Durham E-Theses Homer and the Poetics of Hades GAZIS, GEORGIOS How to cite: GAZIS, GEORGIOS (2015) Homer and the Poetics of Hades, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11182/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Homer and the Poetics of Hades George Alexander Gazis A thesis submitted to the Department of Classics and Ancient History Durham University In accordance with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2015 i Declaration I confirm that no part of the material offered has previously been submitted by me for a degree in this or any other University. This thesis is exclusively based on my own research. Material from the work of others has been acknowledged and quotations and paraphrases suitably indicated. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior consent and information taken from it should be acknowledged. ii Abstract In this thesis I examine Homer’s use of Hades as a poetic resource that allows a different approach to the epic past than the one provided through Muse-inspired narrative. By portraying Hades as a realm where vision is not possible (A - ides), I argue, Homer creates a unique poetic environment in which social constraints and divine prohibitions are not applicable. The result is a narrative that emulates that of the Muses but at the same time is markedly distinct from it, as in Hades experimentation with, and alteration of, important epic forms and values can be pursued, giving rise to a different kind of poetics. I have called this the ‘Poetics of Hades.’ In the Iliad, Homer offers us a glimpse of how this alternative poetics works through the visit of Patroclus’ shade in Achilles’ dream. The recollection offered by the shade reveals an approach to its past in which regret, self-pity and a lingering memory of intimate and emotional moments displace an objective tone, and a traditional exposition of heroic values such as kleos and timē. I argue that the potential of Hades for providing alternative means of commemorating the past is more fully explored in the ‘Nekyia’ of Odyssey 11; there, Odysseus’ extraordinary ability to see (idein) the dead in Hades allows him to meet and interview the shades of heroines and heroes of the epic past. The absolute confinement of Hades allows the shades to recount their stories from their own personal point of view. The poetic implications of this, I argue, are important since by visiting Hades and listening to the stories of the shades Odysseus, and Homer with him, gain access to a tradition in which epic values associated with gender roles and even divine law are suspended, in favour of a more immediate and personally inflected approach to the epic past. iii In loving memory of my father, Alexandros, and Contessa. Without them this would not have been possible. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction i. Homeric enargeia 1 ii. Hades as a poetic resource 12 Part 1: The Iliad 1. Hades in the Iliad 20 1.1.i. Introduction 20 1.1.ii. Hades as a destination 21 1.1.iii. Hades and kleos 28 1.1.iv. Hades the unknown, Hades the invisible 29 1.1.v. The underworld realm 33 1.1.vi. Conclusions 39 2. The Dream of Achilles 1.2.i. Dreaming of the dead 40 1.2.ii. Speaking to the dead among the living 42 1.2.iii. Raising the dead: ‘Nekyomanteia’ in the Odyssey 47 1.2.iv. Waiting for darkness 50 1.2.v. The dream scene 53 1.2.vi. Memories of the dead 59 1.2.vii. Conclusions 65 Part 2: The Odyssey 1. The Odyssey and the ‘Poetics of Hades’ 67 v 2.1.i. Introduction 67 2.1.ii. The limits of Olympian influence 72 2.1.iii. Darkness and seclusion: Hades’ place in the Odyssey 74 2.1.iv. Odysseus as mediator, Odysseus as storyteller 80 2. The ‘Nekyia’ 82 2.2.i. Before the journey: departure from Circe’s island 82 2.2.ii. Beginning of the journey: the outskirts of Hades 84 2.2.iii. At close quarters with the dead: Elpenor 88 2.2.iv. At the crossroads of past and future: the meetings with Teiresias and Antikleia 93 1. Teiresias’ prophecy: unrestrained truth 93 2. The meeting with Antikleia 100 3. Hearing from the dead about the living 101 3. The ‘Catalogue of Heroines’: narrative