Cultural Activity Report 2

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THINKING AHEAD

4.1 Compare and contrast the Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean cultures.

4.2 Define the formal features of the Homeric epic, and compare and contrast the Iliad and the Odyssey.

4.3 Discuss the ways in which the values of the Greek polis shaped Greek culture.

4.4 Describe the rise of democracy in Athens.

T he Aegean Sea, in the eastern Mediterranean, is filled with islands. Here, beginning in about 3000 bce, sea- faring cultures took hold. So many were the islands,

and so close to one another, that navigators were always within sight of land. In the natural harbors where seafar- ers came ashore, port communities developed and trade began to flourish. A house from approximately 1650 bce was excavated at Akrotiri on Thera, one of these islands. The Miniature Ship Fresco, a frieze that extended across the top of at least three walls in a second-story room, suggests a prosperous, seafaring community engaged in a celebration of the sea (Fig. 4.1). People lounge on terraces and rooftops as boats glide by, accompanied by leaping dolphins.

THE CULTURES OF THE AEGEAN

How do the Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean cultures differ?

The later Greeks thought of the Bronze Age Aegean peo- ples as their ancestors—particularly those who inhabited the islands of the Cyclades, the island of Crete, and Myce- nae, on the Peloponnese—and considered their activities and culture part of their own prehistory. They even had a word for the way they knew them—archaiologia, “know- ing the past.” They did not practice archeology as we do today, excavating ancient sites and scientifically analyzing

The Aegean World and the Rise of Greece Trade, War, and Victory4

Fig. 4.1 (left and above) Miniature Ship Fresco (detail and larger view from the left section), from Room 5, West House, Akrotiri, Thera. Before 1623 bce. Height 145⁄16”. National Archeological Museum, Athens. The total length of this fresco is over 24 feet. Harbors such as this one provided shelter to traders who sailed between the islands of the Aegean Sea as early as 3000 bce.

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98 PART ONE The Ancient World and the Classical Past

the artifacts discovered there. Rather, they learned of their past through legends passed down, at first orally and then in writing, from generation to generation. Interestingly, the modern practice of archeology has confirmed much of what was legendary to the Greeks.

The Cyclades The Cyclades are a group of more than 100 islands in the Aegean Sea between mainland Greece and the island of Crete (Map 4.1). They form a roughly circular shape, giv- ing them their name, from the Greek word kyklos, “circle” (also the origin of our word “cycle”). No written records of the early Cycladic people remain, although archeologists have found a good deal of art in and around hillside burial chambers. Marble was abundant in the islands, especially on Naxos and Paros, and these figures were carved with obsidian scrapers—abundant in these volcanic islands— and then polished with crushed emery, mined on Naxos. The most famous of these artifacts are marble figurines in a highly simplified and abstract style that appeals to the modern eye (Fig. 4.2). In fact, Cycladic figurines have deeply influenced modern sculptors. The Cycladic figures originally looked quite different because they were painted. Most of the figurines depict females, but male figures, including seated harpists and acrobats, also exist. The figu- rines range in height from a few inches to life-size, but ana- tomical detail in all of them is reduced to essentials. With their toes pointed down, their heads tilted back, and their arms crossed across their chests, the fully extended figures are corpselike. Their function remains unknown, but since most of these figures were found in graves, it seems likely that they were created for a mortuary purpose.

By about 2200 bce, trade with the larger island of Crete to the south brought the Cyclades into Crete’s political orbit and radically altered Cycladic life. Evidence of this influence survives in the form of wall paintings discovered

in 1967 on the island of Thera (also commonly known as Santorini), at Akrotiri, a community that had been buried beneath one of the largest volcanic eruptions in the last 10,000 years. About 7 cubic miles of magma spewed forth, and the ash cloud that resulted during the first phase of the eruption was about 23 miles high. The enormous size of the eruption caused the volcano at the center of Thera to collapse, producing a caldera, a large basin or depression that filled with seawater. The island of Thera is actually the eastern rim of the original volcano (small volcanoes are still active in the center of Thera’s crescent sea).

The eruption was so great that it left evidence world- wide—in the stunted growth of tree rings as far away as Ire- land and California, and in ash taken from ice core samples in Greenland. With this evidence, scientists have dated the eruption to 1623 bce. In burying the city of Akrotiri, it also preserved it. Not only were the homes of Akrotiri elaborately decorated—with mural paintings such as the Miniature Ship Fresco (see Fig. 4.1), made with water-based

50 km

50 miles

ATTICA

Melos

Thera

Naxos ParosSeriphos

Aegina

Phylakopi

Samos Andros

Tenos Icaria

Mykonos C Y C L A D E S

CosAmorgos

Crete Thera

Hagia Triada Phaistos

Knossos

Akrotiri

Phira

Corinth Athens

Orchomenos

Sparta

Tiryns

Vapheio Pylos

Mycenae

M e d i t e r r a n e a n S e a

C r e t a n S e a

Map 4.1 Crete, the Cyclades, and the island of Thera. Thera lies just north of Crete. Evidence suggests Cretan influence was felt here by about 2000 bce.

Fig. 4.2 Figurine of a woman from the Cyclades. ca. 2400–2100 bce. Marble, height 17". Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen, Berlin. Larger examples of such figurines may have been objects of worship.

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pigments on wet plaster—but residents also enjoyed a level of personal hygiene unknown elsewhere in Western culture until Roman times. Clay pipes led from interior toilets and baths to sewers built under winding, paved streets. Straw reinforced the walls of their homes, protecting them against earthquakes and insulating them from the heat of the Med- iterranean sun.

Minoan Culture in Crete Just to the south of the Cyclades lies Crete, the largest of the Aegean islands. Bronze Age civilization developed there as early as 3000 bce. Trade routes from Crete estab- lished communication with such diverse areas as Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Scandinavia, from which the island imported copper, ivory, amethyst, lapis lazuli, carnelian, gold, and amber. From Britain, Crete imported the tin necessary to produce bronze. A distinctive culture called Minoan flourished on Crete from about 1900 to 1375 bce. The name comes from the legendary king Minos, who was said to have ruled the island’s ancient capital of Knossos.

Minoan Painting Many of the motifs in the frescoes at Akrotiri, in the Cyclades, also appear in the art decorating Minoan palaces on Crete, including the palace at Knossos. This suggests the mutual influence of Cycladic and Minoan cultures by the start of the second millennium bce. Unique

to Crete, however, is emphasis on the bull, the central ele- ment of one of the best-preserved frescoes at Knossos, the Toreador Fresco (Fig. 4.3). Three almost-nude figures appear to toy with a charging bull. (As in Egyptian art, women are traditionally depicted with light skin, men with a darker complexion.) The woman on the left holds the bull by the horns, the man vaults over its back, and the woman on the right seems to have either just finished a vault or to have positioned herself to catch the man. It is unclear whether this is a ritual activity, perhaps part of a rite of passage. What we do know is that the Minoans regularly sacrificed bulls, as well as other animals, and that the bull was at least symbolically associated with male virility and strength.

Minoan frescoes, as well as those on Thera, differ from ancient Egyptian frescoes in several ways. The most obvious is that they were painted not in tombs but on the walls of homes and palaces, where they could be enjoyed by the liv- ing. The two kinds of frescoes were made differently as well. Rather than applying pigment to a dry wall in the fresco secco technique of the Egyptians, Minoan artists employed a buon fresco technique similar to that used by Renaissance artists nearly 3,000 years later (see Chapter 13). In buon fresco, pigment is mixed with water and then applied to a wall that has been coated with wet lime plaster. As the wall dries, the painting literally becomes part of it. Buon fresco is far more durable than fresco secco, for the paint will not flake off as easily (though all walls will eventually crumble).

Fig. 4.3 Bull Leaping (Toreador Fresco), from the palace complex at Knossos, Crete. ca. 1450–1375 bce. Fresco, height approx. 241⁄2". Archeological Museum, Iráklion, Crete. The darker patches of the fresco are original fragments. The lighter areas are modern restorations.

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100 PART ONE The Ancient World and the Classical Past

Minoan Religion The people of Thera and Crete seem to have shared the same religion as well as similar artis- tic motifs. Ample archeological evidence tells us that the Minoans in Crete worshiped female deities. We do not know much more than that, but some students of ancient religions have proposed that the Minoan worship of one or more female deities is evidence that in very early cultures the principal deity was a goddess rather than a god.

It has long been believed that one of the Minoan female deities was a snake goddess, but recently, scholars have questioned the authenticity of most of the existing snake goddess figurines. Sir Arthur Evans (1851–1941), who first excavated at the Palace of Minos on Crete, identified images of the Cretan goddess as “Mountain Goddess,” “Snake Goddess,” “Dove Goddess,” “Goddess of the Caves,” “Goddess of the Double Axes,” “Goddess of the Sports,” and “Mother Goddess.” He saw all of these as dif- ferent aspects of a single deity, or Great Goddess. A century after Evans introduced the Snake Goddess (Fig. 4.4) to the world, scholars are still debating its authenticity. In his book Mysteries of the Snake Goddess (2002), Kenneth Lapatin

makes a convincing case that craftspeople employed by Evans manufactured artifacts for the antiquities market. He believes that the body of the statue is an authentic antiquity, but the form in which we see it is largely the imaginative fabrication of Evans’s restorers. Many parts were missing when the figure was unearthed, and so an artist working for Evans fashioned new parts and attached them to the figure. The snake in the goddess’s right hand lacked a head, leaving its identity as a snake open to question. Most of the goddess’s left arm, including the snake in her hand, was absent and later fabricated. When the figure was discovered, it lacked a head, and this one is completely fab- ricated. The cat on the goddess’s head is original, although it was not found with the statue. Lapatin believes that Evans, eager to advance his own theory that Minoan reli- gion was dedicated to the worship of a Great Goddess, never questioned the manner in which the figures were restored. As interesting as the figure is, its identity as a snake god- dess is at best questionable. We cannot even say with cer- tainty that the principal deity of the Minoan culture was female, let alone that she was a snake goddess. There are no images of snake goddesses in surviving Minoan wall fres- coes, engraved gems, or seals, and almost all of the statues depicting her are fakes or imaginative reconstructions.

It is likely, though, that Minoan female goddesses were closely associated with a cult of vegetation and fertility, and the snake is an almost universal symbol of rebirth and fertility. We do know that the Minoans worshiped on mountaintops, closely associated with life- giving rains, and deep in caves, another nearly universal symbol of the womb in particular and origin in general. And in early cultures, the undulations of the earth itself— its hills and ravines, caves and riverbeds—were (and often still are) associated with the curves of the female body and genitalia. But until early Minoan writing is deciphered, the exact nature of Minoan religion will remain a mystery.

The Palace of Minos The Snake Goddess was discovered along with other ritual objects in a storage pit in the Pal- ace of Minos at Knossos. The palace as Evans found it is enormous, covering over 6 acres. There were originally two palaces at the site—an “old palace,” dating from 1900 bce, and a “new palace,” built over the old one after an enor- mous earthquake in 1750 bce. This “new palace” was the focus of Evans’s attention.

It was one of three principal palace sites on Crete (see Map 4.1), and although Knossos is the largest, they are laid out along similar lines, with a central court surrounded by a labyrinth of rooms. They served as administrative, com- mercial, and religious centers ruled by a king, similar to the way palaces functioned in the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. The complexity of these unfortified palaces and the richness of the artifacts uncovered there testify to the power and prosperity of Minoan culture.

As its floor plan and reconstruction drawing make clear, the palace at Knossos was only loosely organized around a central, open courtyard (Fig. 4.5). Leading from

Fig. 4.4 Snake Goddess or Priestess, from the palace at Knossos, Crete. ca. 1500 bce. Faience, height 115⁄8". Archeological Museum, Iráklion, Crete. Faience is a kind of earthenware ceramic decorated with glazes. Modern faience is easily distinguishable from ancient because it is markedly lighter in tone.

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CHAPTER 4 The Aegean World and the Rise of Greece 101

Fig. 4.5 Reconstruction drawing and floor plan of the new palace complex at Knossos, Crete. The complexity of the labyrinthine layout is obvious.

Fig. 4.6 Grand Staircase, east wing, palace complex at Knossos, Crete. ca. 1500 bce. As reconstructed by Sir Arthur Evans. The staircase served as a light well and linked all five stories of the palace.

the courtyard were corridors, staircases, and passageways that connected living quarters, ritual spaces, baths, and administrative offices, in no discernible order or design. Workshops surrounded the complex, and vast storerooms could easily provide for the needs of both the palace popula- tion and the population of the surrounding countryside. In just one storeroom, excavators discovered enough ceramic jars to hold 20,000 gallons of olive oil.

Hundreds of wooden columns decorated the palace. Only fragments have survived, but we know from paint- ings and ceramic house models how they must have looked. Evans created concrete replicas displayed today at the West Portico and the Grand Staircase (Fig. 4.6). The originals were made of huge timbers cut on Crete and then turned upside down so that the top of each is broader than the base.

throne room temple repositories

staircase

pillar crypt main shrine

corridor access to magazines

altars

Corridor of the Procession

staircase

Hall of the Double Axes

Queen’s Hall

bathroom

lavatory

storeroom

grand staircase

lapidary’s workshop

theatral area

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West entrance

South entrance

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The columns were painted bright red with black capitals, the sculpted blocks that top them. The capitals are shaped like pillows or cushions. (In fact, they are very close to the shape of an evergreen’s root ball, as if the original design were suggested by trees felled in a storm.) Over time, as the columns rotted or were destroyed by earthquakes or possibly burned by invaders, they must have become increasingly difficult to replace, for Minoan builders gradually deforested the island. This may be one reason why the palace complex was abandoned sometime around 1450 bce.

