2016.07.28 / updated 2018.09.08 | By Gregory Nagy
The momentum of the war is spirited, and the fighting mood of the warriors verges on overreaching. An outstanding example is Diomedes, who already owns a glorious past as a conquering hero in the epic tradition known as the Sons of the Seven against Thebes or Epigonoi. Now in the epic present of the Iliad he has a chance to outdo himself, performing deeds so glorious that they would outshine perhaps even the deeds of Achilles, who is now out of the picture. The successes of Diomedes reach the point where he is capable of feats that are superhuman, as when he lifts a rock that even two humans today could not budge—or as when he wounds the god of war himself, Ares, and then, shortly thereafter, the goddess of love and sexuality, Aphrodite. But such momentum is not to last, and the antagonism of Diomedes toward divinities will have its consequences.
The momentum of the war is spirited, and the fighting mood of the warriors verges on overreaching. An outstanding example is Diomedes, who already owns a glorious past as a conquering hero in the epic tradition known as the Sons of the Seven against Thebes or Epigonoi. Now in the epic present of the Iliad he has a chance to outdo himself, performing deeds so glorious that they would outshine perhaps even the deeds of Achilles, who is now out of the picture. The successes of Diomedes reach the point where he is capable of feats that are superhuman, as when he lifts a rock that even two humans today could not budge—or as when he wounds the god of war himself, Ares, and then, shortly thereafter, the goddess of love and sexuality, Aphrodite. But such momentum is not to last, and the antagonism of Diomedes toward divinities will have its consequences. [[GN 2016.07.28.]]
I.05.048
subject heading(s): therapōn ‘attendant, ritual substitute’
In this context, plural therapontes indicates the ‘attendants’ of the king Idomeneus. [[GN 2016.08.04.]]
I.05.059–064
subject heading(s): abduction of Helen; Paris=Alexandros
This micro-narrative about Phereklos, a master carpenter who built that ships sailed by Paris=Alexandros for the abduction of Helen, concerns epic events that precede the narrative arc of the Iliad as we have it—but these events are here explained as the real beginning of that same narrative arc. In terms of this micro-narrative, the plot of the Iliad—in the sense that the name Iliad means ‘the story of Ilion [Troy]’—was started or even caused not by the mēnis ‘anger’ of Achilles, as our Iliad says at the beginning, but rather by an event that preceded that anger. According to this micro-narrative, what really started the Trojan War was the abduction of Helen, which was the kakon ‘bad thing’ that caused all the subsequent bad things, as we read here at I.05.063. And, as predicted at I.05.064, this same event caused the ‘bad thing’ that is about to happen to Phereklos himself. All these events, taken together, thus become part of the overarching plot of the Iliad as we have it. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 299, PH 307.]]
I.05.059–061
subject heading(s): ar-ar-iskein ‘fit together, join together’; tektōn ‘carpenter, joiner’; collocation; tektainein ‘build-as-a-carpenter’
The collocation of tektonos huion (τέκτονος υἱόν) ‘son of the joiner [tektōn]’ at I.05.059 with Harmonideō (Ἁρμονίδεω) ‘son of Harmōn’ at I.05.059 indicates three generations of ‘joiners’, in that Phereklos is a son of a joiner who is in turn a son of a jοiner. The grandfather Harmōn has a name that can be reconstructed as a noun *ar-s-mōn, derived from the verb ar-ar-iskein ‘fit together, join together’. And the grandson Phereklos is said at I.05.061 to have ‘built-as-a-carpenter’, tektainesthai (τεκτήνατο), the ships sailed by Paris=Alexandros for the abduction of Helen. This verb tektainein is derived from the noun tektōn ‘carpenter, joiner’, which is in turn derived from the verb-root *tek(s)-. No longer attested in Greek, this verb-root *tek(s)- survives in Latin as texō, which can refer to the craft of woodworking, not only the craft of weaving. On verbal art as woodwork, see HC 2§282n. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 299.]]
