TFST: Casey Due and Beyond Destiny

    

The Center for Hellenic Studies and the Kosmos Society are hosting an on-line interactive presentation by Casey Due on Achilles and Aeneas ‘beyond fate’: An exploration of Iliad 20    The event is on Thursday, May 3, at 11:00 a.m. EDT. 

In preparation; I read the recommended pre-work.   Focusing on the hyper-morons trying to do something beyond fate.  (Sorry, I just love the pun and will say it every time I get a chance for the rest of my life.)

The opening scene in Iliad 10 is;

 “1] Thus, then, did the Achaeans arm by their ships...while the Trojans over against them armed upon the rise of the plain.” 

 Which I thought was great foreshadowing of the gods doing the same since Scroll 20 is the beginning of the Theomachy.  Instead we get a scene very similar to Agamemnon and Nestor organizing a council.

“Zeus from the top of Olympus with its many valleys, bade Themis gather the gods in council, [5] whereon she went about and called them to the house of Zeus.”

This feels like Mecone; where the gods drew lots to divide the world among themselves and also divide up their privileges and honors.  (Callimachus, frag 119; Theogony 881; Olympian Ode 7.54). This must be important.  A new dispensation?  As we will see it is the temporary suspension of a divine law.  When his brother Poseidon asked why he and Themis had called the meeting;

“And Zeus answered, “You know my purpose, shaker of earth, and wherefore I have called you here. I take thought for them even in their destruction. “

The “them even in their destruction” refers to the;

“countless tribes of men, though wide-dispersed, oppressed the surface of the deep-bosomed earth.” (Cypria - fragment 3)

Zeus continues;

”For my own part I shall stay here seated on Mount Olympus and look on in peace, but do you others go about among Trojans and Achaeans, and help either side as you may be severally disposed in your thinking [noos]”.

That’s the big announcement!  That the gods may violate the divine law that,

 “Zeus hath ordained in heaven, no god may thwart a god’s fixed will; we grieve but stand apart.” (Hippolytus 1456 (Euripides) “.

Let the melee begin!  And what desperate situation convinced him to suspend divine law?

“25 If Achilles fights the Trojans without hindrance they will make no stand against him; they have ever trembled at the sight of him, and now that he is roused to such fury about his comrade, [30] he will override fate itself and storm their city.”

 If Achilles storms the city it will be contrary to fate, so Zeus sends the gods to intervene. Their intervention consisted in the gods picking out good seats in which to watch the battle. The dark-haired god Poseidon led Hera

 “and Athena to the high earth-mound of godlike Hēraklēs, built round solid masonry...the other gods seated themselves on the brow of the fair hill Kallikolone namely Phoebus, and Arēs, the waster of cities.  (Iliad 20.115-150)

A little later Poseidon notices that Aeneas is about to be slain by Achilles;

 [300] Let us then snatch him from death’s jaws, lest the son of Kronos be angry should Achilles slay him. It is fated, moreover, that he should escape, and that the race of Dardanos, whom Zeus loved above all the sons born to him of mortal women, shall not perish utterly without seed or sign. [305] For now indeed has Zeus hated the blood of Priam, while Aeneas shall reign over the Trojans, he and his children’s children that shall be born hereafter.”

Ox-eyed Hera tells Poseidon to deal with the situation because:

 “For of a truth we two, I and Pallas Athena, [315] have sworn full many a time before all the immortals, that never would we shield Trojans from destruction,” so “Right then and there (Poseidon) shed a darkness before the eyes of the son of Peleus, drew the bronze-headed ashen spear from the shield of Aeneas, and laid it at the feet of Achilles. [325] Then he lifted Aeneas on high from off the earth and hurried him away. Over the heads of many a band of warriors both horse and foot did he soar as the god’s hand sped him”.  (Note for later that the god left the spear!)

So we three incidence of events possibly over-riding destiny: Achilles storming Troy, Aeneas dying at Troy and consequently Rome never rising, and two goddesses violating their oaths.  Maybe a fourth if the timeliness of Hector’s death is an issue to the Fates. (see below).

