The War That Killed Achilles (35 page)
Read The War That Killed Achilles Online
Authors: Caroline Alexander
3
On the cycle, see “The Things They Carried,” note 41. For the epic theme of
neîkos,
or quarrel, between heroes, see Gregory Nagy,
The Best of the Achaeans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry
(Baltimore, 1979), 22ff.
On the cycle, see “The Things They Carried,” note 41. For the epic theme of
neîkos,
or quarrel, between heroes, see Gregory Nagy,
The Best of the Achaeans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry
(Baltimore, 1979), 22ff.
4
Quotes are respectively
Cypria,
argument 9, p. 77;
Aethiopis,
argument 1, p. 111;
Aethiopis,
argument 4, 113; all in M. L. West, ed. and trans.,
Greek Epic Fragments: From the Seventh to the Fifth Century B.C.
(Cambridge, MA, 2003).
Quotes are respectively
Cypria,
argument 9, p. 77;
Aethiopis,
argument 1, p. 111;
Aethiopis,
argument 4, 113; all in M. L. West, ed. and trans.,
Greek Epic Fragments: From the Seventh to the Fifth Century B.C.
(Cambridge, MA, 2003).
5
Hesiod,
Catalogue of Women or EHOIAI,
in Glenn W. Most, ed. and trans.,
Hesiod: Volume 2, The Shield. Catalogue of Women. Other Fragments
(Cambridge, MA, 2007), fragment 155 (continued), 231f.; the story is also told by Stesichorus, in David A. Campbell,
Greek Lyric III: Stesichorus, Ibycus, Simonides, and Others
(Cambridge, MA, 2001), fragment 190, 91.
Hesiod,
Catalogue of Women or EHOIAI,
in Glenn W. Most, ed. and trans.,
Hesiod: Volume 2, The Shield. Catalogue of Women. Other Fragments
(Cambridge, MA, 2007), fragment 155 (continued), 231f.; the story is also told by Stesichorus, in David A. Campbell,
Greek Lyric III: Stesichorus, Ibycus, Simonides, and Others
(Cambridge, MA, 2001), fragment 190, 91.
6
On the scepter, see Kirk, sub. vv. 234-39, 77f.
On the scepter, see Kirk, sub. vv. 234-39, 77f.
7
“Fifty were the fast-running ships wherein Achilles / beloved of Zeus had led his men to Troy, and in each one / were fifty men, his companions in arms, at the rowing benches” (
Iliad
16.168-70).
Cypria,
argument 12, refers to “Zeus' plan to relieve the Trojans by removing Achilles from the Greek alliance”; West,
Greek Epic Fragments,
81. This indicates an entirely different dramatic motivation for the absence of Achilles, one in which there is no quarrel, no anger, and no intervention by Thetis.
“Fifty were the fast-running ships wherein Achilles / beloved of Zeus had led his men to Troy, and in each one / were fifty men, his companions in arms, at the rowing benches” (
Iliad
16.168-70).
Cypria,
argument 12, refers to “Zeus' plan to relieve the Trojans by removing Achilles from the Greek alliance”; West,
Greek Epic Fragments,
81. This indicates an entirely different dramatic motivation for the absence of Achilles, one in which there is no quarrel, no anger, and no intervention by Thetis.
8
On the best-guess meaning of “hecatomb,” see Kirk, sub. v. 65, 60.
On the best-guess meaning of “hecatomb,” see Kirk, sub. v. 65, 60.
9
On Homer's reticence for the outlandish, see Jasper Griffin, “The Epic Cycle and the Uniqueness of Homer,”
Journal of Hellenic Studies
97 (1977), 39-53. Briareus is named, along with two other monstrous brothers, by Hesiod, in his
Theogony
(“The Genealogy of the Gods”), as an essential ally of Zeus in his battle for supremacy with the Titans; see, for example,
Theogony,
149, in Glenn W. Most, ed. and trans.,
Hesiod: Volume 1, Theogony. Works and Days. Testimonia
(Cambridge, MA, 2006), 15. Another tradition, preserved in a fragment of a lost epic entitled
Titanomachy
(“The Battle of the Titans,” by Eumelus), states that Aigaion “fought on the side of the Titans” against Zeus, not for him. West,
Greek Epic Fragments,
225f.