I.05.063
subject heading(s): arkhe-kakoi ‘beginning the evil’
The epithet arkhe-kakoi ‘beginning the evil’ at I.05.063 describes the ships in the previous verse, at I.05.062. These ships, as we have seen, were sailed by Paris=Alexandros for the abduction of Helen. The ominous tone of the epithet, and its positioning in the verse immediately following the mention of the ships, is comparable to the ominous tone of the epithet oulomenē ‘accursed’ at I.01.02 in the verse immediately following the mention of the mēnis ‘anger’ of Achilles in the previous verse, at I.01.01, which is the beginning of the Iliad. Even the meaning of the epithet arkhe-kakoi ‘beginning the evil’ at I.05.063 indicates in its own right the beginning of an epic, though of course this beginning does not correspond to the beginning of the Iliad as we have it. Another point of comparison is the epithet dourateos ‘wooden’ at O.08.493, which is a verse that immediately follows the mention of the hippos ‘horse’ in the previous verse, at O.08.492. Here again we see an ominous mention: this wooden horse, the Trojan Horse, is the marker of yet another potential beginning of an epic narration. [[GN 2016.07.28 via HC 2§283n.]]
I.05.077–078
subject heading(s): ārētēr ‘priest’; ārâsthai ‘pray’; tīein ‘honor, give honor to’; tīmē ‘honor’; dēmos ‘community, district’; hero cult; cult hero
I.05.077–078/ anchor comment on: the expression ‘(and) he was honored [tīein] as a god [theos] in the district [dēmos]’ (θεὸς [δ’] ὣς τίετο δήμῳ)
subject heading(s): hero cult; cult hero; the expression ‘(and) he was honored [tīein] as a god [theos] in the district [dēmos]’ (θεὸς [δ’] ὣς τίετο δήμῳ)
Wherever priests (as here at I.05.077–078 and at I.16.604–605) or kings (as in other Homeric contexts: I.10.032–033, I.13.217–218) are said to receive honor as conveyed by the verb tīein ‘honor, give honor to’ (or by the noun tīmē ‘honor’ and the verb tīmân ‘honor, give honor to’, as at I.12.310), Homeric diction is thereby referring indirectly to the receiving of hero cult by a cult hero; such reception happens in the localized context of the dēmos ‘community, district’. The cult of heroes is parallel to, though in some ways different from, the cult of gods, but the cult of gods is likewise conveyed by the verb tīein ‘honor, give honor to’ or by the noun tīmē ‘honor’ and the verb tīmân ‘honor, give honor to’. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 149, GMP 132–133; see also Nagy 2012:67–68.]]
Ι.05.083
subject heading(s): Moira krataiē ‘fate, whose power has the upper hand’
This verse-final adjective krataiḗ can be explained as a morphologically leveled replacement of an older feminine form, to be reconstructed as *krataí–u̯i–ă and meaning ‘whose power [*u̯i-] has the upper-hand [krátos]’. The morphological leveling involves a replacement of the alternation *-́i̯ă-/-i̯ā́– by way of non-alternating *-i̯ā́-. [[GN 2016.08.25 via comment on I.09.002.]]
I.05.103
subject heading(s): ‘best of the Achaeans’; aristeiā ‘epic high point’; plot of the Iliad; narrative arc
This verse shows that the hero Diomedes has a chance to qualify as the ‘best of the Achaeans’, aristos Akhaiōn. In the long run, however, in line with the plot or narrative arc of the Iliad as we have it, Diomedes fails to qualify. Still, his greatest epic moments in the Homeric Iliad are traditionally known as his aristeiā (as in the scholia for I.06.448), which I translate here as ‘epic high point’. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 30.]]
I.05.173
subject heading(s): eukhesthai ‘declare’
Here the verb eukhesthai ‘declare’ expresses a hero’s superiority not overall but only in a one given area of heroic endeavor, archery. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 45.]]
Ι.05.231
subject heading(s): hēni-okhos ‘chariot driver’
This is the first occurrence of the noun hēni-okhos ‘chariot driver’ in the Iliad. Literally, the word means ‘he who holds the reins’. [[GN 2016.08.04.]]
Ι.05.263–273
subject heading(s): Dardanidai; four-horse chariot
The genealogy of the Trojan Dardanidai is appropriated here into the genealogy of Athenian kings, and the references to a four-horse chariot team at I.05.271 is an Athenian signature. In the present action, however, at I.05.272–273, the four-horse team is reduced to a two-horse team, which is the canonical number for chariot teams in the Iliad. [[GN 2016.07.28 via HPC 210.]]