Representations of double axes decorated the palace at every turn, and indeed the Palace of Minos was known in Greek times as the House of the Double Axes. In fact, the Greek word for the palace was labyrinth, from labrys, “dou- ble ax.” Over time, the Greeks came to associate the House of the Double Axes with its inordinately complex layout, and labyrinth came to mean “maze.”

The Legend of Minos and the Minotaur The Greeks solidi- fied the meaning of the labyrinth in a powerful legend. King Minos boasted that the gods would grant him anything he wished, so he prayed that a bull might emerge from the sea that he might sacrifice to the god of the sea, Poseidon. A white bull did emerge from the sea, one so beautiful that Minos decided to keep it for himself and sacrifice a differ- ent one from his herd instead. This angered Poseidon, who took revenge by causing Minos’ queen, Pasiphae, to fall in love with the bull. To consummate her passion, she con- vinced Minos’ chief craftsperson, Daedalus, to construct a hollow wooden cow into which she might place herself and attract the bull. The result of this union was a horrid crea- ture, half man, half bull: the Minotaur.

To appease the monster’s appetite for human flesh, Minos ordered the city of Athens, which he also ruled, to send him 14 young men and women each year as sacrificial victims. Theseus, son of King Aegeus of Athens, vowed to kill the Minotaur. As he set sail for Crete with 13 others, he promised his father that he would return under white sails (instead of the black sails of the sacrificial ship) to announce his victory. At Crete, he seduced Ariadne, daughter of Minos. Wishing to help The- seus, she gave him a sword with which to kill the Minotaur and a spindle of thread to lead himself out of the maze in which the Minotaur lived. Victorious, Theseus sailed home with Ariadne but aban- doned her on the island of Naxos, where she was discovered by the god of wine, Dionysus, who married her and made her his queen. Theseus, sailing into the harbor at Athens, neglected to raise the white sails, perhaps intentionally. When his father, King Aegeus, saw the ship still sailing under black sails, he threw himself into the sea, which from then on took his name, the Aegean. Theseus, of course, then became king.

The story is a creation or origin myth, like the Zuni emer- gence tale (see Reading 1.1 in Chapter 1) or the Hebrew

story of Adam and Eve in Genesis. But it differs from them on one important point: Rather than narrating the origin of humankind in general, it tells the story of the birth of one culture out of another. It is the Athenian Greeks’ way of knowing their past, their archaiologia. The tale of the labyrinth explained to the later Greeks where and how their culture came to be. It correctly suggests a close link to Crete, but it also emphasizes Greek independence from that powerful island. It tells us, furthermore, much about the emerging Greek character, for Theseus would, by the fifth century bce, achieve the status of a national hero. The great tragedies of Greek theater represent Theseus as wily, ambitious, and strong. He stops at nothing to achieve what he thinks he must. If he is not altogether admirable, he mirrors behavior the Greeks attributed to their gods. Nev- ertheless, he is anything but idealized or godlike. He is, almost to a fault, completely human.

It was precisely this search for the origins of Greek cul- ture that led Sir Arthur Evans to the discovery of the Palace of Minos in Crete. He confirmed “the truth” in the legend of the Minotaur. If there was no actual monster, there was indeed a labyrinth. And that labyrinth was the palace itself.

Mycenaean Culture on the Mainland When the Minoans abandoned the palace at Knossos in about 1450 bce, warriors from the mainland culture of Mycenae, on the Greek mainland, quickly occupied Crete (see Map 4.1). One reason for the abandonment of Knos- sos was suggested earlier—the deforestation of the island. Another might be that Minoan culture was severely weak- ened in the aftermath of the volcanic eruption on Thera, and therefore susceptible to invasion or internal revolu- tion. A third might be that the Mycenaean army simply

Fig. 4.7 Vaphio Cup, from a tomb at Vaphio, south of Sparta, Greece. ca. 1650–1450 bce. Gold, height 31⁄2". National Archeological Museum, Iráklion, Crete. Mycenaean invaders used Crete as a base for operations for several centuries, and probably acquired the cup there.

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overwhelmed the island. The Mycenaeans were certainly acquainted with the Minoan culture some 92 miles to their south, across the Aegean.

Minoan metalwork was prized on the mainland. Its fine quality is very evident in the Vaphio Cup, one of two golden cups found in the nineteenth century in a tomb at Vaphio, just south of Sparta, on the Peloponnese (Fig. 4.7). This cup was executed in repoussé, a technique in which the artist hammers out the design from the inside. It depicts a man in an olive grove capturing a bull by tethering its hind legs. The bull motif is classically Minoan. The Myce- naeans, however, could not have been more different from the Minoans. Whereas Minoan towns were unfortified, and battle scenes were virtually nonexistent in their art, the Mycenaeans lived in communities surrounding fortified hilltops, and battle and hunting scenes dominate their art. Minoan culture appears to have been peaceful, while the warlike Mycenaeans lived and died by the sword.

The ancient city of Mycenae, which gave its name to the larger Mycenaean culture, was discovered by German archeologist Heinrich Schliemann (1822–90) in the late nineteenth century, before Sir Arthur Evans discovered

Knossos. Its citadel looks down across a broad plain to the sea. Its walls—20 feet thick and 50 feet high—were built from huge blocks of rough-hewn stone, in a technique called cyclopean masonry because it was believed by later Greeks that only a race of monsters known as the Cyclo- pes could have managed them. Visitors to the city entered through a massive Lion Gate at the top of a steep path that led from the valley below (Fig. 4.8). The lionesses that stood above the gate’s lintel were themselves 9 feet high. It is likely that their missing heads originally turned in the direction of approaching visitors, as if to ward off evil or, perhaps, humble them in their tracks, like Sargon’s human- headed bull gates at Khorsabad (see Fig. 2.13 in Chapter 2). They were probably made of a different stone than the bod- ies and may have been plundered at a later time. From the gate, a long, stone street wound up the hill to the citadel itself. Here, overseeing all, was the king’s palace.

Mycenae was only one of several fortified cities on main- land Greece that were flourishing by 1500 bce and that have come to be called Mycenaean. Mycenaean culture was the forerunner of ancient Greek culture and was essentially feudal in nature—that is, a system of political organization

Fig. 4.8 Lion Gate, Mycenae, Greece. ca. 1300 bce. Limestone relief, panel approx. 9'6" high. The lionesses are carved on a triangle of stone that relieves the weight of the massive doorway from the lintel. The original heads, which have never been found, were attached to the bodies with dowels.

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104 PART ONE The Ancient World and the Classical Past

held together by ties of allegiance between a lord and those who relied on him for protection. Kings controlled not only their own cities but also the surrounding countryside. Merchants, farmers, and artisans owed their own prosperity to the king and paid high taxes for the privilege of living under his protection. More powerful kings, such as those at Mycenae itself, also expected the loyalty (and financial sup- port) of other cities and nobles over whom they exercised authority. A large bureaucracy of tax collectors, civil serv- ants, and military personnel ensured the state’s continued prosperity. Like the Minoans, they engaged in trade, espe- cially for the copper and tin required to make bronze.

The feudal system allowed Mycenae’s kings to amass enormous wealth, as Schliemann’s excavations confirmed. He discovered gold and silver death masks of fallen heroes (Fig. 4.9), as well as swords and daggers inlaid with imagery of events such as a royal lion hunt. He also found delicately carved ivory, from the tusks of hippopotamuses and ele- phants, suggesting if not the breadth of Mycenae’s power, then the extent of its trade, which clearly included Africa. It seems likely, in fact, that the Mycenaean taste for war, and certainly their occupation of Crete, was motivated by the desire to control trade routes throughout the region.

Schliemann discovered most of this wealth in shaft graves, vertical pits some 20 or 25 feet deep enclosed in a circle of stone slabs. These all date from the early years of Mycenaean civilization, about 1500 bce. Beginning in about 1300 bce, the Mycenaeans used a new architectural

form, the tholos, to bury their kings. A tholos is a round building often called a beehive because of its shape. The most famous of these tombs is the Treasury of Atreus,

Fig. 4.9 Funerary mask (Mask of Agamemnon), from Grave Circle A, Mycenae, Greece. ca. 1600–1550 bce. Gold, height approx. 12". National Archeological Museum, Athens. When Schliemann discovered this mask, he believed it was the death mask of King Agamemnon, but it predates the Trojan War by some 300 years. Recent scholarship suggests that Schliemann may have added the handlebar mustache and large ears, perhaps to make the mask appear more “heroic.”

Fig. 4.10 and Fig. 4.11 Facade and sectioned view of the tholos of the Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae, Greece. ca. 1250 bce. Interior vault height, 43', diameter 47'6". The interior space of this tholos—a round building—remained the largest uninterrupted space in Europe until the Pantheon was built in Rome 1,000 years later. The dome is an example of corbeled construction: As the roof’s squared stones curve inward toward the top, they were buttressed, or supported, on the outside by earth. Because of the conical shape of such burial chambers, they are known as beehive tombs.

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the name Schliemann attributed to it (Figs. 4.10, 4.11). Atreus was the father of Agamemnon, an early king of Mycenae known to us from the literature of later Greeks. However, no evidence supports Schliemann’s attribution except the structure’s extraordinary size, which was befitting of a legendary king, and the fact that it dates from approximately the time of the Trojan War. (Agamemnon led the Greeks in the ten-year war against Trojans that would form the background for Homer’s epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, discussed next.) The approach to the Treasury of Atreus is by way of a long, open-air passage nearly 115 feet long and 20 feet wide leading to a 16-foot- high door. Over the door is a relieving triangle, a triangular opening above the lintel designed to relieve some of the weight the lintel has to bear. (See the discussions of lintels in Chapter 1.) Surviving fragments reveal that a pair of green marble columns topped by two red marble columns originally adorned the facade of the Treasury of Atreus. The columns were engaged—that is, they projected in relief from the wall but served no structural purpose. Behind the door lay the burial chamber, a giant domed space, in which the dead would have been laid out together with gold and silver artifacts, ceremonial weapons, helmets, armor, and other items that would indicate power, wealth, and prestige.

THE HOMERIC EPICS

What is an epic, and how do Homer’s epics the Iliad and the Odyssey differ?

One of the most fascinating aspects of the eastern Medi- terranean in the Bronze Age is the development of written language. First, around the middle of the sec- ond millennium bce, as trade increasingly flour- ished between and among the Greek islands and the mainland, a linear Minoan script began to appear on tablets and objects across the region. Then, 600 to 700 years later, the Phoenicians, the great traders of the area, began to spread a distinctly new writing system, based on an alpha- bet (apparently of their own invention), across the entire Mediterranean basin.

But if the Greeks plundered Phoenician traders, they also were quick to take advantage of their writing system. Their alphabet allowed the Phoenicians to keep records more easily and succinctly than their competitors. It could be quickly taught to others, which facilitated com- munication in the far-flung regions where their ships sailed, and, written on papyrus, it was much more portable than the clay tablets used in Mesopotamia.

Once the ancient Greeks adopted the Phoenician alpha- bet in about 800 bce, they began to write down the stories from and about their past—their archaiologia—that had been passed down, generation to generation, by word of mouth. The most important of these stories were composed

by an author whom history calls Homer. Homer was most likely a bard, a singer of songs about the deeds of heroes and the ways of the gods. His stories were part of a long-stand- ing oral tradition that dated back to the time of the Trojan War, which we believe occurred sometime around 1200 bce. Out of the oral materials he inherited, Homer com- posed two great epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The first narrates an episode in the ten-year Trojan War, which, according to Homer, began when the Greeks launched a large fleet of ships under King Agamemnon of Mycenae to bring back Helen, the wife of his brother King Menelaus of Sparta, who had eloped with Paris, son of King Priam of Troy. The Odyssey narrates the adventures of one of the principal Greek leaders, Odysseus (also known as Ulysses), on his return home from the fighting.

Most scholars believed that these Homeric epics were pure fiction until the discovery by Heinrich Schliemann in the 1870s of the actual site of Troy, a multilayered site near modern-day Hissarlik, in northwestern Turkey. The Troy of Homer’s epic was discovered at the sixth layer. (Schliemann also believed that the shaft graves at Myce- nae, where he found so much treasure, were those of Agam- emnon and his royal family, but modern dating techniques have ruled that out.) Suddenly, the Iliad assumed, if not the authority, then the aura of historical fact. Scholars studying both the poem and a Mycenaean vase known as the Warrior Vase have been struck by the similarity of many passages in the Iliad and scenes depicted on the vase. Those similarities testify to the accuracy of many of the poem’s descriptions of Bronze Age Greece (Fig. 4.12).

Fig. 4.12 Warrior Vase, from Mycenae, Greece. ca. 1300–1100 bce. Ceramic, height 16". National Archeological Museum, Athens. Dating from the time of the Trojan War, the vase depicts a woman, on the left, waving goodbye to departing troops.

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How Homer came to compose two works as long as the Iliad and the Odyssey has been the subject of much debate. Did he improvise each oral performance from memory, or did he rely on written texts? There is clear evidence that formulaic epithets—descriptive phrases applied to a per- son or thing—helped him, suggesting that improvisation played an important part in the poem’s composition. Com- mon epithets in the Iliad include such phrases as “fleet- footed Achilles” and “bronze-armed Achaeans.” (Achaean is the term Homer uses to designate the Greeks whom we associate with the Mycenaeans.) These epithets appear to have been chosen to allow the performing poet to fit a given name easily into the hexameter structure of the verse line—what we today call “epic” meter. Each hexameter line

of Homer’s verse is composed of six metrical units, which can be made up of either dactyls (a long syllable plus two short ones) or spondees (two long syllables). “Fleet-footed” is a dactyl; “bronze-armed” a spondee. The first four units of the line can be either dactyls or spondees; the last two must be dactyl and spondee, in that order. This regular meter, and the insertion of stock phrases into it, undoubtedly helped the poet to memorize and repeat the poem.