On Homer's reticence for the outlandish, see Jasper Griffin, “The Epic Cycle and the Uniqueness of Homer,”
Journal of Hellenic Studies
97 (1977), 39-53. Briareus is named, along with two other monstrous brothers, by Hesiod, in his
Theogony
(“The Genealogy of the Gods”), as an essential ally of Zeus in his battle for supremacy with the Titans; see, for example,
Theogony,
149, in Glenn W. Most, ed. and trans.,
Hesiod: Volume 1, Theogony. Works and Days. Testimonia
(Cambridge, MA, 2006), 15. Another tradition, preserved in a fragment of a lost epic entitled
Titanomachy
(“The Battle of the Titans,” by Eumelus), states that Aigaion “fought on the side of the Titans” against Zeus, not for him. West,
Greek Epic Fragments,
225f.
10
In Greek mythology, Zeus' father, Kronos, learning that one of his children was destined to overthrow him, swallowed them allâsave Zeus, for whom his wife substituted a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to deceive him. Later Kronos was induced to vomit back his children, and, led by Zeus, they indeed overpowered him. Kronos in his turn had come to power by overthrowing and castrating his father, Uranus; the entire intricate story is related in Hesiod,
Theogony,
453ff., in Most,
Hesiod: Theogony,
39ff. The Hittite Song of Kumarbi relates some of the same themes of the duping and castration of a primordial god; see M. L. West,
The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth
(Oxford, 1997), 277ff.
In Greek mythology, Zeus' father, Kronos, learning that one of his children was destined to overthrow him, swallowed them allâsave Zeus, for whom his wife substituted a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to deceive him. Later Kronos was induced to vomit back his children, and, led by Zeus, they indeed overpowered him. Kronos in his turn had come to power by overthrowing and castrating his father, Uranus; the entire intricate story is related in Hesiod,
Theogony,
453ff., in Most,
Hesiod: Theogony,
39ff. The Hittite Song of Kumarbi relates some of the same themes of the duping and castration of a primordial god; see M. L. West,
The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth
(Oxford, 1997), 277ff.
11
On the function of stories of the men of old, particularly of a hero's father, in heroic society, see Bruce Karl Braswell, “Mythological Innovation in the
Iliad,
”
Classical Quarterly,
n.s., 21, no. 1 (1971), 16-26; and Caroline Alexander, “Appeals to Tradition in the
Iliad,
with Particular Reference to Achilles,” dissertation, Columbia University, 1991.
On the function of stories of the men of old, particularly of a hero's father, in heroic society, see Bruce Karl Braswell, “Mythological Innovation in the
Iliad,
”
Classical Quarterly,
n.s., 21, no. 1 (1971), 16-26; and Caroline Alexander, “Appeals to Tradition in the
Iliad,
with Particular Reference to Achilles,” dissertation, Columbia University, 1991.
13
The implications of this transforming myth were exposed and movingly explored in a landmark work by Laura M. Slatkin,
The Power of Thetis: Allusion and Interpretation in the “Iliad”
(Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1991); for the validity of drawing upon a reference as late as Pindar for evidence of an Iliadic tradition, see her note 26, p. 76f. Thetis' destiny is also an important dramatic element in Aeschylus'
Prometheus Bound,
vv. 907ff.
The implications of this transforming myth were exposed and movingly explored in a landmark work by Laura M. Slatkin,
The Power of Thetis: Allusion and Interpretation in the “Iliad”
(Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1991); for the validity of drawing upon a reference as late as Pindar for evidence of an Iliadic tradition, see her note 26, p. 76f. Thetis' destiny is also an important dramatic element in Aeschylus'
Prometheus Bound,
vv. 907ff.
14
Similar delusional dreams attend many military ventures; compare the report of a U.S. Marine commander from Task Force Tarawa that, on their approach to Nasiriya, in southern Iraq, in March 2003, they had been led to believe that the city's defenders would lay down their weapons and “put flowers in our gun barrels, hold up their babies for us to kiss and give us the keys to the city.” Tim Pritchard, “When Iraq Went Wrong,”
New York Times,
December 5, 2006.
