2016.08.12 / updated 2018.09.08 | By Gregory Nagy
Up to now, Diomedes has been the hero who comes closest to Achilles in competing for the title ‘best of the Achaeans’. Here in Rhapsody 7, however, the focus shifts to Ajax, who responds to the challenge of Hector to fight in a duel the one hero among all the Achaeans who is truly the ‘best of the Achaeans’. As we know from the overall references to Ajax in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, this hero is considered to be the second-best of the Achaeans in both epics. So, it does not bode well for Hector that, in his duel with Ajax, he cannot succeed beyond fighting such a hero to a draw. If Hector can do no better than fight to a draw the second-best of the Achaeans, he is surely doomed when the time comes for him to face the very best of the Achaeans in Rhapsody 22.
Up to now, Diomedes has been the hero who comes closest to Achilles in competing for the title ‘best of the Achaeans’. Here in Rhapsody 7, however, the focus shifts to Ajax, who responds to the challenge of Hector to fight in a duel the one hero among all the Achaeans who is truly the ‘best of the Achaeans’. As we know from the overall references to Ajax in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, this hero is considered to be the second-best of the Achaeans in both epics. So, it does not bode well for Hector that, in his duel with Ajax, he cannot succeed beyond fighting such a hero to a draw. If Hector can do no better than fight to a draw the second-best of the Achaeans, he is surely doomed when the time comes for him to face the very best of the Achaeans in Rhapsody 22. [[GN 2016.08.12.]]
I.07.015–017
subject heading(s): elliptic plural/dual; hippoi/hippō as meaning not ‘horses’ but ‘chariot’
The hero Dexiades is described at I.07.015 by way of the participle epi-almenos meaning ‘one who leaps on’, and the preverb epi- ‘on’ of the participle takes as its object the noun hippoi ‘horses’ in the genitive case. But the meaning of this combination is not ‘one who leaps on horses’ but rather ‘one who leaps on the chariot drawn by horses’. That, is, hippoi in such a context is an elliptic plural referring not only to the two horses that conventionally draw a chariot in Homeric diction but to the chariot drawn by the two horses. In the action being described here, the same hero Dexiades is mortally wounded at I.07.13 by a spear-throw that hits him and knocks him out of the chariot, and here the preposition ex ‘out of’ in combination with the noun hippoi ‘horses’ as its grammatical object in the genitive case means that the hero has been knocked off the platform of the chariot, falling out of the chariot and landing on the ground with a mighty thud. In short, then, epi + the genitive of hippoi at I.07.11 means ‘on the chariot’, with reference to standing on the platform of a chariot, while ex + the genitive of hippoi at I.07.13 means ‘out of the chariot’, with reference to getting knocked out of the chariot while standing on the platform. [[GN 2016.08.11.]]
I.07.015–017/ anchor comment on: special ways of saying ‘chariot’
In general, the noun hippoi/hippō as elliptic plural/dual means not ‘horses’ but ‘chariot’ when this noun functions as a grammatical object in the genitive (G) or dative (D) or accusative (A) case in combination with prepositions or preverbs referring to such situations as standing on the platform of a chariot (epi+G, epi+D) or leaping down from the platform (apo+G, kata+G) or leaping up onto the platform (epi+G, eis+A) or getting knocked off and falling down from the platform (ek+G, kata+G). What follows is a list showing these occurrences of the word hippoi/hippō with the elliptic meaning of ‘chariot’ but not showing other occurrences where the ellipsis is canceled by way of correlating this word with other words like harma and diphros, both of which have the non-elliptic meaning of ‘chariot’. Here, then, are occurrences showing only hippoi/hippō with the elliptic meaning of ‘chariot’ and without an explicit mention of harma ‘chariot’ or diphros ‘chariot’: I.03.265 (ek+G), I.04.500 (para+G), I.05.013 (apo+G/D), I.05.019 (apo+G), I.05.046 (epi+G), I.05.111 (kata+G), I.05.163 (ek+G), I.05.227 (apo+G), I.05.249 (epi+G), I.05.255 (epi+G), I.05.321 (epi+A), I.05.328 (epi+G), I.05.835 (apo+G), I.06.232 (kata+G), I.07.013 (epi+G), I.07.015 (ek+G), I.07.240 (epi+G), I.08.127 (epi+G), I.08.492 (ek+apo+G), I.10.330 (epi+D), I.10.513 (epi+G), I.10.529 (epi+G), I.11.094 (ek+G), I.11.109 (ek+G), I.11.143 (apo+G), I.11.179 (ek+G), I.11.192 (eis+A), I.11.207 (eis+A), I.11.320 (apo+G), I.11.423 (kata+G), I.12.082 (epi+G), I.14.435 (ek+G), I.15.386 (apo+G), I.15.447 (kata+A), I.16.343 (epi+G), I.16.733 (apo+G), I.16.749 (ek+G), I.16.755 (apo+G), I.17.460 (epi+D), I.17.40 (apo+G), I.17.501 (epi+A), I.18.531 (epi+G), I.19.396 (epi+G/D), I.20.401 (kata+G), I.20.461 (ek+G), I.24.051 (ek+G), I.24.356 (epi+G), I.24.459 (ek+G), I.24.469 (ek+G). These elliptic usages compensate, in part, for the fact that the Mycenaean word for ‘chariot’, hikkʷiā (spelled i-qi-ja in the Linear B tablets), is missing in Homeric diction, where it would be pronounced *hippiā. The metrical shape of such a form, long-short-long, would be incompatible with the rhythmical contour of the dactylic hexameter, which generally does not tolerate forms that have such a shape. But the survival of elliptic plural/dual hippoi/hippō is not necessarily a substitution for the missing *hippiā, nor is it justified to assume that such elliptic forms represent some kind of deformity in Homeric diction. [[GN 2016.08.11.]
