Homeric Epics

136 Gavazzoli

Chapter 6 Homeric Epics

Maria Laura Tomea Gavazzoli

Introduction

Homer’s epic poems, Iliad and Odyssey, probably written in the 8th century bc, belong to the most important literary works of the ancient world and of world literature in general. In Byzantium, both poems were read, but only from the Iliad there survive manuscript illustrations. In 24 books, the poem narrates the events related to the Trojan War, caused by Helen’s abduction by Paris of Troy, which ended with the conquest of Troy by the Greeks through the ploy of the famous “Trojan Horse”. The Iliad relates the last year of the 10-year siege of the city. There are more than 1,500 fragments of the Iliad dating from the 3rd century bc to the 6th/7th century AD. Over 200 Byzantine minuscule manuscripts con- taining the Iliad or parts of it are attested since the 9th century, a time when an intensified interest in Homer and classical literature in general can be observed, which was connected with Patriarch Photios and the Macedonian dynasty.1 In the entire Byzantine period, Homer’s works played a major role in pri- mary and higher education and there was a continuous occupation with them, reflected by the many commentaries written by Byzantine authors and by the fact that Homer was the most frequently cited author in Byzantine literature.2 Basil of Caesarea (c.330-79) encouraged young people to study Homer: “all the poetry of Homer is a praise of virtue, and with him all that is not merely acces- sory tends to this end”.3 In the 12th century, Eustathios of Thessaloniki counted the Homeric epics among the Wonders of the World.4 Apart from the constant copying of the epics, we owe their transmission to the West to the Byzantine scholars who fled from Constantinople in the 15th century. The editio princeps of the Iliad was published in Florence in 1488 by Demetrios Chalkokondyles, who by then was professor for Greek language in Florence.

1 On the text and the text tradition, see West, Studies. 2 Cupane, “Die Homer-Rezeption”, p. 254. 3 Basil of Caesarea, Address to Young Men, 5:28, ed./trans. N.G. Wilson. 4 Eustathios of Thessaloniki, Commentary on Homer’s Iliad, Prolegomena, I 1,8-10, ed. M. van der Valk; Cupane, “Die Homer-Rezeption”, p. 254.

Given the enormous significance of Homeric poetry in Byzantium, which can be easily compared to that of the Bible, it is perhaps surprising that only three Byzantine illustrated examples of the Iliad have been preserved.

The Ambrosian “Ilias Picta”

The Ambrosian “Ilias Picta” (Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, F 205 inf.) is a collection of 52 painted parchment fragments, cut out from a luxurious Greek codex, in order to isolate or to preserve them. They depict 58 episodes distrib- uted throughout the entire Homeric poem.5 Purchased for the Ambrosian library as soon as it was founded by Cardinal Federico Borromeo in 1608, the miniatures were stuck upon folios of “charta bombycina”, of the Arabic type, arranged in order and attached by the long side to form an album. The images, identified by tituli and brief summaries in medieval Greek, had their ground line towards the inner binding, while a commentary on the various scenes occupied a column written in a right angle on the supporting paper. This new binding probably served to provide two different perspectives, the one of the master and the one of a group of students sitting beside him and looking at the miniatures.6 The collection had been almost completely ignored until 1819, when the great philologist Angelo Mai, recognising its ancient character, detached the miniatures from the paper in order to commission drawings of them, which he published together with the Homeric text revealed on their back side.7 However, the collection of the loose folios became truly accessible for a critical philological and palaeographic discussion after the publication of a facsimile edition in 1905.8 The first thorough art historical research was conducted after the Second World War; especially interesting the ones by K. Weitzmann. Most important then are the numerous essays by Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli, which culminated in his exhaustive monograph in 1955.9

5 The illustrations for the books III, XVIII, XIX and XX are missing: Bianchi Bandinelli, Iliad, p. 37. 6 Palla, “Folia antiquissima”, pp. 328-9, 347; reconstruction of a rebound folio with commentary, fig. on pp. 341-2. 7 Mai, Iliadis fragmenta, pp. XXX-XXXI dated the fragments to the 5th or 6th century; Palla, “Folia antiquissima”, pp. 322-3. 8 Ceriani/Ratti, Homeri Iliadis pictae fragmenta (facsimile edition in heliotypy). A facsimile edition of the 52 fragments reproduced separately in outlines, with the lacunae, colours, recto (Greek text) and verso (miniatures) is now available: Celis Real, Ilias Picta. 9 Bianchi Bandinelli, Iliad.