It is noteworthy that there should be no mention whatever of the Amazons at this point of the Cata- logue. They are known to Homer as invaders of Phrygia in Priam's young days (iZ. iii. 189). The VI THE ALLIES AND THE WAR 293 omission is, however, entirely consonant with the consistent avoidance of anything mythical in the whole Catalogue ; the poet seems to have set himself to give nothing but dry facts and names, with a studious avoidance of the marvellous and legendary. (Footnote; At all events they were women soldiers and therefore mythical to Homer.). Walter Leaf Troy. No centaurs or Colchians.
It is in this that the significance of the Iliad and the Odyssey alike is to be found. Greece was destined to spread not only to the east, but to the west. The conditions of advance in the two directions were different, but both have been recorded in the two poems. (Troy, Walter Troy)Chryses appeals to Apollo “god of the silver bow , that standest over Chryse and holy Killa and rulest Tenedos” (Iliad 1.37-8) Leaf suggests this represents a region “a welcome and defensible haven to the dispossed and disinherited “. Adding “In classical times this would beyond a doubt be held to indicate an “amphictyonic” confederacy for political purposes. “ Walter Leaf, Troy You got to read about the The Great Foray in Troy by Walter Leaf pages 243-252.
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Bill,
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly do you think was considered mythical in the Amazons: their all-female population or that they were warriors?
Maya,
ReplyDeleteI say mythical similar to the Centaurs, Cyclops and Phaeancians. No evidence of them in historical times, whereas many peoples listed in the Iliad were still around in historical times.
Homer actually mentions the Centaurs as historical, in the recollection of Nestor, and also the Amazons, exemplified by Myrine. They are like the fantastic beings of the Odyssey, regarded as real but removed one or two levels beyond the actual "here and now" reality.
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