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The Rhetoric of Cohesion: Allusions to Homeric Heroes in Tyrtaeus’ Poetry

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The Rhetoric of Cohesion: Allusions to Homeric Heroes in Tyrtaeus’ Poetry The Rhetoric of Cohesion: Allusions to Homeric Heroes in Tyrtaeus’ Poetry by Jessica Romney B.A., The Pennsylvania State University, 2008 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Greek and Roman Studies Jessica Romney, 2011 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee The Rhetoric of Cohesion: Allusions to Homeric Heroes in Tyrtaeus’ Poetry by Jessica Romney B.A., The Pennsylvania State University, 2008 Supervisory Committee Dr. Ingrid E. Holmberg, (Department of Greek and Roman Studies) Supervisor Dr. J. Geoffrey Kron, (Department of Greek and Roman Studies) Departmental Member Dr. Laurel M. Bowman, (Department of Greek and Roman Studies) Departmental Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr. Ingrid E. Holmberg, (Department of Greek and Roman Studies) Supervisor Dr. J. Geoffrey Kron, (Department of Greek and Roman Studies) Departmental Member Dr. Laurel M. Bowman, (Department of Greek and Roman Studies) Departmental Member Tyrtaeus, a Spartan poet of the early Archaic period, composed his martial exhortations in order to address growing tensions between elites and non-elites of pre- classical, and thus pre-militaristic, Sparta during the Second Messenian War. His poetry is filled with allusions to Homeric heroes and heroic concepts that interact with archaic institutions and thought. This thesis seeks to examine those interactions and to discern how Tyrtaeus uses the heroes Hector, Odysseus, and Achilles in his exhortations to encourage men to stand and fight and not to retreat from battle. This study also uses modern theories of cohesion in order to provide a framework for Tyrtaeus’ appeals to social ties among the soldiers and for his models of reciprocal relations between the πόλις and the soldiers, both of which he uses to overcome the tension between the elites and non-elites and create a single, cohesive group. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee ...................................................................................................... ii Abstract..............................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents............................................................................................................... iv Note on Editions and Translations...................................................................................... v Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. vi Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Historical Background and Theory ................................................................... 6 Chapter 2: Hector, the Hero of the Commnity.................................................................. 29 Chapter 3: Odysseus, the Hero of Endurance ................................................................... 59 Chapter 4: Achilles and the Aristocratic Ethos................................................................. 93 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 118 Bibliography.....................................................................................................................124 v Note on Editions and Translations All translations of Greek and Latin in this thesis are my own. When quoting Greek texts, the following editions have been used unless otherwise noted: • Munro, David B. and Thomas W. Allen, eds. Homeri Opera: Iliadis, vols. I and II, 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1920. • Page, D.L., ed. Poetae Melici Graeci. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962. • Stanford, W.B., ed. Homer: Odyssey, vols. I and II. 1947-8. Reprint, London: Bristol Classical Press, 1996. • West, M.L., ed. Iambi et Elegi Graeci: Ante Alexandrum Cantati, vol. I. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971. • ------------------. Iambi et Elegi Graeci: Ante Alexandrum Cantati, vol. II. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972. vi Acknowledgments First I must thank Dr. Ingrid Holmberg for all of her help in this process. Without her insightful comments and sharp eye, this thesis would not be what it is, and I am extremely grateful for all of the time and expertise she gave. I would like to thank also Dr. Geof Kron and Dr. Laurel Bowman for being my secondary readers and for contributing their time and expertise as well. Thanks also to Dr. Iain Higgins from the English Department for agreeing to be my external reader and for contributing his time and expertise. I am very fortunate to have pursued my MA studies in such a welcoming and considerate department, and I want to thank the Department of Greek and Roman Studies as a whole for their support and all that they have taught me in these past two years. Thanks must also go to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and the Social Studies and Humanities Research Council who have provided me with funding to complete this degree. To my fellow graduate students and friends, especially Carly, Katie, Kristen, and Lindsey, thank you for your support and laughter this year and for keeping me from worrying myself into an ulcer. And to Eva as well, who kept us all well-fed with cookies and other sweets. Finally, I must thank my family, whose support has never wavered and has only increased as I progress along the academic cursus. Thank you for making sure I remembered to laugh and enjoy myself, and thank you, Mom and Dad, for never failing to tell me that when I grew up, I could be whatever I wanted to be. Introduction post hos insignis Homerus Tyrtaeusque mares animos in Martia bella versibus exacuit After these poets [Orpheus and Amphion], Homer became eminent and Tyrtaeus trained manly spirits in the wars of Mars with his verses (Hor. A.P. 401-3) In the second half of the seventh century, the Spartans were in the midst of a war in which, according to tradition, they fared very poorly. According to one version, the city sent messengers to Delphi, and they were told to seek aid from the Athenians if they wanted not only to survive but to win. Athens, loathe to aid the hegemon of the Peloponnese, sent a lame schoolmaster- Tyrtaeus- in order to accede to the god’s oracle. To everyone’s surprise, this lame schoolmaster urged the Spartans to victory with his poetry, inspiring them to defeat the Messenians and to conquer their land and become a powerhouse in Greek warfare and politics for centuries to come (Plato, Leges 629a-b; Paus. IV.xv.6). While a nice story, this version of the Second Messenian War reflects Laconian and Attic relations in the fifth century more than in the seventh as well as a desire to remove all cultural accomplishments from the dour, militaristic state that stood in opposition to glittering, democratic Athens. Despite this, the parable illustrates Tyrtaeus’ importance to Spartan culture and history as a poet who inspired his countrymen to victory in battle. Tyrtaeus was not an Athenian, much less a lame schoolmaster, but a Spartan, and while anything in addition to this concerning his origin is conjecture, several 2 fragments exhorting men to battle have been preserved for us, lending weight to his integral place in Spartan history. This thesis is a study of Tyrtaeus’ poetry and his allusions to the Homeric heroes Hector, Odysseus, and Achilles. In the early Archaic period, there was tension between the elites and non-elites who composed Sparta’s hoplite phalanx, and Tyrtaeus’ poetry seeks to address this antipathy and to create a cohesive group out of two disparate social elements and then root this unified group on the battlefield. Tyrtaeus aims to create a group committed to its own survival and that of its citizen community, and he creates an ideological space for this cohesion by intertwining the fate of the two in his poetry so that the community cannot survive without its soldiers and so that the soldiers cannot exist socially without the community nor receive the rewards for fighting. In the process of examining Tyrtaeus’ poetry, three main themes will become apparent in his allusions to the Homeric heroes. These are the denigration of flight from battle, the lauding of fighting in place, and the presentation of rewards for the soldier who fights. This final theme also includes competition, which Tyrtaeus uses both to allude to potential rewards his soldiers can win and also to create a field on which elites and non- elites can compete as social equals. The theme concerning flight from battle occurs the most in the poems. Tyrtaeus maligns flight more often and more strenuously than the other two themes because in the world of the hoplite and the phalanx, nothing is more detrimental than when one or more men flee from their positions in the tightly arraigned battle formation. The phalanx collapses in on itself as more men join in flight and the formation is lost, swept up by the opposing phalanx. After this, Tyrtaeus emphasizes the theme of “stand and fight” the most. Finally, he details what a man can expect for 3 fighting, places it within the hands of the community, thus creating a model of social obligations between the community and the soldiers, and then continues his exhortations. He does not dwell on the rewards as much as he
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