Third lecture for GNED 1202 (Texts and Ideas). It is a required general education course for all first-year students at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada. My version of the course is structured as a kind of Intro to Western Civilization style course.

1. Lecture 3
HOMER + BRONZE AGE
INTRO TO WESTERN HUMANITIES

2. Homer is the attributed author of the
epics The Iliad and The Odyssey, the first
cultural texts of Greek civilization.
Were written in the 8th century BCE
(700-750), soon after the rediscovery of
writing in the Greek area. Most scholars
believe they are the written culmination
of a much older oral compositional
tradition.
The epics recount events about the
Trojan War that occurred about 400 years
earlier (traditional date 1184 BCE).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Homer_British_Museum.jpg

3. Homer is, in one tradition, blind.
Even in antiquity, there were
concerns/doubts about Homer.
Thus we have the so-called Homeric
Questions:
Who was Homer?
Were the epics written by one or
many authors?
How were they composed (written
or oral)?
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) -
Homer and his Guide (1874).jpg

4. After studying and recording non-
literate oral bards in Yugoslavia in
the 1920s, Milman Parry argued
pervasively that the two Homeric
epics are grounded in oral
composition.
He demonstrated that within oral
cultures, long stories are
“chunked” into more manageable
and memorizable sections by the
use of common, repeated
formulaic epithets that are used to
fit into a rhythm scheme.
(e.g., Achilles is brilliant, godlike, or swift-
footed; the Greek’s ships are black, round,
hollow, or swift).
In this theory, the written stories
are just a snapshot in time of the
oral tradition.

5. Today most Classicists agree that, whether
or not there was ever a composer named
Homer, the poems attributed to him are to
some degree dependent on an oral
tradition, a generations-old technique that
was the collective inheritance of many
singer-poets (also called bards)

6. Bard
http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1320Hist&Civ/chapters/03EPIC.htm

7. The epics recount events about the Trojan War that
occurred about 400 years prior to Homer.
The Iliad covers a period of about 14 days during the
ten-year long siege of Troy.
The Odyssey recounts one of the main characters from
the Iliad (Odysseus) efforts to return to his home, which
takes him an additional ten years.
Both epics are reflections on a lost world (the high
Bronze Age cultures of the Hittites, Mycenae and Minoa)
as well as reflections on a new emerging Greek moral
code and way of life.

8. Historical Context –
Bronze Age in the
Near East and
Mediterranean Area

10. Bronze age civilizations were
tightly connected via trade.
The Minoans, based in Crete,
played a vital role in this
trade system for over a 1000
years (2700 – 1400).

11. Crete has a stunning
diversity of
geographical features.

12. It appears that Minoan
economy was based on the
creation and trade of
luxury goods: fine pots,
ornamental bronze jewelry,
clothes, dyes, paintings.

13. This charmless creature is a Cretan
Murex, a mollusk that feeds off
decomposing flesh. It has a horrible
odor, but from it, the Minoans
extracted something known as
Purple.
It was a dye that was exceedingly
rare and expensive, and throughout
most of history, purple is the color
of royalty, because only they could
afford it.
Discoveries of these bronze-age
murex have these holes, which are
evidence that the murex were
feeding on each other. That is, the
Minoans factory farmed them for
their purple. "Twelve thousand
snails of murex yield no more than
1.4 g of pure dye, enough to color
only the trim of a single garment."

14. http://www.minoanatlantis.com/pix/Knossos_Palace_Reconstruction_1.jpg

15. The British archeologist Arthur Evans
uncovered the Palace of Knossos in
the early years of the 20th century
and then “restored” certain
sections.

17. The palace complex had 1300+ rooms,
running fresh water, flush toilets,
heated bathtubs, and many beautiful
colorful frescos.

19. It had Europe’s first paved
road (several miles long),
and was flanked by
houses, led from the town
to the palace.

20. Central court – 54m x 27 m –
the size of four tennis courts.
What was it used for?

21. McGraw-Hill ImageVault

22. The animals in the Minoan
frescoes are Aurochs which have
been extinct for nearly 400 years.
Aurochs were about 25% larger
than today’s bulls. It’s hoof-
prints were the size of a man’s
head

23. So-called throne room at Knossos. But is it actually a throne?
Most of the art in these so-called palaces, unlike palaces
everywhere else in the Bronze Age, don’t seem to show or
express power, and certainly don’t appear to display kings or
queens.

24. There is no evidence of walls or any other military
architecture at any of the ancient Minoan towns
and palaces.
Similarly, there is little evidence of weapons or
military art.