I.07.017–061
subject heading(s): antagonism between immortal and mortal; mētis ‘mind, intelligence’
The divinities Athena and Apollo are not only supporting the Achaeans and the Trojans respectively. They are also opposing the Trojans and the Achaeans respectively. Even more than that, these divinities are also personally antagonistic toward individual heroes: Athena opposes Hector while Apollo opposes Achilles. In this passage, the antagonism between Athena and Hector is particularly evident. When the seer Helenos at I.07.047 addresses his brother Hector by describing him as comparable to the god Zeus himself with respect to Hector’s qualities of mētis ‘mind, intelligence’, the wording of this description is a direct affront to the divinity of Athena, who is the goddess of mētis ‘mind, intelligence’ personified. [[GN 2016.08.11 via the comment at I.06.286–311 via BA 145, 149; GMP 204.]]
I.07.021
subject heading(s): nīkē ‘victory’
The role of Athena in awarding nīkē ‘victory’ to the Achaeans is only secondary, while the corresponding role of Zeus is primary. [[GN 2016.08.11 via HC 4§109.]]
I.07.063–064
subject heading(s): phrix ‘shuddering’; Phrixos; “speaking name” (nomen loquens); simile of a storm at sea; Zephyros the West Wind; Boreas the North Wind; Hellespont; pontos ‘crossing [of the sea]’
The noun phríx ‘shuddering’, which conveys the subjectivized feeling of an observer who shudders when he looks at the sea being stirred up by the West Wind named Zephyros while feeling the sudden blast of the wind, is related not only formally but even thematically to the “speaking name” (nomen loquens) of Phríxos, a hero who escaped the dangers of the pontos ‘[sea-] crossing’ that is the Hellespont, as we read in Pindar Pythian 4.160–161. The wording of Pindar goes on to say there that Phríxos was ‘saved’, saōthē, because he was carried to safety by the ram with the golden fleece. Before the occurrence of the name Zephyros here at I.07.063, the same name for the West Wind has occurred in previous similes: I.02.147, I.04.276, 04.423. In a forthcoming simile showing the sea stirred up by the North Wind named Boreas together with the West Wind named Zephyros, I.09.004–008, the subjective feeling of fear that overcomes the observer is described as kruoeis ‘chilling’, I.09.002. So, the observer shudders at the chilling power of the storm at sea. The stormy combination of Boreas and Zephyros is described as stirring up the pontos ‘sea[-crossing]’ also at I.23.230, and this sea, described there as ‘Thracian’, is to be equated with the Hellespont. [[GN 2016.08.11 via BA 340.]]
I.07.067–091
Q&T I.07.087–091 via BA 28
subject heading(s): ‘best of the Achaeans’; tomb of Achilles; sēma as ‘tomb’; Hellespont
Whoever is ‘best of the Achaeans’ is challenged by Hector to fight him in a one-on-one duel. Hector boasts that he will kill this fighter, still to be named, who will then be entombed inside a sēma ‘tomb’ overlooking the Hellespont, I.07.086, and thus Hector will have a kleos ‘glory’ that is eternal, I.07.091. The irony here is that the fighter still to be named will be the winner of a future duel with Hector. That fighter will be Achilles, and the eternal kleos ‘glory’ will be primarily his. On the other hand, Hector’s wording is on the mark when he says at I.07.086 that the hero who is ‘best of the Achaeans’ will be entombed inside a sēma ‘tomb’ overlooking the Hellespont. And that hero will be Achilles. [[GN 2016.08.11 via BA 28, 341.]]
I.07.084–086
subject heading(s): tomb of Achilles; tarkhuein ‘ritually prepare’
As noted in the previous comment, the tomb of the hero whom Hector imagines he will kill is the tomb of Achilles, who in fact will kill Hector before he dies his own death. For details about the funeral and entombment of Achilles see the comment on I.16.456–457, with special reference to the word tarkhuein ‘ritually prepare’, as attested here at I.07.085. [[GN 2016.11.09.]]
