally decides to rejoin the fighting his eventual death in it is referred to, or at least hinted at, repeatedly; and at II701-2 and X V 704ff. Homer recalls the very first incident in the fighting, when Protesilaos was killed as he leapt ashore when the Akhaian fleet first arrived at Troy. And often Homer relies on his audience's knowledge of episodes that he does not himself narrate. When, for example, Helen appears in Book III, Homer takes for granted that we already know how she was abducted by the Trojan prince Paris from her husband Menelaos, king of Sparta and brother of Agamemnon, and how this led to the present war. Homer also alludes to many incidents from outside the Trojan war. A t VIII 364¬ 70 Athene recalls how Herakles went down to the underworld to recover the hound

INTRODUCTION

3

Kerberos and bring it back to his master Eurustheus; and in his speech at the embassy in I X Phoinix recalls his tutelage of the youthful Akhilleus (478-94), and then tells the story of the war between the Aitolians and the Kouretes, and of Meleagros' withdrawal and return, including within this references to the Kaludonian boar, the discord within Meleagros' family, and some excerpts from the family history of Meleagros' wife Kleopatre, or Alkuone (529-99). Elsewhere, Glaukos, a warrior on the Trojan side, details the adventures of his grandfather Bellerophontes at V I 155¬ 202; and in the course of a long speech to Patroklos at the end of X I (668-761) Nestor recalls exploits from his now far-distant youth, when he led his fellow-men of Pulos against the neighbouring Eleians. Homer has at his disposal a great body of mythological stories, which he draws on as occasion offers, and often in an allusive and elliptical way which assumes that his audience is already familiar with the story. The chronological span of Homer's repertoire is really quite limited. He does not tell us of the creation of the gods, or of the universe; and rich and diverse as his stories are, they fall within no more than the three or four generations that led up to the Trojan war. Such post-war stories as he gives (these are more common in the Odyssey than the I l i a d ) do not go more than one generation beyond the war. The setting of the stories is the Mycenaean age; and there is considerable evidence to suggest that many, at least, of the stories originated then - rather, that is, than originating later and being set in what is by then a past age. There was a body of epic poems (all of them considerably shorter than the I l i a d and the Odyssey), which later came to be known as the Epic Cycle, which between them told the whole story of the Trojan war - from the gods' original decision to cause the war through to the quarrel between Agamemnon and Akhilleus with which the I l i a d begins, and then from the death of the Trojan leader Hektor (the final event in the fighting of the I l i a d ) through to the end of the war, the return home of the various Akhaian heroes, and ultimately to the death of Odusseus, whose return is the subject of the Odyssey. Only small fragments of these poems have survived; but their subjects are known from summaries that were later made of them. We also hear of epics on such subjects as the story of Thebes, the family of Oidipous, and the adventures of Herakles, and of the Argonauts, some of which may, though this is not certain, have been included in the Epic Cycle; and when Homer tells us of, for example, the Kaludonian boar, and the exploits of Nestor in his youth, it is often assumed that these stories must go back to, respectively, an Aitolian and a Pulian cycle of epic, even though explicit evidence of such cycles has now disappeared. Homer's poems are part of a network of tales which surround the Trojan war as a whole. It seems that the poems of the Epic Cycle, though precise dates are usually very difficult to arrive at, were composed later than the I l i a d , but that the material which they contained did already exist at the time of the I l i a d , and would have been available tcPHomer. When, therefore, we find in Homer stories whose details are at odds with the tradition as it has come to us from elsewhere, it is difficult to be certain whether Homer is giving what in his day was the received version of the tradition,