26. http://www.reclusiveleftist.com/wp-content/Minoan_palace_scene_enlarged.jpg

27. http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/flickr-2275364354-image.jpg

31. McGraw-Hill ImageVault

37. The Minoans seemed to love
their colors. For instance, the
so-called Blue Monkey Throne
Room.
So how does this compare to
the throne/palace rooms of
the Minoan’s Bronze Age
compatriots?

40. So were the Minoans just makers of luxury
goods and the hosts for the Bronze Age-era
spring break parties?

41. Shrine at Anemospilia (the cave of the winds). In
the 1970s a discovery was made here which found
a skeleton, wearing expensive rings, that appears
to have been crushed by the stone blocks of the
walls or ceiling dating from about 1700 BCE.

42. Under its body was another skeleton, this one
of a teenager, lying on an alter, its limbs still
bound up. On its chest was a dagger. The priest
appears to have been making a sacrifice as the
walls came tumbling down.
In the modern world we take for granted its
stability . But prior to the later 19th century, in
almost the entire world, it took just two bad
harvests to wipe out the food supply. Much of
the religious practices of the far past seemed
to have been oriented towards placating
gods/spirits of the earth.
Minoans seemed quite exposed at times. In
1700s BCE, Crete was ravaged by earthquakes.
But worse was yet to come.

44. Greek island of Santorini (modern name)
or Thera (ancient name)

45. Santorini is built on the remains of a volcano

46. Around 1530 BCE the island was rocked by severe earthquakes; a
few months later the volcano erupted.
Ten times stronger than the eruption of Vesuvius that buried
Pompeii, and four times stronger than Krakatau (the most
powerful volcanic eruption of the past several hundred years and
which killed 40000).
1/3 of the island land mass disappeared. 40 meters deep layer of
ash on the remaining part of the island.
Crete only 70 miles away and was hit with a gigantic tsunami, that
destroyed the Minoan naval fleet. Crete was also buried it in ash,
which would have caused famine conditions for many years.

47. Excavated Minoan houses on Thera.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/christopherholland/524632200/sizes/o/

48. A recent discovery dating from a few decades
after the eruption found near the palace of
Knossos. It contained a jumble of children’s
bones found in a cooking pot along with edible
snails. The flesh from the bones has been
stripped away with a knife. Clear evidence of
cannibalism.

49. Other interesting evidence from the same post-
volcano time.
Several of these prototypical earth goddess
statues, which are extremely common in
Minoan sites (perhaps like crucifixes are now) were
found purposefully broken, sealed in jars, and
then buried. One archeologist called it “paying
back the vengeful gods” or “disposing of it as if
it was nuclear waste.”
When times are tough, even the most pleasure-
loving, cosmopolitan, outward-looking, trade-
oriented culture can turn in on itself and
seemingly self-destruct

50. Sometime around 1450 BCE, most
Minoan cities and palaces appear
to have gone up in flames.
For instance, at one site, in a
room presumably filled with pithoi
(large 40 gallon containers holding
olive oil), the heat was so intense
the stone floor was turned into
glass.
These fires were not accidents. At
one site, the pithoi’s necks have
been sawed off, presumably to
make the oil burn easier. In other
sites, building doors were blocked
in before the fire was set.
What happened? Invaders? Or
religious civil war?

51. Linear A is the earliest writing on Crete
and is still un-deciphered. Linear A
appears to be the earlier, lost Minoan
language.
Linear B, which don’t appear until about
1400-1500 BCE, was deciphered by
Michael Ventris in the early 1950s who
discovered it was an archaic form of
Greek. The Mycenaean Greeks may have
conquered the island or perhaps just
stepped into a power vacuum

53. The Mycenaeans appear to have made use of Minoan
artists, but there were no blue monkey rooms in the
throne rooms of the Mycenaeans …

55. The Lion’s Gate and the walls of Mycenae

56. Ruins at Tiryns

57. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/archive/e/eb/20071005
Ruins at Mycenae showing grave circle 170649%21Mycenae_walls_interior.JPG

58. Mycenae
http://www.shunya.net/Pictures/Greece/Mycenae/Mycenae-citadel-reconstructed.jpg

62. Who were the Mycenaeans?

64. Unlike the trade-oriented Minoans, the
Mycenaeans were a war-like people.
They appear to be focused around the
chieftain/king and his retainers/warriors
living in heavily-fortified palaces.

65. Unlike the Minoans, much of the
archeological record for the Mycenaeans
consists of chariots, spears, bronze armour,
swords, and boar tusk helmets.

