First published in Classical Philology, volume 101, issue 1 (2006). Published by University of Chicago Press. Copyright © 2009. University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved. This article online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/505669 BLOOD AND HUNGER IN THE ILIAD tamara neal lood and bloodshed are inevitable by-products of war, literally rep- resentative of lost life and suffering. Unsurprisingly, Homer’s Iliad B embellishes numerous accounts of fighting and death with references to blood. Perhaps it is also unsurprising, given the regularity of wounding and death, that the form and function of bloody description have received little scholarly attention.1 The purpose of this paper is to show that blood and what I term “bloodspill” have poetic significance by surveying the contextual distribution of a∏ma in the Iliad. The lexeme does not appear haphazardly but is associated with certain contexts and individuals. Of particular impor- tance is that blood is increasingly represented as a comestible. Moreover, its desired consumption by the war god Ares and the hero Achilles graphically problematizes the warrior ethic presented in the poem. Blood and Bloodspill in the Iliad Despite the prodigious number of individual deaths in the battle epic (approximately 240), just twelve comprise specific mention of a∏ma. All of these gory fatalities occur in the second half of the poem. The data relating to individual bloodspill prompt additional observations pertaining to blood. First, the representation of slaughter—of which a∏ma is an element—descends from symphonic overture into grim refrain as the narrative progresses. Second, accounts of carnage are always linked with turning points in the narrative, finding culminating expression in Achilles’ rampage. Lastly, the contextual distribution of a∏ma changes in the course of the poem. Initially primarily incorporated into episodes describing nonfatal injury and mass slaughter, blood is in the latter part of the Iliad linked also with individual death and predacious animal similes. I dedicate this paper to the memory of Dr. Charles Tesoriero, friend, partner, and colleague, who passed away on August 21, 2005. Versions of the paper were delivered to the Classics seminar at the University of Sydney in May 2003 and at the Language and Literature Colloquium at Macquarie University, Sydney, on October 24, 2003. I would like to thank all who were present on those occasions for their input, and especially the convenor of the latter, Dr. Trevor Evans. I am indebted also to Dr. Chris Mackie for comments on an early version of the material, and to the anonymous readers who gave generous advice on both content and style. Any re- maining errors and infelicities are, naturally, entirely my own. 1. Blood has been the subject of investigations in H. Koller, “A∏ma,” Glotta 45 (1967): 149–55; D. Goure- vitch, “Le sang dans la médecine antique,” La recherche spécial 24 (1993): 511–17; M. Leumann, Homer- ische Wörter (Basel, 1950), s.v. brovtoÍ. See also J. S. Clay, The Wrath of Athena: Gods and Men in the Odyssey (Lanham, Md., 1983), 143–45. Classical Philology 101 (2006): 15–33 [ç 2006 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved] 0009-837X/06/10101-0002$10.00 15 16 Tamara Neal Let us first consider a∏ma in the context of mass slaughter. Throughout the Iliad, the formular image of the earth running with blood regularly represents carnage. This is depicted by the fixed phrase rJeve dΔ aªmati ga∂a (4.451; 8.65) or its variant rJeve dΔ aªmati ga∂a mevlaina (15.715; 20.494). Elsewhere, the earth is stained with blood: ejruqaÇneto dΔ aªmati ga∂a (10.484; cf. 21.21), or aªmati de; cqw;n / deuveto porfurevå (17.360–61). More literal descriptions of carnage include references both to blood and to either fovnoÍ or corpses.2 Thus: a˙m fovnon, a˙n nevkuaÍ, diav tΔ eßntea kaμ mevlan a∏ma (10.298 = 10.469), or eßk tΔ a˚ndroktasÇhÍ eßk qΔ aªmatoÍ eßk te kudoimouÅ (11.164).3 A division of the poem into days (rather than books) reveals fluctuations in the distribution of accounts of carnage. Day 1 (Books 2–7) yields just one authorial reference (4.451), although Nestor also comments on wholesale death with a bloody metaphor (tΩn nuÅn a∏ma kelaino;n eju?r- roon a˚mfμ Skavmandron / ejskevdasΔ ojxu;Í ◊ArhÍ, 7.329–30). Day 2 (Book 8) includes only one—authorial—reference to mass slaughter (8.65). The first and third descriptions of carnage are identical, forming the concluding ele- ment of combat en masse (4.446–51 = 8.65–70): o¥ dΔ o§te dhv rJΔ ejÍ cΩron e§na xuniovnteÍ ªkonto, suvn rJΔ eßbalon rJinouvÍ, su;n dΔ eßgcea kaμ mevneΔ a˚ndrΩn calkeoqwrhvkwn: a˚ta;r a˚spÇdeÍ oJmfalovessai eßplhntΔ a˚llhvl¬si, polu;Í dΔ ojrumagdo;Í ojr∫rei. eßnqa dΔ a§mΔ o√mwghv te kaμ eu˚cwlh; pevlen a˚ndrΩn ojlluvntwn te kaμ ojllumevnwn, rJeve dΔ aªmati ga∂a. Now as these advancing came to one place and encountered, they dashed their shields together and their spears, and the strength of armoured men in bronze, and the shields massive in the middle, clashed against each other, and the sound of the fighting grew huge. There the screaming and the shouts of triumph rose up together of men killing and men killed, and the ground ran blood.4 The grand portrait heralds a momentous event, the return to fighting. Battle recommences after Pandarus shoots Menelaus, an act of treachery that reprises the initial circumstances of the war. On Day 2, the description follows the indecisive duel of Hector and Ajax, where the subsequent account of Zeus balancing the fate of the armies on his golden scales underlines the gravity of the occasion (8.69–74). Subsequently, the Greeks will be defeated and so compelled to make the embassy to Achilles in Book 9. The eve of Day 3 (Book 10) and Day 3 itself (Books 11–18) see a sharp, and temporary, in- crease in references to mass bloodspill. The Doloneia is notable for its brutal violence, and three descriptions of carnage in fewer than two hundred 2. fovnoÍ is sometimes found with khvr to describe “carnage” or “slaughter”: 2.352 (expressing potential for the future); 3.6 (an element in the crane simile). Cf. 14.139–40; 17.365; 19.214. fovnoÍ/fonhv can also denote blood: 10.521; 16.162; 24.610. 3. Koller, “A∏ma” (n. 1 above), 150, suggests that a∏ma is in the last example informed by “murder” and “fighting-tumult,” and is to be understood as “bloodspill,” “massacre.” This description also includes “dust” (konǬ, 11.163), a common signifying element in descriptions of death. 4. All translations are from R. Lattimore, The “Iliad” of Homer (Chicago, 1951), occasionally adapted. Blood and Hunger in the Iliad 17 lines emphasize this aspect of it (10.298 = 10.469, 10.484; cf. 10.521). A concentration of gory detail distinguishes Book 10 from the first nine books of the Iliad. Thereafter, throughout Day 3, five descriptions of bloody slaughter are dispersed over Books 11 through 17 (11.164; 11.534–37; 12.430–31; 15.715; 17.360). Three are clustered in Books 11 and 12, pref- acing this long day of battle. Indeed, a Zeus-sent blood dew is a portent of the many deaths to occur, including those of Sarpedon and Patroclus (kata; dΔ uÒyovqen h•ken ejevrsaÍ / a∏mati mudalevaÍ ejx a√qevroÍ, 11.53–55). As earlier in the poem, each account on Day 3 registers a turning point in the action. Carnage proclaims the beginning of both Agamemnon’s and Hector’s a˚riste∂ai; likewise, a bloody description of battle heralds the breach of the Achaean rampart.5 In Book 15, the formular image of the ground running with blood (rJeve dΔ aªmati ga∂a mevlaina, 15.715) signals another critical moment: the fighting has reached the ships and Hector is preparing to set them alight. Then, in Book 17, Ajax orders the Achaeans to guard Patroclus’ corpse and, consequently, the earth grows red with blood (17.360–61). The motif accentuates the dramatic significance of Patroclus’ death and the emotional intensity of the Leichenkampf. Finally, on Day 4, Achilles’ a˚ri- steÇa incorporates the bloodied-earth image, a now very familiar motif that underscores his martial ability and brutality (20.494; cf. 21.21; also 20.499– 500 = 11.534–35). Throughout the poem, the recurring image has a cumu- lative effect, portraying increased levels of slaughter. Similarly, earlier as- sociations signal an event’s importance in the narrative. A key difference lies between the depiction of mass slaughter on Days 1 and 2, and that described on the eve of Day 3 and on Day 3 itself. Carnage from Book 10 includes explicit reference to the bodies of the slain (10.298 = 10.469; 11.64) and the earlier grand tone is replaced by something more ugly: blood drips from axles and horses’ hooves as chariots drive over the corpses (11.534–37 = 20.499–502), and gore is splashed over the walls of the barrier (12.430; cf. 4.451 = 8.65).6 The description in Book 15 illustrates this tonal development (15.707–15): touÅ per dh; perμ nho;Í ÂcaioÇ te TrΩevÍ te d¬voun a˚llhvlouÍ au˚toscedovn: ou˚dΔ aßra toÇ ge tovxwn a˚∑ka;Í a˚mfμÍ mevnon ou˚dΔ eßtΔ a˚kovntwn, a˚llΔ oª gΔ ejgguvqen ¥stavmenoi, e§na qumo;n eßconteÍ, ojxevsi dh; pelevkessi kaμ a˚xÇn¬si mavconto kaμ xÇfesin megavloisi kaμ eßgcesin a˚mfiguvoisi.