-
What were the ‘murderous signs’ of Bellerophon in Homer’s Iliad?
It’s writing, but what kind of writing is left vague. On the one hand, alphabetic writing definitely existed at the time the Iliad was composed, and that’s the most obvious referent. At the same time there’s some wiggle-room for how you interpret it, because of Fry’s info is very out of date: he’s operating with…
-
Did ‘Aithiopians’ in Homer include sub-Saharan people?
In Homer, no. In other contexts, yes.The classic passage for the Homeric Aithiopes is Odyssey 1.22-24:But [Poseidon] had travelled to the Aithiopes, who are far away:the Aithiopes, who are divided in two, the farthest of men,some at Hyperion’s setting, some at his rising …And in Odyssey 5, when Poseidon is on his way back from…
-
What factors affected whether Penelope chose to remarry or not?
(inheritance law, ancient Greek women didn’t have legal agency, and the artificial inheritance situation engineered for the Odyssey)Homeric society isn’t a real society with real rules.Homeric epic depicts a semi- or mostly-fictional society, so questions of legal, political, and social values aren’t exactly questions about a historical reality that can be interrogated and investigated. Having…
-
What breed of dog is Argos?
The only clues are (1) we’re told that he’s a hunting dog; (2) in terms of story structure, he plays the role of a watchdog; and (3) there could in principle be a clue in the name Argos.The fact that he’s a hunting dog gives us some pointers. But bear in mind that dog breeds…
-
What would have happened to Odysseus if Penelope had married one of her suitors?
The Odyssey is packed with families that act as models for how the story of Odysseus’ family could turn out. Some have good endings, like the success story of Menelaos’ family: when Telemachos arrives in Sparta at the start of book 4, he observes the marriage of an analogue to himself, carrying on the family…
-
Does λύσσα mean ‘wolf-fury’?
‘Wolf-fury’ is an attempt to simultaneously capture (a) the meaning of the word as used, ‘rage, fury’, and (b) the etymology of the word, which may come from λύκος ‘wolf’. West happens to like trying to include etymological information in his translations: he also does that with αἰγίοχος, which is customarily translated ‘aegis-bearing’, but West…
-
Where was Odysseus located in the Greek political or social hierarchy?
This is a fictional character in a heavily fictionalised setting.Homeric epic portrays Greek leaders, basilēes, as having a non-constitutional leadership role, characterised by prestige sustained through personal qualities such as strength and heroism, wealth, and gift-exchange. In classical Greek basileus simply meant ‘king’, but in Homer being a basileus isn’t technically a hereditary position.https://www.jstor.org/stable/643251But, because…
-
Bathing a guest and rubbing them with oil
It’s conceivable that it was something done in real life, but the simplest explanation is that it’s an element of a religious rite called theoxeny.There are a few places in epic that come very close to depicting theoxeny: Athena’s visit to Telemachus in disguise in Odyssey book 1 is an example; one that’s more obviously…
-
Why does Homeric religion look more classical Greek than Mycenaean?
Yes, Hellenistic (4th-3rd century BCE) Greek chronographers liked to date the fall of Troy to the 1300s-1200s BCE. And that happens to line up reasonably well with the end of the historical Bronze Age as we understand it. Troy had been resettled by Greeks in the 8th century BCE, and the contemporary city coloured all…
-
The evolving nature of Homer’s audience through the centuries