66. http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1/JPVieira_2006/myceaneancharriot.jpg

67. http://www.larp.com/hoplite/Walpole.jpg

68. The Mycenaeans appear to have
been the Vikings of the Bronze Age.
Odysseus, “sacker of cities”:
“The wind drove me out of Ilium on to Ismarus,
… There I sacked the city,
killed the men, but as for the wives and plunder,
That rich haul we dragged away from the place”
Odyssey, 9.42
Nestor:
“we headstrong fighting forces of Achaea—so many
raids from shipboard down the foggy sea,
cruising for plunder, wherever Achilles led the
way”
Odyssey, 3.102
http://www.ushistoryimages.com
http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/FacultyPages/PamMack/lec124/viking.jpg

69. We have many Mycenaean Linear B tablets (which we can read).
They are without exception lists: of tributes, taxes, military
equipment, and the booty from raids.
There are no diplomatic or personal letters, no poetry, history,
prayers, epics. Only lists of possessions.

70. The Greek forces in the Iliad (actually
called Achaeans in the text) were the
same people that modern archeologists
call Mycenaens.
Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek forces in the Iliad,
is the king of Mycenae.

71. The subtext of the Iliad is that the world
of the Mycenaeans collapsed (as did those of
other near east bronze age cultures) soon after the
sack of Troy.
That is, there is a recognition in Homer that the “glory” of the
Greek victory came at a tremendously high price.

72. http://www.ou.edu/finearts/art/ahi4913/mapsandcharts/map3big.gif

73. Different theories about the collapse of
Mycenaean civilization (and other nearby
bronze-age cultures):
• foreign invaders armed with iron
• slave revolts,
• plague,
• environmental crises,
• general systems collapse.

74. All over the bronze age world, we see
evidence of 2000 long years of bronze age
cultures being replaced by a layer of ash.
There are also interesting written records
talking of a nameless threat from the sea.
“The enemy advances against us and they
are unlimited in number.”

75. Other bronze age cultures collapsed or suffered burn
events at same time (1250-1150): Hittites, Phoenicia,
Palestine, Egypt, northern Mesopotamia.
Egyptian and Hittite sources talk not just of warriors but also of women
and children, i.e., mass migrations.

76. “Altogether the end of the Bronze Age was
arguably the worst disaster in ancient history, even
more calamitous than the collapse of the western
Roman Empire.”

77. During this time, Mycenaean culture
disappears, most of its population
centers are destroyed, and the few
remnants (like pottery) are found at the
very top of remote mountains.
No ecstatic bull jumpers, topless
maidens, laughing monkeys, or even
grand bronze weapons, just some crude
huts with a few treasured items, and
plenty of time to watch the fog, the
vultures circling, and scanning for
whatever it is they are trying to flee
from.
It is over a hundred years before we see
evidence that these people returned to
lower-lying areas. In many areas,
writing disappears, agricultural
production plummets, population
declines radically, art and pottery
becomes very crude.

78. What follows is referred to as the Greek Dark Ages
(1200 – 800 BCE).
Compare the simplicity of the art work after the collapse to the
lavish beauty of the Minoan Bronze Age frescoes.

79. The world of the Illiad

80. Troy’s location was the key to its wealth. Due to the
strong sea currents of the Dardanelles, if the winds were
blowing in the wrong direction, Black Sea bound ships
would stop at Troy and wait for the winds to change.
t
en
rr
Cu
a
Se
While the reason for the war in the Iliad is the recovery of Helen, it
doesn’t take a great deal of political imagination to recognize that the
Trojan War was all about the sea- and booty-oriented Mycenaean’s
desire to seize and control a lucrative centre of trade.

82. Archeologists have discovered the site has hosted a variety of
settlements from 3000 BCE up to 100 BCE, and have given the
various settlements names Troy I, Troy II, etc
The Troy of the Iliad is identified
with Troy 7a, in which there is
evidence of widespread destruction
(though we can’t tell whether it is
from earthquake or from a violent
sacking).
No “Achilles Was Here” graffiti has been
found …
http://www.uoregon.edu/~klio/maps/gr/bronze/TroylayersredVI.jpg

83. Heinrich Schliemann was a successful international
businessman with a love of languages (he was fluent in 13
and wrote his daily diary and letters in the language of the country
he was visiting).
He became rich by opening a bank in California
during the California Gold Rush of 1849, sold it,
moved to Russia, married a Russian princess,
cornered the indigo market, and then just before the
Crimean war, monopolized the markets in salt peter
and sulphur (necessary for gunpowder).
He retired in 1858 at age 36 wealthy enough to
pursue his archaeological dream to find Troy.

