Homer in the Homeric Odyssey - The Center for Hellenic Studies
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Homer the Preclassic
Citation: Use the following persistent identifier: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_Nagy.Homer_the_Preclassic.2009.
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I. A Preclassical Homer from the Dark Age
- 1. Homer and the Athenian Empire
- 2. Homer outside his Poetry
- 3. Homer and his Genealogy
- 4. Homer in the Homeric Odyssey
- 5. Iliadic Multiformities
- Part II. A Preclassical Homer from the Bronze Age
- 6. Variations on a Theme of Homer
- 7. Conflicting Claims on Homer
- 8. Homeric Variations on a Theme of Empire
- 9. Further Variations on a Theme of Homer
- 10. Homer and the Poetics of Variation
- Epilegomena. A Preclassical Text of Homer in the Making
- Bibliography
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Join the communityChapter Four: Homer in the Homeric Odyssey
I 4ⓢ1. The festive poetics of an ongoing humnos in Odyssey viii
… so that he [= Odysseus] might take delight [terpesthai] in the feast [dais] and in listening to the humnos of the song.
εἵματά τ’ ἐξημοιβὰ λοετρά τε θερμὰ καὶ εὐναί.
Dear to us always is feasting [dais], also the kitharis, and occasions of singing and dancing [khoroi],
also the changing of costumes from one occasion to the next, also warm baths and lying around in bed.
παίσατε, ὥς χ’ ὁ ξεῖνος ἐνίσπῃ οἷσι φίλοισιν,
οἴκαδε νοστήσας, ὅσσον περιγινόμεθ’ ἄλλων
ναυτιλίῃ καὶ ποσσὶ καὶ ὀρχηστυῖ καὶ ἀοιδῇ.
Δημοδόκῳ δέ τις αἶψα κιὼν φόρμιγγα λίγειαν
255 οἰσέτω, ἥ που κεῖται ἐν ἡμετέροισι δόμοισιν."
ὣς ἔφατ’ Ἀλκίνοος θεοείκελος, ὦρτο δὲ κῆρυξ
οἴσων φόρμιγγα γλαφυρὴν δόμου ἐκ βασιλῆος.
αἰσυμνῆται δὲ κριτοὶ ἐννέα πάντες ἀνέσταν,
δήμιοι, οἳ κατ’ ἀγῶνα ἐῢ πρήσσεσκον ἕκαστα,
260 λείηναν δὲ χορόν, καλὸν δ’ εὔρυναν ἀγῶνα.
κῆρυξ δ’ ἐγγύθεν ἦλθε φέρων φόρμιγγα λίγειαν
Δημοδόκῳ· ὁ δ’ ἔπειτα κί’ ἐς μέσον· ἀμφὶ δὲ κοῦροι
πρωθῆβαι ἵσταντο, δαήμονες ὀρχηθμοῖο,
πέπληγον δὲ χορὸν θεῖον ποσίν. αὐτὰρ ᾿Οδυσσεὺς
265 μαρμαρυγὰς θηεῖτο ποδῶν, θαύμαζε δὲ θυμῷ.
αὐτὰρ ὁ φορμίζων ἀνεβάλλετο καλὸν ἀείδειν
ἀμφ’ Ἄρεος φιλότητος [14] ἐϋστεφάνου τ’ Ἀφροδίτης, {86|87}
ὡς τὰ πρῶτ’ ἐμίγησαν ἐν Ἡφαίστοιο δόμοισι
λάθρῃ·
[Alkinoos is speaking.] "Let’s get started. I want the best of the Phaeacian acrobatic
dancers [bētarmones]
to perform their sportive dance [paizein], [15] so that the stranger, our guest,
will be able to tell his near-and-dear ones,
when he gets home, how much better we (Phaeacians) are than anyone else
in sailing and in footwork, in dance and song.
One of you go and get for Demodokos the clear-sounding phorminx,
255 bringing it to him. It is in the palace somewhere."
Thus spoke Alkinoos, the one who looks like the gods, and the herald [kērux] got up,
ready to bring the well carved phorminx from the palace of the king.
And the organizers [aisumnētai], the nine selectmen, all got up
—they belonged to the district [dēmos]—and they started arranging everything
according to the rules of the competition [agōn].
260 They made smooth the place of the singing and dancing [khoros], and they made a
wide space of competition [agōn].
The herald [kērux] came near, bringing the clear-sounding phorminx
for Demodokos. He moved to the center of the space. At his right and at his left
were boys [kouroi]
in the first stage of adolescence [prōthēboi], standing there, well versed in
dancing [orkhēthmos].