In order to perform the 15,693 lines of the Iliad, it became increasingly necessary to write the poem down. By the sixth century bce, it was recited every four years in Athens (without omission, according to law), and many copies of it circulated around Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries bce. Finally, in Alexandria, Egypt, in the

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Map 4.2 Possible routes of the Greek fleets as they gathered and then sailed to Troy. At the end of Book 2 of the Iliad, Homer catalogs the participating parties in the Trojan War. He lists kings and their followers from more than 150 places. It seems doubtful that the conflict was truly precipitated by the abduction of Helen from Sparta. More likely, the Greeks wanted to wrest control of the Hellespont (today known as the Dardanelles) from the Trojans, in order to gain access to trading opportunities in the Black Sea and Asia.

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late fourth century bce, scribes wrote the poem on papyrus scrolls, perhaps dividing it into the 24 manageable units we refer to today as the poem’s books.

The poem was so influential that it established certain epic conventions, standard ways of composing an epic that were followed for centuries to come. Examples include starting the poem in medias res, Latin for “in the middle of things,” that is, in the middle of the story; invoking the muse at the poem’s outset; and stating the poem’s subject at the outset.

The Iliad The Iliad tells but a small fraction of the story of the Trojan War, which was launched by Agamemnon of Mycenae and his allies to attack Troy around 1200 bce (Map 4.2). The tale begins after the war is under way and narrates what is commonly called “the rage of Achilles,” a phrase drawn from the first line of the poem. Already encamped on the Trojan plain, Agamemnon has been forced to give up a girl that he has taken in one of his raids, but he takes the beau- tiful Briseis from Achilles as compensation. Achilles, by far the greatest of the Greek warriors, is outraged, suppresses his urge to kill Agamemnon, but withdraws from the war. He knows that the Greeks cannot succeed without him, and in his rage he believes they deserve their fate. Indeed, Hec- tor, the great Trojan prince, soon drives the Greeks back to their ships, and Agamemnon sends ambassadors to Achilles to offer him gifts and beg him to return to the battle. Achil- les refuses: “His gifts, I loathe his gifts … I wouldn’t give you a splinter for that man! Not if he gave me ten times as much, twenty times over.” When the battle resumes, things become desperate for the Greeks. Achilles partially relents, permitting Patroclus, his close friend and perhaps his lover, to wear his armor in order to put fear into the Trojans. Led by Patroclus, the Achaeans drive the Trojans back.

An excerpt from Book 16 of the Iliad narrates the fall of the Trojan warrior Sarpedon at the hands of Patroclus (see Reading 4.1, page 128). The passage opens with one of the scene’s many Homeric similes: The charging Trojan forces described as “an onrush dark as autumn days / when the whole earth flattens black beneath a gale.” Most notable, however, is the unflinching verbal picture Homer paints of the realities of war, not only its cowardice, panic, and bru- tality, but its compelling attraction as well. In this arena, the Greek soldier is able to demonstrate one of the most important values in Greek culture, his areté, often trans- lated as “virtue,” but actually meaning something closer to “being the best you can be” or “reaching your highest human potential.” Homer uses the term to describe both Greek and Trojan heroes, and it refers not only to their bravery but to their effectiveness in battle.

The sixth-century bce painting on the side of the Botkin Class Amphora—an amphora is a Greek jar, with an egg- shaped body and two curved handles, used for storing oil or wine—embodies the concept of areté (Fig. 4.13). Here, two warriors, one armed with a sword, the other with a spear,

confront each other with unwavering determination and purpose. At one point in the Iliad, Homer describes two such warriors, holding their own against one another, as “rejoicing in the joy of battle.” They rejoice because they find themselves in a place where they can demonstrate their areté.

The following passage, from Book 24, the final section of the Iliad, shows the other side of war and the other side of the poem, the compassion and humanity that distinguish Homer’s narration (Reading 4.1a). Soon after Patroclus kills Sarpedon, Hector, son of the king of Troy, strikes down Patroclus with the aid of the god Apollo. On hearing the news, Achilles is devastated and finally enters the fray. Until now, fuming over Agamemnon’s insult, he has sat out the battle, refusing, in effect, to demonstrate his own areté. But now, he redirects his rage from Agamemnon to the Trojan warrior Hector, whom he meets and kills. He then ties Hector’s body to his chariot and drags it to his tent. The act is pure sacrilege, a violation of the dignity due the great Trojan warrior and an insult to his memory. Late that night, Priam, the king of Troy, steals across enemy lines to Achilles’ tent and begs for the body of his son:

Fig. 4.13 Botkin Class Amphora, Greek. ca. 540–530 bce. Black-figure decoration on ceramic, height 119⁄16", diameter 91⁄2". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Henry Lillie Pierce Fund, 98.923. Photograph © 2014 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. On the other side of this vase are two heavily armed warriors, one pursuing the other.

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“doubleness” of the human spirit, its cruelty and its human- ity, its blindness and its insight, that perhaps best defines the power and vision of the Homeric epic.

The Odyssey The fall of Troy to the Greek army after the famous ruse of the Trojan Horse (Fig. 4.14) is actually described in Book 4 of the Odyssey, the Iliad’s 24-book sequel. In Reading 4.2a, Menelaus, now returned home with Helen, addresses her, while Telemachus, son of the Greek commander Odysseus, listens:

R e a d i n g 4 . 1 a

from Homer, Iliad, Book 24 (ca. 750 bce)

“Remember your own father, great godlike achilles— as old as i am, past the threshold of deadly old age! no doubt the countrymen round about him plague him now, with no one there to defend him, beat away disaster. no one—but at least he hears you’re still alive and his old heart rejoices, hopes rising, day by day, to see his beloved son come sailing home from Troy. But i—dear god, my life so cursed by fate … i fathered hero sons in the wide realm of Troy and now not a single one is left, i tell you. Fifty sons i had when the sons of achaea came, nineteen born to me from a single mother’s womb and the rest by other women in the palace. Many, most of them violent ares cut the knees from under. But one, one was left me, to guard my wall, my people— the one you killed the other day, defending his fatherland, my Hector! it’s all for him i’ve come to the ships now, to win him back from you—i bring a priceless ransom. Revere the gods, achilles! Pity me in my own right, remember your own father! i deserve more pity … i have endured what no one on earth has ever done

before— i put to my lips the hands of the man who killed my son.”

Those words stirred within achilles a deep desire to grieve for his own father. Taking the old man’s hand he gently moved him back. and overpowered by memory both men gave way to grief. Priam wept freely for man-killing Hector, throbbing, crouching before achilles’ feet as achilles wept himself, now for his father, now for Patroclus once again, and their sobbing rose and fell throughout the house. … Then achilles called the serving-women out: “Bathe and anoint the body— bear it aside first. Priam must not see his son.” He feared that, overwhelmed by the sight of Hector, wild with grief, Priam might let his anger flare and achilles might fly into fresh rage himself, cut the old man down and break the laws of Zeus. So when the maids had bathed and anointed the body sleek with olive oil and wrapped it round and round in a braided battle-shirt and handsome battle-cape, then achilles lifted Hector up in his own arms and laid him down on a bier, and comrades helped him raise the bier and body onto a sturdy wagon … Then with a groan he called his dear friend by name: “Feel no anger at me, Patroclus, if you learn— ever there in the House of death—i let his father have Prince Hector back. He gave me worthy ransom and you shall have your share from me, as always, your fitting, lordly share.”

Many of the themes of Homer’s second epic are embed- ded in this short reminiscence. For although the poem nar- rates the adventures of Odysseus on his ten-year journey home from the war in Troy—his encounters with mon- sters, giants, and a seductive enchantress, and a sojourn on a floating island and in the underworld—its subject is, above all, Odysseus’ passionate desire to once more see his wife, Penelope, and Penelope’s fidelity to him. Where anger and lust drive the Iliad—remember Achilles’ angry sulk and Helen’s fickleness—love and familial affection drive the Odyssey. Penelope is gifted with areté in her own right, since for the 20 years of her husband’s absence, she uses all the cunning in her power to ward off the many suitors who flock to marry her, convinced that Odysseus is never com- ing home.

A second important theme taken up by Menelaus is the role of the gods in determining the outcome of human

R e a d i n g 4 . 2 a

from Homer, Odyssey, Book 4 (ca. 725 bce)

… never have i seen one like Odysseus for steadiness and stout heart. Here, for instance, is what he did—had the cold nerve to do— inside the hollow horse, where we were waiting, picked men all of us, for the Trojan slaughter, when all of a sudden, you [Helen] came by—i dare say drawn by some superhuman power that planned an exploit for the Trojans; and deïphobos, that handsome man, came with you. Three times you walked around it, patting it everywhere, and called by name the flower of our fighters, making your voice sound like their wives, calling. diomêdês and i crouched in the center along with Odysseus; we could hear you plainly; and listening, we two were swept by waves of longing—to reply, or go. Odysseus fought us down, despite our craving, and all the akhaians kept their lips shut tight, all but antiklos. desire moved his throat to hail you, but Odysseus’ great hands clamped over his jaws, and held. So he saved us all, till Pallas athena led you away at last.

Homer clearly recognizes the ability of these warriors to exceed their mere humanity, to raise themselves not only to a level of great military achievement, but to a state of com- passion, nobility, and honor. It is this exploration of the

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Fig. 4.14 The Trojan Horse, detail from a storage jar from Chora, Mykonos. ca. 650 bce. Total height of jar 5", detail as shown approx. 1". Archeological Museum, Mykonos. This is the earliest known depiction of the Trojan Horse, the hollow “gift” that the supposedly departing Greeks left to King Priam and his followers. The artist has opened little windows in its side, showing the Greeks hiding within, ready to attack.

events. Helen, he says, must have been drawn to the Tro- jan Horse “by some superhuman / power that planned an exploit for the Trojans”—some god, in other words, on the Trojans’ side. And, indeed, Pallas Athena, goddess of war and wisdom and protectress of the Achaeans, leads Helen away from the horse. But in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, Homer is careful to distinguish between how people believe the gods exercise control over events (Reading 4.2b) and what control they actually exercise. In fact, early on in Book 1 of the Odyssey, Zeus, king of the gods, exclaims:

R e a d i n g 4 . 2 b

from Homer, Odyssey, Book 1 (ca. 725 bce)

My word, how mortals take the gods to task! all their afflictions come from us, we hear. and what of their own failings? greed and folly double the suffering in the lot of man.

The Greek view of the universe contrasts dramatically with that of the Hebrews. If the Greek gods exercise some authority over the lives of human beings—they do control their ultimate fate—human beings are in complete control of how they live. By exercising selflessness and wisdom, as opposed to greed and folly, they could at least halve their suffering, Zeus implies. In the Iliad, the crimes that Paris and Achilles commit do not violate a divine code of ethics like the Ten Commandments but, rather, a code of behav- ior defined by their fellow Greeks. In the Greek world, humans are ultimately responsible for their own actions.

This is the real point of the fantastic episode of Odys- seus’ cunning trickery of the Cyclops Polyphemus in Book 9 of the Odyssey, related by Odysseus himself to Alkinoös, King of Phaeacia (see Reading 4.2, pages 130–133 for the full tale). It is Odysseus’ craftiness—his wit and his intel- ligence—not the intervention of the gods, that saves him and his men. Compared to the stories that have come down to us from other Bronze Age cultures such as Egypt or Mes- opotamia, Homer is less concerned with what happened than how it happened. We encounter Odysseus’ trickery, his skill at making weapons, and his wordplay (Odysseus

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110 PART ONE The Ancient World and the Classical Past

calling himself “Nobody” in anticipation of Polyphemus being asked by the other Cyclopes who has blinded him and Polyphemus replying, “Nobody”).

Greek artists shared this concern. They would try to refer to as many of Odysseus’ talents as they could in a single work, depicting successive actions around the diameter of a vase or, as in the case of a drinking cup from Sparta, packing more than one action into a single scene (Fig. 4.15). We saw this form of synoptic pictorial narrative in Mesopotamia, in the sculptural relief of Ashurnasirpal II Killing Lions (see Fig. 2.12 in Chapter 2). It is also similar to the pictorial narrative used in the Last Judgment of Hunefer in an Egyptian Book of Going Forth by Day, where instead of reading left to right, the actions are compounded one upon the other (see Fig. 3.25 in Chapter 3).

In later Greek culture, the Iliad and the Odyssey were the basis of Greek education. Every schoolchild learned the two poems by heart. They were the principal vehicles through which the Greeks came to know the past, and through the past, they came to know themselves. The poems embodied what might be called the Greeks’ own cultural, as opposed to purely personal, areté, their desire to achieve a place of preeminence among all states. But in defining this larger cultural ambition, the Iliad and Odyssey laid out the indi- vidual values and responsibilities that all Greeks under- stood to be their personal obligations and duties if the state were ever to realize its goals.

Fig. 4.15 The Blinding of Polyphemus, inside of drinking cup from Sparta. ca. 550 bce. Ceramic, diameter 81⁄4". Cabinet des Médailles, Bibliothèque nationale de France. At the same time that Odysseus and his companions blind Polyphemus with the pointed pole, they offer him the drink that inebriates him sufficiently to allow them to complete their task, and he finishes eating one of their companions, whose two legs he holds in his hands.

THE GREEK POLIS

How are the values of the Greek polis reflected in its art and architecture?

After the fall of Mycenae in about 1100 bce, some 100 years after the Trojan War, Greece endured a long period of cultural decline that many refer to as the Dark Ages. Greek legend has it that a tribe from the north, the Dorians, overran the Greek mainland and the Pelopon- nese (Map 4.3), but there is little historical evidence to support this story. Whatever caused the decline, the Greek people almost forgot the rudiments of culture, and reading and writing fell into disuse. For the most part, the Greeks lived in small rural communities that often warred with one another. But despite these conditions, which hardly favored the development of art and architecture, the Greeks man- aged to sustain a sense of identity and even, as the survival of the Trojan War legends suggests, some idea of their cul- tural heritage.