84. In 1868-9, his great year, he:
3.Wrote his book in German about Troy
4.Wrote his PhD in Greek about Troy
5.Became a temporary citizen of Indiana so he
could
6.Legally divorce his wife
7.Moved to Greece
8.Advertised in Greek paper for a Greek wife
9.Got married to 17 year old Sophia
10.Started searching for Troy

85. Sophia was his collaborator throughout his
excavations at Troy, which began in 1871. He
was in such a hurry to find treasure that his
excavations ended up destroying most of Troy’s
walls.
In 1873, Schliemann saw gold glinting in the dirt, so
he sent his workers home for the day, and he and
Sophia secretly excavated what he called “Priam’s
Treasure” and then snuck out of the country with the
loot. The Ottoman Empire demanded the return of
the treasure and banned him from returning.

86. Sophia Schliemann: Priam’s Treasure

88. Most of Priam’s Treasure was eventually sold to
the Imperial Museum of Berlin, where it was
displayed until WW2, when it was moved to a
protective bunker under the zoo.
The treasure disappeared from public knowledge
until 1994, when thanks to investigations by two
Russian journalists, it was revealed that:
The treasure was taken by Red Army soldiers in 1945
and then secretly moved to the Pushkin Museum in
Moscow.

89. When this news was revealed, the German
government demanded their return, as did the
government of Turkey and the descendants of
the Schliemann family.
In October 2009, the items moved to the brand new
Neues Museum in Berlin.

91. Remains of the walls of Troy

93. Iliad Plot Summary
On blackboard in class

94. The Iliad – A celebration of warrior culture?

95. There are certainly indications that in
antiquity, many readers valued the Iliad’s
seeming celebration of heroic warfare.

96. Greek vase, 4th century BCE
Roman sarcophagus, 1st century CE

97. Ambrosian Iliad, 5th century CE

98. Indeed, one can find up to this day ample
evidence of the Iliad’s continuing allure to
those attracted to the idea of heroic warfare.

100. Late 19th century engraving of Achilles after the death of Hector

101. Early 20th century children’s book
idealizing Achilles.
Notice that Hector has evidently died from a
bad scrap on his knee…
http://www.heritage-history.com/books/langjean/iliad/zpage116.gif

102. Howard David Johnson, “Achilles Triumphant” 2006
Evidently there are people who buy this
modern-day oil painting/reproduction and
display it in their living rooms.

103. MARK CHURMS, “ACHILLES VERSUS HECTOR” 2007
And this one as well.

104. Achilles in Hyde Park
Achilles in Texas
Hyde Park Achilles statue built in 1822 to honour
Wellington after the Peninsular Wars against the French.
Money raised entirely by patriotic British ladies during
the war; fig leaf added just before unveiling!

105. Patriotic statues of warriors, fictional or real,
continue to be a popular way of expressing
admiration for supposed heroic ideals.

106. What are the Trojan warriors
fighting for?
They are clearly fighting to protect their city
and their families

107. What are the Homeric Greek
warriors fighting for?
Honour (timê)
Glory/Fame (kleos)

108. Glory/Fame (kleos)
What others say about you.

110. Glory (kleos) is the only immortality
available to a Homeric warrior. It is won
through what one accomplishes. Those
accomplishments are manifested by the
prizes (geras) you win.
Agamemnon not only dishonors Achilles by
taking away his prize (Briseis), he is in a
way affecting his immortality (i.e., his
fame).

111. So now the heart of Sarpedon stalwart as a god
impelled him to charge the wall and break it down.
He quickly called Hoppolochus’s son: “Glaucus,
why do they hold us both in honor, first by far
Sarpedon (a Trojan) asks his
fellow prince why do they have with pride of place, choice meats and brimming cups,
wealth and comfortable lives as in Lycia where all our people look on us like gods?
aristocrats Why make us lords of estates along the Xanthus’ banks,
rich in vineyards and plowland rolling wheat?
So that now the duty’s ours –
The answer, he says, is because we are the ones to head our Lycian front,
they are at forefront of any fighting brace and fling ourselves in the blaze of war,
so a comrade strapped in combat gear may say,
‘Not without fame, the men who rule in Lycia,
these kings of ours who eat fat cuts of lamb
And by being leaders in war, their
retainers will think that they deserve
and drink sweet wine, the finest stock we have.
their easier lives. But they owe it all to their own fighting strength,
our great men of war, they lead our way in battle!’
Ah my friend, if you and I could escape this fray
If they were gods who could live
forever, then there would be no and live forever, never a trace of age, immortal,
need to fight. I would never fight on the front lines again
or command you to the field where men win fame.
But now, as it is, the fates of death await us,
But because we can die, then we
must fight. (That is, the only thousands poised to strike, and not a man alive
immortality available is glory gained can flee them or escape – so in we go for attack!
from heroic feats on the battlefield) Give our enemy glory or win it for ourselves!”
Glaucus did not turn back or shun that call –
on they charged, leading the Lycians’ main mass.

