 | The Best of the Achaeans Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry Revised Edition Gregory Nagy | |
Copyright © 1980, 1997 The Johns Hopkins University Press. All rights reserved. First edition 1979. Revised edition 1999. This document may be used, with this notice included, for noncommercial purposes within a subscribed institution. No copies of this work may be distributed electronically outside of the subscribed institution, in whole or in part, without written permission from the JHU Press. | ||
§1. The quarrel between Achilles and Odysseus in the first song of Demodokos, viii 72-82, dramatizes the antithesis of two inherited central themes built into the Iliad and the Odyssey, namely, the qualifications of Achilles and Odysseus respectively for the title "best of the Achaeans." Their epic actions are striving to attain what is perhaps the most distinctive heroic epithet that the kleos of the Achaeans can confer upon a mortal. In the first song of Demodokos, the poet--or let us say Demodokos--comments not only on the Odyssey but also on the Iliad itself. Or better, I should say, "an Iliadic tradition" instead of "the Iliad." Moreover, Monro's Law is not overturned, in that this quarrel between Odysseus and Achilles in Odyssey viii is no playback of the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles in Iliad I. There are basic differences in roles as well as in characters.
§2. As we have seen, there are elements of diction and theme in the first
song of Demodokos that must stem from an independent and idiosyncratic
tradition and simply cannot be based on the opening of Iliad I. One of
the most divergent and interesting aspects of the quarrel between Achilles and
Odysseus is that it took place "at a sumptuous feast of the gods"
(
§3. By good fortune, we have indirect evidence about the nature of such a sacrifice, especially from Pindar's Paean 6. This piece was composed for performance at a Delphic festival called the theoxenia. Within the framework of this ancient festival, the gods were treated as actual participants at the sacral banquet of their worshippers.[1] The institution of theoxenia 'having a host-and-guest relationship with the gods' survives elsewhere too in the Hellenic world of the classical period,[2] and there is reason to suppose that its ritual traditions--if not the ritual itself in its attested form--were already attested at the time that our Odyssey took on its present shape.[3] Since the first song of Demodokos in Odyssey viii makes a thematic connection between Apollo's Delphi and a 'feast of the gods' attended by Achaean heroes, the preeminence of Apollo at the Delphic theoxenia[4] leads me to suspect that we are witnessing a Homeric reflex of the ritual traditions surrounding this festival.[5] Furthermore, there are ominous implications for Achilles in the lore connected with the theoxenia. It seems as if the death of Achilles were a traditional theme that is appropriate for a paean performed at the theoxenia.
§4. Pindar's fragmentary Paean 6 was evidently composed for an agôn 'contest' at the Panhellenic festival of the Delphic theoxenia; the poet describes himself as:
a)gw=na *loci/a kataba/nt' eu)ru\n
e)n qew=n ceni/a|
entering the broad contest place of Loxias [Apollo]
at the theoxenia
By the very fact that it is a paean, the poem is a glorification of Apollo.[1] In particular, it commemorates a tradition concerning a quarrel of the gods:
kai\ po/qen a)qan[a/twn e)/ris a)/]r?cato.[2] tau=ta qeoi=si [m]e\n
piqei=n sofou\?[s] dunato/n,
brotoi=sin d' a)ma/xano[n eu(]re/men:
and from what causes the quarrel of the immortals began,
these things the skilled can ascertain from the gods,
but otherwise it is impossible for mortals to discover
Then the Muses are invoked to inspire a retelling (54-58). Mention of a sacrifice (62-64) is followed by a considerable lacuna, and when the text resumes we hear that Apollo in the guise of Paris has killed Achilles on the battlefield (78-80).[3] An elaboration follows concerning the consequences of Apollo's action:
*)ili/ou de\ qh=ken a)/far