The Greek polis—or city-state—arose during the eighth century bce, around the time of Homer. Colonists set sail from cities on the Greek mainland to establish new set- tlements. Eventually, there were as many as 1,500 Greek poleis (plural of polis) scattered around the Mediterra- nean and the Black Sea from Spain to the Crimea, includ- ing large colonies in Italy (Fig. 4.16). This process of

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Fig. 4.16 The Temple of Hera I (background), ca. 540 bce, and the Temple of Hera II (foreground), ca. 460 bce, Paestum, Italy. Two of the best-preserved Greek temples can be found in Italy, at Paestum, south of Naples, in a place the Greeks called Poseidonia, after the god of the sea, Poseidon.

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colonization occurred gradually. First, across Greece, com- munities began to organize themselves and exercise author- ity over their own limited geographical regions, which were defined by natural boundaries—mountains, rivers, and plains. The population of even the largest communities was largely dedicated to agriculture, and agricultural values—a life of hard, honest work and self-reliance—predominated. The great pastoral poem of the poet Hesiod (flourished ca. 700 bce), Works and Days, testifies to this. Works and Days was written at about the same time as the Homeric epics in Boeotia, the region of Greece dominated by the city-state of Thebes. Particularly interesting is Hesiod’s narration of the duties of the farmer as the seasons progress. Here are his words regarding the farmer’s obligation to plow his fields (Reading 4.3):

Behavior of the Gods Of particular interest here—as in Homer’s Iliad—is that the gods are as susceptible to Eros, or Desire, as is humankind. In fact, the Greek gods are sometimes more human than humans—susceptible to every human foible. Like many a family on earth, the father, Zeus, is an all- powerful philanderer, whose wife, Hera, is watchful, jeal- ous, and capable of inflicting great pain upon rivals for her husband’s affections. Their children are scheming and self- serving in their competition for their parents’ attention. The gods think like humans, act like humans, and speak like humans. They sometimes seem to differ from humans only in the fact that they are immortal. Unlike the Hebrew God, who is sometimes portrayed as arbitrary, the Greek gods present humans with no clear principles of behav- ior, and the priests and priestesses who oversaw the rituals dedicated to them produced no scriptures or doctrines. The gods were capricious, capable of changing their minds, sus- ceptible to argument and persuasion, alternately obstinate and malleable. If these qualities created a kind of cosmic

In this extract, Hesiod gives us a clear insight not only into many of the details of Greek agricultural production, but into social conditions as well. He mentions slaves twice in this short passage, and, indeed, all landowners possessed slaves (taken in warfare), who comprised over half the population. He also mentions the Greek gods Zeus, king of the gods and master of the sky, and Demeter, goddess of agriculture and grain (see Context, page 114). In fact, it was Hesiod, in his Theogony (The Birth of the Gods), who first detailed the Greek pantheon (literally, “all the gods”). The story of the creation of the world that he tells in this work (Reading 4.4) resembles the origin myths from the Zuni emergence tale (see Reading 1.1 in Chap- ter 1) and the Japanese Shinto Kojiki (see Reading 1.2 in Chapter 1):

R e a d i n g 4 . 3

from Hesiod, Works and Days (ca. 700 bce)

Autumn

Mind now, when you hear the call of the crane Coming from the clouds, as it does year by year: That’s the sign for plowing, and the onset of winter and the rainy season. That cry bites the heart Of the man with no ox.

Time then to feed your oxen in their stall. You know it’s easy to say, “Loan me a wagon and a team of oxen.” and it’s easy to answer, “got work for my oxen.” it takes a good imagination for a man to think He’ll just peg together a wagon. damn fool, doesn’t realize there’s a hundred timbers make up a wagon and you have to have ‘em laid up beforehand at home. Soon as you get the first signs for plowing get a move on, yourself and your workers, and plow straight through wet weather and dry, getting a good start at dawn, so your fields Will fill up. Work the land in spring, too, But fallow turned in summer won’t let you down. Sow your fallow land while the soil’s still light. Fallow’s the charm that keeps wee-uns well-fed. Pray to Zeus-in-the-ground and to demeter sacred For demeter’s holy grain to grow thick and full. Pray when you first start plowing, when you Take hold of the handle and come down with your stick On the backs of the oxen straining at the yoke-pins. a little behind, have a slave follow with a hoe To make trouble for the birds by covering the seeds. Doing things right is the best thing in the world, Just like doing ’em wrong is the absolute worst. This way you’ll have ears of grain bending Clear to the ground …

R e a d i n g 4 . 4

from Hesiod, Theogony (ca. 700 bce)

First of all the Void1 came into being, next broad-bosomed earth, the solid and eternal home of all,2 and eros [desire], the most beautiful of the immortal gods, who in every man and every god softens the sinews and overpowers the prudent purpose of the mind. Out of the Void came darkness and black night, and out of night came Light and day, her children conceived after union in love with darkness. earth first produced starry Sky, equal in size with herself. 1 The Greek word is Chaos; but this has a misleading connotation in English. 2 Omitting lines 118–19: “the immortals who live on the peaks of snowy Olympus, and gloomy Tartarus in a hole underneath the highways of the earth.”

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uncertainty, they also embodied the intellectual freedom and the spirit of philosophical inquiry that would come to define the Greek state.

The Competing Poleis Although Greece was an agricultural society, the polis— not the farm—was the focal point of cultural life. It con- sisted of an urban center, small by modern standards, often surrounding some form of natural citadel, which could serve as a fortification, but which usually functioned as the city- state’s religious center. The Greeks called this citadel an acropolis—literally, the “top of the city.” On lower ground, at the foot of the acropolis, was the agora, a large open area that served as public meeting place, marketplace, and civic center (see the beginning of Chapter 5).

Athens led the way, perhaps because it had become something of a safe haven during the Dark Ages, even flourishing as a result, and it thus maintained something of a civic identity. Gradually, the polis came to describe less a place and more a cultural and communal identity. The citizens of the polis, including the rural population of the region—the polis of Sparta, for instance, comprised some 3,000 square miles of the Peloponnese, while Athens controlled the 1,000 square miles of the region known as Attica—owed allegiance and loyalty to it. They depended upon and served in its military. They worshiped and trusted in its gods. And they asserted their identity, first of all, by participating in the affairs of the city-state, next by their family (genos) involvement, and, probably least of all, by any sense of being Greek.

In fact, the Greek poleis were distinguished by their iso- lation from one another and their fierce independence. For the most part, Greece is a very rugged country of mountains separating small areas of arable plains. The Greek histo- rian Thucydides attributed the independence of the poleis to the historical competition in earlier times for these fer- tile regions of the country. His History of the Peloponnesian Wars, written in the last decades of the fifth century bce and begun during the wars (he served as a general in the Athenian army), opens with an account of these earlier times, tracing the conflict in his own time to that historical situation (Reading 4.5):

While Greek poleis might form temporary alliances, almost always in league against other poleis, few of the invasions Thucydides speaks of resulted in the domination of one polis over another, at least not for long. Rather, each polis maintained its own identity and resisted domination.

But inevitably, certain city-states became more powerful than others. During the Dark Ages, many Athenians had migrated to Ionia in southwestern Anatolia (present-day Turkey), and relations with the Near East helped Athens to flourish. Corinth, situated on the isthmus between the Greek mainland and the Peloponnese, controlled north– south trade routes from early times, but after it built a towpath to drag ships over the isthmus on rollers, it soon controlled the sea routes east and west as well.

Life in Sparta Of all the early city-states, Sparta was perhaps the most powerful. The Spartans traced their ancestry back to the legendary Dorians, whose legacy was military might. The rule of the city-state fell to the homoioi, or “equals,” who comprised roughly 10 percent of the population. The population consisted largely of farm laborers, or helots, essentially slaves who worked the land held by the homoioi. (A third class of people, those who had inhabited the area before the arrival of the Spartans, enjoyed limited freedom but were subject to Spartan rule.)

Political power resided with five overseers who were elected annually by all homoioi—excluding women—over the age of 30. At age 7, males were taken from their par- ents to live under military discipline in barracks until age 30 (though they could marry at age 20). Men ate in the military mess until age 60. Women were given strenu- ous physical training so that they might bear strong sons. Weak-looking babies were left to die. The city-state, in short, controlled every aspect of the Spartans’ lives. If the other Greek poleis were less militaristic, they neverthe- less exercised the same authority in some fashion. They exercised power more often through political rather than militaristic means, though most could be as militaristic as Sparta when the need arose.

R e a d i n g 4 . 5

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian Wars

[i]t is evident that the country now called Hellas had in ancient times no settled population; on the contrary, migrations were of frequent occurrence, the several tribes readily abandoning their homes under the pressure of superior numbers. Without commerce, without freedom of communication either by land or sea, cultivating no more of their territory than the exigencies of life required, destitute

of capital, never planting their land (for they could not tell when an invader might not come and take it all away, and when he did come they had no walls to stop him), thinking that the necessities of daily sustenance could be supplied at one place as well as another, they cared little for shifting their habitation, and consequently neither built large cities nor attained to any other form of greatness. The richest soils were always most subject to this change of masters; such as the district now called Thessaly, Boeotia, most of the Peloponnese, arcadia excepted, and the most fertile parts of the rest of Hellas. The goodness of the land favored the aggrandizement of particular individuals, and thus created faction which proved a fertile source of ruin. it also invited invasion.

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The Sacred Sanctuaries Although rival poleis were often at war with one another, they also increasingly came to understand their common heritage. As early as the eighth century bce, they cre- ated sanctuaries where they could come together to share music, religion, poetry, and athletics. The sanctuary was a large-scale reflection of another Greek invention, the symposium, literally “drinking together” by men (origi- nally of the same military unit) meeting to share poetry, food, and wine. At the sanctuaries, people from different poleis came together to honor their gods and, by exten- sion, to celebrate, in the presence of their rivals, their own accomplishments.

Delphi The sanctuaries were sacred religious sites. They inspired the poleis, which were always trying to outdo one another, to create the first monumental architecture since Mycenaean times. At Delphi, high in the mountains above the Gulf of Corinth, and home to the Sanctuary of Apollo,

the poleis, in their usual competitive spirit, built monu- ments and statues dedicated to the god, and elaborate treas- uries to store offerings. Here, the Greeks believed, Earth was attached to the sky by its navel. Here, too, through a deep crack in the ground, Apollo spoke, through the medium of a woman called the Pythia. Priests interpreted the cryptic omens and messages she delivered. The Greek author Plutarch, writing in the first century ce, said that the Pythia entered a small chamber beneath the temple, smelled sweet-smelling fumes, and went into a trance. Mod- ern scholars dismissed the story as fiction until recently, when geologists discovered that two faults intersect directly below the Delphic temple, allowing hallucinogenic gases to rise through the fissures, specifically ethylene, which has a sweet smell and produces a narcotic effect described as a floating or disembodied euphoria.

The facade of the Athenian Treasury at Delphi con- sisted of two columns standing in antis (that is, between two squared stone pilasters, called antae). Behind them is the

The religion of the Greeks informed almost every aspect of daily life. The gods watched over the individual at birth, nurtured the family, and protected the city-state. They controlled the weather, the seasons, health, marriage, longevity, and the future, which they could foresee. Each polis traced its origins to a particular founding god—Athena for Athens, Zeus for Sparta. Sacred sanc- tuaries were dedicated to others.

The Greeks believed that the 12 major gods lived on Mount Olympus, in northeastern Greece. There they ruled over the Greeks in a completely human fashion—they quarreled and med- dled, loved and lost, exercised justice or not—and they were depicted by the Greeks in human form. There was nothing special about them except their power, which was enormous, sometimes frighteningly so. But the Greeks believed that as long as they did not overstep their bounds and try to compete with the gods—the sin of hubris, or pride—that the gods would protect them.

Among the major gods (with their later Roman names in parentheses) are: Zeus (Jupiter): King of the gods, usually bearded, and

associated with the eagle and thunderbolt. Hera (Juno): Wife and sister to Zeus, the goddess of marriage

and maternity. Athena (Minerva): Goddess of war, but also, through her

association with Athens, of civilization; the daughter of Zeus, born from his head; often helmeted, shield and spear in hand, the owl (wisdom) and the olive tree (peace) are sacred to her.

Ares (Mars): God of war, and son of Zeus and Hera, usually armored.

Aphrodite (Venus): Goddess of love and beauty; Hesiod says she was born when the severed genitals of Uranus, the Greek personification of the sky, were cast into the sea and his sperm mingled with sea foam to create her. Eros is her son.

Apollo (Phoebus): God of the sun, light, truth, prophecy, music, and medicine; he carries a bow and arrow, sometimes a lyre; often depicted riding a chariot across the sky.

Artemis (Diana): Goddess of the hunt and the moon; Apollo’s sister, she carries bow and arrow, and is accompanied by hunting dogs.

Demeter (Ceres): Goddess of agriculture and grain. Dionysus (Bacchus): God of wine and inspiration, closely

aligned to myths of fertility and sexuality. Hermes (Mercury): Messenger of the gods, but also god of

fertility, theft, dreams, commerce, and the marketplace; usually wearing winged sandals and a winged hat, he carries a wand with two snakes entwined around it.

Hades (Pluto): God of the underworld, accompanied by his monstrous dog, Cerberus.

Hephaestus (Vulcan): God of the forge and fire; son of Zeus and Hera and husband of Aphrodite; wears a blacksmith’s apron and carries a hammer.

Hestia (Vesta): Goddess of the hearth and sister of Zeus. Poseidon (Neptune): Brother of Zeus and god of the sea; carries

a trident (a three-pronged spear); the horse is sacred to him. Persephone (Proserpina): Goddess of fertility, Demeter’s

daughter, carted off each winter to the underworld by her husband Hades, but released each spring to restore the world to plenty.