They pounded out with their feet a dance [khoros], a thing of wonder, and
Odysseus
265 was observing the sparkling footwork. He was amazed in his heart [thumos].
And he [= Demodokos], playing on the phorminx [phormizein],
started [anaballesthai] singing beautifully
about [amphi] the bonding [philotēs] of Ares and of Aphrodite, the one with the
beautiful garlands [stephanoi],
about how they, at the very beginning, [16] mated with each other in the
palace of Hephaistos,
in secret.
- The older form of the epic Cycle, as represented by the first and the third songs of Demodokos, is embedded within the newer form of the Homeric Odyssey.
- The even older form of the Homeric Hymn, as represented by the second song of Demodokos, is embedded within the relatively newer form of the epic Cycle, as represented by the continuation of the first song of Demodokos by way of his third song.
τοιοῦδ’, οἷος ὅδ’ ἐστί, θεοῖσ’ ἐναλίγκιος αὐδήν.
5 οὐ γὰρ ἐγώ γέ τί φημι τέλος χαριέστερον εἶναι
ἢ ὅτ’ ἐϋφροσύνη μὲν ἔχῃ κάτα δῆμον ἅπαντα,
δαιτυμόνες δ’ ἀνὰ δώματ’ ἀκουάζωνται ἀοιδοῦ
ἥμενοι ἑξείης, παρὰ δὲ πλήθωσι τράπεζαι
σίτου καὶ κρειῶν, μέθυ δ’ ἐκ κρητῆρος ἀφύσσων
10 οἰνοχόος φορέῃσι καὶ ἐγχείῃ δεπάεσσι·
τοῦτό τί μοι κάλλιστον ἐνὶ φρεσὶν εἴδεται εἶναι.
This is indeed a beautiful thing, to listen to a singer [aoidos]
such as this one [= Demodokos], the kind of singer that he is, comparable to the
gods in the way he speaks [audē], {91|92}
5 for I declare, there is no outcome [telos] that has more pleasurable beauty
[kharis]
than the moment when the spirit of festivity [euphrosunē] [28] prevails
throughout the whole community [dēmos]
and the people at the feast [daitumones], throughout the halls, are listening to
the singer [aoidos]
as they sit there—you can see one after the other—and they are sitting at tables that
are filled
with grain and meat, while wine from the mixing bowl is drawn
10 by the one who pours the wine and takes it around, pouring it into their cups.
This kind of thing, as I see it in my way of thinking, is the most beautiful thing in
the whole world.
I 4ⓢ2. A poetic crisis at a festival
δὴ τότε Δημόδοκον προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·
"Δημόδοκ’, ἔξοχα δή σε βροτῶν αἰνίζομ’ ἁπάντων·
ἢ σέ γε Μοῦσ’ ἐδίδαξε, Διὸς πάϊς, ἢ σέ γ’ Ἀπόλλων·
λίην γὰρ κατὰ κόσμον Ἀχαιῶν οἶτον ἀείδεις,
490 ὅσσ’ ἕρξαν τ’ ἔπαθόν τε καὶ ὅσσ’ ἐμόγησαν Ἀχαιοί, {93|94}
ὥς τέ που ἢ αὐτὸς παρεὼν ἢ ἄλλου ἀκούσας.
ἀλλ’ ἄγε δὴ μετάβηθι καὶ ἵππου κόσμον ἄεισον
δουρατέου, τὸν ᾿Επειὸς ἐποίησεν σὺν Ἀθήνῃ,
ὅν ποτ’ ἐς ἀκρόπολιν δόλον ἤγαγε δῖος Ὀδυσσεὺς
495 ἀνδρῶν ἐμπλήσας, οἳ Ἴλιον ἐξαλάπαξαν.
αἴ κεν δή μοι ταῦτα κατὰ μοῖραν καταλέξῃς,
αὐτίκα καὶ πᾶσιν μυθήσομαι ἀνθρώποισιν,
ὡς ἄρα τοι πρόφρων θεὸς ὤπασε θέσπιν ἀοιδήν."
485 When they had satisfied their desire for drinking and eating,
then Odysseus, the one with many a stratagem, addressed Demodokos:
"Demodokos, I admire and pointedly praise you, more than any other human.
Either the Muse, child of Zeus, taught you, or Apollo.
