Homer, the “Odyssey” and Greek Epic

Homer (8^th century), the blind bard from Chios, was recognized by Plato and Aristotle, as well as the historian Herodotus (5^th/4^th century BCE), as the poet who composed the Iliad and Odyssey.

Zeus starts the Trojan War to bring an end to the race of heroes by having Helen kidnapped after the judgment of Paris (son of King Priam of Troy) at Thetis and Peleus’s wedding. The Odyssey describes the war’s aftermath and the Greek heroes’ return home, especially Odysseus’s wanderings. The epic is, therefore, among other things, a nostos, or homecoming. Nostalgia, or a longing for the past, is a cognate of the word. 

Epic or epikos (Greek) comes from the Greek word epos, ‘word, song,’ and is related to eipein ‘to say.’ This oral expression of song is about the feeling and ethical intent of the speaker rather than the form or subject matter. It is an emotive experience. An epic poem tells a story of deep feeling and ethical significance. You may see this in the stock epithets and traditional phrases. For instance, to personify Dawn, such as Homer does in Book 5.1-3,  instead of saying, “the sun came up,” charges the natural world with personality, suggesting its involvement in human affairs.

Elements of the Odyssey’s narrative structure:

• oral tradition, it is being sung
• it has repetitive elements
• a set meter
• uses epithets
• begins in medias res
• common themes, such as revenge, recklessness, belly & consumption, hospitality, sacrifice to the gods, singers and bards (storytellers), homecoming, battle, deception, loyalty, fate, metis (cunning, wisdom, skill and craft), family, kingship, and restoration of power
• a hero of great national or cosmic importance
• the setting is ample in scale, ie: the Mediterranean basin, the underworld
• the action involves extraordinary deeds in battle, or an arduous and dangerous journey
• gods and goddesses take an interest in the action
• epic similes

Homer’s epics were sung for entertainment and in poetry contests. They were works of memory and spoken aloud even after the papyrus scroll was used and these poems were first written down.

The Odyssey (1.1-27)

In classical hexameter, the six feet follow these rules:

• A foot can be made up of two long syllables (– –), a spondee; or a long and two short syllables, a dactyl (– υ υ).
• The first four feet can contain either one of them.
• The fifth is almost always a dactyl, and the last must be a spondee. 

I begin | my song with | the Heli | konian | Muses whose | domain

dactyl |         dactyl         |   dactyl    | dactyl  |       dactyl          | spondee

Mythology is like a large tapestry

Greek mythology has gradations of credibility. For instance, the myths about the Trojan War are not historically factual, though a city called Troy (Ilium) existed and a war is believed to have taken place at its location. It was regarded as a purely legendary city until Heinrich Schliemann identified the mound of Hissarlik on the northeast Aegean coast of Turkey as the site of Troy. The city was apparently sacked and destroyed by fire in the mid 13th century BCE, a period coinciding with the Mycenaean civilization of Greece (Bronze Age of Greece).

• Mycenaean Age (1500-1200 BCE)
• Dark Age of Greece (1100-750 BCE)
• Archaic Age of Greece (700-500 BCE)
• Classical Age of Greece (490-323 BCE) Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides, Aristophanes
• Hellenistic Age (323-31 BCE) from the death of Alexander the Great, who conquered all of Greece and much of the Middle East, to the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra by Octavian. (this is when Greek culture flourishes through the Mediterranean, Near East and Asia)

We study these myths because they are not completely true and neither are they completely false. This is the paradox of myth. We draw our analysis of myth from a total system, Greek Mythology, which incorporates every broken shard of pottery and burnt piece of papyrus.

In The Uses of Greek Mythology, Ken Dowden writes:

In fact Greek Mythology is a shared fund of motifs and ideas ordered into a shared repertoire of stories. These stories link with, compare and contrast with, and are understood in the light of, other stories in the system. Greek Mythology is an ‘intertext,’ because it is constituted by all the representations of myth ever experienced by its audience and because every new representation gains its sense from how it is positioned in relation to this totality of previous presentations.

