Abstract
- the Poem
- In the Iliad text a consistent thematic (ring-)structure can be found that suggests the following:
- The poem is an organic unity: there are no significant superfluous parts.
- It is an oral composition by one poet. I say this because said structure looks like a framework,
a 'map of ideas' for organising and keeping a handle on a large scale composition in memory.
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Corresponding parts of this structure are related by likeness or contrast. This can be helpful in the interpretation of the poem.
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While mostly regular, some anomalies in the structure may indicate localised expansion or recomposition of the Iliad text.
- the Narrative
- The poetry has a definite intention: it is persuasive rhetoric.
- The narrative is not surface-only. It uses techniques like allegory, parable, simile, rewriting of myth, irony to create a second 'hidden' layer of meaning that comments on relevant subjects.
- The surface layer is literal and works by pathos, the 'hidden' layer is argumentative.
- The target is the poet's own contemporary world, Ionia, its people and
politics.
- The political subject under discussion being the (failure of) the Ionian migration.
- Its main source is the preexisting Trojan cycle of myths.
- A crucial hypothesis here is that the 'abduction of Helen' myth was actively used as a
charter myth, a political banner, in Homer's day.
- This manner of storytelling and the subject matter of the Iliad suggest an original target
audience within the warrior class exclusively ('sympotic language').
- the Heroes
- The protagonists of the story are not fully 3-dimensional people: they are generic (types).
- Except Hector, the main actual character of the Iliad.
- The chief heroes of the Achaeans each are 'a partial Achilles' i.e. they each highlight an aspect of our universal hero.
- As such, they are about us, the ancient Greek audience (see 2.3). The 'learning curve' of
Achilles
teaches us the ethics of the polis.
- the Gods
- Likewise, the pictures of the gods acting and reacting are about us. Homer's gods are
powers that
move us, make us act as we do...
- ...subjectively. This implies that in the depiction of the gods there is also focalization
(both primary and secondary).
- In this acting upon us, each of the gods and goddesses act only within their own specific
domain. The paradigm for this is the 'Judgement of Paris' myth.
- So the gods are what we obey. There are two kinds of things that we may obey (or not):
rules and desires. Rules are the domain of male gods, desires are the domain of the goddesses.
- There is a direct line from Homer's view of the gods to Plato's philosophy, especially his
'three parts of the human soul'.
- the Poet
- There is a special relationship between the poet and the god Apollo with his attributes: bow & arrows, lyre, healing, prophecy.
- In the Odyssey the self-reflexivity is developed further, around the key concepts of aoidic performance, exile and anonymity ("my name is Nobody").
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