Two more items the maybe beyond the intended discussion

“375] But Phoebus Apollo came up to Hector and said, “Hector, on no account must you challenge Achilles to single combat... (Hector)threw his spear as he spoke, but Athena breathed upon it, [440] and though she breathed but very lightly she turned it back from going towards renowned Achilles, so that it returned to glorious Hector and lay at his feet in front of him.” (A rescuing god leaves the spear again). “Achilles then sprang furiously on him with a loud cry, bent on killing him, but Apollo caught him up easily as a god can, and hid him in a thick darkness.” [445]

Maybe unrelated to our discussion here; “Aphrodite snatched (Paris) up, hid him under a cloud of darkness, and conveyed him to his own bedchamber.” (3.380), Hephaestus used the same technique at 5.25, and in the same fashion Apollo saved Aeneas 5.343

TFBT: Hera the Oceanide

Joan V. O’Brien in The Transformation of Hera sees the ritual bath of Hera as a wide-ranging annual event at many Heraia co-located with water.  I am not sure if that is true, but is does raise some questions in my mind about Hera’s relationship with “rivers”.

·      Hera was raised by the greatest river of all;  

Hera addresses Aphrodite;  “Since I go now to the ends of the generous earth on a visit to Oceanus, whence the gods have risen, and Tethys our mother who brought me up kindly in their own house, and cared for me and took me from Rhea,” Homer, Iliad 14. 200 ff

·      Hera was nursed by the daughters of the River Asterion;

“Fifteen stades distant from Mycenae is on the left the Heraeum. Beside the road flows the brook called Water of Freedom. The priestesses use it in purification and for such sacrifices as are secret. The sanctuary itself is on a lower part of Euboea. Euboea is the name they give to the hill here, saying that Asterion the river had three daughters, Euboea, Prosymna, and Acraea, and that they were nurses of Hera…  This Asterion flows above the Heraeum, and falling into a cleft disappears. “ Pausanias 2.17.1-2

·      When Hera and Poseidon contested control of Argos, the rivers Asterion, Inakhos, and Kephisos voted for her. (Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 15. 4)

·      Hera had a sanctuary at Sparta, erected to her at the command of an oracle, when the country was flooded by the river Eurotas. (Paus. iii. 13. § 6.)

·      O’Brien speculates that the pre-Olympic Hera was married to the river-god Imbrasus in Samos.  Some accounts say she was born on the banks of this river.  . (Apollon. Rhod. i. 187; Paus. vii. 4. § 4.)

·      Pausanias, (9. 10. 4-5)   Suggests an intimate relationship between the Spring Canathus and Hera.  In the same breath he recalls the Theban river -god Caanthus. 

  

I had assumed when I began this analysis that the marriage of Hera to the local river-god would represent the archetypal marriage of the local eponymous nymph to the local river-god.  Only there is not such archetype.  So maybe the motif of daughter of a river-god making good?  But, generally, Hera’s foster sisters the Oceanides are the eponymous nymphs and they rarely wed river gods.

So there we are; some random connections between Hera and the River, but no definitive association.  But, more associations than occurs with other goddesses.  What do you think?

TFBT: Hyde

While researching the etymology of Hyde I ran across an interesting story;

“Hide of Land: In feudal England the term denoted the amount of land that was sufficient to support a family , usually varying between 60 and 120 acres according to the locality and quality of the land. “ (Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable)

Which reminded me of another story;

“Eventually Dido and her followers arrived on the coast of North Africa where Dido asked the Berber king Iarbas for a small bit of land for a temporary refuge until she could continue her journeying, only as much land as could be encompassed by an oxhide. They agreed. Dido cut the oxhide into fine strips so that she had enough to encircle an entire nearby hill,”. (Wikipedia)

TFBT: Liddell is Wrong about Libation(s)

“Σπονδή, drink-offering, …pl., σπονδαί a solemn treaty or truce (because solemn drink-offerings were made on concluding them,)”  Perseus Greek Word Study Tool; Middle Liddell 

I don’t think the bolded sentence above is correct.  I can find no evidence that libations were part of the truce ritual.  References listed by Liddell and Perseus are;  

·        σπονδαὶ ἄκρητοι the truce made by pouring unmixed wine, Il.

Nestor is speaking in Iliad 2 to the gathered Hellenic chieftains, “What then is to be the end of our compacts and our oaths? [340] Nay, into the fire let us cast all counsels and plans of warriors, the drink-offerings of unmixed wine, and the hand-clasps wherein we put our trust.” He appears to be speaking about compacts and oaths among themselves, not a truce with the Trojans.

·       αἱ Λακεδαιμονίων σπ. The truce with them. Thuc.;

Thucydides 1.35 “If it be urged that your reception of us will be a breach of the treaty existing between you and Lacedaemon,” No mention of libations in conjunction with the treaty (truce)

·       σπονδὰς παραδιδόναι Ar.;

Aristophanes’ “Knights” mentions drinking, not drink-offerings and not connected to the single instance of “truce”

·       δέχεσθαι Th.5.21, 30; 

Neither text mentions libations and treaty making.