All too well, in accord with its kosmos , do you sing the fate of the Achaeans
490 —all the things the Achaeans did and all the things that were done to them, and they
suffered for it—
you sing it as if you yourself had been present or had heard it from someone else.
But come now, move ahead and shift forward [metabainein] and sing the
kosmos of the horse,
the wooden horse that Epeios made with the help of Athena,
the one that Odysseus, the radiant one, took to the acropolis as a stratagem,
495 having filled it in with men, who ransacked Ilion.
If you can tell me these things in due order [katalegein], in accord with proper
apportioning [moira],
then right away I will say the authoritative word [muthos] to all mortals:
I will say, and I see it as I say it, that the god [theos], favorably disposed toward
you, granted [opazein] you a divinely sounding song."
I 4ⓢ3. An agōn between Demodokos and Odysseus
τὸν περὶ Μοῦσ’ ἐφίλησε, δίδου δ’ ἀγαθόν τε κακόν τε·
ὀφθαλμῶν μὲν ἄμερσε, δίδου δ’ ἡδεῖαν ἀοιδήν.
65 τῷ δ’ ἄρα Ποντόνοος θῆκε θρόνον ἀργυρόηλον
μέσσῳ δαιτυμόνων, πρὸς κίονα μακρὸν ἐρείσας·
κὰδ δ’ ἐκ πασσαλόφι κρέμασεν φόρμιγγα λίγειαν {96|97}
αὐτοῦ ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς καὶ ἐπέφραδε χερσὶν ἑλέσθαι
κῆρυξ· πὰρ δ’ ἐτίθει κάνεον καλήν τε τράπεζαν,
70 πὰρ δὲ δέπας οἴνοιο, πιεῖν ὅτε θυμὸς ἀνώγοι.
οἱ δ’ ἐπ’ ὀνείαθ’ ἑτοῖμα προκείμενα χεῖρας ἴαλλον.
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ πόσιος καὶ ἐδητύος ἐξ ἔρον ἕντο,
Μοῦσ’ ἄρ’ ἀοιδὸν ἀνῆκεν ἀειδέμεναι κλέα ἀνδρῶν,
οἴμης, τῆς τότ’ ἄρα κλέος οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἵκανε,
75 νεῖκος Ὀδυσσῆος καὶ Πηλεΐδεω Ἀχιλῆος,
ὥς ποτε δηρίσαντο θεῶν ἐν δαιτὶ θαλείῃ
ἐκπάγλοισ’ ἐπέεσσιν, ἄναξ δ’ ἀνδρῶν Ἀγαμέμνων
χαῖρε νόῳ, ὅ τ’ ἄριστοι Ἀχαιῶν δηριόωντο.
ὣς γάρ οἱ χρείων μυθήσατο Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων
80 Πυθοῖ ἐν ἠγαθέῃ, ὅθ’ ὑπέρβη λάϊνον οὐδὸν
χρησόμενος. τότε γάρ ῥα κυλίνδετο πήματος ἀρχὴ
Τρωσί τε καὶ Δαναοῖσι Διὸς μεγάλου διὰ βουλάς.
ταῦτ’ ἄρ’ ἀοιδὸς ἄειδε περικλυτός· αὐτὰρ ᾿Οδυσσεὺς
πορφύρεον μέγα φᾶρος ἑλὼν χερσὶ στιβαρῇσι
85 κὰκ κεφαλῆς εἴρυσσε, κάλυψε δὲ καλὰ πρόσωπα·
αἴδετο γὰρ Φαίηκας ὑπ’ ὀφρύσι δάκρυα λείβων.
ἦ τοι ὅτε λήξειεν ἀείδων θεῖος ἀοιδός,
δάκρυ’ ὀμορξάμενος κεφαλῆς ἄπο φᾶρος ἕλεσκε
καὶ δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον ἑλὼν σπείσασκε θεοῖσιν·
90 αὐτὰρ ὅτ’ ἂψ ἄρχοιτο καὶ ὀτρύνειαν ἀείδειν
Φαιήκων οἱ ἄριστοι, ἐπεὶ τέρποντ’ ἐπέεσσιν,
ἂψ Ὀδυσεὺς κατὰ κρᾶτα καλυψάμενος γοάασκεν.
ἔνθ’ ἄλλους μὲν πάντας ἐλάνθανε δάκρυα λείβων,
Ἀλκίνοος δέ μιν οἶος ἐπεφράσατ’ ἠδ’ ἐνόησεν
The herald came near, bringing with him a singer, very trusted,
whom the Muse loved exceedingly. She gave him both a good thing and a bad thing.