Death, Darkness, and Fear

The theme of exaggeration to a point of humor seems a bit important to these ancient Mesopotamians while reading the tablets. Gilgamesh and Enkidu are described as non-human beings with their talents and power. When they travel to defeat Humbaba, they are able to reach their destination in three days in contrast to the normal month and a half:

At twenty double leagues…

at thirty leagues…

fifty double leagues they went in a single day,

a journey of a month and a half in three days…

they approached Mount Lebanon. (lines 75-80)

They are able to travel at great speeds in short time, such as double “leagues” and even triple “leagues.” Nonetheless, even with great mighty power like a god, these beings are still mortal. This theme of death and darkness, specifically being afraid of death and darkness is shown through The Great Hymn to the Aten, Genesis, and The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Without the sun, thieves come out…

When you set in Western light land…

Earth is in darkness as if in death… (lines 15-22)

In The Great Hymn to the Aten, these ancient people describe the Sun and its light as the reason there is peace and life. The darkness is described as an evil where thieves come out and when living things die. They hope for the return of the Light after the darkness of the night.

God began to create heaven and earth…

earth was welter and waste… darkness over the deep…

‘Let there be light.’…

divided the light from the darkness…

the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. (Genesis 1)

In a way, the Bible describes the distinction between darkness and light. God creates light to bring peace to the welter (chaos), so there could be perfection in his creation without evil. The darkness is portrayed as chaos, which seems to be “evil,” something to be afraid of. God creates light to banish darkness into the night and let light rule the beautiful day. Through light, God creates humans and life on earth and in the sea, which He saw as very good. This interpretation points in the direction that there shall not be complete darkness because it is not good, maybe even very bad.

Gilgamesh goes on the search for eternal life after the death of Enkidu. At first, Gilgamesh seems unafraid of death, described as the mightiest man, and even two-thirds god. But when Enkidu passes, Gilgamesh questions his own fate, his inability to escape death.

He looked at his friend and laughed:

Now then, my friend, [do you say the same?]:

‘I am afraid [to die]’? (Tablet II line 275-277)

Transitions into

Shall I not die too? Am I not like Enkidu? (Tablet IX line 3)

This shows that even the king of Uruk sought to find eternal life and as the epic continues, we will go on to learn that escaping death is not so easy.

In conclusion, these ancient texts reverberate the fear for darkness, of death, and possibly the unknown of humans. Why are we so afraid of it? Maybe the thoughts of a young person are different from one who is dying. Maybe unreligious people find religion as they come closer to death. But, nonetheless, is living in fear better than living freely? Embrace everything life offers today because we do not know what the future holds.

The Genesis-the beginning of the journey

Each representation of the creation of the world depends on the historical context, where the author’s point of view adapts to audience’s point of view.

From first passage of Genesis in Bible you can see the word “God” appearing. The authors of Bible emphasize that creator was God. In contrast, in Hesiod’s Theogony we can see that author introduces the idea of the genealogy of the system of gods. Bible was made for the audience who believed in God. But for which audience was Theogony written? What audience Hesiod considered while writing a myth? As we know Hesiod was a Greek poet who lived in c. 700 BC. He created hexametric poem (a line of verse consisting of six metrical feet) that was a chief model for later ancient didactic poetry. He created a structure that helped the audience to easily comprehend the perception of God due to the beauty of lyrical tone. Human beings occupy the center of the story. Hesiod also helps audience to understand the cosmogony-a theory regarding the origin of the universe in Greek tradition. Why did Hesiod’s Theogony create a myth of gods?

Medium: Myth.

The Creation of Adam (1511-1512)

by Michelangelo

Medium: The revival of Greek and Roman culture was represented in Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. This secular view point is depicted in Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, it was painted during 15^th century. The idea of Humanism was introduced during this time, where the humans were idealized and associated with gods. The creators of power became humans as you can see in the part of Sistine’s Chapel, where a human being separates light and darkness.

The interesting thing is that in Genesis the word “God” is emphasized, showing that he was the only one to create order: “And God made the two great lights, the great light for dominion of the day… And God placed them in the vault of the heavens to light up the earth and to have dominion over day and night and to divide the light from darkness”. Here the human is depicted in perfectionist way, where you can see the muscles of the body. This restates my view of the meaning that ideals become humans, where they started to play the roles of gods. I believe that during the Renaissance period people started to lose faith in God, vast movement of Enlightenment philosophies. Enlightenment- a European intellectual movement emphasizing individualism rather than tradition.

Reviewing all mediums, is the representation of gods closely linked to historical context? As we know the author of each medium wants to be connected to audience. Do you agree that the author should have the same ideology as audience in order to connect to them?

Medium: Film.

If yes, what is the ideology nowadays? In class we watched part of film, where the word “Creator” is not mentioned. Why did director choose to be neutral, oversimplifying the context? Is it because the society rejected traditional values? Do you think this is an attempt to appeal to audience?

