Pushkin: "You can only feel Homer."
The author of two epic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" is traditionally considered Homer... Homer (c. VIII century BC) - the legendary ancient Greek poet, considered the founder of ancient and European literature. Biographies say that he went blind (the word "Homer" in the Aeolian dialect means "blind", other possible meanings - "hostage", "prophet", "poet"), allegedly competed with Hesiod, and died on the island of Ios, where they showed his grave. On the basis of these pseudo-biographies, according to scientists, it is possible to draw conclusions: the personality of Homer, if he really existed, is most likely connected with the city of Smyrna (the present Turkish city of Izmir) and with Fr. Chios, where in the VII - VI centuries. BC. there was a genus of singers - "Homerids", rhapsodes, who considered themselves direct descendants and followers of Homer.
Due to the loss of many texts, the question of the authorship of works attributed to Homer is difficult and practically insoluble. Until the era of Hellenism, many Greeks considered him the creator of not only the Iliad and the Odyssey, but also a whole series of "cyclical" poems associated with the myths of the Trojan War, such as Thebais, Cypriot, The Little Iliad and In addition, Homer was reputed to be the creator of a cycle of 33 "Homeric hymns" glorifying the Olympic gods, and the comic-parody epics "Margit" and "The War of Mice and Frogs" ("Batrachomyomachia"), the Byzantine encyclopedia "Svida" considers a number of more Homeric poems: "Amazon", "Arachnomachia" ("The War of the Spiders"), "Geranomachy" ("War of the Cranes"), etc. But already the Alexandrian scientists have significantly narrowed the number of works, the author of which was credited to Homer.
According to tradition, Homer did not know literacy, and his poems until the 6th century. BC. performed orally. The Athenian tyrant Pisistratus, seeking to raise the importance of Athens as a pan-Hellenic cultural and religious center, took a number of measures, including the creation of a special commission to edit and record the Iliad and Odyssey - after all, by the 6th century. BC. Homer was already for all Greeks the greatest authority in poetry, morality, religion, philosophy. These recordings of two poems, which have not come down to us in their original form, open the history of the existence and interpretation of Homeric texts, which lasts two and a half thousand years.
Epic poetry originated in the 10th century BC, the poetry of Homer - at the turn of the 9th and 8th centuries. These are the first written creations from which European literature began. Most likely, this is not the beginning of a tradition - the author refers to predecessors and even includes excerpts from predecessor poems in the text. "Odyssey" - Demodok, Thracian Famir. Then parodies appeared on Homer's poems - "Batrachomyomachia" - the struggle between frogs and mice.
Antiquity is not characterized by the usual definition of "epic". "Epic" - "speech, story." It appears as a form of everyday story about an event important for the history of a tribe or clan. Always poetic reproduction. The subject of the image is the history of the people based on mythological perception. At the heart of artistic ancient epics lies the majestic heroics. The heroes of the epics personify entire nations (Achilles, Odysseus). The hero is always strong by the strength of his people, personifies both the best and the worst in his people. The hero of Homer's poems lives in a special world where the concepts "all" and "everyone" mean the same thing.
Studying the language of Homer's poems, scientists came to the conclusion that Homer came from an Ionian aristocratic family. The language of the Iliad and the Odyssey is an artificial sub-dialect that has never been spoken in life. Until the 19th century, the dominant point of view was that the content of both poems is poetic fiction. In the 19th century, they started talking about the reality of events, after the amateur Heinrich Schliemann discovered Troy (in the last quarter of the 19th century).
Heinrich Schliemann was born in 1822 in Germany into the family of a poor pastor. On his 7th birthday, he received a colorful encyclopedia of myths and after that announced that he would find Troy. He is not getting education. The story of his youth is very turbulent: he is hired on a schooner as a cabin boy, the schooner is shipwrecked, Schliemann ends up on an uninhabited island. At the age of 19, he ended up in Amsterdam and got a job there as a small clerk. It turns out that he is very receptive to languages, so soon he goes to St. Petersburg, opens his own business - the supply of bread to Europe. In 1864 he closed his business, and used all the money to open Troy. He travels to places where she could be. The entire scientific world excavated at Bunarbashi in Turkey. But Schliemann was guided by the Homeric texts, where it was said that the Trojans could go to the sea several times a day. Bunarbashi was too far from the sea. Schliemann found Cape Hissarlik and found out that the real reason for the Trojan War was the economy - the Trojans were charging too much for passage through the strait. Schliemann carried out excavations in his own way - he did not dig layer by layer, but dug all layers at once. At the very bottom (layer 3A) he found gold. But he was afraid that his non-professional workers would rob him, so he told them to go to celebrate, and he and his wife dragged the gold into the tent. Most of all, Schliemann wanted to return Greece to its former greatness, respectively, and this gold, which he considered the treasure of King Priam. But according to the laws, the treasure belonged to Turkey. Therefore, his wife, the Greek woman Sofia, hid the gold in cabbage and transported it across the border.
Having proved to the whole world that Troy really existed, Schliemann actually destroyed it. Later, scientists proved that the required time layer was 7A, this layer Schliemann destroyed, taking out gold. Then Schliemann led excavations in Tiryns and dug up the homeland of Hercules. Then excavations in Mycenae, where he found a golden gate, three tombs, which he considered the burials of Agamemnon (the golden mask of Agamemnon), Kassandra and Clytemnestra. He was wrong again - these burials belonged to an earlier time. But he proved the existence of an ancient civilization, as he discovered clay tablets with inscriptions. He also wanted to excavate in Crete, but he did not have enough money to buy the hill. The death of Schliemann is absolutely ridiculous. He was driving home for Christmas, caught a cold, fell down in the street, was taken to a shelter for the poor, where he froze to death. They buried him magnificently, behind the coffin was the Greek king himself.
Similar clay tablets have been found in Crete. This proves that a very long time ago (12th century BC) there was writing in Crete and in Mycenae. Scientists call it "linear pre-Greek pre-alphabetic syllabic writing", and there are two varieties: a and b. A cannot be deciphered, B has been deciphered. The tablets were found in 1900, and they were deciphered after the Second World War. Franz Zittini deciphered 12 syllables. The breakthrough was made by Michael Ventris, an Englishman, who suggested that the basis should be not Cretan, but the Greek dialect. So he deciphered almost all the signs. The scientific world was faced with a problem: why, at the time of its heyday, in Crete they wrote in Greek? Schliemann first tried to determine the exact date of the destruction of Troy - 1200 BC. He was only ten years wrong. Modern scholars have established that it was destroyed between 1195 and 1185 BC.
There are two categories of people considered to be native speakers of the Homeric language: Aed and Rhapsody. Aedy are storytellers, creators of poems, semi-improvisers, they have a high position in society, so they had the right to change something in poems. Homer mentioned Demodok and Thracian Tamir. The art of the aed is mysterious, as it is very difficult to memorize so much text. The Aedi art was clan, each clan had its own secrets of memorization. Some families: Homerids and Creofilids. Most often they were blind, "Homer" means blind. This is another reason many believe that Homer did not exist. Rhapsodies are only performers, they could not change anything.
With regard to the epic, the concepts of plot and plot are very different. The plot is a natural direct temporal connection of events that constitutes the content of the action of a literary work. The plot of Homeric poems is the Trojan cycle of myths. It is associated with almost all mythology. The plot is local, but the time frame is small. Most of the motivations for the actions of the characters are outside the scope of the work. The poem "Cypriot" was written about the causes of the Trojan War.
Causes of the Trojan War: Gaia (goddess of the earth) appeals to Zeus with a request to cleanse the earth of some of the people, since there are too many of them. Zeus is threatened by the fate of his grandfather and father - to be overthrown by his own son from the goddess. Prometheus calls the goddess Thetis, so Zeus urgently gives her in marriage to the mortal hero Peleus. At the wedding, an apple of discord appears, and Zeus is advised to use Paris Mom - an evil-speaking adviser.