unbound 108 2.3.i. Introduction 108 2.3.ii. The meeting with Tyro 111 2.3.iii. Women with a voice: the other heroines 118 1. Female perspectives on the heroic past 118 2. The perspective of the mother: to forget or to remember 127 2.3.iv. Conclusions 134 4. The ‘Intermezzo’ 136 2.4.i. Introduction 136 2.4.ii. Breaking the spell 137 5. The ‘Catalogue of Heroes’ 144 2.5.i. Introduction 144 vi 2.5.ii. Remembering Troy - The meeting with Agamemnon 146 1. The death of Agamemnon: a view from below 146 2. The death of Agamemnon: a heroic perspective 153 3. From hero to ‘powerless head’: the end of the meeting 156 4. Conclusions 159 2.5.iii. After heroism: the meeting with Achilles 160 1. Introduction 160 2. Survival versus kleos: the Odyssey meets the Iliad 162 3. Conclusions 172 2.5.iv. The meeting with Ajax 172 1. When the dead remain silent 172 2. The story of the judgement: an Odyssean perspective 174 3. Odysseus’ non-apology 178 4. Return to darkness: Ajax’s perspective 179 5. Conclusions 180 2.5.v. Epilogue 181 Conclusions 184 Bibliography 191 vii Introduction i. Homeric enargeia Ζεῦ πάτερ ἀλλὰ σὺ ῥῦσαι ὑπ᾽ ἠέρος υἷας Ἀχαιῶν, ποίησον δ᾽ αἴθρην, δὸς δ᾽ ὀφθαλμοῖσιν ἰδέσθαι: ἐν δὲ φάει καὶ ὄλεσσον, ἐπεί νύ τοι εὔαδεν οὕτως. Il. 17.645-7 Readers of Homer since antiquity have noticed that the poet narrates events as if they were enacted in front of their eyes; as one ancient scholiast comments, Homer’s poetry is not only heard but also seen by its audience as some sort of spectacle.1 In ancient scholarship, this effect is often referred to as enargeia,2 a term derived from the epithet ἐναργής, which is used in Homer mainly to denote the brightness of a god’s epiphany as perceived from a human perspective.3 To be ἐναργής, however, also means to be vivid, and it is precisely the vividness of Homeric narrative that ancient readers attempt to describe with the term enargeia. The vividness that transforms Homeric narrative into a visual spectacle has been considered one of the most characteristic and lasting achievements of the Homeric epics. Scholars fascinated with Homeric enargeia have tried to understand which elements of the narrative create this effect and more importantly what poetic function it has. The most famous modern attempt at a discussion is owed to Lessing in the late 18th century. In his Laocoön, written in an era when the visual arts attained paradigmatic status, Lessing rediscovered the power of Homeric vividness which he judged superior to the best works the brush of the painter could create. Even though he does not employ the term enargeia, Lessing focuses on the vividness of Homer’s descriptions. Setting these descriptions against the artistic products of a painter, Lessing asks which one gives a fuller and more satisfying picture of what they intend to portray. In contrast with the painter who, argues Lessing, can only capture a single moment in time, Homer’s narrative conjures before our eyes a moving image, which traces the action in 1 ΣbT ad Il. 6.467: ταῦτα δὲ τὰ ἔπη οὕτως ἐστὶν ἐναργείας μεστά, ὅτι οὐ μόνον ἀκούεται τὰ πράγματα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁρᾶται. λαβὼν δὲ τοῦτο ἐκ τοῦ βίου ὁ ποιητὴς ἄκρως περιεγένετο τῇ μιμήσει; for discussion see Graziosi and Haubold (2010), 23-4. 2 The term occurs several times in the Homeric scholia to express the vividness of the poet’s narrative, see Manieri (1998), 179-92. Thucidides’ narrative was also thought of as being enarges, see Walker (1993) and the brief discussion in Bakker (2005), 160-7. For the use of the term in Greek rhetoric see Ernesto (1962), 106f. and Calame (1991). Zanker (1981) traces the use of the term in ancient literary criticism. 3 See Ford (1992), 54 and n.112. 1 a way that painting cannot.4 Indeed, Lessing shows that Homer is superior even when it comes to representing one single image. He notes the Homeric habit of assigning just a few epithets to an object and argues that the rest is filled by the image created in the audience’s mind.5 In the case of Agamemnon’s sceptre, for instance, Lessing argues that despite the very few details given by the narrator (Il.