TFBT: Quotes for September II

"The image conjured up by Zeus of Hera eating the Trojans raw in her rag. His question “what wrongs so great have Priam and his children done to you?” is never answered by Hera. Scholars have seen in this unanswered question a suppression of Hera’s “real” motivation for is one of hyperbolic vengefulness wanting Troy destroyed, namely the Judgment of Paris...Zeus’ question is openly voiced not only on Olympus but also in the setting of the poem’s performance. Raised and left open at a charged moment in the text, the question “what wrongs so great have the Trojans done to you?” is also up for consideration by the poet’s audience."   (Tobias Myers)That means us too!

οἷσιν ἐπὶ Ζεὺς θῆκε κακὸν μόρον, ὡς καὶ ὀπίσσω ἀνθρώποισι πελώμεθ’ ἀοίδιμοι ἐσσομένοισι. – 6.357-58  Upon [Paris and Helen] Zeus has set an evil fate, so that in the future as well we might be song-worthy for the men who are yet to be. 

" He could start a fight in an empty room."  Inspector George Gently

“to move god-like, invisible and invulnerable, through the imaginary space of the field at Troy. “ (Tobias Myers)

Rabel 1997: 38 points out how the perspective of the characters, for whom the warfare has merely whom the war’s depiction is about to begin for the first time in this performance of the Iliad. (Tobias Myers)

“Iris’ call to Helen, “come look!” (δεῦρ’ ἴθι ... ἵνα...ἴδηαι 3.130), is also a call to the poet’s listeners to join the duel’s many audiences: “ ( Tobias Myers)

Sacred Place

• "Hector, Priam's son, and goodly Odysseus   first measured out a space, and thereafter took the lots and shook them in the bronze-wrought helmet, to know which of the twain should first let fly his spear of bronze. And the people made prayer and lifted their hands to the gods. " Tobias Myers   Talk about limning the sacred space, marking the stage for the play within the play. 

• "While the armies are immobile and seated, the actors, Paris and Menelaus, take up arms and enter the middle   It is just at this point that wonder strikes the armies who are looking on   spears are brandished and the first spear-cast is made   The crossing of the boundary, emphasized by ἐγγὺς στήτην διαμετρητῷ ἐνὶ χώρῳ   marks the beginning of the action: it is by their entry into the arena, their separation from the viewers who remain outside, that viewers and actors assume their roles in earnest.(Tobias Myers)
• "κὰδ δ’ ἔθορ’ ἐς μέσσον· θάμβος δ’ ἔχεν εἰσορόωντας Τρῶάς θ’ ἱπποδάμους καὶ ἐϋκνήμιδας Ἀχαιούς·And she (Athena) leapt into the middle, and wonder held those watching – the horse-taming Trojans and the well-greaved Achaeans. – 4.79-80 " the gods never attack one another except within the arena of activity, the Trojan plain"(Tobias Myers)
• οἳ δ’ ἐπεὶ οὖν ἑκάτερθεν ὁμίλου θωρήχθησαν, ἐς μέσον ἀμφοτέρω συνίτην μεμαῶτε μάχεσθαι δεινὸν δερκομένω·12 θάμβος δ’ ἔχε πάντας Ἀχαιούς. – 23.813-15 And when they had then armed on either side of the crowd they both went together into the middle, eager to fight, glancing fiercely – and wonder held all the Achaeans. 

" first (Menelaus and Paris) and third duel (Achilles and Hector)  they occupy much of Book 3 and 22 , respectively and represnt the furst and last combat scenes  of the poem." Tobias Myers

The Iliad’s power depends partly on the fact that in spite of this basic  Achaean orientation it does not demonize the Trojans but instead portrays them more sympathetically than it does the Achaeans. Tobias Myers

"By representing Apollo and Athena as an internal audience in this way, the poet claims for the Iliad the ability to involve a variety of listeners, with conflicting interests and attitudes, in the communal experience of pleasure in listening – and viewing."  So, Myers is saying that Homer or at least his song can seduce the gods?  Similar to Hermes and Argus or Cadmus and Typhon or Myers and his audience?

The poet makes clear that Hector could never keep ahead of him without Apollo’s help .Achilles was famous for being as fast as a horse – for chasing down on foot the mounted Troilus. " (Tobias Myers)