Troy is otherwise called the kingdom of Dardanus or Ilion. Dardanus is the founder, then Il appears and founds Ilion. Hence the title of Homer's poem. Troy - from Tros. Sometimes Pergamum, after the name of the palace. One of the kings of Troy is Laomedont. Under him, the walls of Troy were built, which cannot be destroyed. This wall was built by Poseidon and Apollo, people laughed at them, Laomedont promised a reward for their work. Eak was good with the gods, so he built the Sket gate - the only ones that can be destroyed. But Laomedont did not pay, the gods became angry and cursed the city, so it is doomed to perish, despite the fact that this is the beloved city of Zeus. In the war, only Anchises and Aeneas, who have nothing to do with the Laomedont family, will survive.
Elena the Beautiful is the granddaughter of Nemesis, the goddess of retribution, and the only daughter of Zeus from a mortal woman. At the age of 12, Theseus kidnapped her. Then everyone wanted to take her as a wife, Odysseus advised Elena's father to let her choose herself and take an oath from the suitors to help Elena's family in case of trouble.
The Iliad covers an insignificant period of time as events. Only 50 days of the last year of the war. This is the wrath of Achilles and its consequences. This is how the poem begins.
Iliad - a military heroic epic, where the story of the events takes center stage. The main thing is the anger of Achilles. Aristotle wrote that Homer brilliantly chose the plot. Achilles is a special hero, he replaces an entire army. Homer's task is to describe all the heroes and everyday life, but Achilles overshadows them. Therefore, Achilles must be removed. Everything is determined by one event: in the earthly plane everything is determined by the consequences of Achilles' wrath, in the heavenly - by the will of Zeus. But his will is not all-encompassing. Zeus cannot dispose of the fate of the Greeks and Trojans. He uses the golden scales of fate - the shares of the Achaeans and Trojans.
Composition: alternation of the earthly and heavenly plot lines, which are mixed towards the end. Homer did not break his poem into songs. It was first broken by Alexandrian scholars in the third century BC - for convenience. Each chapter was named after the letter of the Greek alphabet.
What is the cause of Achilles' anger? For 10 years, the Greeks ravaged many neighboring policies. In one city they captured two captives - Chryseis (inherited by Agamemnon) and Briseis (inherited by Achilles). The Greeks are beginning to form a consciousness of the value of their personality. Homer shows that generic collectivity is receding into the past, a new morality begins to form, where the idea of \u200b\u200bthe value of one's own life comes to the fore.
The poem ends with the funeral of Hector, although in fact the fate of Troy has already been decided.
In terms of the plot (mythological sequence of events) "Odyssey" corresponds to the Iliad. But it tells not about military events, but about wanderings. The scientist calls it: "the epic poem of wanderings." In it, the story of a person supplants the story of events. The fate of Odysseus comes to the fore - the glorification of mind and willpower. The Odyssey corresponds to the mythology of late heroism. Dedicated to the last forty days of Odysseus's return to his homeland. The fact that the center is returning is evidenced by the very beginning.
Composition: more complicated than the Iliad. The events in the Iliad develop progressively and consistently.
In the Odyssey three storylines: 1) the Olympian gods. But Odysseus has a goal, and no one can stop him. Odysseus extricates himself from everything. 2) the actual return is a difficult adventure. 3) Ithaca: two motives: the actual events of matchmaking and the theme of Telemachus's search for his father. Some believe that Telemachy is a late insertion.
Basically, this is still a description of Odysseus' wanderings, and in retrospect. Events are defined by flashback: the impact of events from the past. For the first time, a female image appears, equal to the male one - Penelope, the many-wise - the worthy wife of Odysseus. Example: she is spinning a funeral covering.
The poem is more complicated not only in composition, but also in terms of psychological motivation for actions.
The Iliad is Leo Tolstoy's favorite work. The meaning of Homer's poems is inherent in moral values, they represent them to us. At this time, ideas about morality were being formed. Relationship with materials. Heroism and patriotism are not the main values \u200b\u200bthat Homer is interested in. The main thing is the problem of the meaning of human life, the problem of the values \u200b\u200bof human life. The theme of human duty: to the homeland, to the tribe, to the ancestors, to the dead. Life on a universal scale is presented as an evergreen grove. But death is not a reason for grief - it cannot be avoided, but it must be met with dignity. Ideas about human friendship are being formed. Odysseus and Diomedes, Achilles and Patroclus. They are all balanced. Problems - what is cowardice? Bravery? Loyalty to home, people, spouse? Faithful wives: Penelope, Andromache.
As mentioned earlier, the Homeric heroes collected the generalized features of the entire people they represented. The images of the warriors were diverse. Homer had no idea about character yet, but, nevertheless, he does not have two identical warriors. It was believed that a person is already born with certain qualities, and nothing can change during life. This view undergoes a change only in the works of Theophrastus, a student of Aristotle. The amazing moral integrity of Homeric man. They have no reflection or duality - this is in the spirit of Homeric time. Fate is a share. Therefore, there is no doom. The actions of the heroes are not associated with divine influence. But there is a law of double motivation for events. How are feelings born? The easiest way to explain this is by divine intervention Homer's Talent: the scene with Achilles and Priam.
Each warrior has the same set of qualities, but the images are unique. Each of the characters expresses one side of the national Greek spirit. There are types in the poem: elders, wives, etc. The central place is occupied by the image of Achilles. He is great, but mortal.
Homer wanted to portray the poetic apotheosis of heroic Greece. Heroism is Achilles' conscious choice. Achilles' epic prowess: brave, strong, fearless, war cry, fast run. To make the heroes different, the number of different qualities is different - an individual characteristic. Achilles has impulsiveness and immensity.
Homer's characteristic: he knows how to compose songs and sings them. The second strongest warrior is Ajax the Big. He has too much ambition. Achilles is quick-footed, Ajax is clumsy, slow. The third is Diomedes. The main thing is complete selflessness, therefore, Diomedes is granted victory over the gods. Epithets: Achilles and Odysseus have over 40. In the battle, Diomedes does not forget about the economy. The leaders of the campaign are depicted in contradiction with the epic laws. The authors of the epic write objectively. But Homer has many epithets for his favorite characters. The Atrides have few epithets. Diomedes reproaches Agamemnon, "Zeus did not give you valor." A different relationship to Nestor, Hector and Odysseus. Hector is one of Homer's favorite heroes, he is intelligent and peaceful. Hector and Odysseus do not rely on the gods, so Hector is inherent in fear, but this fear does not affect his actions, since Hector has epic valor, including epic shame. He feels responsibility towards the protected people.
The glorification of wisdom. Elders: Priam and Nestor. Nestor survived three generations of people for thirty years. New wisdom: Odyssey's intelligence. This is not an experience, but the flexibility of the mind. Odyssey is also distinguished: all heroes strive for immortality - it is offered to him twice, but he changes it to his homeland.
Homer gives us the first experience of comparative characterization.
- Canto 3 of the Iliad: Elena talks about the heroes. Menelaus and Odysseus are compared. The image of Elena in the Iliad is demonic. In the Odyssey, she is a housewife. It is not her appearance that is described, but the reaction of the elders to her. We know very little about her feelings. In the Odyssey it is different - there is nothing mysterious.
- - Features an epic outlook and style
First, the volume of epic poems is always significant. The volume does not depend on the desire of the author, but on the tasks set by the author, which in this case require a large volume. The second feature is multifunctionality. The epic in ancient society performed many functions. Entertaining is the last thing. An epic is a repository of wisdom, an educational function, examples of how to behave. An epic is a repository of information on history, it preserves the people's idea of \u200b\u200bhistory. Scientific functions, since it was in the epic poems that scientific information was transmitted: astronomy, geography, craft, medicine, everyday life. Last but not least, the entertainment function. All this is called epic syncretism.
Homeric poems always tell about the distant past. The Greek was pessimistic about the future. These poems are designed to capture the golden age.
- Monumentality of images of epic poems
The images are raised above ordinary people, they are almost monuments. All of them are more sublime, more beautiful, smarter than ordinary people - this is idealization. This is epic monumentality.
Epic materialism is associated with the task of describing everything in full. Homer fixes attention on the most common things: a stool, carnations. All things must have a color. Some believe that then the world was described in two colors - white and gold. But this was denied by Wilkelmann, he was engaged in architecture. In fact, there are many colors, and the statues are whitened by time. The statues were dressed, painted, decorated - everything was very bright. Even the titanomachy on the Parthenon was painted. In Homer's poems, everything is colored: the clothes of the goddesses, berries. The sea has more than 40 shades of color.