CONTEXT The Greek Gods

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pronaos, or enclosed vestibule, at the front of the building, with its doorway leading into the cella (or naos), the prin- cipal interior space of the building (see the floor plan, Fig. 4.17).

We can see the antecedents of this building type in a small ceramic model of an early Greek temple dating from the eighth century bce and found at the Sanctuary of Hera near Argos (Fig. 4.18). Its projecting porch supported by two columns anticipates the in antis columns and pronaos of the Athenian Treasury. The triangular area over the porch created by the pitch of the roof, called the pediment, is not as steep in the Treasury.

The Temples of Hera at Paestum From this basic form, sur- viving in the small treasuries at Delphi, the larger temples of the Greeks would develop. Two distinctive orders— systems of proportion that include the building’s plan, its elevation (the arrangement and appearance of the tem- ple’s foundation, columns, and lintels), and decorative scheme—developed before 500 bce, the Doric order and the Ionic order. Later, a third Corinthian order would emerge (see Closer Look, pages 116–117). Among the ear- liest surviving examples of a Greek temple of the Doric order are the Temples of Hera I and II in the Sanctuary of Hera at Paestum, a Greek colony established in the seventh century bce in Italy, about 50 miles south of present-day

cella or naos

pronaos

columns in antis

anta

Fig. 4.17 The Athenian Treasury, Delphi, and plan. ca. 510 bce. The sculptural program around the Treasury, just below the roof line, depicts the adventures of two great Greek mythological heroes, Theseus and Heracles.

Fig. 4.18 Model of a temple, found in the Sanctuary of Hera, Argos. Mid-8th century bce. Terra cotta, length 41⁄2". National Archeological Museum, Athens. We do not know if later temples were painted like the model here.

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C L O S E R LOOK

C lassical Greek architecture is composed of three vertical elements—the platform, the

column, and the entablature—which comprise its elevation. The relation- ship of these three units is referred to as the elevation’s order. There are three orders: Doric, Ionic, and Corin- thian, each distinguished by its spe- cific design.

The Classical Greek orders became the basic design elements for archi- tecture from ancient Greek times to the present day. A major source of their power is the sense of order, pre- dictability, and proportion that they embody. Notice how the upper ele- ments of each order—the elements comprising the entablature—change a s t h e c o l u m n s u p p o r t i n g t h e m becomes narrower and taller. In the Doric order, the architrave (the bot- tom layer of the entablature), and the frieze (the flat band just above the architrave decorated with sculp- ture, painting, or moldings), are com- paratively massive. The Doric is the heaviest of the columns. The Ionic is lighter and noticeably smaller. The Corinthian is smaller yet, seemingly supported by mere leaves.

Doric columns at the Temple of Hera I, and plan. Paestum, Italy. ca. 540 bce. The floor plan of all three orders is essentially the same, although in the Doric order, the last two columns were set slightly closer together—corner contraction, as it is known—resulting in the corner gaining a subtle visual strength and allowing for regular spacing of sculptural elements in the entablature above.

stylobate0 75 ft

15 m

anta

columns in antis

pronaos

cella or naos

peristyle

adyton

Something to Think About … The base, shaft, and capital of a Greek column have often been compared to the feet, body, and head of the human figure. How would you compare the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders to Figs. 4.20, 4.21, and 4.30?

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The Classical Orders

Naxian sphinx on an Ionic column, Delphi. ca. 560 bce. Height of sphinx, 91". Archeological Museum, Delphi.

Corinthian capital from the tholos at Epidaurus. 4th century bce. Height 26". Archeological Museum, Epidaurus. The last of the orders to be developed, the Corinthian is distinguished by its flowery burst of acanthus leaves.Ionic column

abacus

echinus

The Classical orders, from James Stuart, The Antiquities of Athens, London 1794. An architectural order lends a sense of unity and structural integrity to a building as a whole. By the sixth century bce, the Greeks had developed the Doric and the Ionic orders. The former is sturdy and simple. The latter is lighter in proportion and more elegant in detail, its capital characterized by a scroll-like motif called a volute. The Corinthian order, which originated in the last half of the fifth century bce, is the most elaborate of all. It would become a favorite of the Romans.

Watch an architectural simulation about the Greek orders on MyArtsLab

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Fig. 4.19 The Euphiletos Painter, Black-figure amphora showing a foot-race at the Panathenaic Games in Athens (detail). ca. 530 bce. Terra cotta, height 241⁄2". The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Rogers Fund, 1914 (14.130.12). Greek athletes competed nude. In fact, our word gymnasium derives from the Greek word for “naked,” gymnos.

Naples (see Fig. 4.16). As the plan of the Temple of Hera I makes clear (see Closer Look, page 116), the earlier of the two temples was a large, rectangular structure, with a pronaos containing three (as opposed to two) col- umns and an elongated cella, behind which is an adyton, the innermost sanctuary housing the place where, in a temple with an oracle, the oracle’s message was deliv- ered. Surrounding this inner structure was the peristyle, a row of columns that stands on the stylobate, the top step of the platform on which the temple rests. The columns swell about one-third of the way up and contract again at the top, a characteristic known as entasis, and are topped by the two-part capital of the Doric order with its rounded echinus and tabletlike abacus.

Olympia and the Olympic Games The Greeks date the beginning of their history to the first formal Panhellenic (“all-Greece”) athletic competition, held in 776 bce. These first Olympic Games were held at Olympia. There, a sanctuary dedicated to Hera and Zeus also housed an elaborate athletic facility. The first contest of the first games was a 200-yard dash the length of the Olympia stadium, a race called the stadion (Fig. 4.19). Over time, other events of solo performance were added, including chariot-racing, boxing, and the pentathlon (from Greek penta, “five,” and athlon, “contest”), consisting of discus, javelin, long jump, sprinting, and wrestling. There were no second or third prizes. Winning was all. The contests were conducted every four years during the summer months and were open only to men (married women were forbidden to attend, and unmarried women probably did not attend). The Olympic Games were held for more than 1,000 years, until the Christian Byzantine emperor Theodosius banned them in 394 ce. The Games were revived in 1896 to pro- mote international understanding and friendship.

The Olympic Games were only one of numerous athletic festivals held in various locations. These games comprised a defining characteristic of the developing Greek national identity. As a people, the Greeks believed in agonizesthai, a verb meaning “to contend for the prize.” They were driven by competition. Potters bragged that their work was better than any other’s. Playwrights competed for best play, poets for best recitation, athletes for best performance. As the poleis themselves competed for supremacy, they began to understand the spirit of competition as a trait shared by all.

Male Sculpture and the Cult of the Body Greek athletes performed nude, so it is not surprising that athletic contests gave rise to what may be called a “cult of the body.” The physically fit male not only won acco- lades in athletic contests, he also represented the condi- tioning and strength of the military forces of a particular polis. The male body was also celebrated in a widespread genre of sculpture known as the kouros, meaning “young man” (Figs. 4.20, 4.21). This celebration of the body was uniquely Greek. No other Mediterranean culture so empha- sized depiction of the male nude.

Several thousand kouroi (plural of kouros) appear to have been carved in the sixth century bce alone. They could be found in sanctuaries and cemeteries, most often serving as votive offerings to the gods or as commemorative grave mark- ers, embodying the best characteristics of the aristocracy.

Egyptian Influences Although we would never mistake an early Greek figure for the work of an Egyptian sculptor—its nudity and much more fully realized anatomical features are clear differences—still, its Egyptian influences are obvious. In fact, as early as 650 bce, the Greeks were in Egypt, and by the early sixth century bce, 12 cooperating poleis had

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established a trading outpost in the Nile Delta. The Greek sculpture serves much the same funerary function as its Egyptian ancestors. The young man’s arms drop stiffly to his side. His fists are clenched in the Egyptian manner. His left foot strides forward, though both heels remain unnaturally cemented to the ground, altogether like the Old Kingdom Egyptian ka statue of Menkaure with his queen (see Fig. 3.10 in Chapter 3), which is nearly 2,000 years older. The facial features of the kouros, with its wide, oval eyes, sharply delin- eated brow, and carefully knotted hair, are also reminiscent of third-millennium bce Sumerian votive statues (see Fig. 2.4 in Chapter 2).

Increasing Naturalism During the course of the sixth cen- tury, kouroi became distinguished by naturalism. That is, they increasingly reflect the artist’s desire to represent the

human body as it appears in nature. This in turn probably reflects the growing role of the individual in Greek politi- cal life.

W e s e e m o r e s t y l i s t i c c h a n g e between the first kouros and the second, a span of just 75 years, than between the first kouros and its Egyp- tian and Sumerian ancestors, created over 2,000 years earlier. The muscula- ture of the later figure, with its highly developed thighs and calves, the natu- ralistic curve delineating the waist and hips, the collarbone and tendons

Fig. 4.20 New York Kouros. ca. 600 bce. Marble, height 6'4". The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Fletcher Fund, 1932 (32.11.1).

Fig. 4.21 Anavysos Kouros, from Anavysos cemetery, near Athens. ca. 525 bce. Marble with remnants of paint, height 6'4". National Archeological Museum, Athens. The sculpture on the left is one of the earliest known life-size standing sculptures of a male in Greek art. The one on the right represents 75 years of Greek experimentation with the form. Note its closed-lip “Archaic smile,” a symbol of liveliness and vitality.

CONTINUITY&CHANGE

Menkaure with a Queen, p. 79

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the more lifelike and natural the sculpture, the more nearly it could be understood to resemble the god himself.

Female Sculpture and the Worship of Athena At the center of Athenian life was the worship, on the Acropolis, of the goddess Athena, the city’s protector. Just as the kouros statue seems related to Apollo, statues of korai, or “maidens” (singular kore) appear to have been votive offerings to Athena and were apparently conceived as gifts to the goddess. Male citizens dedicated korai to her as a gesture of both piety and evident pleasure in the beauty of the sculpture itself. From the mid-sixth century bce on, the sculptural production of korai flourished in Athens.

As with the kouroi statues, the korai also became more naturalistic during the century. This trend is especially

in the neck, the muscles of the ribcage and belly, the pre- cisely rendered feet and toes, all suggest that this is a rep- resentation of a real person. In fact, an inscription on the base of the sculpture reads, “Stop and grieve at the dead Kroisos, slain by wild Ares [the god of war] in the front rank of battle.” This is a monument to a fallen hero, killed in the prime of youth.

Both sculptures are examples of the developing Archaic style, the name given to art produced from 600 to 480 bce. We do not know why sculptors wanted to realize the human form more naturalistically, but we can surmise that the rea- son must be related to agonizesthai, the spirit of competition so dominant in Greek society. Sculptors must have com- peted against one another in their attempts to realize the human form. Furthermore, since it was believed that the god Apollo manifested himself as a well-endowed athlete,

Fig. 4.22 Peplos Kore and cast reconstruction of the original, from the Acropolis, Athens. Dedicated 530 bce. Polychromed marble, height 471⁄2". Acropolis Museum, Athens (original), and Museum of Classical Archaeology, University of Cambridge, UK (cast). The extended arm, probably bearing a gift, was originally a separate piece, inserted in the round socket at her elbow. Note the small size of this sculpture, more than two feet shorter than the male kouros sculptures (Figs. 4.20, 4.21).

Fig. 4.23 Kore, from the Acropolis, Athens. ca. 520 bce. Polychromed marble, height 21". Acropolis Museum, Athens. Although missing half its height, the sculpture gives us a clear example of the elaborate dress of the last years of the sixth century bce.

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obvious in their dress. In the sculpture known as the Pep- los Kore (Fig. 4.22), anatomical realism is suppressed by the straight lines of the sturdy garment known as a peplos. Usu- ally made of wool, the peplos is essentially a rectangle of cloth folded down at the neck, pinned at the shoulders, and belted. Another kore, also remarkable for the amount of original paint on it, is the Kore dating from 520 bce, found on the Athenian Acropolis (Fig. 4.23). This one wears a chiton, a garment that by the last decades of the century had become much more popular than the peplos. Made of linen, the chiton clings more closely to the body and is gathered to create pleats and folds that allow the artist to show off his virtuosity. On top of it, a gathered mantle called a himation is draped diagonally from one shoulder. These sculptures, dedicated to Athena, give us some idea of the richness of decoration that adorned sixth-century Athens.

Athenian Pottery As early as the tenth century bce, elaborate ceramic manufactories had been established in Athens at the Kerameikos cemetery (the origin of the word ceramics) on the outskirts of the city. Athenian artisans invented a new, much faster potter’s wheel that allowed them to control more reliably the shapes of their vases. They also created new kilns, with far greater capacity to control heat,

resulting in richer, more lustrous glazes. Because the human figure is largely absent from the pots produced, which favor abstract geometric patterns, some see this work as unso- phisticated, especially when compared to the great figu- rative tradition of later Greek art. But when we consider the Greek genius for mathematics, the abstract design and patterning of these ceramics begin to seem complex and sophisticated. Concentric circles, made with a new tool—a compass with multiple brushes—decorate even the earliest pots (Fig. 4.24).

By the middle of the ninth century bce, an elaborate geometric style dominates the pottery’s surface (Fig. 4.25), characterized by circles, rectangles, and triangles in paral- lel bands around the vase. This represents an extremely elaborate and highly stylized approach to decoration, one that echoes the Homeric epic in the submission of its detail to the unity of the whole. Layered band upon band, these geometric designs hint at what the Greeks believed to be the structure of the cosmos as a whole, a structure they

Fig. 4.24 Protogeometric skyphos from the Kerameikos cemetery, Athens. 10th century bce. © The Trustees of the British Museum. A skyphos is a two-handled drinking cup.

Fig. 4.25 Dipylon Vase, large sepulchral amphora from the Kerameikos cemetery, Athens, with prothesis (ritual mourning) scene. ca. 760 bce. Height 5'1". National Archeological Museum, Athens. This monumental vase was placed above a grave as a memorial.

