TFBT: Law of Deification in Greek Literature

I love the literary laws in Greek literature, they make the cosmos such a neat and order place.  Laws like; 

• ·      “Monro's Law” which states that the Odyssey “never repeats or refers to any incident related in the Iliad."  (http://laudatortemporisacti.blogspot.com/2011_09_01_archive.html   by Michael Gilleland, scroll down to “Monro’s Law”.  Excellent article. Also Monro, 1901 “Homer’s Odyssey” page 325)

• ·      “Jørgensen’s Law” That is; the Homeric narrator and divine characters are as a rule aware of the divine agent responsible for any given act or circumstances in the narrative. Human characters by contrast, remain ignorant of the actions of the specific gods unless they are informed by a divine character or, in the case of seers and singers, possess special powers.”  J. Marks excellent “Zeus in the Odyssey”.

• ·       “Maya’s Law” which says; that Zeus (and the rest of the gods) has a marked preference for mating with Ionians and barbarians.  Or more simply put; “Zeus prefers Ionian women!”

• ·      Or,   the “Law” that Zeus could not appear on stage in tragedies or comedies. 

So how about we come up with a Law of Deification in Greek Literature?   I see three ways to turn a mortal “deathless and unageing, even as the gods."

1) Get Zeus to do it; 

"Verily wise Zeus carried off golden-haired Ganymedes (Ganymede) because of his beauty, to be amongst the Deathless Ones and pour drink for the gods in the house of Zeus--a wonder to see--, honoured by all the immortals as he draws the red nectar from the golden bowl . . . deathless and unageing, even as the gods." Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite

Zeus did the same for Dionysus’ brown-haired mortal wife Ariadne (Hesiod, Theogony 947 ff) and (according to the Cypria Fragment 1) Castor and Polydeuces.   

2) If, you are a god, make your mortal favorite a god, and don’t tell anyone;

"He [Dionysus] retrieved his mother [Semele] from Haides' realm, gave her the name Thyone, and escorted her up to the sky." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 38

Artemis did the same for Hippolytus, renaming him Virbius and hiding him in Italy Ovid, Fasti 6. 735  

3) Be a Nereid.  It seems no problem for Nereus’ daughters to make someone or convince someone to make their favorites gods;

"As I [Helle] fell [into the Hellespont Sea from the back of the Golden Ram], Cymothoe [a Nereid] and Glaucus came swift to my succour; this abode too, this realm the father of the deep [Poseidon] himself awarded me [i.e. he transformed Helle into a sea-goddess], willing justly, and our gulf envies not Ino’s sea [the Gulf of Corinth]."  Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2. 585 ff : 

Likewise Homer and Pindar both testify (Odyssey 5. 333 & Olympian Ode 2. 22) that Ino daughter of Cadmus and her son Melicertes were made immortal by the sea nymphs.   

Summary; to deify your favorite,

• ·      get consensus from the gods and the nod from Zeus or

• ·      do it yourself and don’t tell anyone or

• ·      be a Nereid. 

Admittedly, the marine deities work under a different dispensation than the rest of the younger gods.  Still, what’s the theoretical underpinning on deification? 

TFBT: Homer Gives a Nod to Hesiod

Walking home from work yesterday, it occurred to me that if we accept Emily Schurr's Subtext, there might be broader implications about Homer and Hesiod.  Let’s look at some examples of Homer giving a nod to other epic traditions.

In "The Best of Achaeans" Nagy points out that Homer gives a nod to the group of myths about Aeneas (the future Aeneid) when the gods whisk him of the battle field for the sake of his future epic.[1] 

I think we can infer the power of Thetis in the Iliad, that she is someone special.  Thetis can turn the Will of Zeus with a touch to the chin, unbind supernatural bonds, summon forces far greater than the combined strength of the Olympians and do it all without a complaint from her opponents to her face.  Maybe that great favor afforded to a mere mermaid is Homer's nod to Spartan poet Alcman's creation myth in which Thetis is the creatrix.[2]

By her association with mighty Thetis, Eurynome would be Homer's nod to "Orpheus" who makes Eurynome one of the primordial gods. [3]

“Monro's Law” which states that the Odyssey “never repeats or refers to any incident related in the Iliad." [4] would suggest that the composer of the Iliad was showing respect to the Odyssey by not trespassing on it. 

Hera’s visit (Iliad 14.200) to Oceanus and Tethys (from who all the gods proceed) could be a nod to a theogony we are not even aware of. (Also Iliad 14. 244)

Okay, having tossed all that out as example, let me ask the question.  Does Schurr's subtext represent a Homeric nod to the Hesiodic Succession myth?    I can’t find in the Iliad anywhere that Homer is as clear about the succession myth as Schurr's subtext suggests .  I am not suggesting Homer is giving a nod to the Theogony, but rather to the collection of myths that Hesiod chose from in composing his own epic. 

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[1] Best of the Achaeans, Gregory Nagy 15.3  “There is a conflict going on here between Achilles and Aeneas as warriors in battle and also between the epic traditions about each of the two heroes. Moreover, the Iliad here is actually allowing part of the Aeneas tradition to assert itself at the expense of the Achilles tradition”

 

[2] Page 179,  Knox, Bernard M. W., “Archaic Choral Lyric,” in The Cambridge History of Classical Literature, Vol I. Greek Literature, ed. P.E. Easterling. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. 1989  Also “The Power of Thetis” (Hellenic Studies) Laura M. Slatkin. Page 82

 

[3] Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 503 :"He [Orpheus] sang of . . . How, in the beginning, Ophion and Eurynome, daughter of Oceanus, governed the world from snow-clad Olympus; how they were forcibly supplanted, Ophion by Cronus, Eurynome by Rhea; of their fall into the waters of Okeanos."

 

[4] http://laudatortemporisacti.blogspot.com/2011_09_01_archive.html   by Michael Gilleland, scroll down to “Monro’s Law” Excellent article. Also Monro, 1901 “Homer’s Odyssey” page 325