I.05.269
lemmatizing: θήλεας ἵππους
In the combination θήλεας ἵππους, the first-declension accusative plural in ‑as, positioned before a vowel, is scanned here as a short rather than long syllable. The attestation of such a form ‑ăs reflects not dialectal variation but formulaic simplification: an earlier complementary distribution of prevocalic *‑ăns (which becomes –ās) and preconsonantal *‑ăs is simplified, resulting in occasional instances of prevocalic ‑ăs. [[GN 2016.07.28 via GMP 62.]]
I.05.296
subject heading(s): menos ‘mental power’; psūkhē ‘spirit’; luein ‘release’; release of consciousness from the body
At the moment of his death here, the hero’s menos ‘mental power’ is released from his body, and this moment of release is expressed metaphorically by way of the verb luein ‘release’. Just as a horse is released from being harnessed to the chariot that it draws, as at I.05.369, so too the menos is released from the body. On metaphor, see the Inventory of terms and names. In the present context, the noun psūkhē ‘spirit’ is used as a synonym of menos. [[GN 2016.07.28 via GMP 88.]]
I.05.312
subject heading(s): Dios thugatēr/thugatēr Dios ‘daughter of Zeus’
The epithet Dios thugatēr / thugatēr Dios ‘daughter of Zeus’, applied here to Aphrodite, can signal the beneficence of such goddesses toward privileged heroes like, in this case, Aeneas. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 205, GMP 251.]]
I.05.369
subject heading(s): luein ‘release’; menos ‘mental power’; psūkhē ‘spirit’; luein ‘release’; release of consciousness from the body
I.05.370-371
subject heading(s): [Dios thugatēr / thugatēr Dios ‘daughter of Zeus’;] Diōnē
The function of Aphrodite as Dios thugatēr / thugatēr Dios ‘daughter of Zeus’, as at I.03.374, is reinforced here at I.05.370–371 by the designation of this same goddess as the daughter of Diōnē, which is a feminized version of the name Zeus. [[GN 2016.07.28 via GMP 258.]]
I.05.395–404
subject heading(s): Hēraklēs; Hādēs; Gates of Hādēs; Gates of the Sun; Pylos; entrance to the underworld
The wounding of the god Hādēs here with an arrow shot by Hēraklēs is associated with the place-name Pylos, Pulos, which is figured at I.05.397 here as a ‘gateway’ of the sun as it passes at sunset into the underworld. The name of Pylos as a place that can serve as a setting for ritual can stand for the name of a mythical place that is associated with the given ritual. Such a mythical place is the ‘Gates of the Sun’. By implication, the setting sun passes through the same gates as do the psūkhai ‘spirits’ of the dead who are entering the underworld. [[GN 2016.07.28 via GMP 225–226.]]
I.05.401
subject heading(s): Paiēōn
In this context, Paiēōn (from Paiāwōn) is still distinct from rather than identical to Apollo. [[GN 2016.07.28 via HPC 290n61.]]
I.05.406–415
subject heading(s): ‘best of the Achaeans’; Diomedes; aristeiā or ‘epic high point’; wife of Diomedes; Aphrodite; plot of the Iliad; narrative arc
Although Diomedes is recognized as aristos Akhaiōn ‘best of the Achaeans’ here at I.05.416, in the present moment of his aristeiā or ‘epic high point’, this hero’s epic momentum is about to peak, and his martial superiority will soon recede. Further, the present verses at I.05.406–415 imply that something sinister will happen to Diomedes after he comes back home from the Trojan War. His wounding of Aphrodite, goddess of sexuality and love, will have its consequences. As we read in the scholia for I.05.412, there is a myth that tells how Aphrodite punished Diomedes: the goddess induced his wife, Aigialeia, to cheat on him back home by taking many lovers. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 31 on Diomedes as aristos Akhaiōn ‘best of the Achaeans’ here at I.05.416.]]
I.05.430
subject heading(s): thoós ‘running, swift’; Ares
The adjective thoós ‘running, swift’ is derived from the verb theein ‘run’. The god Ares is traditionally pictured as thoós ‘running, swift’; by implication, he is as swift as a violent wind. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 327.]]
I.05.432–444
subject heading(s): antagonism between immortal and mortal
Apollo is engaged here with Diomedes in a deadly form of antagonism between immortal and mortal. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 143.]]