4

INTRODUCTION

and the variations from it arose later, or whether Homer is himself introducing variations, and our other version, although itself composed later than Homer, represents a tradition from which Homer has departed. A l l we can be entirely certain of is that the tales clearly did not exist in canonical form; the fact of variations in the different accounts that have survived of what is basically the same story is undeniable. A great deal of work has been done on Homer and the tradition as it may have existed in his day; and when the details of the stories as he gives them are closely examined, there are sometimes some grounds for believing that Homer is responsible for the departures that his version represents from the tradition as we find it elsewhere, even though our other sources are all later than Homer. In his examination of the Meleagros story in Book DC, Willcock 1964 makes a strong case for believing that Homer's paradigmatic use of this story - Phoinix is presenting it to Akhilleus as an example of conduct which he should, or more accurately should not, follow - has led him to reshape it in such a way that it fits his paradigm better than the probable received version would have done; and he draws the same conclusion from the other stories of Homer's that he discusses. The story of Nestor in his chariot being rescued by Diomedes at VIII 80ff. has aroused particular discussion in this connection. One of the poems of the Epic Cycle, called the A i t h i o p i s , continued the story of the Trojan war from immediately after the burial of Hektor; and we know that it contained a story of Nestor's chariot being immobilised when one of its horses was shot by an arrow from Paris, whereupon Nestor was rescued by his son Antilokhos, a success which, however, cost Antilokhos his life. A t V I E 81 it is again Paris who has shot one of Nestor's horses; and though it is this time Diomedes who saves Nestor, and without losing his life, yet a number of scholars argue that the I l i a d episode is a refashioning of a tale whose original form is the one that was followed in the A i t h i o p i s - though this is to be regarded as controversial. On the Epic Cycle, see Davies; for the surviving fragments, see the Loeb edition, H e s i o d , t h e H o m e r i c H y m n s , a n d H o m e r i c a , of Evelyn-White. On Greek mythology and the Mycenaean age, see Nilsson 1932; on Greek epic before Homer, West 1988. Kakridis 1949 and 1971 examines Homer's tales in relation to the tradition as he may have found i t On Meleagros, see Willcock 1964. Griffin 1977 considers differences in approach between Homer and the poets of the Epic Cycle. On the I l i a d and the A i t h i o p i s , see Willcock 1976, Appendix D, 285-7. 3. Homer We know virtually nothing of the author of the I l i a d other than what we can gather from the poem itself. Already to the Greeks of the classical period of the fifth century Homer was a shadowy figure, little more than a name; and such stories as we hear about him are unreliable, and often implausible. When the I l i a d was composed,

INTRODUCTION

5

and what other works, i f any, are to be attributed to the same composer, are questions which are still debated. But the following points are more or less generally agreed a. The date of composition is most probably towards the end of the eighth century. There are occasional references to objects and customs that on archaeological grounds seem to rule out an earlier date - hoplite fighting tactics are a commonly given example; and the very few passages which might seem to suggest a date later than 700 are commonly explained away as later interpolations. In the eighth century, Greece was reawakening after the hardships and impoverishment of the Dark Age. The century was one of much colonization - i.e. founding of new cities - overseas; and this must have led to a considerable rise in trading and cultural contacts with the world outside Greece. The Greeks were becoming more conscious of themselves. The Olympic games, held every four years and open to entrants from all over the Greek world, are supposed to have begun in 776; and there was a great upsurge in the importance of the oracle at Delphi (see DC 405), which, like the Olympic games, was a panhellenic institution, i.e. attended from all over the Greek world. A t the same time, a new Greek alphabet evolved, probably from Phoenician sources; and in painted pottery the rigid geometric patterns of the Dark Age began to give way to more lively designs, many of them featuring real or imaginary animals, that came to Greece from the east, and by about the end of the century the first representations of scenes from mythology were beginning to appear. The century also saw greatly renewed interest in graves from the Bronze Age, and in the hero-cults that were associated with them. It is appropriate that such a period should have produced the I l i a d , an epic that commemorates the earliest known action of a panhellenic force against a foreign power. Homer more than once explicitly distances his heroes and their exploits from his own times, saying that they performed feats which would be beyond his contemporaries; and in historical terms, he is looking back across the Dark Age, from the reawakening of Greece i n his own day back to the late Mycenaean age. b. The I l i a d was composed, not in mainland Greece, but somewhere in the eastern Aegean or on the western seaboard of Asia Minor. The simile at DC 4-7, where the north and west winds are described as blowing from Thrace, which is the eastern half of the Balkan peninsula, is one of several passages which suggest a composer with a viewpoint from the eastern Aegean rather than from mainland Greece. The island of Khios has since ancient times been suggested as Homer's birthplace - we hear of a guild of reciters known as the H o m e r i d a e , 'descendants of Homer', there in the sixth century; and Smyrna, the modern Izmir, opposite Khios on the Asiatic mainland also has some claims. c. The poem is an oral composition. Both the poet and his audience may well have been illiterate. (Literacy had been one of the casualties of the Dark Age.) The text of the I l i a d is basically the record of a p e r f o r m a n c e of the poem, and in this respect is