For she took away from him his eyes but gave him the sweetness of song [aoidē].
65 For him did Pontonoos place a chair, silver-studded,
right in the midst of the people who were feasting, propping the chair against a tall column,
and the herald took from a peg the clear-sounding phorminx that was hanging there
above his head, and he presented it to him so he could take it in his hands.
The herald did this. And next to him he put a beautiful basket and a table.
70 He put next to him also a cup of wine to drink from whenever he felt in his heart the need to
do so.
And, with hands reaching out swiftly, they made for the good things that were prepared and
waiting.
When they had satisfied their desire for drinking and eating, {97|98}
the Muse impelled the singer to sing the glories [klea] of men,
starting from a thread [oimē] that had at that time a fame [kleos] reaching all the
way up to the vast sky.
75 It was the quarrel of Odysseus and Achilles, son of Peleus,
how they fought once upon a time at a sumptuous feast [dais] of the gods
with terrible words, and the king of men, Agamemnon,
was happy in his mind [noos] at the fact that the best of the Achaeans were fighting.
For this is the way he was told it would happen by Phoebus Apollo, uttering
an oracle,
80 in holy Delphi, when he crossed the stone threshold,
to consult the oracle. And that was when the beginning [arkhē] of pain [pēma]
started rolling down [kulindesthai]
upon Trojans and Danaans—all on account of the plans of great Zeus.
So these were the things that the singer [aoidos], well known for his glory, sang. But
Odysseus,
taking his great purple cloak in his strong hands,
85 pulled it over his head and covered his beautiful looks.
For he felt ashamed in front of the Phaeacians, as he was pouring out tears
[dakrua] from beneath his eyebrows.
Whenever the godlike singer [aoidos] would leave off [lēgein] singing,
he [= Odysseus] would wipe away his tears [dakrua] and take off from his head the
cloak
and, taking hold of a cup that had two handles he would pour libations to the gods.
90 But whenever he [= the singer] started [arkhesthai] again [aps] as he was urged
to sing on
by the best of the Phaeacians—for they were delighted by his words –
Odysseus would start weeping [goân] all over again [aps], covering his head with
the cloak.
So there he was, escaping the notice of all while he kept pouring out his tears
[dakrua].
But Alkinoos was the only one of all of them who was aware, and he took note
[noeîn].
500 ἔνθεν ἑλών, ὡς οἱ μὲν ἐϋσσέλμων ἐπὶ νηῶν
βάντες ἀπέπλειον, πῦρ ἐν κλισίῃσι βαλόντες,
Ἀργεῖοι, τοὶ δ’ ἤδη ἀγακλυτὸν ἀμφ’ Ὀδυσῆα
εἵατ’ ἐνὶ Τρώων ἀγορῇ κεκαλυμμένοι ἵππῳ·
αὐτοὶ γάρ μιν Τρῶες ἐς ἀκρόπολιν ἐρύσαντο.
505 ὣς ὁ μὲν ἑστήκει, τοὶ δ’ ἄκριτα πόλλ’ ἀγόρευον
ἥμενοι ἀμφ’ αὐτόν· τρίχα δέ σφισιν ἥνδανε βουλή,
ἠὲ διατμῆξαι κοῖλον δόρυ νηλέϊ χαλκῷ,
ἢ κατὰ πετράων βαλέειν ἐρύσαντας ἐπ’ ἄκρης,
ἢ ἐάαν μέγ’ ἄγαλμα θεῶν θελκτήριον εἶναι,
510 τῇ περ δὴ καὶ ἔπειτα τελευτήσεσθαι ἔμελλεν·
αἶσα γὰρ ἦν ἀπολέσθαι, ἐπὴν πόλις ἀμφικαλύψῃ
δουράτεον μέγαν ἵππον, ὅθ’ εἵατο πάντες ἄριστοι
Ἀργεῖοι Τρώεσσι φόνον καὶ κῆρα φέροντες.
ἤειδεν δ’ ὡς ἄστυ διέπραθον υἷες Ἀχαιῶν
515 ἱππόθεν ἐκχύμενοι, κοῖλον λόχον ἐκπρολιπόντες.
ἄλλον δ’ ἄλλῃ ἄειδε πόλιν κεραϊζέμεν αἰπήν,
αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσῆα προτὶ δώματα Δηϊφόβοιο
βήμεναι, ἠΰτ’ Ἄρηα, σὺν ἀντιθέῳ Μενελάῳ.