Similar delusional dreams attend many military ventures; compare the report of a U.S. Marine commander from Task Force Tarawa that, on their approach to Nasiriya, in southern Iraq, in March 2003, they had been led to believe that the city's defenders would lay down their weapons and “put flowers in our gun barrels, hold up their babies for us to kiss and give us the keys to the city.” Tim Pritchard, “When Iraq Went Wrong,”
New York Times,
December 5, 2006.
16
The testing of the army is a motif found in literature and mythology of the ancient Near East, where it functions as a method of weeding out cowards before engaging in battle. See, for example, West,
The East Face of Helicon
207f.
The testing of the army is a motif found in literature and mythology of the ancient Near East, where it functions as a method of weeding out cowards before engaging in battle. See, for example, West,
The East Face of Helicon
207f.
17
It was Thersites who featured in another epic quarrel with Achilles; the
Aethiopis
states that “Achilles kills Thersites after being abused by him and insulted over his alleged love” of the Amazon queen (
Aethiopis,
argument 1), and the Iliadic passage is undoubtedly an allusion to a well-established epic hatred between the two men. For Thersites as the mirror opposite of Achillesâthe worst (
aÃskhistos
) of the Achaeans as opposed to the bestâsee Nagy, 259ff.
It was Thersites who featured in another epic quarrel with Achilles; the
Aethiopis
states that “Achilles kills Thersites after being abused by him and insulted over his alleged love” of the Amazon queen (
Aethiopis,
argument 1), and the Iliadic passage is undoubtedly an allusion to a well-established epic hatred between the two men. For Thersites as the mirror opposite of Achillesâthe worst (
aÃskhistos
) of the Achaeans as opposed to the bestâsee Nagy, 259ff.
18
On the origins of Thersites, see P. Chantraine, “Ã Propos de Thersite,”
L'Antiquité Classique
32 (1963), 18-27.
On the origins of Thersites, see P. Chantraine, “Ã Propos de Thersite,”
L'Antiquité Classique
32 (1963), 18-27.
19
James F. McGlew, “Royal Power and the Achaean Assembly at
Iliad
2.84-393,”
Classical Antiquity,
8, no. 2 (October 1989), 290.
James F. McGlew, “Royal Power and the Achaean Assembly at
Iliad
2.84-393,”
Classical Antiquity,
8, no. 2 (October 1989), 290.
20
“Agamemnon's leadership is so disastrous, and his blunders often so obvious, that it has seemed unnecessary to inquire any further into Homer's point.” Dean C. Hammer, “ âWho Shall Readily Obey?': Authority and Politics in the
Iliad,
”
Phoenix
51, no. 1 (1997), 4.
“Agamemnon's leadership is so disastrous, and his blunders often so obvious, that it has seemed unnecessary to inquire any further into Homer's point.” Dean C. Hammer, “ âWho Shall Readily Obey?': Authority and Politics in the
Iliad,
”
Phoenix
51, no. 1 (1997), 4.
21
On changing leadership patterns in the eighth century B.C., see, for example, Carol G. Thomas and Craig Conant,
Citadel to City-State: The Transformation of Greece, 1200-700 B.C.E.
(Bloomington, IN, 1999), 132ff.
Terms of EngagementOn changing leadership patterns in the eighth century B.C., see, for example, Carol G. Thomas and Craig Conant,
Citadel to City-State: The Transformation of Greece, 1200-700 B.C.E.
(Bloomington, IN, 1999), 132ff.
1
“The Asian meadow beside the Kaÿstrian waters” where the wildfowl gather can be identified with the floodplain of the river that still bears this name flowing just outside of Ephesus, on the Aegean coast of Turkey. J. V. Luce,
Celebrating Homer's Landscapes: Troy and Ithaca Revisited
(New Haven, CT, 1998), 15ff.
“The Asian meadow beside the Kaÿstrian waters” where the wildfowl gather can be identified with the floodplain of the river that still bears this name flowing just outside of Ephesus, on the Aegean coast of Turkey. J. V. Luce,
Celebrating Homer's Landscapes: Troy and Ithaca Revisited
(New Haven, CT, 1998), 15ff.