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filled each side of the vase. The Greeks soon developed two types of vases characterized by the relationship of figure to ground: black- and red-figure vases. The figures on black-figure vases are painted with slip, a mixture of clay and water, so that after firing they remain black against an unslipped red background. Women at a Fountain House (Fig. 4.26) is an example. Here the artist, whom scholars have dubbed the Priam Painter, has added touches of white by mixing white pigment into the slip. By the second half of the sixth century, new motifs, showing scenes of everyday life, became increasingly popular. This hydria, or water jug, shows women carrying similar jugs as they chat at a foun- tain house of the kind built by the tyrant Pisistratus in the sixth century at the ends of the aqueducts that brought water into the city. Such fountain houses were extremely popular spots, offering women, who were for the most part

confined to their homes, a rare opportunity to gather socially. Water flows from animal-head spigots at both the sides and across the back of the scene. The composition’s strong vertical and horizontal framework, with its Doric columns, is softened by the rounded contours of the wom- en’s bodies and the vases they carry. This vase underscores the growing Greek taste for realistic scenes and naturalistic representation.

Many pots depict gods and heroes, including representations inspired by the Iliad and Odys- sey (see Figs. 4.14 and 4.15). An example of this tendency is a krater, or vessel in which wine and water were mixed, that shows the Death of Sarpedon. It was made by the potter Euxitheos by 515 bce and painted by Euphronius (Fig. 4.27). Euphronius was praised especially for his abil- ity to render human anatomy accurately. Here, Sarpedon has just been killed by Patroclus (see Reading 4.1). Blood pours from his leg, shoul- der, and carefully drawn abdomen. The winged figures of Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death) are about to carry off his body as Hermes, mes- senger of the gods who guides the dead to the underworld, looks on. But the naturalism of the scene is not the source of its appeal. Rather, its perfectly balanced composition transforms the tragedy into a rare depiction of death as an instance of dignity and order. The spears of the two warriors left and right mirror the edge of the vase, the design formed by Sarpedon’s stomach muscles is echoed in the decorative bands both top and bottom, and the handles of the vase mir- ror the arching backs of Hypnos and Thanatos.

The Death of Sarpedon is an example of a red-figure vase. The process is the reverse of the black-figure process, and more compli- cated. Here, the slip is used to paint the back- ground, outlining the figures. Using the same slip, Euphronius also drew details on the figure (such as Sarpedon’s abdomen) with a brush. The

tirelessly sought to understand. Soon, the physical phi- losopher Pythagoras (ca. 570–490 bce), who studied the mathematical differences in the lengths of strings needed to produce various notes on the lyre, would develop his famous theorem. The Pythagorean theorem states that in a right-angled triangle, the square of the hypotenuse (the longest side) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides of the triangle. And by 300 bce, Euclid, a Greek philosopher (flourished early third century bce) working in Alexandria, Egypt, would formulate his definitive geometry of two- and three-dimensional space.

Athenian potters were helped along by the extremely high quality of the clay available in Athens, which turned a deep orange color when fired. As with Athenian sculp- ture, the decorations on Athenian vases grew increasingly naturalistic and detailed until, generally, only one scene

Fig. 4.26 The Priam Painter, Women at a Fountain House. ca. 520–510 bce. Black-figure decoration on a hydria (water jug), height 207⁄8". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Reproduced with permission. Photograph © 2014 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All rights reserved. The convention of depicting women’s skin as white is also found in Egyptian and Minoan art.

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Fig. 4.27 Euphronius (painter) and Euxitheos (potter), Death of Sarpedon. ca. 515 bce. Red-figure decoration on a calyx krater. Ceramic, height of krater 18". Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome. This type of krater is called a calyx krater because its handles curve up like the calyx of a flower. The krater was housed in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York until it became clear that it was illegally excavated in Italy in the early 1970s. The Museum returned the piece to Italy in 2008.

vase was then fired in three stages, each one varying the amount of oxygen allowed into the kiln. In the first stage, oxygen was allowed into the kiln, which “fixed” the whole vase in one overall shade of red. Then, oxygen in the kiln was reduced to the absolute minimum, turning the ves- sel black. At this point, as the temperature rose, the slip became vitrified, or glassy. Finally, oxygen entered the kiln again, turning the unslipped areas—in this case, the red figures—back into a shade of red. The areas painted with the vitrified slip were not exposed to oxygen, so that they remained black.

The Poetry of Sappho The poet Sappho (ca. 610–ca. 580 bce) was hailed through- out antiquity as “the tenth Muse” and her poetry celebrated as a shining example of female creativity. We know little of Sappho’s somewhat extraordinary life. She was born on the island of Lesbos, and probably married. She mentions

both a brother and a daughter, Cleis, in her poetry. As an adult poet, she surrounded herself with a group of young women who together engaged in the celebration of Aph- rodite (love), the Graces (beauty), and the Muses (poetry). Her own poetry gives rise to the suggestion that her relation to these women was erotic. It seems clear that most of her circle shared their lives with one another only for a brief period before marriage. As we will see later, Plato’s Sympo- sium suggests that homoeroticism was institutionalized for young men at this stage of life; it may have been institu- tionalized for young women as well.

Sappho wrote lyric poems on themes of love and per- sonal relationships, often with other women. Only frag- ments of Sappho’s poetry have survived. It is impossible to convey the subtlety and beauty of her poems in translation, but their astonishing economy of feeling does come across. In the following poem (Reading 4.6a), one of the longest surviving fragments, she expresses her love for a married woman:

View the Closer Look for the Euphronius Krater on MyArtsLab

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124 PART ONE The Ancient World and the Classical Past

R e a d i n g 4 . 6 a

Sappho, lyric poetry

He is more than a hero He is a god in my eyes the man who is allowed to sit beside you—he who listens intimately to the sweet murmur of your voice, the enticing laughter that makes my own heart beat fast. if i meet you suddenly, i can’t speak—my tongue is broken; a thin flame runs under my skin; seeing nothing hearing only my ears drumming, i drip with sweat; trembling shakes my body and i turn paler than dry grass. at such times death isn’t far from me.

Fig. 4.28 Polygnotus (vase painter), Two women, one playing a lyre. 5th century bce. Red-figure decoration on a pelike. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Most of Sappho’s poems were written to be sung by a performer accompanying herself on the lyre.

Sappho’s work was collected into nine volumes (arranged according to meter) by the Library of Alexandria, but these are now lost, like most of the rest of the library’s 700,000 volumes (see Chapter 5). After Homer, she was probably the most admired poet in antiquity, but where Homer’s poetry was concerned with creating a national, Hellenic identity, Sappho’s lyrics were more personal, establishing her own, individual sense of self.

THE RISE OF ATHENIAN DEMOCRACy

How did democracy develop in Athens?

The growing naturalism of sixth-century bce sculpture, to say nothing of the highly personal poetry of Sappho, coin- cided with the rise of democratic institutions in Athens and reflects this important development. Both bear witness to a growing Greek spirit of innovation and accomplishment. And both testify to a growing belief in the dignity and worth of the individual.

Toward Democracy: Solon and Pisistratus Early in the sixth century bce, a reformer statesman named Solon (ca. 630–ca. 560 bce) overturned a severe code of law that had been instituted about one century earlier by an official named Draco. Draco’s law was especially hard on debtors, and from his name comes our use of the term “Dra- conian” to describe particularly harsh punishments or laws. A bankrupt member of the polis could not sell or mortgage his land, but was required to mortgage the produce of the land to his creditor, effectively enslaving himself and his family to the creditor forever. Similarly, a bankrupt mer- chant was obliged to become the slave of his creditor.

Solon addressed the most painful of these provisions. He canceled all current debts, freed both peasants who found themselves in a state of servitude and landowners and mer- chants enslaved through debt, and published a new code

Poems such as this one were sung to the accompaniment of a lyre, as depicted in a red-figure vase by Polygnotus (Fig. 4.28). We have little knowledge of what Greek music actu- ally sounded like. The only complete work of music to have survived is a skiolion, or drinking song, by Seikolos, found chiseled on the first-century bce gravestone of his wife

R e a d i n g 4 . 6 b

Sappho, lyric poetry

although they are only breath, words which i command are immortal.

Euterpe. The Greek system of musical notation, apparently borrowed from the Phoenicians, marked the position of the fingers on the strings of the instrument.

Sappho’s talent is the ability to condense the intensity of her feelings into a single breath, a breath that, as the follow- ing poem suggests, lives on (Reading 4.6b). Even in so short a poem, Sappho realizes concretely the Greek belief that we can achieve immortality through our words and deeds:

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Pisistratus was, by and large, a benevolent tyrant. He recognized the wisdom of Solon’s economic policies and encouraged the development of trade. Perhaps most impor- tant of all, he initiated a lavish program of public works in order to provide jobs for the entire populace. He built roads and drainage systems and provided running water to most of the city. He was also a patron of the arts. Evidence sug- gests that in the agora he built the first Athenian space for dramatic performances. On the Acropolis, he built several temples, though only fragmentary evidence remains.

Cleisthenes and the First Athenian Democracy Pisistratus’ son Hippias became the ruler of Athens in 527 bce. Pisistratus had been a tyrant, exiling aristocrats who did not support him, and often keeping a son of a noble family as a personal hostage to guarantee the family’s loyalty. Hippias was harsher still, exiling more nobles and executing many others. In 510, the exiled nobles led a revolt, with aid from Sparta, and Hippias escaped to Persia.

In 508 bce, Cleisthenes instituted the first Athe- nian democracy, an innovation in self-government that might not have been possible until the Athenians had experienced the tyranny of Hippias. Cleisthenes reor- ganized the Athenian political system into demes, small local areas comparable to precincts or wards in a mod- ern city. Because all citizens—remember, only males were citizens—registered in their given deme, landown- ers and merchants had equal political rights. Cleisthenes then grouped the demes into ten political “tribes,” whose membership cut across all family, class, and regional lines, thus effectively diminishing the power and influ- ence of the noble families. Each tribe appointed 50 of its members to a Council of Five Hundred, which served for 36 days. There were thus ten separate councils per year, and no citizen could serve on the council more than twice in his lifetime. With so many citizens serving on the council for such short times, it is likely that nearly every Athenian citizen participated in the government at some point during his lifetime.

The new Greek democracy was immediately threatened by the rise of the Persian Empire in the east. These were the same Persians who had defeated the Babylonians and freed the Jews in 520 bce (see Chapter 2). In 499 bce, prob- ably aware of the newfound political freedoms in Athens and certainly chafing at the tyrannical rule of the Persians, Persian-controlled cities in Ionia rebelled, burning down the city of Sardis, the Persian headquarters in Asia Minor. In 495 bce, the Persian ruler Darius struck back. He burned down the most important Ionian city, Miletus, slaughtering the men and taking its women and children into slavery. Then, probably influenced by Hippias, who lived in exile in his court, Darius turned his sights on Athens, which had sent a force to Ionia to aid the rebellion. But if the Greek democracy was threatened—and it was, to the point of destruction—it would respond by creating a new Golden Age.

of law. He deemphasized the agricultural basis of the polis and encouraged trade and commerce, granting citizenship to anyone who would come and work in Athens. He also formed the Council of Four Hundred, which was comprised of landowners selected by Solon himself. This group rec- ommended policy, which a general assembly of all citizens voted on. Only the council could formulate policy, but the citizens could veto it. By the end of the fifth century, Athenians had come to view Solon as the founding father of Athenian democracy—from the Greek demokratia, “the rule” (kratia) of “the people” (demes).

Solon was a poet, and in his poems it is clear that he was intent on finding some common ground between the rich and privileged and the poor and unprivileged. The aristocratic landowners from the plains thought that Solon had overstepped his authority. The much poorer hill peo- ple living on the mountainsides thought he had not gone far enough; only the coastal and urban people felt satisfied with his reforms. But in freeing the enslaved, weakening the aristocracy, and strengthening the legal system, Solon laid the groundwork for Athenian democracy.

But when Pisistratus (r. 560–527 bce) assumed power in the polis, any further advance toward democracy was stymied. A tyrant, Pisistratus ruled as a dictator, without consulting the people. But he was successful in moderat- ing the conflict among the three factions—the landowners on the plains, the hill people, and the urban and coastal dwellers—thus establishing a period of lasting peace in the polis. The hill people in particular supported him, because he advanced money to help them sustain themselves and thereby agricultural production in the polis. Two centu- ries later, the philosopher Aristotle would tell a story that reflects Pisistratus’ rule (Reading 4.7):

R e a d i n g 4 . 7

from Aristotle’s Athenian Constitution

His revenues were increased by the thorough cultivation of the country, since he imposed a tax of one tenth on all the produce. For the same reasons he instituted the local justices, and often made expeditions in person into the country to inspect it and to settle disputes between individuals, that they might not come into the city and neglect their farms. it was in one of these progresses that, as the story goes, Pisistratus had his adventure with the man of Hymettus, who was cultivating the spot afterwards known as “Tax-free Farm.” He saw a man digging and working at a very stony piece of ground, and being surprised he sent his attendant to ask what he got out of this plot of land. “aches and pains,” said the man; “and that’s what Pisistratus ought to have his tenth of.” The man spoke without knowing who his questioner was; but Pisistratus was so pleased with his frank speech and his industry that he granted him exemption from all taxes. and so in matters in general he burdened the people as little as possible with government, but always cultivated peace and kept them in all quietness.