I.05.438
subject heading(s): ‘equal to a superhuman force [daimōn]’; antagonism between immortal and mortal; ‘equal to Ares’
Diomedes is daimoni īsos ‘equal to a superhuman force [daimōn]’ when this hero dares to attack the god Apollo. Ultimately, he backs off. The use of this expression daimoni īsos ‘equal to a superhuman force [daimōn]’ here at I.05.438, and also again at I.05.459, goes to the core of the central idea of ritualized antagonism between immortal and mortal. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 30–31.]]
I.05.440–442
Q&T via MoM 2§31
subject heading(s): simile[; hoio- ‘such as’; enalinkio- ‘looking like’; īso- ‘equal to’; atalanto- ‘equal to’]; ‘equal to a superhuman force [daimōn]’; antagonism between immortal and mortal; ‘equal to Ares’
These verses show the fatally serious difficulties encountered in differentiating between mortals and immortals, in the context of similes comparing mortals to immortals by way of words like hoios ‘such as’ and enalinkios ‘looking like’; of special relevance are these two words: īsos ‘equal to’ and atalantos ‘equal to’. The idea of being īsos ‘equal to’ a divinity, as expressed already at I.05.338, is made parallel here at I.05.440-442 with the idea of thinking ‘in ways that are equal’, īsa, to divine ways of thinking, as expressed at I.05.441. These ideas are part of the larger idea, centering on a basic pattern of antagonism between immortal and mortal. [[GN 2016.07.28 via MoM 2§31.]]
I.05.441–442
subject heading(s): phūlon ‘grouping’; phūlē ‘subdivision’
The word phūlon marks a given group as distinct from another group. In this case, the grouping of mortals is marked as distinct from the grouping of immortals as superhumans. Comparable is the word phūlē, which I have translated as ‘subdivision’ in the contexts of I.02.655–656 and I.02.668. [[GN 2016.07.28 via GMP 290.]]
I.05.441 / anchor comment on homoio– ‘similar to, same as’
subject heading(s): homoio– ‘similar to, same as’; metaphor; simile; antagonism between immortal and mortal
As the god Apollo says at I.05.441–442, the immortals as a ‘grouping’, phūlon, are different from mortals as a ‘grouping’, phūlon. So, he goes on to say, immortals and mortals are not the same. In the Greek, the ‘grouping’ of immortals and mortals is not homoio-, I.05.441. In terms of this negative context, then, the meaning of homoio– can be interpreted to be ‘the same as’. Meanwhile, the meaning of this same word homoio– in non-negative contexts can be interpreted to be ‘similar to’. In non-negative or let us say positive contexts, homoio– exemplifies the making of comparisons in the form of metaphors and similes.
In the case of metaphors, Aristotle himself actually uses the word homoio– in his own definition of metaphor, Poetics 1459a5–8:
πολὺ δὲ μέγιστον τὸ μεταφορικὸν εἶναι. μόνον γὰρ τοῦτο οὔτε παρ’ ἄλλου ἔστι λαβεῖν εὐφυΐας τε σημεῖόν ἐστι· τὸ γὰρ εὖ μεταφέρειν τὸ τὸ ὅμοιον θεωρεῖν ἐστιν
But the greatest use of words is the use of metaphor [tò metaphorikon ‘that which is transferable’]. This is the only thing that cannot be learned from someone else; and it is also a sign [sēmeion] of a-good-quality-that-is-inborn [euphuia], since the making of good metaphors [eu metapherein ‘good transference’] is the same thing as the contemplation [theōreîn] of what is similar [homoion] to what.