·      τυχεῖν Xen.; (I couldn’t find.)

·      σπ. ποιεῖσθαί τινι to make a truce with one, Hdt.1.21; 

No mention of libations in coordination with the treaty

·      πρός τινα Ar.Ach.52, 131;

Neither reference mentions libations and truce

·      σπ. τέμνειν  (like ὅρκια τέμνειν) E.Hel.1235

No mention of libations in coordination with the truce

·      ; σπ. ἄγειν πρός τινας Thuc. (I couldn’t find.)

None of Liddell’s references mention libations as part of a truce ritual.  I can recall neither truces nor treaties in Greek myth showing drink-offerings being part of treaties.  Liddle ll is wrong about libation(s). 

TFBT: Random Notes on Disability Studies in Homer

I present here my random notes from a CHS Online Open House | “Beautiful Bodies or Beautiful Minds: Disability Studies in Homer.” Joel Christensen

Joel Christensen came to speak to the Kosmos Society again.  He gave us much to think about!  I could only attend half of your great presentation before I had to leave for work.  I am looking forward to watching the rest of it.

I loved how he quoted Zeus (Od. 1.32-34) as his theme, namely that mortals are a bunch of hyper-morons that bring most of their troubles on themselves.  Good examples on how the quote resonances throughout The Odyssey, too.  What follows are random notes and vague thoughts loosely following the outline of the presentation.

As to the mutilation of Melanthios towards the end of the Odyssey (22.474-477) and the death of the handmaidens that followed.  Melanthios was definitely a slave and “handmaiden” is often an English translator’s euphemism for “slave”. From the perspective of a bronze-age aristocratic (and my classical) audience slaves were not entitled to the power of choice that Zeus implies above, that all mortals have.  Slaves were not entitled to lives as is demonstrated by the treatment of Odysseus’ own nanny (4.743-3 and 19.479-489)

Joel discussed at length on the Homeric idea of beauty.  Beauty implies goodness.  Any deviation, mental or physical from the theomorphic ideal (Zeus and Apollo) can be considered a disability in his study. 

Which led us promptly to Hephaestus, the lame smithy of the gods, in a story told by a blind poet.  The smithy’s disability was not a birth defect but rather when one or the other of his parents tossed him from Olympus they affectively lamed him.  One of Oedipus’ parents pierced his ankles with a pin affectively laming him.  Both Hephaestus and Oedipus accomplished great things and were considered manly.  (Hera’s second parthenogenetic fire-daemon son she did not lame and he almost destroyed the universe.  Maybe laming the perceived threat to the throne at an early age was the motivations here.)

Although Joel states that the disabled are not granted compensatory talents or senses; aged Nestor is famous for his charm and abilities as an orator, “blind” Homer is the creator of the great epic ever composed and blind Tiresias of Thebes had long-life and second sight. 

Joel talks of a Phaeancian prince (Book 8) who mocks Odysseus and says he is too old to participate in the games.  I have always thought of the prince’s comments as just a ploy to get the recently weeping Odysseus to come outside and play.  As the description of Thersites, I always thought that was just Homer over-drawing the bad guy, so we would know. 

Finally, if we agree that the Greeks marginalized disabled people, is that true of the gods too?  The sky is full of winged gods and daemons.  The sea full of gods with fishy body parts.  Hera breast-feeds or befriends many of the monsters in Greek myth.   (Monsters,  by my definition, being immortal or mortal beings that are asymmetric or do not meet the theomorphic ideal.)   

Were the alternately-able gods better treated by their peers than the dis-abled mortals by theirs?  And if Hephaestus, Oedipus, Nestor, Homer and Tiresias can live happy successful lives, is Thersites a hyper-moron for what happens to him? 

 

TFBT: Marpessus and Aidoneus

Over at the Kosmos Society, today the Attican study was translating Pausanias 10.12.4

Even to-day there remain on Trojan Ida the ruins of the city Marpessus, with some sixty inhabitants. All the land around Marpessus is reddish and terribly parched, so that the light and porous nature of Ida in this place is in my opinion the reason why the river Aidoneus sinks into the ground, rises to sink once more, finally disappearing altogether beneath the earth. Marpessus is two hundred and forty stades distant from Alexandria in the Troad. (Alexandria Troas, not the one in Egypt)

I found it confusing because I had never heard of the city of Marpessus or the River Aidoneus.  Apparently, Homer didn’t know of them either, nor Walter Leaf because I just finished ready his famous geographical study of “Troy”.

 

Marpessus

 The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, lists Mermessus as an alternative spelling for Marpessus. 