The objectivity of the tone of Homeric poems. The creators of the poems had to be extremely fair. Homer is biased only in epithets. For example, the description of Thersite. Tersite is completely devoid of epic prowess.
Epic Style: Three Laws
- 1) The law of retardation is a deliberate stop of action. First, retardation helps to expand the scope of your image. Retardation is a digression, an inserted poem. Tells about the past or expounds the views of the Greeks. The poems were performed orally, and during retardation, the author and performer tries to arouse additional attention to the situation: for example, a description of the rod of Agamemnon, a description of the shield of Achilles (this description shows how the Greeks imagined the universe). The marriage of Odysseus's grandfather. Odysseus always had one heir in the family. Odysseus is an angry, angry god.
- 2) The law of double motivation of events.
- 3) The law of chronological incompatibility of simultaneous events in time. The author of epic poems is naive, it seems to him that if he depicts two simultaneous events at the same time, it will be unnatural. A prime example: Priam and Elena are talking.
Epic poems abound repetitions... Repetitions account for up to a third of the text. There are several reasons: due to the orality of poems, repetitions are properties of oral folk art, folklore descriptions include constant formulas, most often these are natural phenomena, equipment of chariots, weapons of Greeks, Trojans - stencil formulas.
Decorating epithets, are firmly assigned to heroes, objects, gods (hair-eyed Hera, Zeus the cloud-exterminator). Gods as perfect creatures deserve the epithet "golden". Most of all, Aphrodite is associated with gold - the aesthetic sphere, for Hera it is statehood, domineering. The darkest is Zeus. All gods should be smart, omniscient. The Provider is only Zeus, although others too. Athena: intercessor, defender, irresistible, unbreakable. Ares: War insatiable, blood-stained human destroyer, wall breaker. Often epithets coalesce so much that they contradict the position: noble suitors in the house of Odysseus. The aegistus who kills Agamemnon is blameless. These are all folklore formulas.
Epic comparisons. Striving for clarity of the image, the poet seeks to translate each description into the language of comparison, which grows into an independent picture. All Homer's comparisons from the everyday sphere: battles for ships, the Greeks are pushing the Trojans, the Greeks fought as neighbors for borders in neighboring areas. Achilles' fury is compared to threshing, when oxen trample grain.
Homer often uses description and narration through enumeration. Does not describe the whole picture, but string together episodes - the murders of Diomedes.
Combination of fiction with details of realistic reality. The line between reality and fantasy is blurred: a description of the cyclops' cave. At first everything is very realistic, but then a terrible monster appears. The illusion of objectivity is created.
Poems written hexameter - six-foot dactyl. Moreover, the last foot is truncated. In the middle, a caesura is made - a pause that divides the verse into two hemistichs and gives it regularity. All ancient versification is based on a strictly ordered alternation of long and short syllables, and the quantitative ratio of stressed and unstressed syllables is 2: 1, but the stress is not force, but musical, based on raising and lowering the tone.
Main featuresearly epic style can be characterized as follows:
First is objectivity. The ancient epic style gives an objective picture of the world and life, without going deeply into the psychology of the characters and without chasing details and details of the image. For a strict epic artist, only that development of reality is important, which takes place outside and independently of his personal consciousness, of his personal views and assessments. It is only important that this event actually took place, yet the rest is only of secondary importance for the epic artist.
Surprisingly, everything depicted in the Homeric epic is interpreted as an objective reality. There is absolutely nothing fantastic, invented or invented here only because of the subjective whim of the poet. Even all gods and demons, all miraculous things are portrayed by Homer as if it really existed. An unperturbed narrative tone is characteristic of him for any fairy-tale plots. In a strict epic style, there are no inventions and fantasies.
Secondly, "Material" image of life... Instead of showing his own attitude to life, the epic artist focuses mainly on the outside of the events he depicts. Hence his constant love for visual, auditory and motor sensations, as a result of which one often only has to guess about the psychology of the heroes, but on the other hand, the outer side turns out to be depicted with the greatest love.
Thirdly, traditionality... The objective character of the epic depiction of life is accompanied in the strict epic by the consciousness of the constancy of the laws reigning in it. This is natural for the artist's objective approach to reality. Whoever approaches reality objectively is not limited to its random phenomena, but tries to penetrate into the depths of these phenomena in order to find out their regularities.
However, the strict epic artist likes to observe the constancy of life phenomena not only in the present, but also in the past, so that for him, in fact, there is not even a particularly deep difference between the present and the past. He predominantly depicts everything permanent, stable, age-old, obvious to everyone and recognized by everyone, previously recognized by everyone, ancient, old-fashioned and in the present obligatory for everyone. Without this fundamental tradition, the folk epic loses its strict folk style and ceases to be epic in the proper sense.
Fourth, monumentality. It goes without saying that all the above features of the strict epic style cannot but make it stately, slow, devoid of fuss, important, sedate. The wide coverage of the present and the past makes epic poetry sublime, solemn, far from the subjective whim of the poet, who considers himself an insignificant and insignificant phenomenon in comparison with the stately and national past. This deliberately exposed insignificance of the artist in front of the grandiose wide popular life turns his works into some kind of great monument of the past, which is why this whole feature of the strict epic style must be called monumentality.
Fifth, heroism... It is not difficult to show that people are also depicted in a special style in the epic if they are understood as carriers of all these general properties of the epic. A person turns out to be a hero because he is devoid of small egoistic traits, but he is always both internally and externally connected with the life of the people and the public cause. He can be a winner or a vanquished, strong or powerless, he can love or hate - in a word, possess various properties of a human person, but all this on one condition: he must, by his very essence, be in unity with national and tribal life. An epic hero is not at all one who is deprived of his personal psychology. But this psychology, at its core, should be of the whole people. This makes him the hero of the monumental epic.
And finally balanced calm... They always talked a lot about the tranquility of the epic, contrasting it with lyrical emotion. However, from the characteristics of the epic proposed above, it follows that epic tranquility is not at all the absence of great passions, some kind of indifferent attitude towards life. Epic calmness arises in a poet if he is a strict epic artist who wisely contemplates life after great catastrophes, after huge national events of the widest scale, after endless hardships and the greatest suffering, as well as after the greatest successes and victories. This wisdom stems from the fact that the epic artist knows about the constancy of the laws of nature and society. The death of individual individuals no longer bothers him, since he knows about the eternal cycle of nature and the eternal return of life, a change of generations, like a change of foliage on trees. Contemplating world events in their age-old development, he receives from this not only balanced tranquility, but also inner consolation.
Summing up the general features of the strict epic style, I must say that its the everlasting objectivity is distinguished by plastic traditional and monumental heroism, reflecting the eternal cycle and eternal return of the national or common tribal life.
Homeric poems were not just an artistic manifestation of the existence of the communal-clan system; they received their final form already during the period of its decomposition and almost on the very eve of the slave system. Therefore, Homer, as an artist, already knew the complexity and depth of individual life, and could not be an absolutely uninterested and indifferent chronicler of life. He manifested personal passions, matured political assessments, a protest arose against various social aspects of the life around him. Therefore, the style of Homeric epic, as well as its socio-historical basis, and its ideology are full of contradictions and are very far from that childish and primitive perception of life, which was often attributed by various researchers from the heights of European cultural development.
Homer's poems reflect centuries of national development and, in particular, not only the communal-clan formation, but also its decomposition and the development of private property and private initiative. The strict epic style of works of art could no longer remain at the level of its old severity, beginning to reflect the individual development of a person with new, much freer feelings and with the help of new, much more complex poetic techniques.
Homeric comparisons deserve special mention. They unfold before the listeners whole pictures, independent of the course of the story and far beyond the image that served as a reason for comparison. Thus, in the 12th book of the Iliad, the Achaeans and Trojans throw stones at each other (v. 278 et seq.):
Like snow, rushing, frequent flakes are falling,
In the wintertime, when the thunderer Kronion rises
From the sky to snow people, showing the power of arrows,
Having calmed the winds all, he pours uninterrupted snow,
The highest mountains and cliffs covering the tops,
And flowering steppes and fat plowmen of the cornfield:
Snow is falling on the shore and on the pier of the gray sea;
The waves, having come running, absorb it; but everything else
It covers, if Zeus's blizzard falls from above, -
So frequent stones flew from army to army.