o)yite/ran a(/lwsin
and he straightway caused
the capture of Troy to happen later
There is further elaboration at 87-89, where we learn specifically that Apollo
"had a quarrel" (
§5. The evidence may seem meager at this point, but there must have been
something about Achilles that was particularly offensive to Apollo. Conversely,
we know that Paris, the antagonist and future killer of Achilles, offended the
same gods whom we now see quarreling with Apollo in Paean 6, namely,
Hera and Athena. The offense of Paris was the outgrowth of a quarrel that took
place at a banquet given by the gods to celebrate the wedding of Peleus and
Thetis, the parents of Achilles himself. This quarrel of the gods served as the
epic theme for the opening of the Cypria(Proclus summary p. 102.14-16
Allen), and there are clear references to the same epic tradition in
Iliad XXIV 25-30. Moreover, the Cypria presents this quarrel as a
fitting epic theme for the opening of the entire Trojan War! The grievance of
Hera and Athena against Paris was that he made a choice favoring Aphrodite
instead of them (Cypria/Proclus p. 102.16-19). The Iliadic allusion to
this tradition, however, also alludes to a grievance of Apollo against
Achilles. It seems as if the polarization of Hera and Athena on one side and
Apollo on the other corresponds not only to the hostility of the first two
divinities against Paris but also to the hostility of the third against
Achilles.[1] The three divinities are
continuing their quarrel in IliadXXIV 25-63. In the course of their
quarrel, Apollo describes Achilles as a brute who is like a ravenous lion,
without any control over his biê 'might' (XXIV 42).[2] In Pindar's Paean 6, at the very
moment that Apollo destroys Achilles, the hero is described as
§6. Even though the actual concept of ritual antagonism between Apollo and Achilles remains to be articulated, we can already see the stark consequences of this antagonism in the dimension of myth. In Pindar's words:
pro\ po/nwn
de/ ke mega/lwn *dardani/an
e)/praqen, ei) mh/ fu/lassen *)apo/[l]l[w]n:
before the great suffering,
he [Achilles] would have destroyed Troy,
if Apollo had not been protecting it
By killing Achilles, the god Apollo postponed the destruction of Troy and thus brought about a great deal of suffering that otherwise would not have happened. In the Iliad too, there is allusion to the tradition that great suffering was caused by the death of Achilles. The death of Patroklos in the Iliad, which duplicates the death of Achilles beyond the Iliad, is announced with the following words:
o)/fra pu/qhai
lugrh=s a)ggeli/hs, h(\ mh/ w)/felle gene/sqai.
h)/dh me/n se kai\ au)to\n o)i/+omai ei)soro/wnta
gignw/skein o(/ti ph=ma qeo\s *danaoi=si kuli/ndei,
ni/kh de\ *trw/wn: pe/fatai d) w)/ristos *)axaiw=n,
*pa/troklos, mega/lh de\ poqh/ *danaoi=si te/tuktai.
that you may learn
of the ghastly news, which should never have happened.
I think that you already see, and that you realize,
that a god is letting roll a pain [pêma] upon the Danaans,
and that victory belongs to the Trojans; the best of the Achaeans has been killed,
Patroklos, that is; and a great loss has been inflicted on the Danaans.
Only here in the Iliad does Patroklos get the epithet that elsewhere distinguishes Achilles, "best of the Achaeans"; the death of Patroklos is being presented as a prefiguration of the death of Achilles.[1] By dying, the "best of the Achaeans" is the source of great pêma 'pain' for the Achaeans. For the Trojans too, Achilles is the greatest pêma--in the words of Hektor and Priam themselves (XXII 288 and 421 respectively). That is, Achilles is a pêma for the Trojans so long as he is fighting against them. When he withdraws from the fighting, however, there is pêma for the Achaeans and kûdos 'glory of victory' for the Trojans (VIII 176),[2] a situation that is recognized as the Will of Zeus by Hektor (VIII 175, XII 235-236) and by the narrative itself (XII 255, XV 592-599).[3] In short, Achilles is a pêma for the Trojans when he is at war and a pêma for the Achaeans both when he withdraws from war and when he dies.