“ Mermessus (Μερμησσός or Μυρμισσός), a town in Troas or Mysia, belonging to the territory of Lampsacus, was celebrated in antiquity as the native place of a sibyl (Steph. B. sub voce Paus. 10.12.2; Lactant. 1.6, 12, where it is called Marmessus; Suid. s. v.); but its exact site is unknown.

Hence Pausanias comment two paragraphs later; “However, death came upon (the Sybil)  in the Troad, and her tomb is in the grove of the Sminthian (Apollo)”  Of her and the area Pausanias also says;

“she states that her mother was an immortal, one of the nymphs of Ida, while her father was a human. These are the verses:—“I am by birth half mortal, half divine; An immortal nymph was my mother, my father an eater of corn; On my mother's side of Idaean birth, but my fatherland was red Marpessus, sacred to the Mother (Cybele), and the river Aidoneus.” Pausanias 10.12.3

 Aidoneus

As to the River Aidoneus, I can find no reference to such a river or its god.  “Aidoneus” was another name for Hades.  And that is the only reference I can find to the name,  other than some lame late rationalized version of the Theseus/Pirithous in Hell myth.

TFBT: The Song of Achilles

 

I met a woman on a jet somewhere during the last three weeks. She told me that Achilles was gay. I said, I don’t think so thinking of,

“But Achilles slept in an inner room, and beside him [665] the daughter of Phorbas lovely Diomede, whom he had carried off from Lesbos. Patroklos lay on the other side of the room, and with him fair-waisted Iphis whom radiant Achilles had given him when he took Skyros the city of Enyeus.” Iliad 9

She was real excited about a book her book club had picked out; “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller. She was sure that Achilles had a lover named…

“Patroclus” I suggested.

 She talked about his mother named…

“Thetis.” I suggested. I filled in a few more items she couldn’t recall.

She asked how I knew so much and I explained about HeroesX. She couldn’t believe I had been studying The Iliad since the 4th grade. Nor could she believe we had a long conversation without talking politics. So I agreed to read her book and correspond with her. I will let you know how often I am yelling at the pages.

 So, I was all set to hate this book. Rather I am enjoying the authoress’ attempt to flesh out the tales we only know the outlines of. 

What I don’t enjoy is the jarring anachronisms; “changeling” a concept unknown in Greek myth; making “a sign against evil” again not a classical concept; a ”favor-currying noble”- I doubt if any bronze age warriors were brushing French centaurs; rabbit-warrens; the phrase “a stone in my shoe” used by someone several centuries before shoes; same with the phrase “a trick of low mummers”; and coins.  Was yew wood around in Ancient Greece?

Were Philoctetes and Heracles best friends? Miller seems ignorant of the fact that Patroclus and Achilles were related. Odysseus’ scar is way bigger than according to Homer.

Proteus was NOT Thetis’ father. Her father was Nereus and the difference is sort of a big thing.  Nor did Thetis have a reputation for hating mortals or cruelity. 

A goat was not sacrificed during the Oath of Tyndareus; 

Pausanias [3.20.9] Further on is what is called the Tomb of Horse. For Tyndareus, having sacrificed a horse here, administered an oath to the suitors of Helen, making them stand upon the pieces of the horse. The oath was to defend Helen and him who might be chosen to marry her if ever they should be wronged. When he had sworn the suitors he buried the horse here. 

Patroclus was too young to swear an oath according to the rules of that society. 

I like the description of Peleus as “excelling all his peers in piety”.  I like the quote “This was more of the gods than I had ever seen in my life.” And a voice like the “grinding of rocks in the surf.”

The authoress over-eroticizes Ancient Greek boyhood as many other modern authors do. Homer makes no mention of such behavior. In addition, as a former boy and father of a couple, I can say that Miller’s depiction of little boys’ thought processes does not ring true.  That said, Patroclus saying at 13 years old (page 59) “I did not like the sprawling length of my new limbs.” does sound very familiar to concerns I had in my youth. By page 62, the book was getting a little too gay for my taste; teenage boys making out on the beach is not something I needed to see in my minds-eye.  I don’t think I am the demographic the authoress is trying to reach.

As aside I should mention that “homosexuality” for the Ancient Greeks meant something totally different than what we think it is.  For them homosexuality was between a mature man and a boy.  I researched homosexuality among the Olympian gods once, ends up Ares, Hephaestus and Hades were the only strictly heterosexual gods on Olympus. The goddesses Athena, Artemis and Hestia always remained virgins. Which might explain the behavior of the other Olympian males!