6

INTRODUCTION

quite unlike the texts of later epic poems such as Virgil's A e n e i d or Milton's P a r a d i s e L o s t . The poet does not read from a text, nor does he recite from memory (except in a passage such as Odusseus' delivery of Agamemnon's offer to Akhilleus at I X 264¬ 99, which is an almost verbatim recall of the original offer which Agamemnon presented to the Akhaian leaders, in the absence of Akhilleus, at 122-57). Rather, he improvises as he performs; a parallel has been suggested between the oral poet and the jazz musician. The exact nature and circumstances of the performance are completely obscure; but it is tempting to suppose - though it can be no more than supposition - that, apart from the great difference in scale of the I l i a d , the performance may have resembled the performances of Phemios at the court of Odusseus in Ithaka, and of Demodokos at the court of Alkinoos in Skherie, which are described in Books I and VIII of the Odyssey respectively. These men are professional bards, who are at the beck and call of their masters, and are summoned to ceremonial occasions to sing what their audiences require of them, accompanying themselves on the lyre as they do so. They rely for their knowledge on the Muse of poetry, who Tcnows all things' (//. II485); and their songs are what we should now call Tieroic poetry'. Phemios sings of the homecomings of the Akhaian heroes from Troy, and Demodokos gives three separate tales, two from the Trojan war, and one from the life of the gods in their home on Mount Olumpos. £ ένΐ σ τ ή θ ε σ σ ι κ ε λ ε ύ ε ι . μ ή τ ε τις οδν θήλεια θεό? τ ό γ ε μ ή τ ε τις δ ρ σ η ν π ε ι ρ ά τ ω διακέρσαι έ μ ό ν έ π ο ? , ά λ λ ' δ μ α π ά ν τ ε ς α ΐ ν ε ΐ τ ' , δφρα τ ά χ ι σ τ α τ ε λ ε υ τ ή σ ω τ ά δ ε έ ρ γ α . δν δ ' dv έ γ ώ ν ά π ά ν ε υ θ ε θεών έ θ έ λ ο ν τ α ν ο ή σ ω έλθόντ' ή Τρώεσσιν άρηγέμεν ή Δαναοΐσι π λ η γ ε ί ς ού κ α τ ά κόσμον έ λ ε ύ σ ε τ α ι Οΰλυμπόνδε*

ILIAD VIH 1

Yellow-robed Dawn was spread over all the earth, and Zeus, who delights in thunderbolts, made an assembly of the gods on the highest summit of many-ridged Olumpos. He himself began to address them, and all the gods took heed-

5

"Listen to me, all you gods and all you goddesses, so that I may say what my heart in my breast orders me. Let no female god, nor any male one, try this - to confound my word; but all of you together accept it, so that very quickly I may end these actions. Whomsoever I spot wanting to go off apart from the gods to help either the Trojans or the Danaans, he, struck (by my thunderbolt), will come back ingloriously to Olumpos. Or, having caught him, I shall

5

10

10 2. άγορήν = άγοράν(Β.1) I ποιήσατο = έποιήσατο (Ν. 1) 3. Ούλύμποιο = Όλύμπου (C.2); Ούλ- for Όλ- again at 12,25 4. αύτότ. Tie himself, contrasted with the other gods (K.2) 1 σφ' = σφι, 'to them' (H.2) | ύπό ... άκουον, tmesis, for ίκτήκουον (R) 5. κέκλυτε: imperat. of a reduplicated aorist of κλύω (Τ) I μευ: gen.s. έγώ (H.l), gen. after a verb of hearing I τε ... τε: a common alternative to τε ... καί 6. εϊπω: Ί may say'; subjunc, 2 aor. after δφρ' (X.l) I τά: relative pronoun (I.e), with antecedent omitted - 'those things which' I ένΐ στήθεσσι = έν στήθεσι (Y.9,D.8) 7-8. μήτε ης θεός* πειράτω:'don't let any god try'(X.2); πειράτω 3 s. imperat. πειράω 7. Θε0£: with a f. adj., θήλεια, but to be supplied also with άρσην I τό γε: 7/ι/ί, at least' (Ζ), to be defined in the next line I τό demonstrative (1.2) 8. διακέρσαι: aor. infin. act διακείρω; final syllable short, by correption (Scansion, B.5a.) 9-10. τελευτήσω, νοήσω: both aor. subjunc. act., τελευτήσω after δφρα (X.la), νοήσω after δν dv, 'whomsoever , in an indefinite clause (W.8a) 10. δν: relative pronoun, m., but referring to the goddesses as well as the gods 11. έλθόντ': acc. s. m. 2 aor. part, έρχομαι; 2 aor. indie, ήλθον at 89, etc. I άρηγέμεν = άρήγειν, infin. (P); 'coming, to help', i.e 'to come and help' I Τρώεσσιν = Τρώσιν (D.8) 12. πληγείς: nom. s. m. aor. part. pass, πλήσσω I ού: with κατά κόσμον, not with the verb of the sentence I έλεύσεται fut. έρχομαι I Οΰλυμπόνδε: Ίο Olumpos* Of-1)'. likewise πεδίονδε, 21, etc. 1