112. Ah my friend, if you and I could escape this fray
and live forever, never a trace of age, immortal, Thus, because the gods lack human vulnerabilities
I would never fight on the front lines again
or command you to the field where men win fame. (death, aging, injuries, grief) they lack any
But now, as it is, the fates of death await us,
thousands poised to strike, and not a man alive capacity for nobility (courage, bravery, sacrifice,
can flee them or escape – so in we go for attack!
Give our enemy glory or win it for ourselves! glory, honor).
For these Homeric warriors, the gods are akin to being eternally
stuck playing a video game with an invulnerability cheat turned
on. The gods know that no harm can ever come to them and are
thus endlessly bored. They envy humans for their vulnerability
and the achievements that that vulnerability makes possible.

113. Gods in the Iliad
They are not good, evil, just, merciful,
omniscient, omnipotent, nor is their relationship
with humans based on mutual love.
The gods in Homer’s works personify forces of
nature but are anthropomorphic.
And Hera the Queen [of the gods], her eyes wide, answered,
“Excellent! The three cities that I love best of all
are Argos and Sparta, Mycenae with streets as broad as Troy’s.
Raze them – whenever they stir the hatred in your [Zeus’] heart.
My cities … I will never rise in their defense
Iliad, Book 4, lines 59-62
Then Zeus, looking down from Mount Ida, intensified
the slaughter, and the two sides kept killing each other.
Iliad, Book 11, lines 317-19

114. The human characters in the Iliad are, by and
large, reverent and respectful towards the gods in
their speeches. The gods are dangerous and
unpredictable forces to the humans.
But Homer, when he is speaking as the narrator,
tends to portray the gods as being petty, childish,
or figures of comic relief.
For instance, see Book 14, lines 375-412

115. Death in the Iliad
The Iliad has been called the poem of
death for good reason. The deaths of
some 250 warriors are recorded.
These fall into two categories:
•death of “significant” hero
• death of “common” warriors

116. Death of Heroes
Major heroes in the Iliad will only die to another, greater
or equal hero. These battles between equals are more
like ritualized duels.
Before they fight, the heroes tell each other about their
background, heroic deeds, and important ancestors
(see battle between Diomedes and Glaucus, Book 6, lines 120-217).
Diomedes and Glaucus in fact do not fight but exchange gifts because
their parents were xenos (guest-friends).

117. The heroes in the Iliad compete endlessly, not only with
the enemy, but with other heroes fighting on the same
side.
They compete to prove their arete (virtue/excellence).
Different heroes claim that they are the best in strength,
skill, cleverness, fleetness of foot, cunning, strategy,
ambushes, archery, spear throwing, weight lifting,
chariot driving, etc.
No surprise that it was the Greeks that created the
Olympic Games in 776 BCE about the same time as
Homer was writing the Iliad.

118. When heroes do fight each other, one will usually die.
But before the hero dies, he has his “moment in the
sun,” his aresteia, a period in which he displays his
fighting prowess.
For some heroes, this will only be for a few paragraphs.
For others, their aresteia lasts for dozens of pages.
Though Achilles does not die in the Iliad, his aresteia is
terrifying, long (Books 19-22), and almost inhuman and
revolting.

119. Death of Commoners
And Meriones killed Phereclus, Harmonides' son--
the father a craftsman whose hands were skilled in creating
all kinds of beatuiful things, since Athena loved him.
...
Meriones ran him down, and as he drew close
he hit him in the right buttock, and the bronze spear point
pushed up under the pubic bone into his bladder
and he fell to his knees, screaming, and death embraced him.
And Meges cut down Pedaeus, Antenor's son--
a bastard son, but Theano had brought him up
as one of her own, so much did she love her husband.
Meges' spear hit the back of his neck, then cut
right through his jaw, and sliced off his tongue at the root.
He fell in the dirt, and his teeth closed around the cold bronze.

120. Is the Iliad the 800 BCE version of this?

121. Death is narrated by Homer graphically and
realistically.
Violence is a permanent factor in human life. It is unsentimental
to pretend violence is not ugly but also that it has a strange and
compelling fatal beauty.