2
For the various explanations of the aegis and its association with the thunder god, see Richard Janko,
The “Iliad”: A Commentary, Volume IV: Books 13-16
(Cambridge, 1992), sub. vv. 308-11, 260f.
For the various explanations of the aegis and its association with the thunder god, see Richard Janko,
The “Iliad”: A Commentary, Volume IV: Books 13-16
(Cambridge, 1992), sub. vv. 308-11, 260f.
3
For the Homeric similes, see William C. Scott,
The Oral Nature of the Homeric Simile
(Leiden, 1974). Less technical and more accessible is G. P. Shipp,
Studies in the Language of Homer,
2nd ed. (Cambridge, 1972). Also Carroll Moulton,
Similes in the Homeric Poems
(Göttingen, 1977), especially 27ff., on the cascade of images in Book Two.
For the Homeric similes, see William C. Scott,
The Oral Nature of the Homeric Simile
(Leiden, 1974). Less technical and more accessible is G. P. Shipp,
Studies in the Language of Homer,
2nd ed. (Cambridge, 1972). Also Carroll Moulton,
Similes in the Homeric Poems
(Göttingen, 1977), especially 27ff., on the cascade of images in Book Two.
4
This line, the translation of 2.488, is a substitution for Lattimore's translation, which reads (with preceding verse), “Who then of those were the chief men and the lords of the Danaans? /
I could not tell over the multitude of them nor name them.
” The emendation makes less ambiguous the fact that “the multitude” (
plÄthùn
) does
not
refer to “a multitude of leaders” but to “the multitude,” the massesâi.e., the troops. For this clarification and its implications, see Bruce Heiden, “Common People and Leaders in
Iliad
Book 2: The Invocation of the Muses and the Catalogue of Ships,”
Transactions of the American Philological Association
138 (2008), 127-54.
This line, the translation of 2.488, is a substitution for Lattimore's translation, which reads (with preceding verse), “Who then of those were the chief men and the lords of the Danaans? /
I could not tell over the multitude of them nor name them.
” The emendation makes less ambiguous the fact that “the multitude” (
plÄthùn
) does
not
refer to “a multitude of leaders” but to “the multitude,” the massesâi.e., the troops. For this clarification and its implications, see Bruce Heiden, “Common People and Leaders in
Iliad
Book 2: The Invocation of the Muses and the Catalogue of Ships,”
Transactions of the American Philological Association
138 (2008), 127-54.
5
For the range of scholarly opinion, see A. Giovannini,
Ãtude historique sur les origines du catalogue des vaisseaux
(Berne, 1969), who believes that the Catalogue dates from around the seventh century B.C.; and R. Hope Simpson and J. F. Lazenby,
The Catalogue of Ships in Homer's “Iliad”
(Oxford, 1970), whose balanced presentation of the archaeological evidence leads them to advocate a Mycenaean origin for the record of place-names, later reworked by the tradition. Similarly, Mark W. Edwards, “The Structure of Homeric Catalogues,”
Transactions of the American Philological Association
110 (1980), 81-105, argues that while a list of place-names is authentically Mycenaean, the descriptive elements attached to them are not. A succinct but detailed survey of the scholarship and Catalogue itself is made by G. S. Kirk,
The “Iliad”: A Commentary, Volume I: Books 1-4
(Cambridge, 1985), 168-240.
For the range of scholarly opinion, see A. Giovannini,
Ãtude historique sur les origines du catalogue des vaisseaux
(Berne, 1969), who believes that the Catalogue dates from around the seventh century B.C.; and R. Hope Simpson and J. F. Lazenby,
The Catalogue of Ships in Homer's “Iliad”
(Oxford, 1970), whose balanced presentation of the archaeological evidence leads them to advocate a Mycenaean origin for the record of place-names, later reworked by the tradition. Similarly, Mark W. Edwards, “The Structure of Homeric Catalogues,”
Transactions of the American Philological Association
110 (1980), 81-105, argues that while a list of place-names is authentically Mycenaean, the descriptive elements attached to them are not. A succinct but detailed survey of the scholarship and Catalogue itself is made by G. S. Kirk,
The “Iliad”: A Commentary, Volume I: Books 1-4
(Cambridge, 1985), 168-240.