51

5

HOMER

2

ή μιν έλών {>ίψω έ$ Τάρταρον ήερόεντα τηλε μάλ\ ήχι βάθιστον ίπτό χθονό* έστι βέρεθρον, ένθα σιδήρειαί τε πύλαι καί χάλκεο^ ούδό^, τόσσον ένερθ' 'Αίδεω δσον ούραν& έστ' άπό γαίη^· γνώσετ' έπειθ' δσον είμΐ θεών κάρτιστο^ άπάντων. *1 δ' άγε πειρήσασθε, θεοί, ίνα εΐδετε πάντες σειρήν χρυσείην έξ ούρανόθεν κρεμάσαντε^ πάντες τ' έξάπτεσθε θεοί πασαί τε θέαιναι· άλλ' ούκ άν έρύσαιτ* έξ ούρανόθεν πεδίονδε Ζήν' δπατον μήστωρ', ούδ* εί μάλα πολλά κάμοιτε. άλλ' δτε δή καί έγώ πρόφρων έθέλοιμι έρύσσαι, αύτη κεν γαίη έρύσαιμ' αύτη τε θαλάσση· σειρήν μέν κεν έπειτα περί jblov Ούλύμποιο δησαίμην, τά δέ κ' αδτε μετήορα πάντα γένοιτο, τόσσον έγώ περί τ' είμΐ θεών περί τ εϊμ' άνθρώπων." *Ώς έφαθ', ol δ' άρα πάντες άκήν έγένοντο σιωπή μυθον άγασσάμενοι* μάλα γαρ κρατερών άγόρευσεν.

15 15

20

20

heaven, take hold of it, all you gods and goddesses. But you would not drag Zeus, the supreme master of counsel, from heaven to earth, not even if you laboured most mightily. But whenever I wanted in earnest to drag (you), I

25

25

would drag (you) with the earth and the sea itself. Then I would bind the cord around the peak of Olumpos, and everything would be in mid-air. So much am I superior to gods and to men."

1

13. μιν. •him* (Η.2) I έλών: nom. s.ra.2 aor. act. part, αίρέω I i s = εΙ?(Υ.9) 15. ένθα: supply είσί 16. *ΑΙδεω: gen. s. (B.6), gen. after ένερθ'; scan Άΐδεω with synizesis (Scansion, B.5b) 17. γνώσετ': fut. act γιγνώσκω I έπειθ' = έπειτα 18. εί δ' ά γ ε : ^ come now*, with εί in this expression not having the sense 'if I πειρήσασθε: aor. imperat. raid, πειράομαι I εϋδετε: subjunc. οίδα, after ϊ ν α (X.la), with -ετε for -ητε (L.10) 19. έξ ούρανόθεν: 'from the sky' (Y.2), as 21 I κρεμάσαντε^: aor. part act κρεμάννυμι 21. ούκ άν έρύσαιτ': έρύσαιτ' 2 pi. aor. optat. act. έρύω; potential conditional (W.4) - 'you would not, (if you tried)' 22. Ζ ή ν ^ ΰ . Ζ ε ύ δ τ φ . Ι Ι ) I κάμοιτε: 2 aor. optat; act. κάμνω, optat. in a'would'conditional (W.2c) 23. έθέλοιμι: optat έθελω, optat. after δτε, 'whenever (W.8b) I έρύσσαι: aor. infin. act έρύω; aor. optat. act. in next line 24. αύτή γαίη, αύτή θαλάσσπ: 'earth and all', 'sea and all' (K.4) 26. τά πάντα: 'all these things', τά demonstrative (1.2) I μετηόρα « μετεώρα I γένοιτο: 3 s., 2 aor. optat γίγνομαι; 2 aor. indie, at 28 27. περί: 'superior to' (Y.9) 28. O' έβαλον frivofc, σύν δ' έγχεα καί μένε' άνδρών χαλκεοθωρήκων άτάρ άσπίδε^ όμφαλόεσσαι έπληντ' άλλήλησι, πολύ? δ' όρυμαγδί* όρώρει. ένθα δ* &μ· οΙμωγή τε καί εύχωλή πέλεν άνδρών όλλύντων τε καί όλλυμένων, ί>έε δ' αϊματι γαΐα. Όφρα μέν ήώ$ ήν καί άέξετο Ιερόν ήμαρ, τόφρα μάλ' άμφοτέρων βέλε' ήπτετο, πίπτε δέ λαό?. ήμο? δ' Ήέλκ* μέσον ούρανόν άμφιβεβήκει, καί τότε δή χρύσεια πατήρ έτίταινε τάλαντα· έν δ' έτίθει δύο κηρε τανηλεγέο^ .θανάτοιο, Τρώων θ' Ιπποδάμων καί Αχαιών χαλκοχιτώνων, έλκε δέ μέσσα λαβών £>έπε δ' αΐσιμον ήμαρ Αχαιών, αϊ μέν Αχαιών κηρε? έπΐ χθονί πουλυβοτείρη έ£έσθην, Τρώων δέ πρό$· ούρανόν εύρύν δερθεν αύτό^ δ* έξ Ίδη^ μεγάλ' έκτυπε, δαιόμενον δέ ήκε σέλα^ μετά λαόν Αχαιών ol δέ Ιδόντε^

