TFBT: Random Notes on Hour 9

More random notes this time from Hour 9 of The Ancient Greek Hero course I'm taking at Harvard via edX

“honor to the Achaean name, the Achaeans will bear the glory of Orestes in song even to future generations” Odyssey 3:204  At Iliad 20:308 Posedion says, “ and now verily shall the mighty Aeneas be king among the Trojans, and his sons' sons that shall be born in days to come."  Many scholars and the Latin poet Virgil, picked up on this promise of glory (and an epic) for Aeneas in the days to come; hence “The Aeneid”. So, does the line quoted at the start of this paragraph promised a similar epic for Orestes?  Sure he got many tradegies, but a “song”?  It almost seems like self-promotion on Homer’s part as though he had another epic in him to tell.    

“who would go to bed with a sea monster if he could help it?” (Od 4:443)  I know Menelaus speak rhetorically, but the answer to his question is;

·        Phorkys the sea-god who wed and bed Ceto, the literal mother of all sea-monsters (Hesiod 270&332)

·        Typhon who bedded their daughter Echidna, the mother of all monsters (Hesiod 306) and, of course,

·        Heracles who bedded Echidna and produced three sons (Herodotus 4:8-10)

“I should not care how much I suffered before getting home, provided I could be safe when I was once there. I would rather this, than get home quickly, and then be killed in my own house as Agamemnon” Odyssey 3:233 

“Athena thought that he was just and right to have given it to herself first; she accordingly began praying heartily to Poseidon.  “O god,” she cried, “you who encircle the earth, grant the prayers of your servants that call upon you. More especially we pray you send down your grace on Nestor and on his sons; thereafter also make the rest of the Pylian people some handsome return for the goodly hecatomb they are offering you.[60] Lastly, grant Telemakhos and myself a happy issue, in respect of the matter that has brought us in our swift black ship to Pylos.” When she had thus made an end of praying, she handed the cup to dear Telemakhos” Od 3:54 Amazing Athena praying to Poseidon; oh and not using the proper format.

I am no prophet, and know very little about omens, but I speak as it is borne in upon me from the sky and assure you that he will not be away much longer; for he is a man of such resource that even though he were in chains of iron he would find some means of getting home again.“ Od 1:200-205

“Visualizing the right thing, that’s how your “noos” (thoughts) stay in the right place.” Claudia Filos

At Odyssey 8:521, just as the blind poet Demodocus is about to reveal the dastardly deeds Odysseus committed the night that Troy fell, Homer swings the story elsewhere.

TFBT: Week Zero CB22x

These are random notes from my readings for “Week Zero”  of Harvard’s CB22x on-line  “The Ancient Greek Hero” course in conjunction with EDX  https://www.edx.org/courses

Introduction to Homeric Poetry Nagy 0§31. “…Greeks, given such alternative Homeric names as Achaeans, Argives, Danaans, all three of which are used interchangeably.”  I’ve read several papers that said the names were not interchangeable.

Introduction to Homeric Poetry Nagy 0§46. “Homeric song oscillates from one emotion to another. Here is the way the rhapsode describes his audience: As I look down at them from the platform on high, I see them, each and every time, crying or looking terrified, filled with a sense of wonder at what is being retold. Plato Ion 535e “  Plato’s twenty thousand friendly faces fascinates me like the 100,000 waiting in the dark of Paris for Lindberg or the two or three weeping faces at the finale of my recital of Eddie Foye upon the stage of the Iroquois Theatre.  

Iliad 1:132 You shall not overreach…  The Titans are accused of this often.  I need to look up the Greek and better understand this word.

Iliad 1:283 Achilles, who in the day of battle is a tower of strength to the Achaeans."  I love Nagy’s translation of the phrase “tower of strength”

Iliad 1:343 Agamemnon is mad with rage and knows not how to look before and after

Iliad 1: 476 when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared they again set sail for the army of the Achaeans. Apollo sent them a fair wind,  so they raised their mast and hoisted their white sails aloft. As the sail bellied with the wind the ship flew through the deep blue water, and the foam hissed against her bows as she sped onward. When they reached the wide-stretching army of the Achaeans. Beautiful!  And ironically when I compared Nagy’s translation to the hardcopy of Lattimore, the previous owner of the book had highlighted the exact same phrase.

In his Intro to Homeric Poetry Professor Nagy compares Patroclus' death to the sacrifice of a cow at section 12. Interesting! I will look forward to that reading too. As I recall it takes a god and two mortals to bring him down. Plus I think by then he is disarmed and naked.

Iliad 1:424 refers to feasting on the banks of the great river Ocean. Isn't that how the Odyssey started too?

I am enjoying re-reading the Iliad. 1: 189 refers to Achilles’ shaggy chest. He usually is portrayed as a pretty boy and the youngest of the Greek heroes, hence Brad Pitt in the latest movie. I will read more closely this time for his physical description. Also, he could see Athena and no one else could. I will be interested in seeing if he always has the sight.