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this is a Roman copy of a lost fifth-century bce bronze Greek statue, we can assume it reflects the original’s naturalism, since the original’s sculptor, Polyclitus, was renowned for his ability to render the human body realistically. But this advance, characteristic of Golden Age Athens, represents more than just a cultural taste for naturalism. It also represents a heightened cultural sensitivity to the worth of the individual, a belief that as much as we value what we have in common with one another—the bond that creates the city-state—our individual contributions are at least of equal value (see Chapter 5). By the fifth century bce, the Greeks clearly understood that individual genius and achievement could be a matter of civic pride. ■

F reestanding Greek sculpture of the Archaic period— that is, sculpture dating from about 600 to 480 bce— is notable for its stylistic connections to 2,000 years

of Egyptian tradition. The Late Period statue of Men- tuemhet (Fig. 4.29), from Thebes, dating from around 660 bce, differs hardly at all from Old Kingdom sculp- ture at Giza (see Figs. 3.9 and 3.10 in Chapter 3), and even though the Anavysos Kouros (Fig. 4.30), from a cemetery near Athens, represents a significant advance in relative naturalism over the Greek sculpture of just a few years before, it still resembles its Egyptian ancestors. R e m a r k a b l y , s i n c e i t f o l l o w s u p o n t h e A n a v y s o s Kouros by only 75 years, the Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) (Fig. 4.31) is significantly more naturalistic. Although

Fig. 4.29 Mentuemhet, from Karnak, Thebes, Egypt. ca. 660 bce. Granite, height 54". Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Fig. 4.31 Doryphoros (Spear Bearer), Roman copy after the original bronze by Polyclitus of ca. 450–440 bce. Marble, height 6'6". Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.

Fig. 4.30 Anavysos Kouros, from a cemetery at Anavysos, near Athens. ca. 525 bce. Marble with remnants of paint, height 6'4". National Archeological Museum, Athens.

& C O N T I N U I T Y C H A N G E Egyptian and Greek Sculpture

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THINKING BACK

4.1 Compare and contrast the Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean cultures.

The later Greeks traced their ancestry to the cultures that arose in the islands of the Aegean Sea. The art of the Cyclades consisted of highly simplified Neolithic figurines and, later, probably under the influence of Minoan cul- ture to the south, elaborate wall frescoes depicting every- day events. Unique to Minoan culture is an emphasis on the bull, associated with the legend of King Minos and the Minotaur, and the double ax, symbol of the Palace of Minos at Knossos, the complex layout of which gave rise to the word “labyrinth.” Mycenaean warriors from the Greek mainland invaded Crete in about 1450 bce. There is abundant archeological evidence that they had valued Minoan artistry long before and had traded with the Minoans. But from all appearances their two cultures could not have been more different. In what ways did Minoan and Mycenaean cultures differ most dramatically?

4.2 Define the formal features of the Homeric epic and compare and contrast the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Around 800 bce, Homer’s great epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, were transcribed. The stories had been passed down orally for generations, and it is evident that for- mulaic epithets helped in remembering the story. These epithets helped the performing poet to fit a given name into the verse. What is “epic” meter? The Iliad tells of the anger of the Greek hero Achilles and its conse- quences during a war between the Achaeans and Troy, which occurred sometime between 1800 and 1300 bce. The Odyssey follows the Greek commander Odysseus on his adventure-laden journey home to his faithful wife, Penelope. These stories, and legends such as the myth of the Minotaur, comprised for the Greeks their archaiolo- gia, their way of knowing their past. How do the Iliad and the Odyssey differ from each other in their depictions of Greek culture and values?

4.3 Discuss the ways in which the values of the Greek polis shaped Greek culture.

Each of the rural areas of Greece, separated from one another by mountainous geography, gradually began to form into a community—the polis, or city-state—that exercised authority over its region. Inevitably, certain of these poleis became more powerful than the others. Corinth’s central location allowed it to control sea traf- fic, and trade with the Near East inspired its thriving pot- tery industry. Sparta was the most powerful of the early Greek city-states, and it exercised extreme authoritarian rule over its people. At Delos, Delphi, Olympia, and even in colonies such as Paestum on the Italian peninsula, the city-states came together to honor their gods at sanctuar- ies. What role did these sanctuaries play in the develop- ment of Greek culture?

The Greeks were unique among Mediterranean cul- tures in portraying the male nude, especially in the wide- spread genre of kouros sculpture, ideal male nude statues found in sanctuaries and cemeteries, most often serving as votive offerings to the gods or as commemorative grave markers. How would you describe the evolution of the kouros in the sixth century bce? Why did sculptures of robed females, or korai, evolve in Athens in particular? Why do you think paintings of scenes from the Iliad and the Odyssey were particularly popular decorative addi- tions to Greek pottery? How does the poetry of Sappho reflect the growing Greek concern with the individual?

4.4 Describe the rise of democracy in Athens. In the early sixth century bce, the statesman and poet Solon eliminated Draconian slavery, weakened the aris- tocracy, and strengthened the legal system. Later genera- tions thus saw him as the father of Athenian democracy. But the rise of democratic institutions in Athens was inspired in no small part by the reaction to the tyranny of Pisistratus and his son and successor, Hippias. Pisistra- tus was by and large a benevolent tyrant who championed the arts, while Hippias was almost his opposite. After Hippias was overthrown, Cleisthenes instituted the first Athenian democracy in 508 bce. The power and influ- ence of noble families was diminished under the rule of the Council of Five Hundred, the membership of which changed every 36 days. What almost immediately threat- ened this new-found democracy?

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Study and review on MyArtsLab

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READINGS R e a d i n g 4 . 1 from Homer, Iliad, Book 16 (ca. 750 bce)

Homer’s epic poem the Iliad begins after the Trojan War has begun. It narrates, in 24 books, what it describes in the first line as “the rage of Achilles,” the Greeks’ greatest warrior. Achilles has withdrawn from combat in anger at the Greek leader Agamemnon for taking the beautiful Briseis from him. Finally, in Book 16, with the Greeks in desperate straits, Achilles partially relents and allows his close friend Patroclus to don his armor and lead the Greeks into combat. The following excerpts from Book 16 describe scenes from the battle in which Patroclus defeats the Trojan warrior Sarpedon. It is a stunning portrayal of the horrible realities of war.

… and Hector? Hector’s speeding horses swept him away armor and all, leaving his men to face their fate, Trojans trapped but struggling on in the deep trench. Hundreds of plunging war-teams dragging chariots down, snapping the yoke-poles, ditched their masters’ cars and Patroclus charged them, heart afire for the kill, shouting his argives forward—“Slaughter Trojans!” Cries of terror breaking as Trojans choked all roads, their lines ripped to pieces, up from under the hoofs a dust storm swirling into the clouds as rearing horses broke into stride again and galloped back to Troy, leaving ships and shelters in their wake. Patroclus— wherever he saw the biggest masses dashing before him, there he steered, plowing ahead with savage cries and fighters tumbled out of their chariots headfirst, crushed under their axles, war-cars crashing over, yes, but straight across the trench went his own careering team at a superhuman bound. Magnificent racing stallions, gifts of the gods to Peleus, shining immortal gifts, straining breakneck on as Patroclus’ high courage urged him against Prince Hector, keen for the kill but Hector’s veering horses swept him clear. and all in an onrush dark as autumn days when the whole earth flattens black beneath a gale, when Zeus flings down his pelting, punishing rains— up in arms, furious, storming against those men who brawl in the courts and render crooked judgments, men who throw all rights to the winds with no regard for the vengeful eyes of the gods—so all their rivers crest into flood spate, ravines overflowing cut the hilltops off into lonely islands, the roaring flood tide rolling down to the storm-torn sea, headlong down from the foothills washes away the good plowed work of men—

Rampaging so, the gasping Trojan war-teams hurtled on.

Patroclus— soon as the fighter cut their front battalions off he swerved back to pin them against the warships, never letting the Trojans stream back up to Troy as they struggled madly on—but there mid-field between the ships, the river and beetling wall Patroclus kept on sweeping in, hacking them down, making them pay the price for argives slaughtered. There, Pronous first to fall—a glint of the spear and Patroclus tore his chest left bare by the shield-rim, loosed his knees and the man went crashing down.

and next he went for Thestor the son of enops cowering, crouched in his fine polished chariot, crazed with fear, and the reins flew from his grip— Patroclus rising beside him stabbed his right jawbone, ramming the spearhead over the chariot-rail, hoisted, dragged the Trojan out as an angler perched on a jutting rock ledge drags some fish from the sea, some noble catch, with line and glittering bronze hook. So with the spear Patroclus gaffed him off his car, his mouth gaping round the glittering point and flipped him down facefirst, dead as he fell, his life breath blown away. and next he caught erylaus closing, lunging in— he flung a rock and it struck between the eyes and the man’s whole skull split in his heavy helmet, down the Trojan slammed on the ground, head-down and courage-shattering death engulfed his corpse. Then in a blur of kills, amphoterus, erymas, epaltes, Tiepolemus son of damastor, and echius and Pyris, ipheus and euippus and Polymelus the son of argeas— he crowded corpse on corpse on the earth that rears us all.

But now Sarpedon watching his comrades drop and die, war-shirts billowing free as Patroclus killed them, dressed his godlike Lycians down with a harsh shout: “Lycians, where’s your pride? Where are you running? now be fast to attack! i’ll take him on myself, see who he is who routs us, wreaking havoc against us— cutting the legs from under squads of good brave men.”

With that he leapt up from his chariot fully armed and hit the ground and Patroclus straight across, as soon as he saw him, leapt from his car too. as a pair of crook-clawed, hook-beaked vultures swoop to fight, screaming above some jagged rock— so with their battle cries they rushed each other there. and Zeus the son of Cronus with Cronus’ twisting ways, filling with pity now to see the two great fighters, said to Hera, his sister and his wife, “My cruel fate . . . my Sarpedon, the man i love the most, my own son— doomed to die at the hands of Menoetius’ son Patroclus. My heart is torn in two as i try to weigh all this. Shall i pluck him up, now, while he’s still alive and set him down in the rich green land of Lycia, far from the war at Troy and all its tears? Or beat him down at Patroclus’ hands at last?”

But Queen Hera, her eyes wide, protested strongly:

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“dread majesty, son of Cronus—what are you saying? a man, a mere mortal, his doom sealed long ago? You’d set him free from all the pains of death? do as you please, Zeus … but none of the deathless gods will ever praise you. and i tell you this—take it to heart, i urge you— if you send Sarpedon home, living still, beware! Then surely some other god will want to sweep his own son clear of the heavy fighting too. Look down. Many who battle round King Priam’s mighty walls are sons of the deathless gods— you will inspire lethal anger in them all.

no, dear as he is to you, and your head grieves for him, leave Sarpedon there to die in the brutal onslaught, beaten down at the hands of Menoetius’ son Patroclus. But once his soul and the life force have left him, send death to carry him home, send soothing Sleep, all the way till they reach the broad land of Lycia. There his brothers and countrymen will bury the prince with full royal rites, with mounded tomb and pillar. These are the solemn honors owed the dead.

So she pressed and Zeus the father of men and gods complied at once. But he showered tears of blood that drenched the earth, showers in praise of him, his own dear son, the man Patroclus was just about to kill on Troy’s fertile soil, far from his fatherland.

now as the two came closing on each other Patroclus suddenly picked off Thrasymelus the famous driver, the aide who flanked Sarpedon— he speared him down the guts and loosed his limbs. But Sarpedon hurled next with a flashing lance and missed his man but he hit the horse Bold dancer, stabbing his right shoulder and down the stallion went, screaming his life out, shrieking down in the dust as his life breath winged away. and the paired horses reared apart—a raspy creak of the yoke, the reins flying, fouled as the trace horse thrashed the dust in death-throes. But the fine spearman automedon found a cure for that— drawing his long sharp sword from his sturdy thigh he leapt with a stroke to cut the trace horse free— it worked. The team righted, pulled at the reins and again both fighters closed with savage frenzy, dueling now to the death.

again Sarpedon missed— over Patroclus’ left shoulder his spearhead streaked, it never touched his body. Patroclus hurled next, the bronze launched from his hand—no miss, a mortal hit. He struck him right where the midriff packs the pounding

heart and down Sarpedon fell as an oak or white poplar falls or towering pine that shipwrights up on a mountain hew down with whetted axes for sturdy ship timber— so he stretched in front of his team and chariot, sprawled and roaring, clawing the bloody dust. as the bull a marauding lion cuts from the herd, tawny and greathearted among the shambling cattle, dies bellowing under the lion’s killing jaws—

so now Sarpedon, captain of Lycia’s shieldsmen, died at Patroclus’ hands and died raging still, crying out his beloved comrade’s name: “glaucus— oh dear friend, dear fighter, soldier’s soldier! now is the time to prove yourself a spearman, a daring man of war—now, if you are brave, make grueling battle your one consuming passion. First find Lycia’s captains, range the ranks, spur them to fight and shield Sarpedon’s body. Then you, glaucus, you fight for me with bronze! You’ll hang your head in shame—every day of your life— if the argives strip my armor here at the anchored ships where i have gone down fighting. Hold on, full force— spur all our men to battle!”

death cut him short. The end closed in around him, swirling down his eyes, choking off his breath. Patroclus planted a heel against his chest, wrenched the spear from his wound and the midriff came out with it—so he dragged out both the man’s life breath and the weapon’s point together.

… …

So veteran troops kept swarming round that corpse, never pausing—nor did mighty Zeus for a moment turn his shining eyes from the clash of battle. He kept them fixed on the struggling mass forever, the Father’s spirit churning, thrashing out the ways the numberless ways to cause Patroclus’ slaughter … To kill him too in this present bloody rampage over Sarpedon’s splendid body? Hector in glory cutting Patroclus down with hacking bronze then tearing the handsome war-gear off his back? Or let him take still more, piling up his kills? … and storming Zeus was stirring up apollo: “On with it now— sweep Sarpedon clear of the weapons, Phoebus, my friend, and once you wipe the dark blood from his body, bear him far from the fighting, off and away, and bathe him well in a river’s running tides and anoint him with deathless oils … dress his body in deathless, ambrosial robes. Then send him on his way with the wind-swift escorts, twin brother Sleep and death, who with all good speed will set him down in the broad green land of Lycia, There his brothers and countrymen will bury the prince with full royal rites, with mounded tomb and pillar. These are the solemn honors owed the dead.”