65 65

61. σύν.. έβαλον: 3 ρΐ. 2 aor. act. συμβάλλω; supply έβαλον with the second συν I ίγχεα, Μένε* = έγχη, μενη (D.5) I note how συνέβαλαν, having been followed by frivofe and έγχεα, which is quite natural, is then followed by μένε*, which is much less so. This is called a zeugma 62. όμφαλόεσσαι: nom. pi. f. όμφαλόει? 63. έπληντ*: 3 pi. aor. pass. πελά£ω; 'they were brought near to\ i.e. 'they clashed' 65. όλλύντων, όλλυμένων: gen. pi. pres. part, act, mid. and pass, όλλυμι I £έε: imperf. act |>έω, neither contracted not augmented (Ν. 1,0.1) 66. δφρα: here (and 87, etc.) 'while' I μέν: balanced by the δέ in 68, not 67;'while, on the one hand, it was early morning ..; but when the sun .. I άέξετο: imperf. mid. άέξω, a form of αυξάνω I ήμαρ: a common Homeric alternative to ήμέρα 68. Ήέλι^· = "Ηλιος- I άμφιβεβήκει: 3 s. plupf. act άμφιβαίνω 69. ical:'indeed' 70. έν ... έτίθει: 3 s. imperf. act. έντίθημι I κήρε: dual acc. κήρ (not κήρ, ΤιββτΟ τανηλεγέο^ = τανηλ£γοϋ?, gen. s. (D.3b) 72. μέσσα - μ έ σ α (A); supply τάλαντα, 'taking them by the middle I λαβών. 2 aor. act part λαμβάνω 74. έCέc8ηv: 3 dual imperf. and 2 aor. έπομαι (M.2); Homer is now thinking of two fates for each side I Τρώων: supply ai κήρε^ ! άερθεν: 3 pi. aor. pass, at ρω, αεί pea,-εν for-ήσαν (L.5) 75. μεγάλ': n. pi. μέγα' αυτή ποιήσατο καί κάμε χβρσίν, ή δέ χιτών' ένδΟσα Διό? νεφεληγερέταο τεύχεσιν έ? πόλεμον θωρήσσετο δακρυόεντα. έ$ δ' δχεα φλόγεα ποσΐ βήσετο, λά£ετο δ' έγχο£ βριθύ μέγα στιβαρόν, τω δάμνησι στίχα^ άνδρών ήρώων, τοΐσίν τε κοτέσσεται όβριμοπάτρη. Έρη δέ μάστιγι Βοως έπεμαίετ' άρ' ΐππου^' αύτόμαται δέ πύλαι μύκον ούρανου, ά? έχον *Ωραι, τη^ έπιτέτραπται μέγα^ ούρανόν Ούλυμπό^ τε ήμέν άνακΧίναι πυκινόν νέφο? ήδ' έπιθεΐναι. τη ί>α δι' αύτάων κεντρηνεκέα^ έχον ίππους. Ζευς δε πατήρ "Ι δήθεν έπεί ιδε χώσατ' άρ* αΐνως, Ίριν δ* δτρυνε χρυσόπτερον άγγελέουσαν 'βάσκ' ϊθι, Ίρι ταχεία, πάλιν τρέπε μηδ' έα άντην έρχεσθ'· ού γάρ καλά συνοισόμεθα πτολεμόνδε. ώδε γάρ έξερέω, τό δέ καί τετελεσμένον έοται γυιώσω μέν σφωϊν ύφ' άρμασιν ώκέας ίππους, αχπας δ* έκ δίφρου βαλέω κατά θ' άρματα άξατ ούδέ κεν ες δεκάτου^ περιτελλομένου^ ένιαυτού^ ελκε' άπαλθήσεσθον, ά κεν μάρπτησι κεραυνός δφρ' είδη γλαυκώπι^ δτ' άν ω πατρί μάχηται.

