Iliad, books 4-6

Review the broad sweep of the epic so far:

How does the Thersites episode fit in? What does it accomplish?

What do the "catalogue of ships" (book 2), the "viewing from the walls" (book 3), and Agamemnon's "review of his army" (book 4) have in common?

What is the function of the duel between Paris and Menelaus? What does it allow the poet to insert early on in his epic? What sort of violation is there when Pandarus shoots? (and note: does Athena / Hera / Zeus control Pandarus' action?)

When do the armies in fact engage? Why the delay?

Focus on Diomedes

The ARISTEIA of Diomedes

Diomedes as symbolic of the great Greek hero: a sort of stand-in for Achilles

What do we learn about Diomedes' character as a hero (Diomedes and Agamemnon; Diomedes and Apollo; Diomedes and Ares)? How does this compare to Agamemnon? to Achilles?

But what about the role of the gods? Why do we have this extraordinary battling between gods and man? Again, what does it seem to accomplish? -p. 178 Who are the gods that are wounded? Why these two? And how do they behave? What does that tell us?

Similes:

Start to collect your favorite examples! (possible paper topic, fairly certain exam topic)

the "generation of leaves" (p. 200): how is it appropriate to what comes before, what comes after?

(from the study guide:)

Book 4

The principal episodes are:

• At the prompting of Athena, Pandarus breaks the truce by shooting an arrow at Menelaus
• Agamemnon urges on his men as the Trojans attack

The principal new characters are:

• Pandarus (Trojan bowman who breaks the truce)
• The Greater and Lesser Ajax, great Greek warriors (we'll learn more about these figures later, but go ahead and memorize the names)
• Nestor and Odysseus (revisited, important Greek leaders)
• Diomedes, son of Tydeus (the great Greek warrior who will be the focus of book 5)

Book 5

The principal episodes are:

• The "Aristeia" of Diomedes begins; Pandarus wounds Diomedes
• Athena revives Diomedes and allows him to see the gods
• Aeneas and Pandarus attack Diomedes; Diomedes kills Pandarus, and wounds Aeneas; Diomedes wounds Aphrodite trying to save her son Aeneas
• Dione comforts Aphrodite, who complains to Zeus
• Diomedes attacks Apollo, who saves Aeneas
• Athena and Diomedes attack and wound Ares, who complains to Zeus

The principal new characters are:

• Ares, god of war
• Aeneas, son of Aphrodite and Anchises, great Trojan warrior
• Sarpedon, son of Zeus himself (we'll see him again), Trojan warrior
• Dione, mother of Aphrodite (by Zeus)

Book 6

The principal episodes are:

• Diomedes and Glaucus: the story of Bellerophon
• Hector returns to the city and visits his mother, wife, and child; as well as Paris and Helen

The principal new characters are:

• Glaucus, Trojan hero who exchanges his golden armor for Diomedes' bronze armor
• Bellerophon, ancestor of Glaucus
• Hecuba, wife of Trojan king Priam, mother of Hector (and many others)
• Andromache, wife of Hector
• Astyanax, infant son of Hector

Historical periods: overview

c. 1600-1200 B.C. Late Bronze Age = Mycenaean Age

c. 1200-800 B.C. Dark Age (= Iron Age)

c. 800-500 B.C. Archaic Period

c. 500-330 [480-323] B.C. Classical Period (begins with defeat of Persians, ends with Alexander the Great)

"Homer" "wrote" the poems ca. 750 B.C.

How did the ancient Greeks read the Iliad?

1. Classical Greece (fifth and fourth centuries: ca. 480-323 B.C.)

Rhapsodes, at festivals and before large crowds

memorized the Iliad and Odyssey (!)

cf. Plato, Ion:

rhapsode dressed in tremendous finery, with a golden wreath on the head, a ceremonial staff; a striking presence with the air of a religious figure. 20,000 people.

2. Archaic Greece (eighth through sixth centuries B.C.)

cf. folktales : Eumaeus (swineherd) in Odyssey 15: a vivid image of the age-old story swapping session:

"Listen in silence and enjoy yourself; sit there and drink your wine. These nights are endless. A man can sleep, or enjoy listening to stories; no need for you to go to bed before it is time. A lot of sleep is a bore."

But Iliad and Odyssey are not that: rather, verse sung as original compositions by professional poets

Bard / Singer = aioidos, "singing" to the lyre

cf. Demodocus in Odyssey book 8

Generally, entertainers are treated as lowlife, but singers are treated with respect

"cherished by the people", "loved by the Muse"

Odysseus personally sends him a gift of meat, praises him lavishly, and declares that singers must be cherished and revered, b/c the Muse has taught them and loves them. (Muse: inspiration: memory: where in Iliad?)

Cf. Hesiod, Theogony 96ff.

Singing as a form of enchantment, a transport to a magical land of old, a yesteryear of gods, heroes, and heroic conflicts and ideals. Chanted or sung to the lyre: chanting, hypnotizing, magical, almost religious?

Sung in dactylic hexameter verse (very strict, like the English sonnet)

mênin aeide thea pêlêiadeô Achilêos

down in a deep dark dell sat an old cow munching a beanstalk

Similarities and differences between the Rhapsode of later times, and an aioidos like Homer.

Similar: professional, awe-inspiring, enrapts the audience

Different: lyre, audience & context, original composition vs memorized

Homeric bard as illiterate (!)

making up the verses as he goes along!

a kind of traditional oral poetry

formulaic poetry:

"brilliant Odysseus", "godlike Achilles" or "Peleus' son" or "Achilles of the swift feet", "the son of Atreus Agamemnon", "man-slaughtering Hector"

short: Beside the swift ships sat godlike Achilles ...

medium: Drawing his sword Peleus' son Achilles ...

long: In anger did Achilles of the swift feet ...

Milman Parry and the oral poetry hypothesis

Erstwhile Yugoslavia: Serbo-Croatian poets singing heroic tales to a lute-like instrument, the gusle

Iliad and Odyssey written down, by Homer or someone else, precisely because so very extraordinary: not at all the norm for such poetry, in quantity or quality