122. Yet Homer does something special with the deaths
of the commoners/non-heroes. They are not red
shirts or mooks …

123. So which of these four isn’t going to
return to the spaceship?
tvtropes.org calls these types of “good” characters the Red Shirt. Their
purpose is almost exclusively to give the writers someone to kill who isn't a
main character.
They are used to show how the monster or villain works, and demonstrate
that it is indeed a deadly menace, without having to lose
anyone important. Expect someone to say “He's dead, Jim” and
then promptly forget him.

124. The Bad Guy equivalent are Mooks: faceless, nameless cannon
fodder for The Hero.
“Nameless, faceless, horribly awful shots, incompetent, unwilling to
retreat, and completely disposable: they provide a chance for the
characters to show off their flashy fighting skills and can be shot
without guilt. The hero might find it in his heart to Save the Villain, but
the guys whose only crime is not finding a better employer will be
shown no mercy.” tvtropes.org
“They may be called the Palace Guard, the City Guard, or the patrol. Whatever
the name, their purpose in any work of heroic fantasy is identical: it is, round
about Chapter Three (or ten minutes into the film) to rush into the room, attack
the hero one at a time, and be slaughtered. No one ever asks them if they
wanted to.” Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!

125. And Meriones killed Phereclus, Harmonides' son--
the father a craftsman whose hands were skilled By describing the civic and/or family life of the
in creating all kinds of beautiful things
... warrior falling to the hero, the audience/reader’s
The two good sons of Merops, who had refused to
let his two boys march to war, this man-killing emotional attention is diverted to the fallen foe. It
war, but the young ones fought him all the way …
and Diomedes destroyed them both. ensures that each death in the Iliad is perceived, if
...
Diomedes cut down Axylos, Teuthras’ son, who only fleetingly, as regrettable.
had been a dweller in strong-founded Arisbe, a
man rich in substance and a friend to all humanity
since in his house by the wayside he entertained
all comers.
“in the Iliad glory is usurped by sympathy for the
human being, possessed of a family and life story,
who has been extinguished.”
Caroline Alexander, The War That Killed Achilles

126. “This remarkable point is worth emphasizing:
subtly, but with unflagging consistency, the Iliad
ensures that the enemy is humanized and that the
deaths of enemy Trojans are depicted as
lamentable.”
Caroline Alexander, The War That Killed Achilles

127. “the Iliad is ever mindful that war is about men
killing or men killed. In the entire epic, no warrior,
whether hero or obscure man of the ranks, dies
happily or well. No reward awaits the soldier’s
valor; no heaven will receive him. The Iliad’s
words and phrases for the process of death make it
clear that this is something baneful. … Again and
again, relentlessly, the Iliad hammers this fact: …
death is tragic and full of horror.”
Caroline Alexander, The War That Killed Achilles

128. In Book 11 of the Odyssey, Odysseus visits
Hades, the land of the dead, a place of
total baneful unpleasantness.
“I [Odysseus] reassured the ghost, but he [Achilles]
broke out, protesting,
‘No winning words about death to me, shining
Odysseus!
By god, I’d rather slave on earth for another man —
some dirt-poor farmer who scrapes to keep alive —
than rule down here over all the breathless dead.’”

129. Embassy to Achilles (Book 9)
After the war turns against the Greeks,
Agamemnon relents, and Odysseus (guile
and reason), Phoenix (surrogate father)
and Ajax (fellow warrior) visit Achilles and
try to convince him to rejoin the war.
They tell Achilles of Agamemnon’s offer of Briseis,
many other gifts, first pickings of loot/prizes after
troy is conquered, plus one of his daughters in
marriage (i.e., political power).

130. Achilles brutally rejects (lines 311-441) not
only the offer but he rejects all the values
of their warrior culture as well. He says:
1. Why should warriors put their lives at risks for a king
who gains all the prizes at little danger to himself?
• What is the point of plunder as marks of honor or
fame if they can be taken away? Thus since tîme can
be taken away at the leader’s whim, it ultimately has
no value.
1. Finally, is plunder really worth dying for?

131. Of course every warrior knows that dying
is a possibility. However, Achilles, is
different.
His mother, the goddess Thetis, has told
him that he has two possible fates: win
imperishable glory by dying at Troy, or live
a long, happy, but unremarkable life by
returning home and living in peace.
He tells them that he now intends to
choose the latter and sail home.

132. Hector
Unlike, Achilles, who is isolated from his
fellow warriors and who is ½ divine,
Hector is fully realized human being and
integrated completely into his community.
He is the only character who is shown in every
conceivable human relationship: brother,
father, husband, son, general, prince, warrior.
He accepts his responsibility as a prince to
fight to protect his city, but his own wish is for
peace. That is, he fights for the good of his
people, not for his own personal glory.