What follows is epitomized from MoM 2§§6–7. Now we turn to similes. This term simile is derived from the neuter form of the Latin adjective similis meaning ‘similar’, from which the English word similar is in turn derived. In English, a simile is signaled by expressions such as like or as or similar to. As for Greek, the primary word for signaling a simile is homoio– in the sense of ‘similar to’. But the etymology of homoio– shows that the meaning ‘similar’ derives from a more basic meaning, ‘same as’. From the standpoint of Indo-European linguistics, the Greek adjective homoio– (ὁμοῖο-) derives from homó– (ὁμό-) ‘same as’, which in turn derives from a prototypical form *somo‑, meaning ‘same as’. The English adjective same is derived from this same prototypical form. Another derivative is the Latin adjective similis, meaning ‘same as’ or ‘similar to’. In the usage of both Latin similis and Greek homoio– (ὁμοῖο-), the same semantic principle applies: for A2 to be similar to A1, it has to be the same as A1 in some respect, which is X. Further, for A2 to be the same as A1, it has to be one with A1 in respect to X. That is because the Indo-European root *som‑ of *somo‑ ‘same as’ means ‘one’, as we see in such forms as the Latin adverb semel ‘one time’. And the idea of ‘one’ in words like English same has to do with an act of comparing. When we compare things, what is the ‘same as’ something else in some respect becomes ‘one with’ that something in that respect. That is how a word like Latin similis, deriving from the concept of ‘one’, means ‘similar to’ in the sense of ‘one with’. What is similis ‘similar’ to something else in some respect is ‘one with’ that something in that respect. Similarly in the case of the Greek adjective homoio– (ὁμοῖο-), it refers to something that is ‘one with’ and therefore ‘the same as’ something else in some respect. And, as we will see in the comment on O.16.172–212, if something else is not the same, then it is alloio– (ἀλλοῖο-) ‘a different kind’, which is the opposite of homoio– (ὁμοῖο-) or ‘the same kind’. As we will also see in that same comment, the extension ‑io- (‑ιο-) of the two adjectives homoio– (ὁμοῖο-) ‘the same kind’ and alloio– (ἀλλοῖο-) ‘a different kind’ is parallel to the extension ‑io- (‑ιο-) of the adjectives hoio– (oἷο-) ‘what kind’ and toio– (τοῖο-) ‘that kind’.
Here we loop back to what the god Apollo says at I.05.441–442: in a negative sense, immortals cannot be the same as mortals. Still, in a special positive sense, mortals can momentarily become the same as immortals when their identities merge in contexts of ritual. Such a special positive sense applies in situations of ritualized antagonism between immortal and mortal. In such situations, the mortal becomes one with the immortal—and can die as a consequence. That is what almost happens to Diomedes, but then he backs off. [[GN 2017.07.04.]]
I.05.459
subject heading(s):‘equal to a superhuman force [daimōn]’; antagonism between immortal and mortal; ‘equal to Ares’
Retrospectively, Apollo in his own words is saying that Diomedes was daimoni īsos ‘equal to a daimōn’ when this hero dared to attack the god. The use of this expression daimoni īsos ‘equal to a daimōn’ here at I.05.459, and also before at I.05.438, goes to the core of the central idea of antagonism between immortal and mortal. Most relevant are the intervening verses at I.05.440–442. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 30–31.]]
I.05.473–474
Q&T via BA 146
subject heading(s): Hector; ekhein ‘hold, uphold, protect, guard’; “speaking name” (nomen loquens)
The “speaking name” (nomen loquens) of Hector, Hék-tōr, is morphologically an agent noun derived from the verb ekhein ‘hold’, which can have the specialized sense of ‘uphold’ or ‘protect’ or ‘guard’, as in the present context. The expected role of Hector is to protect the city of Troy, and the direct object of ekhein ‘uphold, protect, guard’ here at I.05.473 is polis ‘city, citadel’, referring to Troy. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 146.]]
I.05.500
subject heading(s): xanthos/xanthē ‘golden’ (with reference to hair); epithet
The goddess Demeter is the only divinity in Homeric poetry who is described by the epithet xanthē ‘golden’ (with reference to hair). [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 210.]]
I.05.541
subject heading(s): ‘best of the Achaeans’; Achaeans=Danaans=Argives
Aeneas here kills two Achaeans=Danaans, who are described as ‘the best [aristoi] of the Danaans’. But the use of the plural aristoi in the sense of ‘best’ does not convey the same kind of zero-sum competition among the Achaeans=Danaans=Argives as does the use of the singular aristos in the sense of ‘the very best’. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 32.]]
I.05.571
subject heading(s): thoós ‘running, swift’; generic/particularized epithet; Ares
The use of this adjective thoós ‘running, swift’ as a generic epithet of a warrior, as here, is related to the use of this same adjective as a particularized epithet of Ares as god of war, as at I.05.430: Ares is as swift as a violent wind. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 328.]]
I.05.580
subject heading(s): therapōn ‘attendant, ritual substitute’; hēni-okhos ‘chariot driver’
The hero Mudōn is identified here as both a therapōn ‘attendant, ritual substitute’ and a hēni-okhos ‘chariot driver’. The collocation of these nouns therapōn ‘attendant, ritual substitute’ and hēni-okhos ‘chariot driver’ in describing Mudōn here implies that he functions as a ritual substitute for an unnamed hero who is primarily a chariot fighter. [[GN 2016.08.04 via the comment on I.04.227 via Nagy 2015.05.01 and 2015.05.08.]]
