Wednesday Sept. 7, 2011
A. Book 1: Agam. confuses reparation for his own error with insult to his communal status; atê = madness, ruin, blindness (first Bk. 1.412, p. 70)
B. Book 2: deception of dream; foolish testing of army
C. Book 4: leadership in battle (4.223ff., pp. 119ff.) after wounding of Menelaos, encouragement and reproaches to heroes
D. Book 9: in assembly expresses too much despair; Nestor saves situation (9.52-113, pp. 199-201), brings about embassy; Agam. admits atê (9.114-120, p. 201) and need for reparation, but note final assertive lines of his speech (9.157-161, p. 202)
E. Book 19: assembly for renunciation of quarrel: atê again, fuller exposition with mythic example involving gods, 19.78-144, pp. 394-396; Odysseus’ role
A. short life: an extreme case of human lot of mortality, intensified by contrast to divine mother: Bk. 1.352 (p. 68), 1.416 (p. 70), 1.505 (p. 72),
B. Achilles’ choice of two fates: 9.410-416 (p. 209)
C. Achilles in Book 1: intemperate abuse, but justified resentment of undermining of system by Agam.; restraint (Athena and not drawing sword; concession announced to Nestor); "help friends/harm enemies" system in doubt. Achilles different in his willingness to question the system, to analyze exchange system, but caught in the great dilemma between absolutism and pragmatism (16.97-100, pp. 332-333)
D. Book 9’s embassy brings out strengths and weaknesses of Achilles’ position (singing kleos of men on their arrival, 9.189, p. 203)
1. Odysseus (9.225-306, pp. 204-206): elaborate appeal; desperate situation is first in appeal, then advice on anger attributed to Peleus, then recompense offered by Agam., then (300-306) pity for whole army
2. first reply (9.308-429): hatred of Agam., rejection of system of fighting and rewards, Briseis = Helen, intention to leave Troy next day; ironic surrender of kleos to protect his honor
3. Phoinix’s speech (9.434-605, pp. 209-214): substitute father figure; atê and Litai; Meleager example
4. second reply (9.607-619): no argument, only demand for loyalty from Phoinix, but departure now undecided
5. Ajax’s speech: third appeal (9.607-619, pp. 214-215) is simply the observation of a straight-arrow hero like Achilles himself, about anger and inflexibility, turning at end to request in name of comradeship of the whole group
6. third reply (9.644-655): Achilles concedes his anger determines his refusal; now will stay, fight only when Hector reaches ships and tents of Myrmidons
7. verdict of Diomedes (9. 696-709, pp. 216-217): agênôr, agênoriê
E. Achilles’ half-measures continue until too late: interest in fate of comrades leads him to send Patroklos (11.595-614, p 250, beginning of evil 11.603), a mission that invites Nestor’s own suggestion of a half-measure, 11.785-802, p. 255; then Ach. again Bk. 16.60-63, p. 331-332
F. recognition (anagnorisis in Aristotle’s Poetics): Bk. 18.6-14 (p. 375), 79-126 (pp. 377-378)
G. reconciliation: Ach. is generous, but relentlessly focused on revenge, Odysseus needed to guarantee practical detail of eating for rest of army and to finalize repair of rift by public display of gifts and restoration of Briseis
H. wrath turned outwards: rejection of supplication of Trojan victim (Lykaon, Bk. 21.35-135, pp. 419-421), conflict with the river gods, frequent mentions of dogs, birds, and fish eating corpses, promise to Patroklos of human sacrifice, treatment of Hektor
Friday, Sept. 9, 2011
A. Book 6: narrative device of having Hektor leave the battlefield and enter city, allows meetings with mother, Helen/Alexandros, and wife; Hektor as family man (aspect not seen among Achaean warriors), anticipation of doom, early farewell to wife and son
1. Hekabe, concerned mother (cf. Thetis), Bk. 6.253-312, pp. 160-161
2. Paris and Helen, Bk. 6.313-368, pp. 161-163
3. Andromache and Astyanax, Bk. 6.369-502, esp. 406-413, 429-434 (A.’s appeal for pity, withdrawal), 440-448 (H.’s code of shame/honor, foreknowledge of doom--cf. 367-8, 500-502, cf. Achilled), 476-481 (prayer for son)