So he decreed and Phoebus did not neglect the Father’s strong desires. down from ida’s slopes he dove to the bloody field and lifting Prince Sarpedon clear of the weapons, bore him far from the fighting, off and away. …

READING CRITICALLY

The scene described is full of Homeric similes. Two of the most effective follow each other in short order directly after Patroclus hurls his spear into Sarpedon’s midriff. How do these similes contribute to the power of the poem? How might they either contribute to or diminish our sense of the warriors’ areté?

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in the next land we found were Kyklopês,1

giants, louts, without a law to bless them. in ignorance leaving the fruitage of the earth in mystery to the immortal gods, they neither plow nor sow by hand, nor till the ground, though grain— wild wheat and barley—grows untended, and wine-grapes, in clusters, ripen in heaven’s rain. Kyklopês have no muster and no meeting, no consultation or old tribal ways, but each one dwells in his own mountain cave dealing out rough justice to wife and child, indifferent to what the others do. … [Camped on a desert island across from the mainland home of the Kyklopes, Odysseus announces his intention to explore

the mainland itself.] “Old shipmates, friends, the rest of you stand by; i’ll make the crossing in my own ship, with my own company, and find out what the mainland natives are— for they may be wild savages, and lawless, or hospitable and god fearing men.” at this i went aboard, and gave the word to cast off by the stern. My oarsmen followed, filing in to their benches by the rowlocks, and all in line dipped oars in the grey sea. as we rowed on, and nearer to the mainland, at one end of the bay, we saw a cavern yawning above the water, screened with laurel, and many rams and goats about the place inside a sheepfold—made from slabs of stone earthfast between tall trunks of pine and rugged towering oak trees. a prodigious man slept in this cave alone, and took his flocks to graze afield—remote from all companions, knowing none but savage ways, a brute so huge, he seemed no man at all of those who eat good wheaten bread; but he seemed rather a shaggy mountain reared in solitude. We beached there, and i told the crew to stand by and keep watch over the ship; as for myself i took my twelve best fighters and went ahead. i had a goatskin full of that sweet liquor that euanthês’ son, Maron, had given me. …

no man turned away when cups of this came round.

a wineskin full i brought along, and victuals in a bag, for in my bones i knew some towering brute would be upon us soon—all outward power, a wild man, ignorant of civility. We climbed, then, briskly to the cave. But Kyklops had gone afield, to pasture his fat sheep, so we looked round at everything inside. … My men came pressing round me, pleading: “Why not take these cheeses, get them stowed, come back, throw open all the pens, and make a run for it? We’ll drive the kids and lambs aboard. We say put out again on good salt water!” ah, how sound that was! Yet i refused. i wished to see the caveman, what he had to offer— no pretty sight, it turned out, for my friends. We lit a fire, burnt an offering, and took some cheese to eat; then sat in silence around the embers, waiting. When he came he had a load of dry boughs on his shoulder to stoke his fire at suppertime. He dumped it with a great crash into that hollow cave, and we all scattered fast to the far wall. … “Strangers,” he said, “who are you? and where from? What brings you here by sea ways—a fair traffic? Or are you wandering rogues, who cast your lives like dice, and ravage other folk by sea?” We felt a pressure on our hearts, in dread of that deep rumble and that mighty man. But all the same i spoke up in reply: “We are from Troy, akhaians, blown off course by shifting gales on the great South Sea; homeward bound, but taking routes and ways uncommon; so the will of Zeus would have it. … it was our luck to come here; here we stand, beholden for your help, or any gifts you give—as custom is to honor strangers. We would entreat you, great Sir, have a care for the gods’ courtesy; Zeus will avenge the unoffending guest.”2

He answered this from his brute chest, unmoved: “You are a ninny, or else you come from the other end of nowhere, telling me, mind the gods! We Kyklopês

1 One-eyed giants, inhabitants of Sicily. Also spelled Cyclops.

R e a d i n g 4 . 2 from Homer, Odyssey, Book 9 (ca. 725 bce)

The sequel to Homer’s Iliad, the Odyssey is a second epic poem by Homer that narrates the adventures of the Greek war- rior Odysseus on his 20-year journey home from the Trojan War. The following passage, from Book 9, recounts Odysseus’ confrontation with the Cyclops Polyphemus. In this confrontation Odysseus displays the cunning and skill that make him a great leader.

2Zeus was the protector and guarantor of the laws of hospitality.

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care not a whistle for your thundering Zeus or all the gods in bliss; we have more force by far. i would not let you go for fear of Zeus— you or your friends—unless i had a whim to. Tell me, where was it, now, you left your ship— around the point, or down the shore, i wonder?” He thought he’d find out, but i saw through this, and answered with a ready lie: “My ship? Poseidon Lord, who sets the earth a-tremble, broke it up on the rocks at your land’s end. a wind from seaward served him, drove us there. We are survivors, these good men and i.” neither reply nor pity came from him, but in one stride he clutched at my companions and caught two in his hands like squirming puppies to beat their brains out, spattering the floor. Then he dismembered them and made his meal, gaping and crunching like a mountain lion— everything: innards, flesh, and marrow bones. We cried aloud, lifting our hands to Zeus, powerless, looking on at this, appalled; but Kyklops3 went on filling up his belly with manflesh and great gulps of whey, then lay down like a mast among his sheep. My heart beat high now at the chance of action, and drawing the sharp sword from my hip i went along his flank to stab him where the midriff holds the liver. i had touched the spot when sudden fear stayed me: if i killed him we perished there as well, for we could never move his ponderous doorway slab aside. So we were left to groan and wait for morning. When the young dawn with finger tips of rose lit up the world, the Kyklops built a fire and milked his handsome ewes, all in due order, putting the sucklings to the mothers. Then, his chores being all dispatched, he caught another brace of men to make his breakfast, and whisked away his great door slab to let his sheep go through—but he, behind, reset the stone as one would cap a quiver. There was a din of whistling as the Kyklops rounded his flock to higher ground, then stillness. and now i pondered how to hurt him worst, if but athena granted what i prayed for. Here are the means i thought would serve my turn: a club, or staff, lay there along the fold— an olive tree, felled green and left to season for Kyklops’ hand. and it was like a mast a lugger of twenty oars, broad in the beam— a deep-sea-going craft—might carry: so long, so big around, it seemed. now i chopped out a six foot section of this pole and set it down before my men, who scraped it; and when they had it smooth, i hewed again

to make a stake with pointed end. i held this in the fire’s heart and turned it, toughening it, then hid it, well back in the cavern, under one of the dung piles in profusion there. now came the time to toss for it: who ventured along with me? whose hand could bear to thrust and grind that spike in Kyklops’ eye, when mild sleep had mastered him? as luck would have it, the men i would have chosen won the toss— four strong men, and i made five as captain. at evening came the shepherd with his flock, his woolly flock. The rams as well, this time, entered the cave: by some sheep-herding whim— or a god’s bidding—none were left outside. He hefted his great boulder into place and sat him down to milk the bleating ewes in proper order, put the lambs to suck, and swiftly ran through all his evening chores. Then he caught two more men and feasted on them. My moment was at hand, and i went forward holding an ivy bowl of my dark drink, looking up, saying: “Kyklops, try some wine. Here’s liquor to wash down your scraps of men. Taste it, and see the kind of drink we carried under our planks. i meant it for an offering if you would help us home. But you are mad, unbearable, a bloody monster! after this, will any other traveller come to see you?” He seized and drained the bowl, and it went down so fiery and smooth he called for more: “give me another, thank you kindly. Tell me, how are you called? i’ll make a gift will please you. …” i saw the fuddle and flush come over him, then i sang out in cordial tones: “Kyklops, you ask my honorable name? … My name is nohbdy: mother, father, and friends, everyone calls me nohbdy.” and he said: “nohbdy’s my meat, then, after i eat his friends. Others come first. There’s a noble gift, now.” even as he spoke, he reeled and tumbled backward, his great head lolling to one side; and sleep took him like any creature. drunk, hiccuping, he dribbled streams of liquor and bits of men. now, by the gods, i drove my big hand spike deep in the embers, charring it again, and cheered my men along with battle talk to keep their courage up: no quitting now. The pike of olive, green though it had been, reddened and glowed as if about to catch. i drew it from the coals and my four fellows gave me a hand, lugging it near the Kyklops as more than natural force nerved them; straight forward they sprinted, lifted it, and rammed it

3Here used as a singular; his name, we learn later, is Polyphemus.

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deep in his crater eye, and i leaned on it turning it as a shipwright turns a drill in planking, having men below to swing the two-handled strap that spins it in the groove. So with our brand we bored that great eye socket while blood ran out around the red hot bar. eyelid and lash were seared; the pierced ball hissed broiling, and the roots popped. in a smithy one sees a white-hot axehead or an adze plunged and wrung in a cold tub, screeching steam— the way they make soft iron hale and hard— just so that eyeball hissed around the spike. The Kyklops bellowed and the rock roared round him, and we fell back in fear. Clawing his face he tugged the bloody spike out of his eye, threw it away, and his wild hands went groping; then he set up a howl for Kyklopês who lived in caves on windy peaks nearby. Some heard him; and they came by divers ways to clump around outside and call: “What ails you, Polyphêmos? Why do you cry so sore in the starry night? You will not let us sleep. Sure no man’s driving off your flock? no man has tricked you, ruined you?” Out of the cave the mammoth Polyphêmos roared in answer: “nohbdy, nohbdy’s tricked me, nohbdy’s ruined me!” To this rough shout they made a sage reply: “ah well, if nobody has played you foul there in your lonely bed, we are no use in pain given by great Zeus. Let it be your father, Poseidon Lord, to whom you pray.” So saying they trailed away. and i was filled with laughter to see how like a charm the name deceived them. now Kyklops, wheezing as the pain came on him, fumbled to wrench away the great doorstone and squatted in the breach with arms thrown wide for any silly beast or man who bolted— hoping somehow i might be such a fool. But i kept thinking how to win the game: death sat there huge; how could we slip away? i drew on all my wits, and ran through tactics, reasoning as a man will for dear life, until a trick came—and it pleased me well. The Kyklops’ rams were handsome, fat, with heavy fleeces, a dark violet. Three abreast i tied them silently together, twining cords of willow from the ogre’s bed; then slung a man under each middle one to ride there safely, shielded left and right. So three sheep could convey each man. i took the woolliest ram, the choicest of the flock,

and hung myself under his kinky belly, pulled up tight, with fingers twisted deep in sheepskin ringlets for an iron grip. So, breathing hard, we waited until morning. When dawn spread out her finger tips of rose the rams began to stir, moving for pasture, and peals of bleating echoed round the pens where dams with udders full called for a milking. Blinded, and sick with pain from his head wound, the master stroked each ram, then let it pass, but my men riding on the pectoral fleece the giant’s blind hands blundering never found. Last of them all my ram, the leader, came, weighted by wool and me with my meditations. The Kyklops patted him, and then he said: “Sweet cousin ram, why lag behind the rest in the night cave? You never linger so, but graze before them all, and go afar to crop sweet grass, and take your stately way leading along the streams, until at evening you run to be the first one in the fold. Why, now, so far behind? Can you be grieving over your Master’s eye? That carrion rogue and his accurst companions burnt it out when he had conquered all my wits with wine. nohbdy will not get out alive, i swear. Oh, had you brain and voice to tell where he may be now, dodging all my fury! Bashed by this hand and bashed on this rock wall his brains would strew the floor, and i should have rest from the outrage nohbdy worked upon me.” He sent us into the open, then. Close by, i dropped and rolled clear of the ram’s belly, going this way and that to untie the men. With many glances back, we rounded up his fat, stiff-legged sheep to take aboard, and drove them down to where the good ship lay. We saw, as we came near, our fellows’ faces shining; then we saw them turn to grief tallying those who had not fled from death. i hushed them, jerking head and eyebrows up, and in a low voice told them: “Load this herd; move fast, and put the ship’s head toward the breakers.” They all pitched in at loading, then embarked and struck their oars into the sea. Far out, as far off shore as shouted words would carry, i sent a few back to the adversary: “O Kyklops! Would you feast on my companions? Puny, am i, in a Caveman’s hands? How do you like the beating that we gave you, you damned cannibal? eater of guests under your roof! Zeus and the gods have paid you!” The blind thing in his doubled fury broke a hilltop in his hands and heaved it after us. ahead of our black prow it struck and sank whelmed in a spuming geyser, a giant wave

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that washed the ship stern foremost back to shore. i got the longest boathook out and stood fending us off, with furious nods to all to put their backs into a racing stroke— row, row, or perish. So the long oars bent kicking the foam sternward, making head until we drew away, and twice as far. now when i cupped my hands i heard the crew in low voices protesting: “godsake, Captain! Why bait the beast again? Let him alone!” “That tidal wave he made on the first throw all but beached us.” “all but stove us in!” “give him our bearing with your trumpeting, he’ll get the range and lob a boulder.” “aye He’ll smash our timbers and our heads together!” i would not heed them in my glorying spirit, but let my anger flare and yelled:

“Kyklops, if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laërtês’ son, whose home’s on ithaka!” … now he laid hands upon a bigger stone and wheeled around, titanic for the cast, to let it fly in the black-prowed vessel’s track. But it fell short, just aft the steering oar, and whelming seas rose giant above the stone to bear us onward toward the island. …

READING CRITICALLY

One of the features that distinguishes this particular tale in the Odyssey from Homer’s narration in the Iliad is that Odysseus tells it himself, in his own voice. How does this first-person narrative technique help us to understand Homer’s hero better than we might if Homer narrated the events himself?

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