Comparison - the traditional method of folk song, but in the Homeric epic it receives a special application and serves to introduce material that does not find a place for itself in the usual course of narration. This includes pictures of nature. The description of nature as a background for a story is still alien to the Iliad and is found only in an embryonic form in the Odyssey; but it is widely used in comparisons where sketches of the sea and mountains are given; forests, animals, etc. Comparisons from the life of human society are not uncommon, and it is very curious that the comparisons mention such features of everyday life and social relations that are removed from the narrative about the age of heroes. While the epic in general paints a picture of social well-being in heroic times, unrighteous judges appear in comparisons, a poor artisan widow, earning a meager food for her children by her labor. Comparisons are especially characteristic of the style of the Iliad; Odyssey uses them much less often.
14. Mythology and reality in Homer's Odyssey. Composition "Odyssey".
We went for minerals; had to conquer - his farm does not exist - is interested in the island of the Cyclops. Numerous elements of everyday life, very revealing. Mythology - everything else: Scylla and Charybdis, etc.
The desire to concentrate extensive material within the framework of a short action is observed in the Odyssey, but this material is not so much "heroic" as everyday and fabulous. The Odyssey's theme is the wanderings and adventures of the "cunning" Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, returning from a Trojan campaign; at this time, numerous suitors are wooing his faithful wife Penelope, and the son of Odysseus Telemachus goes in search of his father. The main plot of the "Odyssey" refers to the type of legends about the "return of the husband" widespread in world folklore: the husband, after long and wonderful wanderings, returns home to the moment when his wife is ready to marry another, and - peacefully or violently - upsets the new wedding. With this plot in the "Odyssey" is combined part of another plot, no less widespread among different peoples - about "a son who goes in search of his father"; the son, who was born in the absence of his father, goes to look for him, the father and son meet and, not knowing each other, engage in a battle, which ends tragically in some versions - the death of a father or son, in others - the reconciliation of the fighting. In the Greek legends about the Odysseus, this plot is presented in full, but the "Homeric" poem gives only part of the plot, not leading it to a fight between father and son.
The Odyssey is to a certain extent a continuation of the Iliad; the action of the poem is attributed already to the 10th year after the fall of Troy, but the stories of the characters mention those episodes, the time of which coincided with the period between the action of the Iliad and the action of the Odyssey. All the most important heroes of the Greek camp of the Iliad, living and dead, are also depicted in the Odyssey. Like the Iliad, the Odyssey was broken down by ancient scholars into 24 books.
The composition of the Odyssey is more difficult than the Iliad. The plot of the Iliad is presented in a linear sequence, in the Odyssey this sequence is shifted: the narrative starts from the middle of the action, and the listener learns about the previous events only later, from the story of Odysseus himself about his wanderings. The central role of the protagonist is put forward in the Odyssey more sharply than in the Iliad, where one of the organizing moments of the poem was the absence of Achilles, his indifference to the course of hostilities. In the Odyssey, only the first line of the story is determined by the absence of the hero (books. 1-4), showing the situation on Ithaca and the journey of Telemachus, and then attention is concentrated almost exclusively around Odysseus: the motive of the unrecognizability of the returning husband is used, as we have seen, in the same function that the absence of the hero in the Iliad, and meanwhile, the listener does not lose sight of Odysseus - and this also testifies to the improvement of the art of epic narration.
The Homeric epic thus presents a picture of a late clan society, which is already in the process of decay. Property stratification within the tribe has gone quite far - society is divided into "bad" and "best"; next to the tribal leader ("king") a hereditary nobility grows up, expanding its power at the expense of the "king" and the people. The above-mentioned episode with Fersit (p. 32) testifies to the emergence of social antagonism among the tribal society. The clan system, however, has not yet been broken, and slavery continues to maintain a patriarchal character, not forming the basis of production. The "Homeric" social structure corresponds in its main features to the state of Greece in the last centuries before the revolutions of the 7th - 6th centuries, which led to the final formation of class society and the creation of the state, although this correspondence is not complete: using the archaic material of legends, the epic retains a number of aspects belonging to the social system of an earlier time (features of the "Mycenaean" era, traces of matriarchy), and, on the other hand, not all modern phenomena were transferred by epic singers into the "heroic age".
These considerations are confirmed by the analysis of the "Homeric" material culture, which is especially interesting because it allows comparison with comparatively accurately dated material monuments. This culture turns out to be heterogeneous. The epic tradition has retained many features of the "Mycenaean" time, up to the bronze weapons of warriors, but the epic is already well acquainted with the use of iron, and the clothes and hairstyle of Homeric heroes reproduce oriental fashions that penetrated the 9th-8th centuries. to Asia Minor and the Greek regions. The majority of researchers therefore recognize the VIII-VII centuries. time of completion of Homeric poems. At the same time, the "Odyssey" is somewhat younger than the "Iliad" and in its everyday sketches more closely reflects the contemporary reality, the initial period of the development of Greek trade and navigation. The "cunning" and "long-suffering" Odysseus is a figure very different in mental and moral qualities from most of the heroes of the Iliad, and the second Homeric poem is to a certain extent already affected by the deepening of the moral moment in religious ideas, which we will later meet in Hesiod (pp. 61, 64) and in the Greek lyrics of the 7th - 6th centuries.
15. Comparative analysis of the image of Odysseus in the poems of Homer and in the drama of Sophocles ("Ayant", "Philoctetus").
"Philoctet"
The question of the relationship between personal interests and state interests. Odysseus and Neoptolemus, son of Alillus, are on about. Lemnos to force Philoctetes, wielding the miraculous bow and arrows of Hercules, to go to Troy. Philoctetus was bitten by a poisonous snake and left by the allies on the island, where he spent 10 years suffering from wounds. Meanwhile, the Achaeans learn that Troy can fall only with a voluntary participation in the war of Philoctetes. They almost convinced Philoctetes, but Neoptolemus, suffering from a forced lie, reveals the truth, and the hero refuses. The shadow of Hercules appears and tells him that until Troy falls, he will not be healed.
The characters are developed and contradictory. As a result of the internal struggle, the sincerity and spontaneity of Neoptolemus triumphed. Contrasting Odysseus and Neoptolemus. The idea is that a person finds his happiness not in satisfying personal interests, but in serving the motherland.
"Ajax"
The theme of this tragedy is the award of his armor after the death of Achilles not to Ajax, but to Odysseus. In a fit of madness, he slaughtered the cattle at night, thinking that they were Atris and Odysseus - this madness was sent by Athena. When he realized his shame, he killed himself. In a dispute with Agamemnon about the completion of the funeral rite, Odysseus offered his help to Tevkra, the brother of the unfortunate.
2 conflicts: between the power of God and the dependence of man on him and the conflict between the low and noble motives of man. The conflict is resolved in the dispute between the Atrides and Odysseus, in which noble feelings prevail.
Philoctet: "Philoctet" unfolds the antithesis between sly "wisdom" and honest frankness. The representative of the first principle is the classic "sly" Greek mythology Odysseus; the second is embodied in Neoptolemus, the young son of Achilles. The rivers, on the advice of Odysseus, landed him sleeping on Lemnos, where he lived in complete solitude, obtaining food for himself with onions. The tragedy is built on the collision of three characters: the firm and stubborn in achieving the set goal, but not hesitating in the choice of means, Odysseus is opposed, on the one hand, by the son of Achilles, open and direct like his father, but inexperienced and carried away by the thirst for glory, and on the other, - the equally straightforward Philoctetes, who harbors an irreconcilable hatred for the Greek army that once deceived him. The holder of the bow of Hercules cannot be taken by force; Odysseus expects to capture Philoctetes by fraudulent means, using for this purpose Neptolimus, who recently arrived at Troy and personally unknown to Philoctetes. The young man, who is disgusted with any deception, first succumbs to the crafty persuasions of Odysseus, who skillfully plays on his desire for glory, gains the trust of Philoctetes, and he, during a fit of illness, gives Neoptolemus a bow. Odyssey is given the features of a sophist. The main antithesis of the tragedy also has an antisophistic orientation, in which the superiority of "natural" good qualities over "wisdom" is emphasized.