Tasneem’s Blog Post

At the beginning of our class, before we discussed the readings in the Genesis, we watched the clip from the movie Noah and in this clip we saw the creation story from the Genesis. The narration of the creation myth was similar to the reading but the visuals were a bit different. The obvious difference was that the creation of the world according to science was incorporated along with the Genesis version of the creation of the world. For example, when they talked about the creation of the Earth, the clip showed Earth as a hot molten ball of rock as well as animals evolving to what they are now. The clip helped an important question which for a long time has garnered a lot of debate to come back into my mind: Is science and religion two different institutions or could they both assimilate together?

Many argue that science and religion are separate institutions and that there is much scientific evidence that goes against what the Genesis teaches such as for example evolution and the scientific creation theory. The Genesis claims that when god created the first man, he also created animals to accompany him; “And the Lord God fashioned from the soil each beast of the field and each fowl of the heavens and brought each to the human.” This contradicts what science says in that animals evolved into what they are today. The Genesis also claims that god created the Earth in six days by simply commanding what things should be created. This contradicts the scientific creation theory in which the Earth took millions of years to form.

For most of my middle school and high school life I believed that the bible and science never went together until we discussed the Genesis in class. That was when I realized that many holy books including the Genesis and the Bible are subject to a lot of open interpretation. I personally find that it can assimilate with science because maybe the teachings in the Genesis don’t always have to be taken literally. For example, the Genesis says that God created the Earth in six days, but how long is a day according to the Genesis? Is it as long as how we interpret the day? When did he start creating life on Earth? Was it when the Earth was starting to form or was it much later? In the end, it depends on how a person interprets the holy book. Should they take the teachings in the Genesis literally or metaphorically? So read the Genesis and the Bible and see how you interpret it. Do you think science and religion can assimilate or are they two separate institutions?

Greg’s Blog Post

Mankind has an innate tendency to latch onto the concept of a higher plane, as well as the existence of entities that fall under another ilk. When a phenomenon cannot be detailed or identified properly according to scientific methods, we divert our gaze towards deities that are clad in mystery—which does little in-terms of advancing knowledge of the unknown. To be fair, a myriad of circumstances surrounding denizens of the old days must be taken into account when attempting to concoct a fair overview of their belief system(s). Any traits or notable oddities present within cosmogonies must be taken in earnest, because the texts that remain from that era are our only viewpoint into the minds that drafted the same documents. Our lack of access to live testimonies means we must pay special attention to recurring themes, or even the sensitivity of interpretations. The Great Hymn to the Aten and Genesis both possess the idea of light and darkness, which are typically linked with good and evil. But, are these terms (light/darkness) exclusively bound to their default associations? Or are they meant to be judged under a very specific context? To add, are they (light/darkness & good/evil) meant to coexist with one another in a harmonious sense, or can a reality exist with just one?

In The Great Hynm to the Aten, the elements are depicted as being life and death :

You fill every land with your beauty (…)

Your rays embrace the lands (…)

When you set in Western lightland

Earth is in darkness as if in death (…)

Darkness hovers, earth is silent. (lines 4-22)

The light emitted from the sun is considered beautiful, which is painfully obvious just from reading the text. Believers of this faith held the rays responsible for all of the activity on earth: work can commence, babies are nourished in the womb, and animals can traverse the sky, water, and land. Once the sun sets, the world is clad in darkness. All activity ceases to be, the warmth of God recedes, and predatory animals linger under the night sky. Nightfall’s description lacks any resemblance of beauty, due to it being a brief window into death; however, people are normally dormant at night, so they do not normally appreciate the darkness to the same degree. In their eyes darkness (probably) obscured any beauty that they could observe with the aid of the sun. While the sun is not of great importance in Genesis, light and darkness are present in a different manner.

During the world’s creation, the word good is utilized heavily throughout in order to describe God’s feelings. This word bears significance seeing as how the “Tree of knowledge” is clearly not following the same pattern as other creations in the world. The concept of death is also established at this point, “you shall not eat, for on the day you eat from it, you are doomed to die (pg 160).” For a caution such as this to be dispensed there must be something negative about the tree, even though it thrives on sacred grounds. But, for what purpose can a source of mortality serve to a creator?