I.05.638
subject heading(s): biē ‘force, violence, strength’; kleos ‘glory’; bíē Hēraklēeíē ‘force of Hēraklēs’
See the comment on I.02.658. [[GN 2016.09.25.]]
I.05.639
subject heading(s): thūmoleōn ‘having the heart [thūmos] of a lion’; Hēraklēs; Achilles; Odysseus
In the Iliad, Hēraklēs as the only hero besides Achilles who qualifies as thūmoleōn ‘having the heart [thūmos] of a lion’; Achilles is thūmoleōn at I.07.228. In the Odyssey, Hēraklēs is the only hero besides Odysseus who qualifies as thūmoleōn ‘having the heart [thūmos] of a lion’, at O.11.267; Odysseus is thūmoleōn at O.04.724 and O.04.814. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 137.]]
I.05.646
subject heading(s): Hadēs; Gates of Hadēs; Gates of the Sun; Pylos; entrance to the underworld; pulartēs ‘gate-closer’
The idea of the ‘gates’ or pulai of Hadēs is a variant of the idea of a ‘gate’ or Pulos of the Sun, where the mythical idea of such a Pulos is parallel to the ritual reality of Pylos as a place where the myth is realized. By implication, the setting sun passes through the same gates as do the psūkhai ‘spirits’ of the dead who are entering the underworld. [[GN 2016.07.28 via GMP 225–226.]]
I.05.669/ anchor comment on: noeîn ‘take note (of), notice’
This verb noeîn ‘take note (of), notice’ is attracted to contexts where the subject of the verb is seen as taking the initiative. Here at I.05.669 is the first Iliadic application of this verb to the actions of Odysseus, who is specially linked with the meaning of noeîn, ‘take note (of), notice’. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 51.]
I.05.696–698
subject heading(s): psūkhē ‘spirit; life’s breath’; release of consciousness from the body; ana-pneîn / en-pneîn ‘take a breath, breathe in’
At the moment of his fainting or swooning here, the hero’s psūkhē ‘spirit’ in the sense of his ‘life’s breath’ is released from his body. But then he ‘comes to’, as it were, and now his life’s breath returns to him. The verb that expresses this idea of revival is ana-pneîn (ἀμπνύνθη)—variant en-pneîn (ἐμπνύνθη)—in the sense of ‘taking a breath’—‘breathing in’. So, the hero’s breath comes back into him, and that is what had left him when his psūkhē in the sense of ‘life’s breath’ had left him. But if we take this same word psūkhē in the sense of a disembodied ‘spirit’, then the spirit that has come back to the hero’s body has not only revived him: it has brought him back to life. Such a mystical sense of revival is most appropriate to the hero Sarpedon: after he is killed in battle, Sarpedon’s funeral leads to his mystical immortalization, as analyzed in the comments at I.16.456–457 and I.16.674–675. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 168, GMP 142.]]
I.05.710
subject heading(s): dēmos ‘community, district’
In this context, the localized meaning of dēmos in the sense of ‘district’ is still overt. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 149, PH 251.]]
I.05.722
subject heading(s): kukla ‘chariot wheels’; kuklos ‘cycle, chariot wheel’ as a metaphor for the epic Cycle; Homēros as ‘joiner, carpenter’
The neuter plural kukla corresponding to masculine singular kuklos means ‘chariot wheels’. The metaphorical use of kuklos ‘cycle, chariot wheel’ with reference to the epic Cycle as the sum total of Homeric poetry is relevant to the meaning of Homēros in the sense of a ‘joiner, carpenter’ who makes chariot wheels. See the comment on O.17.384-385. On the epic Cycle in general, see the Inventory of terms and names. [[GN 2016.07.28 via PasP 74–75, HPC 255.]]