In "Ajax" Odysseus is shown as a representative of reasonable behavior - a change in position over time, an increase in the conservatism of the position.
+ see ticket 11 about the Odyssey!
16. The motives of social utopia in Homer's Odyssey.
Escaped, thanks to the miraculous intervention of the goddess Leucothea, from the storm raised by Poseidon, Odysseus swims to the shore of Fr. The scherias, where happy people live - phaeacs, navigators, possessing fabulous ships, fast, "like light wings or thoughts," who do not need a rudder and understand the thoughts of their shipbuilders. The meeting of Odysseus on the shore with Nausicaa, the daughter of the Phaeacian king Alminoy, who came to the sea to wash clothes and play ball with the maids, is the content of the 6th book, rich in idyllic moments. Alkina, with his wife Areta, receives the wanderer in a luxurious palace (book 7) and arranges games and a feast in his honor, where the blind singer Demodok sings about the exploits of Odysseus and thus brings tears to the eyes of the guest (book 8). The picture of the happy life of the Feacs is very curious. There is reason to believe that, according to the original meaning of the myth, the Feaki are the shipbuilders of death, carriers to the realm of the dead, but this mythological meaning has already been forgotten in the Odyssey, and the shipbuilders of death have been replaced by the fabulous "fun-loving" people of seafarers leading a peaceful and luxuriant lifestyle, in which along with the features of the life of the trading cities of Ionia in the 8th-7th centuries, one can also see memories of the era of the power of Crete.
Theacias, richly gifting Odysseus, take him to Ithaca, and an angry Poseidon turns their ship into a cliff for this. From now on, the Faeacs will no longer carry pilgrims across the seas in their fast ships. The kingdom of the fairy tale ends.
Similar information.
Time and place of creation of the Iliad and Odyssey
All this points to the generic nature of Homeric society, which is on the verge of decay and transition to a slave system. In the poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" there is already property and social inequality, division into "best" and "bad"; there is already slavery, which, however, retains a patriarchal character: slaves are mainly shepherds and domestic servants, among whom there are privileged ones: such is Euriklea, Odysseus's nanny; such is the shepherd Eumey, who acts quite independently, rather as a friend of Odysseus than as his servant.
Trade in the society of the Iliad and the Odyssey already exists, although it still takes little interest in the author's thoughts.
Consequently, the creator of the poems (personified in the personality of the legendary Homer) is a representative of the Greek society of the VIII-VII centuries. BC e., which is on the verge of transition from tribal life to the state.
The material culture described in the Iliad and Odyssey convinces us of the same: the author is well acquainted with the use of iron, although, striving for archaization (especially in the Iliad), he points to the bronze weapons of warriors.
The poems Iliad and Odyssey are written mainly in the Ionian dialect, with an admixture of Aeolian forms. This means that the place of their creation was Ionia - the islands of the Aegean Sea or Asia Minor. The absence of references to the cities of Asia Minor in the poems testifies to the archaic aspirations of Homer, who glorifies ancient Troy.
Composition "Iliad" and "Odyssey"
Homer sympathizes in the poem "Iliad" with the warriors of both warring parties, but the aggressiveness and predatory aspirations of the Greeks cause him condemnation. In Book II of the Iliad, the poet puts speeches into the mouth of the warrior Thersite condemning the greed of the military leaders. Although the description of Thersite's appearance indicates Homer's desire to express his condemnation of his speeches, however, these speeches are very convincing and, in essence, are not refuted in the poem, which means that we can assume that they are in tune with the poet's thoughts. This is all the more probable because the reproaches thrown by Tersitus to Agamemnon are almost analogous to the grave accusations that Achilles has brought against him (v. 121 f.), And the fact that Homer sympathizes with Achilles' words is beyond doubt.
The condemnation in the Iliad of war, as we have seen, does not only sound in the mouth of Thersite. The valiant Achilles himself, intending to return to the army to avenge Patroclus, says:
"Oh, may the enmity perish from the gods and from mortals, and with it
Hateful anger, which drives the wise into a frenzy! "
(Ill., Book XVIII, p. 107-108).
It is obvious that if the glorification of war and revenge were the goal of Homer, then the action of the Iliad would have ended with the assassination of Hector, as was the case in one of the “cyclical” poems. But for Homer it is not the triumph of Achilles' victory that is important, but the moral resolution of his anger.
Life in the presentation of the poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" is so attractive that Achilles, met by Odysseus in the kingdom of the dead, says that he would prefer the hard life of a day laborer to reign over the souls of the dead in the underworld.
At the same time, when it is necessary to act for the glory of the motherland or for the sake of loved ones, the heroes of Homer despise death. Achilles, realizing that he was wrong about avoiding fighting, says:
"Idle, I sit before the courts, the earth is a useless burden"
(Ill., Book XVIII, p. 104).
Homer's humanism, compassion for human grief, admiration for the inner dignity of man, courage, loyalty to patriotic duty and mutual affection of people reaches the brightest expression in the scene of Hector's farewell to Andromache (Ill., Book VI, p. 390-496).
Artistic features of the Iliad and Odyssey
The images of Homer's heroes are to some extent static, that is, their characters are illuminated somewhat one-sided and remain unchanged from the beginning to the end of the action of the poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey", although each character has his own face, different from others: resourcefulness is emphasized in the Odyssey mind, in Agamemnon - arrogance and lust for power, in Paris - effeminacy, in Elena - beauty, in Penelope - the wisdom and constancy of his wife, in Hector - the courage of the defender of his city and the mood of doom, since both he and his father must perish, and his son, and Troy herself.
One-sidedness in the portrayal of heroes is due to the fact that most of them appear before us only in one situation - in battle, where all the features of their characters cannot manifest themselves. Achilles is a certain exception, since he is shown in a relationship with a friend, and in a battle with an enemy, and in a quarrel with Agamemnon, and in a conversation with Elder Priam, and in other situations.
As for the development of character, it is still inaccessible to the Iliad and Odyssey, and in general to the literature of the pre-classical period of Ancient Greece. We find attempts at such an image only at the end of the 5th century. BC e. in the tragedies of Euripides.
As for the depiction of the psychology of the heroes of the Iliad and the Odyssey, their inner impulses, we learn about them from their behavior and from their words; in addition, Homer uses a very peculiar technique to depict the movements of the soul: the intervention of the gods. For example, in Book I of the Iliad, when Achilles, unable to endure the insult, takes out his sword to attack Agamemnon, someone from behind suddenly grabs him by the hair. Looking around, he sees Athena, the patroness of tracks, who does not allow murder.
The detail and detail of descriptions characteristic of the Iliad and The Odyssey are especially manifested in such a frequently used poetic device as comparison: Homeric comparisons are sometimes so expanded that they turn into independent stories, as it were, divorced from the main narrative. The material for comparison in poems is most often natural phenomena: flora and fauna, wind, rain, snow, etc.:
“He rushed like a city dweller, hungry for a long
Meat and blood, which, striving with a brave soul,
He wants to kill the sheep, to break into their enclosure;
And although he finds rural shepherds before the fence,
With vigorous dogs and spears guarding their flock,
He, having not known before, does not think of fleeing from the fence;
Hiding in the yard, kidnaps a sheep, or himself under attack
The first falls, pierced by a spear from a mighty hand.
So the soul of Sarpedon, who was like a god, was impelled "
(Ill., Book. XII, p. 299-307).
Sometimes epic comparisons of the Iliad and Odyssey poems are intended to create an effect retardation, that is, slowing down the course of the story by means of artistic retreat and distracting the attention of the audience from the main topic.
The Iliad and the Odyssey are related to folklore and hyperbole: in the XII Book of the Iliad, Hector, attacking the gate, throws a stone at it that even two strongest husbands would hardly lift with levers. The voice of Achilles running to rescue Patroclus' body sounds like a brass trumpet, etc.