133. “Yes Andromache, I [Hector] worry about this myself,
But my shame before the Trojans and their wives,
With their long robes trailing, would be too terrible
If I hung back from battle like a coward.”
Iliad, Book 6

134. Death of Hector
After Hector kills Achilles’ companion
Patroclus, Achilles rejoins the war,
knowing that it will bring on his own
death.
Achilles in almost a berserker rage, has a
long and terrifying aresteia, in which he
kills effortlessly with no mercy, with no
Heroic Duel rituals, and even battles gods.

135. “I just went crazy. I pulled him out into the paddy and
carved him up with my knife. When I was done with
him, he looked like a rag doll that a dog had been
playing with … I lost all my mercy. I felt a drastic
change after that … I couldn’t do enough damage … for
every one that I killed I felt better … Every time you
lost a friend it seemed like a part of you was gone… I
got very hard, cold, merciless. I lost all my mercy.”
From Achilles in Vietnam

136. Kiev- 1944
Mai Lai - 1968
Haditha - 2005

137. Tom Lea
“Two-Thousand-Yard Stare”

138. Hector, not wanting to fight Achilles,
nonetheless, leaves the city to face Achilles.
Hector, before the fight, tries to convince
Achilles to follow the ethic of war (the winner
will let the loser’s family bury the fallen), but
Achilles refuses.

139. After killing Hector, Achilles desecrates Hector’s
corpse.
Achilles finds that his rage and grief does not end
with Hector’s death, nor with abusing Hector’s
body.

140. Priam and Achilles
Priam and Achilles meet in the twilight of their
lives. They both will soon be dead and they
appear to know it.
They mutually assert non-military, non-
competitive moral virtues (hospitality and
compassion).

141. Achilles returns Hector’s body to Priam and
agree to a 12 day truce.
All truces are bittersweet: in every truce floats
the specter of an opportunity (usually lost) for
peace.

142. 1914 Xmas Day Truce
on the Western Front

143. Ending of the Iliad – Hector’s Burial
The epic ends with the sadness of the death of
Hector. It made the enemy of the Greek's the
true tragic hero of its greatest epic.

144. The Greeks after Homer recognized the Iliad as a
dark portrayal of the true costs of war: the
destruction of a community, rape and slavery, and
victors brutalized as much as the victims.
The Greeks of the later classic era were crazy
about fighting, and most men fought in wars
almost every summer.
Interestingly, however, perhaps because of the
influence of the Iliad, they ritualized and limited
it, thereby making war somewhat less devastating
and total.

145. Odyessy

146. Whenever they’d drink the deep-red mellow vintage,
twenty cups of water he’d stir in one of wine
and what an aroma wafted from the bowl—
what magic, what a godsend—
no joy in holding back when that was poured!
Homer, The Odyssey 9 l. 231
The peoples of the Mediterranean began to emerge
from barbarism when they learned to cultivate the olive
and the vine.
Thucydides
One bowl [of wine] for ruddy health,
then one for getting happy.
The third brings sleep. …
The fourth’s for pride
and the fifth for lots of noise,
The sixth for mindless f _ _ _ing,
and the seventh is followed by black eyes.
The eighth brings the police,
The ninth’s for throwing up,
And the tenth’s for trashing everything
before passing out.
Eubulus, 4thC BCE Athenian politician

147. The Odyssey is an epic of return, an epic
that focuses less on warfare and its ethic
and more on how a human needs to
behave in the everyday world of emerging
Greek civilization.
Odysseus (and not Achilles) ends up being
the cultural hero of the Greeks of the
emerging classical age.

148. Odysseus is renowned for his cunning, for
thinking through problems, for knowing
how to act, for having both brains and
brawn.

149. Odysseus was seen by later Greek culture
to be the epitome of the moral (and
aesthetic) ideal of sophrosyne.
Sophrosyne seems to have referred to the
ideal of living life to its fullest but to do so
with moderation, common sense, and in
the light of self-knowledge.

150. The Sophrosyne ideal was latter enshrined
at Delphi, the Classic Greek religious
centre, in a variety of sayings carved into
the temples.

151. γνῶθι σεαυτόν (gnōthi seautón = "know thyself")

152. μηδέν άγαν (mēdén ágan = "nothing in excess")

153. Cahill, in his 2003 book claimed
that this ideal of sophrosyne
gave the Greeks insight into the
five key areas of human life,
which are nicely captured by his chapter titles:

154. Odyssey Plot Summary
On blackboard in class

155. The Odyssey begins, not
with Odysseus, but with
his home, with his son
and wife, who are beset
by ill-behaved suitors
hoping to marry
Penelope (since
Odysseus has been away
for 20 years) and
presumably become
king.