B. Hektor and counsellors
1. Helenos in Bk. 6 recommends entry into city
2. Poulydamas used for sharper confrontations: Bk. 12.60 (pp.259-260), 12. 210 (pp. 263-264), Bk. 13.726 (pp. 290-291), Bk. 18.249, 310-313 (pp. 381-383)
C. Book 22
1. rejection of call to come into city, Bk. 22.99-130. pp. 437-438
2. Zeus’ hesitation, as earlier with Sarpedon’s death in Bk. 16, Bk. 22.167-185, pp. 439-440
3. treatment of corpse anticipated: Bk. 22.345ff., p. 444
A. ekphrasis (ecphrasis): elaborate verbal description of an art work, decorated object, or artistically arranged building or landscape appearing as a digression within a narrative
B. may be symbolic or allegorical, providing a parallel for the narrative or some other kind of comment on the narrative; ekphrasis often in terms of the movements and actions implied by the depiction
C. comprehensive image of human life:
1.framed by earth, heavens, and Ocean
2. two cities:peace (marriage, arbitration) and war (siege, plundered cattle, set battle, fight over corpses)
3. agricultural year: ploughing; reaping; vintage
4. pastoralism: herds and lions; sheep
5. dancing at community festival
A. games as alternative form of competition for heroes, rivalry for prizes, Achilles as arbitrator
B. chariot race
1. skill, quality of horses, divine favor are all important
2. argument of spectators Idomeneus and Ajax (son of Oileus) quelled by Achilles
3. Ach.’s proposal to reward Eumelos (23.536-562, pp. 464-5)
4. quarrel of Antilochos and Menelaos
C. equality of Ajax and Odysseus in wrestling
D. prize to Agamemnon without contest
A. pitiless Achilles annoys the gods
B. Achilles yields quickly to request for change of mind (24.139-140, p. 479)
C. Priam guided by Hermes: like a trip to the underworld
D. Achilles and Priam: successful supplication and gift-exchange; shared grief, but shared food; Achilles as dispenser of wisdom (urns of Zeus, Niobe story: 517-548, p. 489; 601-620, p. 491)
A. epic deliberately applies distancing and stylizing effects in representing the past, to emphasize difference from audience’s world: e.g., chariots, bronze and no iron, a few other possibly outmoded artefacts (boar’s tusk helmet); greater strength of heroes, closeness of gods seen in directness of intervention and favor
B. parallels show that oral traditions do not maintain accurate transmission of past social and cultural forms, rather these forms are retained or adapted to suit the understanding and needs of the current audience. Naive to associate names and events with 13th century in any exact way.
C. aristoi = the best men
1. timê, aidôs: attitudes of respect, self-assertion, self-restraint
2. kleos and warfare
3. social customs among elite: gift exchange, xenia (guest-friendship) [Glaukos and Diomedes, Iliad, Bk. 6.119-236 (pp.156-159)], intermarriage
D. Ideological burden of Homeric epic?
1. can be read as supportive of aristoi and their traditional power in a time of challenge: Zeus the father and king; kings as favored by Zeus; kings as great leaders and warriors, worthy of inherited authority
2. warrior ethic (fame, avoid shame/cowardice, help comrades, defend families) is easily adaptable to other situations, esp. athletic competition and duties of the citizen-soldier
3. but Homeric epic too complex to be read with one voice and viewpoint
a. communal and cooperative viewpoint
b. tragic view of human action: limitations on human success; reversals; ignorance, overconfidence, overstepping, misinterpretation (all in relation to gods’ control of events and outcomes)
c. critique of heroic values: are the leaders worthy, is a personal interpretation of timê valid?
d. war as abomination and aberration, savagery of heroes: motifs of supplication and burial as tests of humanity; similes of lions and boars, seen in nature, but also often in relation to the hunt and to herding