The so-called epic repetitions also testify to the song-folk origin of Homer's poems: individual verses are repeated in full or with slight deviations, and there are 9253 such verses in the Iliad and Odyssey; thus, they constitute a third of the entire epic. Repetitions are widely used in oral folk art because they make it easier for the singer to improvise. At the same time, repetitions are moments of relaxation and weakening of attention for the listeners. Repetitions also make it easier to hear what is heard. For example, a verse from the Odyssey:
"A young woman rose from the darkness with purple fingers Eos"
(translated by V.A.Zhukovsky).
turned the attention of the rhapsode's audience to the events of the next day, signifying that it was morning.
The picture of the fall of a warrior on the battlefield, often repeated in the Iliad, often translates into the formula of a tree with difficulty felled by lumberjacks:
"He fell like an oak or a silver-leaved poplar falls."
(translated by N. Gnedich).
Sometimes the verbal formula is designed to evoke the idea of \u200b\u200bthunder that occurs when a body dressed in metal armor falls:
"With a noise he fell to the ground, and thundered on the dead armor"
(translated by N. Gnedich).
When the gods in Homer's poems argue among themselves, it happens that one says to the other:
"What words have you escaped from the fence of your teeth!"
(translated by N. Gnedich).
The narrative is epically dispassionate: there are no signs of Homer's personal interest; this gives the impression of objectivity in the presentation of events.
The abundance of everyday details in the Iliad and Odyssey creates the impression of the realism of the described paintings, but this is the so-called spontaneous, primitive realism.
The above quotes from the Iliad and Odyssey poems can give an idea of \u200b\u200bthe sound of the hexameter, a poetic meter that lends a somewhat elevated solemn style to the epic narrative.
Translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey into Russian
In Russia, interest in Homer began to manifest itself little by little simultaneously with the assimilation of Byzantine culture and especially increased in the 18th century, in the era of Russian classicism.
The first translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey into Russian appeared at the time of Catherine II: they were either prosaic translations, or poetic, but not hexametric. In 1811, the first six books of the Iliad were published, translated by E. Kostrov in Alexandrian verse, which was considered an obligatory form of epic in the poetics of French classicism, which dominated Russian literature at that time.
The complete translation of the Iliad into Russian in the size of the original was made by NI Gnedich (1829), the Odyssey - by VA Zhukovsky (1849).
Gnedich managed to convey both the heroic character of Homer's narration and some of his humor, but his translation is replete with Slavicisms, so by the end of the 19th century. he began to seem too archaic. Therefore, experiments in translating the Iliad were resumed; in 1896 a new translation of this poem was published, made by N. I. Minsky on the basis of a more modern Russian language, and in 1949 - a translation by V. V. Veresaev, in an even more simplified language.
Before the epic, myths were created, as well as poetic forms associated with religious and everyday practice - trenos, enkomy, labor song, etc.
The historical basis of the poem "Iliad"
The Trojan War has been distant from us for at least 3 millennia, but this is a recognized historical fact. The union of the Achaean kings, headed by the ruler of Mycenae, Agamemnon, opposed the Trojan tribal (apparently, the Thracian-Anatolian union).
There are two camps in the poem: the mainland Greeks are called achaeans, Danai, Argives (Argos). Trojans - ilions, Dardanians: Il is the great-grandson of Dardanus (Trojan Aeolians).
The place of the great massacre is the very junction of Europe and Asia. The theme of any war is bleak, but wars fill the foreseeable history of mankind. (The ancient game of war and love). One of the first is the Trojan, the most famous in the European literary tradition. She is the main theme of the earliest songs performed in ancient Greece by folk singers - aedami.Homer's poems, based on the memories of her, laid the foundation for the entire European artistic culture.
For the excavations carried out by Schliemann, see the book: Stoll Heinrich Alexander. Heinrich Schliemann: The Dream of Three. - M .: Mol.gvardiya, 1991 .-- 432 p. HEINRICH Schliemann (1822-1890). Excavations were carried out in the 70-80s. 19th century.
“... Schliemann will forever remain the man who found Troy and gave us a whole millennium of Greek history, or, more precisely, the history of mankind. Schliemann opened a millennium of Greek history and made even stones speak. He tore out from the bowels of the earth what she had kept and hidden from time immemorial.
“The night of oblivion fell over this hill, and only the frogs croaked in the swamps of Scamandra, and from time to time the creak of a Turkish cart could be heard from afar. And now, more than three thousand years after the death of Troy, there is a thin fifty-year-old man who has no other weapon than his beloved Homer and blind faith in him, stands and looks at the Hissarlik hill. His eyes drill into the ground, like the eyes of a sculptor - a block of marble. As he sees a figure hidden in the stone, which is just waiting for the chisel to free her, so Schliemann sees deep in the bowels of the hill the walls of Troy, which had been waiting for him for three thousand years ”(p. 227).
“Hisarlik has always been the place where buildings were erected; after the destruction of Troy for one and a half thousand years, one city after another was built on the ruins of the previous one. ”(G. Shtol).
Schliemann discovered Troy (1876) and a culture older than the culture of Homeric Greece. Homer writes about the past - this is the Mycenaean culture, which replaced the Cretan one. Schliemann's discovery - the culture of Greece began not with Homer, but with the 2nd millennium BC. The early period of Greek history is the Mycenaean era of the 15th-12th centuries. BC.
N. Florensov: “A special relation to Homer's poems is also in the fact that they are of great importance for historical science, since belong to the transitional era between the highly developed communal clan and the slave system that originated in its depths. Reading the poems, we find ourselves, as it were, witnesses of a great milestone in the history of the material culture of mankind - the close approaching change of the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. "
Homer's world is woven from several centuries. War of Troy - 13th century; song about her - 8th century. The Iliad is not a historical record, but a legendary and mythological poem.
Mythological basis ... The plots of the Iliad and the Odyssey are taken from the Trojan cycle of myths. The collection of Greek troops for the campaign against Troy confirms separatism and panhellenicism as tendencies of Greek life. Interpolis communication is aimed at supporting common Greek traditions (sports games, oracles, etc.)
Trojan cycle... Peleus, son of Eacus, marries Thetis, the sea goddess. Wedding. Eris. Apple of discord. The judgment of Paris (Alexander). Return of Paris to Troy. His trip to Sparta. The abduction of Helena, the wife of Menelaus (He and his brother Agamemnon - Atrias, children of Atreus, - Tiestes - Pelops - Tantalus). Gathering the troops of the Greeks. Swimming. The harbor in Aulis - the serpent eats 9 birds, Calchas explains - 10 years of war are ahead. Odysseus jumps onto the shield - Protesilai dies. Siege. Trojan horse.
The Trojan War was the main canvas for the earliest, still pre-literate folk poetry, which played a significant role in the preservation and dissemination of mythology. Aed- singer, performer of heroic legends, improviser. Rhapsode - Song Stitcher.
Psychological component (psychology of military valor). N. Florensov: "Life in the best natural conditions of the Mediterranean with an abundance of gifts of land and sea, full-bloodedness, health of mind and body made the ancient Greeks passionate consumers of life's blessings, and the highest of them - the possession of beautiful women, which they could not fail to attribute also to the bliss of their gods." The battle for a woman is the central motive of the ancient Indian epic "Mahabharata". The ancient game of war and love, and the pronounced erotic nature of the action demanded a bloody frenzy. According to N. Florensov, a sensual background of military valor is revealed, exciting going beyond one's own egoism, into an alarming atmosphere of risk to life; deep sympathy at the sight of the valor of a comrade in arms, rapture, drawn from loyalty and dedication. It is an experience that aspires to a noble image of human perfection, akin to the Greek Kalokagatya, an intense yearning for a wonderful life that so strongly inspired the subsequent centuries. But at the same time there is also a mask behind which there is a world of greed and violence.