157. Penelope & the Suitors
J. W. Waterhouse

159. Xenia
Is the Greek word for a very complicated
concept/ideal that is at the heart of the Odyssey’s
moral vision. We don’t really have an English word
that corresponds to it.
It means guest, stranger, friend, foreigner.
Our English word xenophobia (fear of foreigners) comes from the Greek
word.

160. Philoxenia
Often translated as hospitality or guest-friendship.
It proscribed a set of norms that governed how a
host should behave to a guest, and how a guest
should behave to a host.
In a world without inns or hotels, philoxenia was a
vital part of surviving when travelling.

161. At the beginning of the Odyssey, the suitors are not
following the guest protocols of philoxenia, by
never leaving Telemachus’s house, eating all his
food, constantly wooing Penelope, and sleeping
with the servants.
Calypso is not following the host protocol since she
refuses to let Odysseus leave her island.

162. Telemachus in contrast shows proper philoxenia.
Straight to the porch he went, mortified
that a guest [xenos] might still be standing at the doors.
Pausing beside her there, he clasped her right hand
and relieving her at once of her long bronze spear,
met her with winged words: “Greetings, stranger! [xenia]
Here in our house you’ll find a royal welcome.
Have supper first, then tell us what you need.”

163. Telemachus then goes to visit some other veterans
of the Trojan war, looking for word of his father.
He too is treated with proper xenia.
As soon as they saw the strangers, all came crowding down,
waving them on in welcome, urging them to sit.
Nestor’s son Pisistratus, first to reach them,
grasped their hands and sat them down at the feast.
…
Once they’d put aside desire for food and drink,
old Nestor the noble charioteer began, at last:
“Now’s the time, now they’ve enjoyed their meal,
to probe our guests and find out who they are.
Strangers-Friends, who are you?”

164. Meanwhile, Odysseus, thanks to the gods’
intervention, is freed from Caylpso’s island and is
given a raft … which is promptly sunk by a still-
angry Poseidon.
He washes up on the island of the Phaeacians.

165. He is meet by Nausicaa, a Phaeacian princess, who is
washing clothes on the shore. She clothes him and takes
him to met her parents, the king and queen.

166. The king rose in his place, and said: "This
stranger has come to my hall. I do not know
who he is, or whence he comes, whether from
the east or the west. And he begs us to convey
him safely to his home. Now this, as you know,
is a thing that we have been used from old
time to do for strangers. Go, then, and choose
out a ship Let it be new—one that never has
been on the sea before. And pick out fifty and
two rowers. Let them be the best and
strongest that there are in the country. When
you have done this, come to my hall and feast.
And let the minstrel come also, for the gods
Odysseus among the Phaeacians have given him the gift of song, and there is
nothing better than song to make glad the
hearts of men." So the chiefs of the people
went and did as the king commanded.
…
When the people were ready to begin, there
came two servants of the king leading the
singer by the hand, for he was blind. They
made him sit down in a silver chair in the
middle of the hall; they hung his harp on a rail
that there was above his head where he could
easily reach it. And by his side they put a
table, and on the table a basket full of good
things, and a cup of wine so that he might
drink when he pleased.
Then the people began to eat and drink, and
when they had had enough, the singer sang.

167. Odysseus tells of all his adventures after
leaving Troy to the Phaeacians.

168. The Cyclops Polyphemus

169. The Cyclopedes have no concept of xenia;
instead of giving gifts and food, the
Cyclopes eats his guests.

171. After his cunning escape from
the Cyclops, Odysseus and his
crew sail away and soon find
themselves on Aiolia Island,
the domain of the wind god
Aeolus who provides Odysseus
with enough supplies to return
home including a bag which
contained all the winds except
the ones Odysseus needed to
return home to Ithaca.

172. Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus
John William Waterhouse (1891)

173. Odysseus visits Hades, the land of the
dead, in order to get instructions on how
to return home.

174. Ulysses and the Sirens (1891)
John William Waterhouse

175. Scylla and Charybdis
http://stevesomersart.blogspot.com/2011/05/caught-between-scylla-and-
charybdis.html

177. Thanks to the Phaeacians
Odysseus reaches home. But
instead of quickly announcing
his presence, wily Odysseus
disguises himself as a beggar
so he can perform
reconnaissance and prepare
for the inevitable showdown.

178. Odysseus and Telemachus end up killing all 124 suitors.