385

385

390 390

395

395 400

-

When father Zeus saw from Ide he was very angry, and stirred golden-winged Iris to take a message -

405

390. δάμνησι: 3 s. pres. act δάμνημι, a verb connected with δαμνάω and δαμάζω 391. κοτέσσεται: aor. subjunc. mid. κοτέω, -εται for-ηται (L.10); 'with whomsoever she is angry' (W.8a) 393. μύκον: a 2 aor. act. form from μυκάομαι I έχον: imperf. έχω, as 396 394. έπιτέτραπται: 3 s. perf. pass, επιτρέπω, s. although there are two subjects 395. έπιθειναι: aor. infin. act. έπιτίθημι 398. Ίριν. acc. s.; voc. in next line (D.l, 2a) I άγνελέουσαν: acc. s. f. fut. part. act. άγγ&λω (0.1); fut. for purpose, 'to announce' (X. lb); so 409 399. βάσκ': 2 s. pres. imperat. act. of a frequentative (S) form of βαίνω I Ιθι: 2 s. imperat. είμι (U.5) I τρέπε, έα: supply 'them' (the goddesses) as object 400. καλά: adverbial I συνοισόμεθα: fut. mid. συμφέρω 402. σφωιν: dat. dual 3 pcrs. pronoun; note different accentuation from 2 pers. at 413, etc.(H.2,l); here possessive ill.3) - 'their chariot', 'their horses' 403. κατά ..άξω,ΐ'Λΐ act. κατάγνυμι; fut. infin. at 417 404. κεν: with fut. (W.3a and 4) - 'they will not be fully healed (if I do this to them)' 405. ελκε' = ελκη, -εα for -η (D.5b) I άπαλθήσεσθον: 3 dual (2 at 419) fut. άπαλθαίνομαι μάρπτησι: 3 s. pres. subjunc. act. μάρπτω, -ησι for -TJ (L.9) 406. είδη: 3 s. subjunc. οίδα (2 s. at 420); supply something like 'what happens as the object 1

aigis-bearing Zeus, cast down on her father's floor the fine embroidered robe which she had made herself and worked with her hands; and putting on the tunic of Zeus the cloudgatherer she armed herself with weapons for the fighting that brings tears. She stepped onto the chariot, which was sparkling like fire, and grasped her spear, heavy, mighty, and strong, with which she tames the ranks of the heroes, whichever of them she, the daughter of a mighty father, is angry with. Here touched the horses sharply with her whip, and the gates of heaven groaned of their own accord - the gates which the Seasons were keeping, to whom great heaven and Olumpos have been entrusted, both to open up the thick cloud and to close it. This way they held their horses, which endure the goad, through them.

400

405

"Be off, swift Iris, turn them back, and do not allow them to come against me. For it will not be good for us to clash together in war. For thus I shall declare, and it will be accomplished. I shall lame their swift horses beneath their chariot, and hurl themfromthe chariot, and smash it. And not even within the course of ten years will they be fully healed of the wounds which the thunderbolt inflicts, so that

93

94

HOMER

Έρη 8' ού τι τόσον νεμεσί£ομαι ούδέ χολοΟμαιαΐεΐ γάρ μοι έωθεν ένικλαν δττι κεν εϊπω." "Ως έφατ', ώρτο δέ *1ρις άελλόπο^ άγγελέουσα, βή δέ κατ* Ίδαίων όρέων £ς μακρόν Όλυμπον. πρώτησιν δέ πύλησι πολυπτύχου Ούλύμποιο άντομένη κατέρυκε, Διό^ δέ σφ' έννεπε μυθον πη μέματον; τί σφωίν ένΐ φρεσΐ μαίνεται ήτορ; ούκ έά