κεῖθι δὴ αἰνότατον πόλεμον φάτο τολμήσαντα
520 νικῆσαι καὶ ἔπειτα διὰ μεγάθυμον Ἀθήνην.
ταῦτ’ ἄρ’ ἀοιδὸς ἄειδε περικλυτός· αὐτὰρ ᾿Οδυσσεὺς
τήκετο, δάκρυ δ’ ἔδευεν ὑπὸ βλεφάροισι παρειάς.
ὡς δὲ γυνὴ κλαίῃσι φίλον πόσιν ἀμφιπεσοῦσα,
ὅς τε ἑῆς πρόσθεν πόλιος λαῶν τε πέσῃσιν,
525 ἄστεϊ καὶ τεκέεσσιν ἀμύνων νηλεὲς ἦμαρ·
ἡ μὲν τὸν θνῄσκοντα καὶ ἀσπαίροντα ἰδοῦσα
ἀμφ’ αὐτῷ χυμένη λίγα κωκύει· οἱ δέ τ’ ὄπισθε
κόπτοντες δούρεσσι μετάφρενον ἠδὲ καὶ ὤμους
εἴρερον εἰσανάγουσι, πόνον τ’ ἐχέμεν καὶ ὀϊζύν·
530 τῆς δ’ ἐλεεινοτάτῳ ἄχεϊ φθινύθουσι παρειαί·
ὣς Ὀδυσεὺς ἐλεεινὸν ὑπ’ ὀφρύσι δάκρυον εἶβεν.
ἔνθ’ ἄλλους μὲν πάντας ἐλάνθανε δάκρυα λείβων,
Ἀλκίνοος δέ μιν οἶος ἐπεφράσατ’ ἠδ’ ἐνόησεν
Thus he [= Odysseus] spoke. And he [= Demodokos], setting his point of departure
[hormētheis], started [arkhesthai] from the god [theos]. And he made visible the song,
500 taking it from the point where they [= the Achaeans], boarding their ships with the strong
benches, {99|100}
sailed away, setting their tents on fire.
That is what some of the Argives [= Achaeans] were doing. But others of them were in the
company of Odysseus, the one with the great glory, and they were already
sitting hidden inside the Horse, which was now in the meeting place of the Trojans.
The Trojans themselves had pulled the Horse into the acropolis.
505 So there it was, standing there, while they [= the Trojans] were saying many different things,
sitting around it. There were three different plans:
to cut open the hollow wood with pitiless bronze, or to throw it off the rocky heights
after pulling it up to the peak [of the acropolis],
or to leave it, great artifact [agalma] that it was, as a charm [thelktērion] of the gods
510 —which, I now see it, was exactly the way it was sure to [mellein] reach an outcome
[teleutân],
because it was fate [aisa] that the place would be destroyed, once the city had enfolded in
itself
the great Wooden Horse, when all the best men were sitting inside it,
the Argives [= Achaeans], that is, bringing slaughter and destruction upon the Trojans.
He sang how the sons of the Achaeans destroyed the city,
515 pouring out of the Horse, leaving behind the hollow place of ambush.
He sang how the steep citadel was destroyed by different men in different places.
—how Odysseus went to the palace of Deiphobos,
how he was looking like Ares, and godlike Menelaos went with him,
and how in that place, I now see it, he [= Demodokos] said that he [= Odysseus] dared to go
through the worst part of the war,
520 and how he emerged victorious after that, with the help of Athena, the one with the mighty
spirit.
Thus sang the singer [aoidos], the one whose glory is supreme. And Odysseus
dissolved [tēkesthai] into tears. He made wet his cheeks with the tears flowing from his
eyelids,
just as a woman cries, falling down and embracing her dear husband,
who fell in front of the city and people he was defending,
525 trying to ward off the pitiless day of doom hanging over the city and its children.
She sees him dying, gasping for his last breath,
and she pours herself all over him as she wails with a piercing cry. But there are men behind
her,
prodding her with their spears, hurting her back and shoulders,
and they bring for her a life of bondage, which will give her pain and sorrow. {100|101}
530 Her cheeks are wasting away with a sorrow [akhos] that is most pitiful [eleeinon].
So also did Odysseus pour out a piteous tear [dakruon] from beneath his brows;
there he was, escaping the notice of all while he kept pouring out his tears [dakrua].
But Alkinoos was the only one of all of them who was aware, and he took note
[noeîn].
Footnotes