Literature Humanities 07-08

Oldest Complete version of The Iliad.

Pretty crazy stuff....I didn't even know there were such things as  39-megapixel cameras.
Also, for more information on the oldest Homeric texts, check out The Center for Hellenic Studies.

Digital, Searchable Iliad.

Though this will probably be more useful come essay-writing time, I thought I'd mention this online version of the Illiad. Couple of interesting features: instant defintions and instance count of words in the poem. For example, Homer uses menin (wrath, anger) 22 times in his complete works, which comes to about 4 times as often as all the other archaic Greek poets put together.

Some words you might check out:
moira (fate)
nostos (return)
eris (dischord)

PS-Also The Odyssesy, for the record.

A Brief Guide to Greek Gods

There's much more to know about the gods and goddesses, but here is a quick rundown.

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The Twelve Olympians and Other Gods and Goddesses    

The Twelve Olympians (with Roman names in parentheses)

Zeus (Jupiter): Chief god, ruler of the sky. Son of Kronos and Rhea. His breastplate is the "aegis"; his weapon is the thunderbolt.

The two brothers of Zeus:   

Poseidon (Neptune): Ruler of the sea. Also known as "Earth-shaker."

Hades (Pluto): Ruler of the underworld. Married to Persephone (whom he abducted).

The sisters of Zeus:

Hestia: Goddess of the hearth.

Hera (Juno): Married to Zeus. Protectress of marriage

The children of Zeus:

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

Pallas Athena (Minerva): born from the head of Zeus. Patron goddess of Athens. Protectress of the city, handicrafts, agriculture. Carries the aegis of Zeus. Goddess of wisdom.

Phoebus Apollo ("Phoebus" ="brilliant" or "shining"): son of Zeus and Leto. Musician (plays the lyre); Archer; Healer; God of light. Has oracle at Delphi. Called "Pythian" because he killed the serpent Python, "Delian" because born on island of Delos, and "Sminthian" (the Mouse-God).

Artemis (Diana): daughter of Zeus and Leto. Goddess of the woods, the hunt, the moon.

Aphrodite (Venus): daughter of Zeus and Dione; or born from sea foam (Aphros = foam). Sometimes married to Hephaestus. Goddess of love and beauty. Called "Cytherea" or "the Cyprian" ("lady of Kypros") because born near Cythera and floated to Cyprus.

Hermes (Mercury): son of Zeus and Maia. Messenger-god. Shrewd, cunning, "Master Thief." God of commerce and traders. Guides the dead down to the underworld

Hephaestus (Vulcan): son of Hera and perhaps also of Zeus (varies). Said to be ugh’ and lame. Blacksmith; makes armor for the gods in his forge. Sometimes husband of Aphrodite.

A Few Other Gods and Goddesses

Demeter (Ceres): daughter of Kronos and Rhea. Goddess of grain.

Persephone (Prosperina): daughter of Demeter, wife of Hades, Queen of Underworld.

Dionysus (Bacchus): son of Zeus and Semele. God of wine.

Iris: Goddess of the Rainbow; messenger of the gods.

Nereus: the Old Man of the Sea. Father of sea nymphs, including Thetis (Achilles’ mother).

The Erinyes (the Furies): Usually called Tisiphone, Megaera, Alecto. Their role is to punish and pursue those who commit evil deeds.

The Graces: Aglaia (Splendor); Euphrosyne (Mirth); Thalia (Good Cheer). Daughters of Zeus and Eurynome. Represent grace and beauty. They dance to Apollo’s lyre.

The Muses: Clio (history); Urania (astronomy); Melpomene (tragedy); Thalia (comedy); Terpsichore (dance); Calliope (epic poetry); Erato (love poetry); Polyhymnia (songs to the gods); Euterpe (lyric poetry). Daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory)

It's Greek to Me

                  

Doing some reading on the Iliad over the weekend and found these two terms helpful for thinking about the moral-ethical universe of ancient Greece. Of particular interest, especially going forward in the semester, is the shift in the meaning of arete from the ancient (ie the Homeric universe) to the classical period (Plato and his posse).

nomoi (singular nomos) -- "laws," "customs," "mores," "norms."

Fifth-century Athenian usage began to distinguish specific psephismata ("decrees") enacted by
he Assembly from basic, traditional nomoi. Nonetheless, the former were considered subordinate and ancillary to the latter; as Herodotus' usage suggests, nomos/nomoi remained the blanket term for all kinds of social rules, whether codified or not. Nomoi concerning hospitality (i.e. xenía), the parent-child relationship, and suppliancy were considered basic throughout the Hellenic world, as were those concerning deference to superiors and respectful treatment of equals within one's community.

 

agathos (comparative ameinôn, superlative aristos), esthlos, kalos, chrêstos -- all of these adjectives are translatable as "good," "fine," and/or "noble" AND

aretê -- literally "excellence."

 

The noun aretê literally refers to the condition of being aristos ("best"), and it is typically the term that is used to describe the exceptional qualities of figures such as Achilles, Aias, Odysseus, et al. in the Homeric poems, who are often referred to as hoi aristoi ("the best men"). 

By the classical period, aretai (in the plural) came to refer to qualities that we might readily recognize as moral and social virtues: i.e., justice, self-restraint or moderation, courage, wisdom, and piety. Nonetheless, even in the fifth and fourth centuries, aretê had not lost its association with the external circumstances (i.e. elevated birth and social standing, wealth, good looks, and generally speaking "success") that were central to its conception in archaic poetry.* Very importantly, pursuit of personal advantage was generally not thought to impinge upon one's aretê (and thus on one's ability to uphold and enforce the nomoi of one's community). Men who sought to be aristoi in the classical as well as archaic periods would have been expected to enforce nomoi, to protect their communities from external aggression, and also to protect and add to their own material assets, to garner power for themselves and their allies while defeating their rivals, to avenge themselves on their enemies, and in general to assert their prerogatives. Passivity regarding any of these goals would have been judged "unmanly," and would have been seen as an abrogation of responsibility.