I.05.733–747
subject heading(s): peplos ‘robe’; khitōn ‘tunic’; pattern-weaving; metonymy; Athena Polias (goddess of the citadel); Athena Parthenos (goddess virgin); Gigantomachy ‘battle of the gods and giants’
When the goddess slips out of her peplos ‘robe’ and into the khitōn ‘tunic’ that belongs to her father Zeus, there is an intervening moment of nudity. See MoM 3§1-3§7. This passage shows (a) the complementarity of the peplos ‘robe’ and the khitōn ‘tunic’ worn by Athena and (b) the complementarity of her roles as Athena Polias (goddess of the citadel) and Athena Parthenos (goddess virgin) in the myths and rituals of Athens. This complementarity is re-enacted in the Iliad. See MoM 3§§9–12. We see in these verses a linearity that follows a sequence controlled by time in the Homeric reference to the Peplos of Athena. This linearity substitutes for the circular sequence of the Athenians’ charter myth about Athena and the Gigantomachy, which means ‘battle of the gods and giants’. The Iliad here shows a metaphorical substitution of the Trojan War for the Gigantomachy. On metaphor, see the Inventory of terms and names; also MoM 0§01, 0§1 Extract 0-A. For the Athenians, Athena is the primary narrator of the Gigantomachy by way of pattern-weaving the narration in her own Peplos as a masterpiece of metonymy. On metonymy, see the Inventory of terms and names. [[GN 2016.07.28 via HC 4§§101, 186, 195, 233; MoM 3§§20-28.]]
I.05.734–735
subject heading(s): poikilo- ‘patterned, varied; pattern-woven’; peplos ‘robe’; Panathenaic Peplos; metonymy; metaphor; poikilma ‘pattern-weaving’; pan-poikilo- ‘completely pattern-woven’
The peplos ‘robe’ made by the goddess Athena is seen as a prototype of a perfect masterpiece of pattern-weaving. It is also a perfect masterpiece of metonymy coordinated with metaphor. On metaphor and metonymy, see the Inventory of terms and names. Further, the peplos ‘robe’ of the goddess is a prototype, in the world of myth, for the re-enacting of its pattern-weaving in the world of ritual in Athens. The peplos that is pattern-woven by Athena in Athenian myth is the prototype of the Panathenaic Peplos from the standpoint of Athenian ritual. The Panathenaic Peplos was pattern-woven for ritual presentation to the goddess Athena at the climax of the quadrennial Athenian festival known as the Great Panathenaia. [[GN 2016.07.28 via PasP 65; MoM 2§§56, 94–100; 3§17.]]
I.05.795
subject heading(s): ana-psūkhein ‘revive, reanimate’; psūkhē ‘spirit; life’s breath’; release of consciousness from the body; ana-pneîn/ en-pneîn ‘take a breath, breathe in’
In this context, the hero is simply ‘reviving’ from a wound; but there are intimations, already here, of a future reanimation or immortalization that awaits this hero after he is killed at a later point in the narrative, in Iliad 16. For more, see the earlier comment on I.05.696–698, in anticipation of the later comment on 16.456–457. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 168.]]
I.05.839
subject heading(s): ‘best of the Achaeans’
The description of Diomedes here as aristos ‘best’ implies that he is still in contention for the absolute title ‘best of the Achaeans’ in the Iliad. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 31.]]
I.05.843
subject heading(s): ‘best of the Aetolians’; ‘best of the Achaeans’
The description of the hero Periphas here as ‘best of the Aetolians’ can be seen as a subcategory of the all-important title ‘best of the Achaeans’. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 32.]]
I.05.891
subject heading(s): eris ‘strife’; language of praise/blame
The insulting of Ares by Zeus here is parallel to the insulting of Achilles by Agamemnon at I.01.177. For both Ares and Achilles, eris ‘strife’ is a defining feature. [[GN 2016.07.28 via BA 131.]]
I.05.899
subject heading(s): Paiēōn
In this context, Paiēōn (from Paiāwōn) is still distinct from rather than identical to Apollo. [[GN 2016.07.28 via HPC 290n61.]]
Bibliographical Abbreviations
BA = Best of the Achaeans, Nagy 1979/1999.
GMP = Greek Mythology and Poetics, Nagy 1990b.
H24H = The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours, Nagy 2013
HC = Homer the Classic, Nagy 2009|2008
HPC = Homer the Preclassic, Nagy 2010|2009
HQ = Homeric Questions, Nagy 1996b
HR = Homeric Responses, Nagy 2003
MoM = Masterpieces of Metonymy, Nagy 2016|2015
PasP = Poetry as Performance, Nagy 1996a
PH = Pindar’s Homer, Nagy 1990a.
Bibliography
See the dynamic Bibliography for AHCIP.
Inventory of terms and names
See the dynamic Inventory of terms and names for AHCIP.