Transformation of the myth. The myths about the Trojan War, processed in the form of an epic, are mythologized historical legends. At the junction of myth and historical tradition (historical tradition competes with myth), a sacred history of the type of biblical narratives is formed. Homer is a kind of Bible of the ancient Greeks, in his poems historical memories are mythologized and sacralized. Legends reproduce mythological schemes, attaching them to historical events. Legends are more sacralized, tend to portray "miracles" and "fantasy". An epic background filled with gods. But at the same time, Homer has a classic stage in the history of the epic - military strength and courage, a fierce heroic character completely overshadow witchcraft and magic. The mythical early time is transformed into the glorious era of the early powerful statehood.
Homer united the layers of mythological and historical life in one whole.
The plot of the Iliad: the events of the 10th year of the siege of Troy (51 days), the presentation does not cover the last events of the war and ends with the death and burial of the main Trojan hero Hector.
The content is centered around the wrath of Achilles. (Boileau: "Do not accumulate without a harmony of the Achilles, / only Achilles himself is that terrible anger / Homer architvir vip to the brim") Sometimes there are digressions, as a listing of the forces of the Achaeans and Trojans "List of ships"... Homer: “I can neither name nor count all the rank and file fighters / If I had ten languages \u200b\u200band ten larynxes / If I had a not fading voice and copper Persians”. Osip Mandelstam: “Insomnia. Homer. Tight sails. I read half of the list of ships ”); as a characteristic of the main characters of the Achaean army, put into the mouth of Elena - "Look from the wall" (canto 3). Battle scenes with the participation of individual heroes and war councils prevail. Exposition - pestilence in the Achaean camp. Tie - quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon, climax - death of Patroclus (canto 16); denouement - the revenge of Achilles and the burial of heroes (22 - death of Hector; 23-24 - funeral). Hero type. Epic - about aristocracy (tribal aristocracy - Basileus); this high status is associated with the maximum of self-realization, which captivates listeners, sublimates their own aspirations). The main character, Achilles, is a whole and noble nature, the personification of that military valor, which serves as the ideological basis of the entire poem. Achilles and Hector - "the sparkling luminaries of the Iliad" (A. Bonnard). Nestor is an eternal type of a wise old man who remembers the years of his youth and gives instructions. The aged Trojan King Priam is a type of patriarch surrounded by a large family.
The plot of the "Odyssey" (fairy-tale everyday poem) - the last 40 days of Odysseus's 10-year wandering on the way back from Troy to Ithaca. (War and travel are archetypal plots). It is connected with the Iliad chronologically (in mythological time and time of creation). Canto 1-4 is associated with the son of Odysseus Telemachus - the type of ideal youth, ephebe. 5th canto - collection of gods ( repeat of the opening scene of the 1st song ) ... Odysseus's story at a feast at the Feaca king Alkinoy (cantos 9-12) gives an idea of \u200b\u200ball the previous misadventures of the hero (Kikons - lotophages - cyclops - Aeolus - Laestrigones - Kirk-Circe - the kingdom of Hades - Kirk - Sirens - Scylla and Charybdis - bulls of Helios ( island Trinakria) - Calypso - Feaki - Ithaca). Canto 24 - the meeting of Odysseus with Father Laertes and the uprising of the relatives of the murdered suitors.
comparison is a traditional technique of a folk song, Homer serves to introduce material that does not find place in the usual course of narration: pictures of nature as a background are still early, therefore, in comparisons. + comparisons from the life of human society + draws a picture of the social. prosperity in heroic times, unrighteous judges are manifested in comparisons, the poor widow is a craftsman, earning a meager food for children.
comparisons reveal the picture: the stubborn battle of two armies at the fence of the Greek camp is depicted as a clash of neighbors arguing over the border on the communal field. The roar of the blows of spears and swords is compared to the sound of axes of woodcutters. The fight for the possession of the dead body is likened to a dispute between two lions over a dead doe. The blaze of a weapon is compared to the blaze of a distant fire; movement of warriors, settling in places - with a stop for rest of flocks of migratory birds; the number of troops is compared to swarms of flies; the actions of the leaders deploying the detachments - with the fussiness of shepherds, separating their animals from strangers; finally, King Agamemnon is likened in appearance to the gods - Zeus and Poseidon, and when he steps ahead of the army - to a mighty bull walking in front of the herd. In all these comparisons, revealing the poet's subtle observation, the reality surrounding him comes to life before us.
There are about 182 large, elaborated comparisons in the Iliad, and about 48 in the Odyssey.
Homer's comparisons often contain detailed pictures of nature, and pictures of nature are used here to explain and interpret human life. Considering these comparisons, the unity of style and worldview is assumed. From the point of view of the worldview, Homeric comparisons proceed from the direct statement of natural life; from the point of view of style, they are prototypes that explain human life and the principle of its interpretation. Hence it becomes clear why the beautiful in nature has long been in such, at first glance, strange form - in the form of comparisons.
and)Meteorological comparisons . Homer often compares military actions with phenomena. meteorologicaland, above all, with winds, clouds, storm, thunderstorm and generally bad weather. Examples of
a) meteorological comparisons: military operations are compared with meteorological phenomena (winds, clouds, storm, thunderstorm, generally bad weather)
The same ... as the winds Boreas and Zephyr, which blow from Thrace far away;
Immediately they swoop down, and black waves are mountains
Go up ...
Likewise, the spirit was torn in the chest of the copper-plated Achaeans.
Examples of brief comparisons are the following: the hero is compared to a storm and a downpour; the movement of horses - with the winds; dust - with clouds or stormy wind; Odysseus's speech - with a blizzard; weapons - with lightning, etc.
b)Comparisons with fire. The second large section of Homeric comparisons relates to the sphere of fire, with Homer especially fond of fire. in move,somewhere on the mountainor in the forest.Examples of
As on the tops of the mountain, a fighter-fire burns
The forest is infinitely great and shines with a glow far away,
So in the passing troops from the wonderfully sparkling copper
The glittering light reached the sky through the ether.
at)Comparisons with the water element . Let's read a few comparisons from the third area, beloved by Homer. This is the sphere water elementand especially the sea. Strong, energetic, very dynamic images. Examples of
The people stood up, shook like huge waves of the sea
Pontus Icarus ...
d)Homer's comparisons are numerous and varied with light phenomena . So Athena and Diomedes appear like stars. Achilles appears in the form of an all-bright autumn star, and Achilles's spear also shines like an evening star. There are comparisons from the field of different phenomena on earth surface . Such is the splendid comparison of Hector with a mountain collapse, with the fall of a huge stone from a cliff due to erosion.
e) comparisons with the earth's surface: Hector \u003d rockfall.
f) comparisons with plants: (battle \u003d harvest or destruction of the crop).
In Liter it was noted more than once: Homer knows almost no flowers. But there are many comparisons with trees: Hector falls into dust like an oak under a lightning strike.
Bottom line: there is no animation of nature, pictures of nature simply consist of a number of cases of natural life (forest fire, storm raid).
The Odyssey lives in a more subjective spirit \u003d\u003e few comparisons, they are less developed (the comparison is too objectified, too real).
Homer sought to create a large-scale epic work, cat. impossible without comparisons, no matter how accurately he describes the scenes.
Finally, very numerous, rich and luxurious comparisons from animal world ... There are horses, dogs, donkeys, boars, wolves, eagles, but above all - lions, etc. Zoomorphic comparisons are prominent in Homer; it is in these comparisons that the spontaneous demonic character, which is the remnant of ancient demonology, is most manifested. These comparisons most often depict the attack of a predatory and strong beast on the meek and weak, tearing and devouring the latter. This picture is so common and constant in Homer that it becomes almost a scheme, a scheme sometimes even in lexical and phraseological terms. If in the field of inanimate nature the main role is played by catastrophic phenomena, then in the field of zoomorphic comparisons the main role belongs to predatory attack and greedy devouring.
In Il. Diomedes, engaging in battle with the Trojans, is compared to a lion that bursts into a peaceful flock of sheep and is slightly wounded by a shepherd, becomes furious from this even more, forces the shepherd to hide and covers the whole earth with the corpses of torn sheep.