6
Recently, Linear B tablets found at Thebes confirm the existence of a previously unlocatable siteâElÄonâwhich is named in the Catalogue: “they who held Eleon and Hyle and Peteon” (
Iliad
2.500). For the names recorded in the Theban tablets and the region they describe, see Louis Godart and Anna Sacconi, “La géographie des états mycéniens,”
Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
(1999), 2:527-46; for the individual towns, see E. Visser,
Homers Katalog der Schiffe
(Stuttgart and Leipzig, 1997), 261-66.
Recently, Linear B tablets found at Thebes confirm the existence of a previously unlocatable siteâElÄonâwhich is named in the Catalogue: “they who held Eleon and Hyle and Peteon” (
Iliad
2.500). For the names recorded in the Theban tablets and the region they describe, see Louis Godart and Anna Sacconi, “La géographie des états mycéniens,”
Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
(1999), 2:527-46; for the individual towns, see E. Visser,
Homers Katalog der Schiffe
(Stuttgart and Leipzig, 1997), 261-66.
7
A list of late forms is given in Shipp, 235ff. On the Catalogue's use of the late Ionian
nées
for “ship”; see Kirk, 171.
A list of late forms is given in Shipp, 235ff. On the Catalogue's use of the late Ionian
nées
for “ship”; see Kirk, 171.
8
The possibility of such a muster roll, on the other hand, is hinted at by other Bronze Age documents. Linear B tablet #53 An12 from Pylos gives “a list of the numbers of rowers to be provided by various towns for an expedition to Pleuron”:
e-re-ta pe-re-u-ro-na-de i-jo-te
(for the Greek
erétai PleurÅnáde ióntes
”)â“rowers to go to Pleuron”; thirty men are listed, a figure suggestive of a ship's complement. See M. Ventris and J. Chadwick,
Documents in Mycenaean Greek,
2nd ed. (Cambridge, 1973), 183f.; also given in Kirk, 239.
The possibility of such a muster roll, on the other hand, is hinted at by other Bronze Age documents. Linear B tablet #53 An12 from Pylos gives “a list of the numbers of rowers to be provided by various towns for an expedition to Pleuron”:
e-re-ta pe-re-u-ro-na-de i-jo-te
(for the Greek
erétai PleurÅnáde ióntes
”)â“rowers to go to Pleuron”; thirty men are listed, a figure suggestive of a ship's complement. See M. Ventris and J. Chadwick,
Documents in Mycenaean Greek,
2nd ed. (Cambridge, 1973), 183f.; also given in Kirk, 239.
9
The Catalogue is organized into three tours, or circuits: central and southern Greece; Crete, Rhodes, and the Dodecanese Islands; and, with vaguer precision, northern Greece and Thessaly. Lists reminiscent of the Catalogue survive in records and documents from other parts of the Bronze Age world. A poem commemorating the feats of Ramses II in the Battle of Kadesh, fought between Egyptians and Hittites around 1275 B.C., for example, contains a battle list not of ships but of chariots:
The Catalogue is organized into three tours, or circuits: central and southern Greece; Crete, Rhodes, and the Dodecanese Islands; and, with vaguer precision, northern Greece and Thessaly. Lists reminiscent of the Catalogue survive in records and documents from other parts of the Bronze Age world. A poem commemorating the feats of Ramses II in the Battle of Kadesh, fought between Egyptians and Hittites around 1275 B.C., for example, contains a battle list not of ships but of chariots:
Then he caused many chiefs to come,
Each of them with his chariotry,
Equipped with their weapons of warfare:
The chief of Arzawa and he of Masa,
The chief of Irun and he of Luka,
He of Dardany, the chief of Carchemish,
the chief of Karkisha, he of Khaleb,
The brothers of him of Khatti all together,
Their total of a thousand chariots came straight into the fire.
Each of them with his chariotry,
Equipped with their weapons of warfare:
The chief of Arzawa and he of Masa,
The chief of Irun and he of Luka,
He of Dardany, the chief of Carchemish,
the chief of Karkisha, he of Khaleb,
The brothers of him of Khatti all together,
Their total of a thousand chariots came straight into the fire.