§7. With the background of these patterns in traditional diction, the words of Demodokos assume an ominous tone:
to/te ga/r r(a kuli/ndeto ph/matos a)rxh/
*trwsi/ te kai\ *danaoi=si *dio\s mega/lou dia\ boula/s
for then it was that the beginning of pain [pêma] started rolling
upon both Trojans and Danaans, on account of the plans of great Zeus[1]
When Agamemnon rejoiced at the quarrel between Achilles and Odysseus, who were
"the best of the Achaeans" (viii 78), he rejoiced at a sign that presaged the
destruction of Troy. In his joy he was unaware of the intervening pain yet to
be inflicted on the Achaeans by the withdrawal and then by the death of
Achilles. His joy was justified in the distant future but unjustified in the
events at hand. In Pindar's words, the destruction was not to happen
ta\ frone/ont' a)na\ qumo\n a(/ r(' ou) tele/esqai e)/mellon:
fh= ga\r o(/ g' ai(rh/sein *pria/mou po/lin h)/mati kei/nw|,
nh/pios, ou)de\ ta\ h)/|dh a(/ r(a *zeu\s mh/deto e)/rga:
qh/sein ga\r e)/t' e)/mellen e)p' a)/lgea/ te stonaxa/s te
*trwsi/ te kai\ *danaoi=si dia\ kratera\s u(smi/nas
thinking in his thûmos about things that were not to be:
for he thought that he would capture Priam's city on that very day,
the fool; he did not know what things Zeus was planning to do.
For he [Zeus] was yet to inflict pains [algea] and groaning
on both Trojans and Danaans in battles of kratos.[3]
From the standpoint of our Iliad, the story to be told concerns some of
those "pains" [algea] that are yet to intervene before the
capture of Troy. In fact, the same word algea is deployed at the
very beginning of our Iliad to designate the countless "pains" of the
Achaeans (I 2), caused by the mênis 'anger' of Achilles (I 1) and
motivated by the Will of Zeus (
§8. Demodokos, then, is alluding to an Iliad, but not to our Iliad. Like our Iliad, the Iliad that Demodokos could have sung would feature the mênis 'anger' of Achilles and Apollo. Unlike our Iliad, however, this Iliadic tradition would feature Odysseus, not Agamemnon, as the prime offender of Achilles. Unlike our Iliad, this Iliad would have the chief resentment of Achilles center on the slighting of his biê 'might'. An Iliad composed by Demodokos would have been a poem with a structure more simple and more broad, with an Achilles who is even perhaps more crude than the ultimately refined hero that we see emerging at the end of our Iliad. I have little doubt that such an Iliad was indeed in the process of evolving when it was heard in the Odyssey tradition which evolved into our Odyssey. Demodokos had heard the kleos and passed it on in song.
§3n1. For a suggestive discussion, adducing the comparative evidence of other festivals parallel to the theoxenia: Gernet 1968 [=1928] 32-33.
§3n2. For a survey: Nilsson 1906.160-162.
§3n3. This supposition is developed further at Ch.7§§8-13, 17-20, 25-30.
§3n4. Apollo is preeminent at the Delphic theoxenia not necessarily because of any special affinity with the practice of theoxenia but rather simply because of his preeminence at Delphi itself.
§3n5. The citations at n3 apply here as well.
§4n1. On this function of the paean, cf. also Ch.5§9. On
the Panhellenic nature of the Delphic theoxenia, consider the
lines that immediately follow those just quoted, at Paean 6.62-63:
§4n2. For the editors' restoration of
§4n3. The Iliad itself refers to the interaction of Apollo and Paris in the killing of Achilles: see XIX 416-417, XXII 358-360.
§5n1. For more on god-hero antagonism as a factor in determining the alignments of various gods in the Trojan War, see Ch.8§12.
§5n2. Further discussion at Ch.7§22.
§5n3. See Ch.7 (esp. §4) and Ch.8 (esp. §§1-5).
§6n1. See Ch.2§8. In this connection, the wording
§6n2. On the function of kûdos 'glory of victory' in Homeric narrative: Benveniste 1969 II 57-69.
§6n3. Further discussion of pêma/kûdos and the Will of Zeus at Ch.20§§15-17.
§7n1. The double-edged
§7n3. On the word kratos: Ch.5§25.