14. Mythology and reality in Homer's "Odyssey" ._Composition "Odyssey".
Odyssey - the era of the formation of the ancient societies of the economic formation, expresses the ideology of the ancient Ionian military landowner. aristocracy reborn into a merchant-slavery. plutocracy. therefore in Od. less cultural life, more military-feudal ideology, the time of the fall of the tsarist power in the Greek community and the beginning of the development of trade and navigation
Odysseus is already another hero, not the hero of the illiad, interest in foreign lands, in the everyday life of small people is expanding (they went for minerals, had to win over, they do not have their own farm, they are interested in the wasp of the Cyclops, elements of life, very indicative).
There are many mythological motives. The gods are constantly involved in the fate of Odysseus. Mythology "O." begins with the advice of the gods. Athena convinces Zeus that it is necessary to free Od. Zeus talks about Poseidon's anger. Hermes, on the orders of Athena, flies to free Od.ya. Throughout the entire poem Athena is the patron of Od. She accompanies him everywhere, turning into a swallow. A. appears in the form of an elder to Telemachus, prompting him to equip an expedition to search for his father and sends a fair wind. Athena, in the guise of the daughter of Diamant, appears to Nausicae and asks her to go to wash at the seashore. The goddess instills (divine suggestion) Nausicae courage. Athena extends the night for O. and Penelope. Hermes saves O. from Kirk's spell. In addition, the Odyssey contains various mythological creatures: cyclops, sirens, Skilla, Charybdis, etc.
Composition: Harder than the Iliad. In the Iliad, the plot is in a linear sequence. In the Odyssey, the narration begins in the middle of the action, and the reader learns about the previous events only later from the stories of Odysseus. The central role of the protagonist is put forward more sharply than in the Iliad, where Achilles was indifferent to military actions. Almost all episodes of Odyssey's wanderings have fabulous parallels. The very first-person narration is characteristic of this genre. There is a "song" theory, on the basis of which the Odyssey was created from stitching several songs. Much more widespread is the theory of Kirchhoff - Odysseus - the processing of "small epics" (Telemachy, wanderings, the return of Odysseus, etc.). But it breaks the plot of the return of the husband to pieces, the integrity of which is attested by other stories in folklore. There is also an analytical theory - the plot of the Odyssey is based on one or several “primordialis”, but it is very difficult to reconstruct the course of action of these primitives. Opposed to this theory is the unitary theory - Odyssey, as an integral work of one author who used many different sources.
15. Comparative analysis of the image of Odysseus in the poems of Homer and in the drama of Sophocles ("Ayant", _ "Philoctetus").
In Homer: Odysseus is predominantly a sufferer. ("Long-suffering") Very cunning and calculating (he chooses a ram from a cave under the belly, swims past the sirens). Patriot, dearly loves his homeland and his wife Penelope. (I spent nights with Calypso, and during the day I cried on the shore about my homeland). The prudent owner (arriving at Ithaca, begins to count the gifts of the feacs). At the same time, it is extremely cruel: he severely and ruthlessly deals with the suitors in his house (the sacrificer Leod begs for mercy, but he also kills him), cruelly deals with the unfaithful servants.
As a result: the deepest patriot, the bravest warrior, the sufferer, the diplomat, the merchant, the entrepreneur, the dodgy adventurer, the womanizer
"Philoctetus": “Slyly” wise, firm and persistent in achieving the goal, but not shy in choosing the means. Odyssey is given the features of a sophist. AT "Ajax" Odysseus is bred as a representative of intelligent behavior.
Ajax. The theme of this tragedy is the award of his armor after the death of Achilles not to Ajax, but to Odysseus. In a fit of madness, he slaughtered the cattle at night, thinking that they were Atris and Odysseus - this madness was sent by Athena. When he realized his shame, he killed himself. In a dispute with Agamemnon about the completion of the funeral rite, Odysseus offered his help to Tevkra, the brother of the unfortunate. 2 conflicts: between the power of God and the dependence of man on him and the conflict between the low and noble motives of man. The conflict is resolved in the dispute between the Atrides and Odysseus, in which noble feelings prevail.
Philoctet: "Philoctet" unfolds the antithesis between sly "wisdom" and honest frankness. The representative of the first principle is the classic "sly" Greek mythology Odysseus; the second is embodied in Neoptolemus, the young son of Achilles. rivers, on the advice of Odysseus, dropped him sleeping on Lemnos, where he lived in complete solitude, obtaining food for himself with onions. The tragedy is built on the collision of three characters: the firm and stubborn in achieving the set goal, but not hesitating in the choice of means, Odysseus is opposed, on the one hand, by the son of Achilles, open and direct like his father, but inexperienced and carried away by the thirst for glory, and on the other, - the equally straightforward Philoctetes, who harbors an irreconcilable hatred for the Greek army that once deceived him. The holder of the bow of Hercules cannot be taken by force; Odysseus expects to capture Philoctetes by fraudulent means, using for this purpose Neoptolemus, who recently arrived near Troy and personally unknown to Philoctetes. The young man, who is disgusted with any deception, first succumbs to the crafty persuasions of Odysseus, who skillfully plays on his desire for glory, gains the trust of Philoctetes, and he, during a fit of illness, gives Neoptolemus a bow. Odyssey is given the features of a sophist. The main antithesis of the tragedy also has an antisophistic orientation, in which the superiority of "natural" good qualities over "wisdom" is emphasized.
In "Ajax" Odysseus is shown as a representative of reasonable behavior - a change in position over time, an increase in the conservatism of the position.
16. The motives of social utopia in Homer's Odyssey.
The realm of the fabulous and the miraculous. In book 5, the gods send Hermes to Calypso (an island that resembles Greek ideas about death.) Calypso reluctantly lets him go, Odysseus sets off by sea on a raft. Escaped, thanks to the miraculous intervention of the goddess Leucothea, from the storm raised by Poseidon, Odysseus swims to the shore of Fr. The scherias, where happy people live - phaeacs, navigators, possessing fabulous ships, fast, "like light wings or thoughts," who do not need a rudder and understand the thoughts of their shipbuilders.
The picture of the happy life of the Feacs is very curious. There is reason to believe that, according to the original meaning of the myth, the Feaki are the shipbuilders of death, carriers to the realm of the dead, but this mythological meaning has already been forgotten in the Odyssey, and the shipbuilders of death have been replaced by the fabulous "fun-loving" people of seafarers leading a peaceful and luxuriant lifestyle, in which along with the features of the life of the trading cities of Ionia in the 8th-7th centuries, one can also see memories of the era of the power of Crete.
(According to Losev):
The image of the Faeaks contains the ancient rudiments of a human society, primarily matriarchy. The actual ruler of the Theacs is not the king of Alkina, but his wife Aretha,
Who is, moreover, his own niece and whom the people revered "as a god." With a request for shelter, Odysseus turns not to Alkino, but to Arete, and Odysseus herself warns about this, Nausicaa and even Athena. Being smart and affectionate, she resolves disputes even between husbands. All the gifts collected for Odysseus are given to her. She considers Odysseus to be her guest personally. She cannot be opposed in anything, and in comparison with her, Alkina is the executive branch. While bidding farewell to the pheacas, Odysseus gives a goblet of wine not to Alkino, but again to Arete and wishes her to be happy with her people, children and king Alkino.
Formally, the ruler of the country is the king Alkina, and he is also revered "as a god", however, in formal terms, the power of Alkinoy is extremely limited, since he has a large council of elders who even dispose of him. These elders are called "chiefs" and "counselors" all the time and even "kings-sceptrians." Alkinoy directly says that his island is ruled by 12 kings, and he himself is the 13th.
Theacias are in direct and immediate communication with the gods, and the gods appear to them in their own form. When the phaeacs bring them hecatombs, the gods sit down to feast with them.
Moving their ships with oars, the Pheacs still give direction to them solely by their thoughts; they mentally order their ships to move in one direction or another, and they move. In addition, Alkinoy himself points to a very great delicacy, pampering and constant luxury:
We love with all our heart feasts, round dance dances, kifara,
Hot tubs, change of clothes and soft bed.
There is something like taxes from the population in favor of the king. When Alkina is going to generously reward Odysseus, he proposes to do so by collecting gifts from the people. This also includes Aretha's allusion to the theft of the Faeaks, when she advises Odysseus on the ship to tie the chest with gifts tightly, which he did not fail to do right away. Thieves cannot be in a tribal community, where everyone is their own.