Nicole Grieco’s Blog Post

The Great Hymn to the Aten, Enuma Elish, Hesiod, and Genesis all shared a similar theme of creation and the question of our creation has long been searching for a meaning. It is interesting to me how all of these stories have their own take on the origin of creation while also sharing some common ground throughout. There are certain things in each story that ring true to me, while other parts seem a bit nonsensical. If there are all of these different stories then how can we tell which one is true? What is it in these stories that still make them relevant? What is it that resonates that makes them so truthful? It is fascinating to me that even now in the 21^st century we still look back to these stories for reassurance. I am also curious to think about how our thoughts may or may not have changed over time in critiquing the ideas of these stories. Was there the same level of curiosity even as little as one hundred years ago? And what about 500 or 1,000 years ago? What types of new theories and ideas are we able to bring to the table as 21^st century thinkers?

In The Great Hymn to the Aten I noticed that the opening two paragraphs offer opposing views. The first paragraph has a positive connotation and speaks about life and beauty and radiance, while the second paragraph is more negative speaking about darkness and death. This idea parallels the main differences in theme between Genesis and Hesiod. Genesis demonstrates a more optimistic approach while Hesiod displays more of a pessimistic view. Because both of these stories are about creation, I thought I would focus on each story’s approach to the idea of life. At the end of the first paragraph In Genesis it reads “And God created the human in his image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and conquer it…” Comparatively, in Hesiod’s Theogony, we learned that “Zeus punished Prometheus with eternal pain and punished humanity by creating woman as a “tempting snare/ from which men cannot escape.” Also, in line 154 we are introduced to a notion of death, which is unfamiliar in Genesis. In line 180 we learn that Kronos’ genitals were lopped off and tossed into the sea. With this we can presume that reproduction is no longer possible again speaking to the notion of death. The two stories demonstrate contrasting ideas on the idea of life in general; Hesiod’s Theogony offering a darker perspective. I find it interesting that even since the beginning of time there was always a definitive line between light and darkness, in fact it seems as if that’s where everything else evolved. The first thing God created was light, and before that there wasn’t anything at all. Does this mean that when it was dark there was no God? It is from light that all of the wonderful things came to be, beginning with life. Light is necessary to our survival.   What else is light necessary for? Since God saw the light as good he immediately separated it from darkness. I was thinking about this concept for a little while and I remembered back to when I was younger and how I used to be afraid of the dark. I did not like the idea of not being able to see what was happening around me, I always felt more comfortable with a nightlight so that I could be somewhat aware of my surroundings if needed. In this instance, it is only in the light that we can see all of the things that God created. What does the ability to see all of those things do for us? Perhaps a greater appreciation toward all of it and a reason to believe in God.

Colby’s Blog Post

THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH

(ca. 1900-250 B.C.E.)

Statue of Gilgamesh

The work is one of the earliest pieces of world literature, and one of the greatest works from ancient Mesopotamia (Map of Mesopotamia). The real King Gilgamesh ruled around 2700 B.C.E. in the city-state of Uruk in Southern Mesopotamia. He is known for building Uruk’s monumental city walls (10 kilometers long and fitted with 900 towers), some portions of which are still visible today. We have no way of knowing how similar the real king is to the hero of the epic, but soon after King Gilgamesh died he was named judge of the underworld. The epic hero, Gilgamesh, on the other hand was semi-divine (“two-thirds divine, and one-third human). His mother, Ninsun was a goddess in the shape of a wild cow, and his father was a man named Lugalbanda.

The name “Gilgamesh” has two meanings: the offspring of a hero, and the old man is still a young man. The epic was written in cuneiform script, and had more than one author. The tales of the king in Uruk began about 600 years after his death, in another Mesopotamian city-sate named Ur. Kings of the third dynasty of Ur thought they were descended from the legendary King of Uruk.

The Expulsion from the Garden by Gustave Doré

The Hebrew Bible, and more specifically the Book of Genesis, is made up of many texts from different periods, as well as a variety of sources. Stylistic features and inconsistencies show us that the Bible does not have one single writer but many.

Studying the books of the Hebrew Bible as literature–paying close attention to their narrative techniques, their imagery, characterization, and point of view–is not incompatible with religious faith. Close reading enriches our understanding and appreciation of these texts as supremely important cultural and historical documents, for readers of any religious background or belief.

From the Norton Anthology of World Literature

Genesis, unlike other ancient creation stories, begins not with earth, sky, and sea but with God himself, the originator of everything. Genesis is the Greek word for “origin” or “birth.” In opposition to the Enuma Elish and Theogony, human beings occupy the center of the story about the world’s creation. God himself can be seen as the most vivid and complex character of the book of Genesis.

Creation scene from Aronofsky’s Noah (2014)