Translation from Miriam Lichtheim,
Ancient Egyptian Literature: A Book of Readings
(Berkeley, 1976), vol. 2:
The New Kingdom,
66f. The “Dardany” of the list, incidentally, are almost certainly the Dardanians, one of the Homeric names for the Trojans: see Trevor Bryce,
The Trojans and Their Neighbours
(Abingdon, Oxon, 2006), 136.
Ancient Egyptian Literature: A Book of Readings
(Berkeley, 1976), vol. 2:
The New Kingdom,
66f. The “Dardany” of the list, incidentally, are almost certainly the Dardanians, one of the Homeric names for the Trojans: see Trevor Bryce,
The Trojans and Their Neighbours
(Abingdon, Oxon, 2006), 136.
The Greek historical record has preserved tribute lists and lists of religious festival sites from the classical era and later, suggesting that the Catalogue's original, prosaic function could have been along such census-taking lines. Giovannini, 53ff., discusses these political and religious lists from the fifth century B.C. onward, noting in particular the tours made by envoys to cities whose religious significance afforded them the status of “receivers of sacred envoys.” There are, then, a variety of known reasons that a compilation of place-names
could
have been composed in the late Bronze Age. Regarded with sufficient veneration to be safeguarded over the centuries, this Panhellenic overview of Mycenaean political geography would later have been adapted into poetic form, embellished with striking but often safely generic epithetsâ“strong-founded,” “of the great vineyards,” “the sacred”âand given a regal, nostalgic place in the developing Panhellenic epic.
could
have been composed in the late Bronze Age. Regarded with sufficient veneration to be safeguarded over the centuries, this Panhellenic overview of Mycenaean political geography would later have been adapted into poetic form, embellished with striking but often safely generic epithetsâ“strong-founded,” “of the great vineyards,” “the sacred”âand given a regal, nostalgic place in the developing Panhellenic epic.
10
The weight the Catalogue gives to the various contingents does not accord with their importance in the
Iliad:
The Boiotians, who receive one of the most lavish entries in the Catalogue, are hardly referred to elsewhere in the
Iliad,
for example, while the entries for the Myrmidons and Salamis islanders, contingents led respectively by the
Iliad
's all-important heroes Achilles and Aias, receive markedly scant treatment. A Boiotian origin or influence has been speculated on the grounds that “catalogue poetry” was a favorite Boiotian genre. The Boiotian poet Hesiod was celebrated for poetry that is essentially long poetic lists: of the generations of the gods (
Theogony
), mythological genealogies (
EHOIAI
or
Catalogue of Women
), movements of the stars (
Astronomia
), farming lore (
Works and Days
).
The weight the Catalogue gives to the various contingents does not accord with their importance in the
Iliad:
The Boiotians, who receive one of the most lavish entries in the Catalogue, are hardly referred to elsewhere in the
Iliad,
for example, while the entries for the Myrmidons and Salamis islanders, contingents led respectively by the
Iliad
's all-important heroes Achilles and Aias, receive markedly scant treatment. A Boiotian origin or influence has been speculated on the grounds that “catalogue poetry” was a favorite Boiotian genre. The Boiotian poet Hesiod was celebrated for poetry that is essentially long poetic lists: of the generations of the gods (
Theogony
), mythological genealogies (
EHOIAI
or
Catalogue of Women
), movements of the stars (
Astronomia
), farming lore (
Works and Days
).
11
“To an aural audience [the Catalogue] would be the most impressive part, demonstrating the supreme technique of the singer, and giving information of the highest importance”: Minna Skafte Jensen,
The Homeric Question and the Oral-Formulaic Theory
(Copenhagen, 1980), 79.
“To an aural audience [the Catalogue] would be the most impressive part, demonstrating the supreme technique of the singer, and giving information of the highest importance”: Minna Skafte Jensen,
The Homeric Question and the Oral-Formulaic Theory
(Copenhagen, 1980), 79.
12
See Heiden, 127-54.
See Heiden, 127-54.
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