I.07.089–090
The memorial language imagined here in the wording of Hector corresponds to the formulaic system of poetry written down on stone in the form of epigrams. So, Homeric diction shows here an awarenes of the genre of epigrammatic poetry, which has its own self-standing formulaic system. (On formula and formulaic system and Homeric diction, see the Inventory of terms and names.) . But this genre needed the technology of writing only for the sake of recording a given epigrammatic poem, not for the sake of actually composing it. Therefore, the awareness of epigrammatic language in Homeric diction does not require us to think that the technology of writing was needed for either the composition or the performance of Homeric poetry. [[GN 2016.08.11 via PH 19.]]
I.07.090
subject heading(s): aristeuein ‘strive to be the best, have an epic-high-point [aristeiā]’
In Hector’s imagined scenario of an outcome for his duel with a hero who is the ‘best of the Achaeans’, that hero, whom he will kill, is pictured as ‘striving to be the best’, as expressed by the verb aristeuein, I.07.090. The corresponding noun, not attested in Homeric diction, is aristeiā ‘epic high point’, on which see the comment on I.05.103. [[GN 2016.09.25.]]
I.07.092–169
subject heading(s): ‘best of the Achaeans’; aristeuein ‘strive to be the best’; goading by blaming
The Achaeans, faced with Hector’s challenge, hesitate, I.07.092–093. Their hesitation seems to indicate that not one of them is really the ‘best of the Achaeans’. Finally, Menelaos is first to volunteer for a one-on-one duel with Hector, I.07.094–103. An absence of volunteers, Menelaos knows, would be aklees ‘a thing without glory [kleos]’, I.07.100. It seems of course fitting for him to be the first, since his grievance against the Trojans over the abduction of Helen is primary, but the problem is that all the Achaean chieftains are aware of his inferiority to Hector, I.07.106, and so, fearing for his life, they restrain him from arming himself for a duel. Even the Master Narrator says outright that Hector was superior to Menelaos, I.07.104–105. Then Nestor goads the chieftains to take up the challenge of Hector, I.07.123–161, and his goading now prompts nine of these chieftains to volunteer, I.07.161–169: they are Agamemnon, Diomedes, the two Ajaxes, Idomeneus and Meriones, Eurypylos, Thoas, and Odysseus. It is significant that Nestor’s words refer to these nine chieftains as aristēes Panakhaiōn, I.07.159. For a translation of this expression, the singular form aristeus of plural aristēes first needs to be correlated with the verb aristeuein, which can be translated as ‘strive to be the best, to be aristos’, as at Ι.06.208 and I.11.784. In the second of these two passages, I find it most significant that the referent is Achilles himself. An aristeus, then, is a man who strives to be the best, aristos. Correspondingly, the expression aristēes Panakhaiōn at I.07.159 must refer to ‘men who strive to be the best of all the Achaeans’. [[GN 2016.08.11 via BA 29–30.]]
I.07.095
subject heading(s): neikos ‘quarrel’; oneidizein ‘say words of insult’
While volunteering to accept the challenge of Hector, Menelaos blames the other Achaean chieftains for hesitating. He engages them in ‘quarrel’, neikos, and ‘he says words of insult’, oneidizein. [[GN 2016.08.11.]]
I.07.122
subject heading(s): therapōn ‘attendant, ritual substitute’
In the immediate context, only the surface meaning of therapontes as ‘attendants’ is evident. [[GN 2016.08.04.]]
I.07.123–161
subject heading(s): goading by blaming
Not only Menelaos but Nestor too blames the other Achaean chieftains for hesitating. He goads them into action not only by blaming them but also by telling a story about one of his past successes as a warrior. [[GN 2016.08.18.]]
I.07.132–157
subject heading(s): thoós ‘running, swift’; Ares
Nestor’s story of his fight with Ereuthalion amounts to a lesson about strategy in warfare. A pivotal figure in the story is the predecessor of Ereuthalion: he is Arēi-thoos, at I.07.137 and again at I.07.138, whose name is a combination of themes involving the god Ares and a primary characteristic of Ares: this god runs with the speed of wind, as conveyed by the adjective thoós ‘running, swift’, derived from the verb theein ‘run’. [[GN 2016.08.11 via BA 328–330.]]
I.07.147
subject heading(s): mōlos Arēos ‘struggle of Ares’;
See the comment at I.02.401. [[GN 2017.07.20.]]
I.07.149
subject heading(s): therapōn ‘attendant, ritual substitute’
In the immediate context, only the surface meaning of therapōn as ‘attendant’ is evident. [[GN 2016.08.04.]]
I.07.161
subject heading(s): neikeîn ‘quarrel with’; language of praise/blame; goading by blaming
By goading the Achaeans, Nestor is engaged in the act of neikeîn: so he ‘quarrels with’ the Achaeans. This way, he engages in the language of blame as opposed to praise. And, even before Nestor starts blaming the Achaeans, Menelaos has already engaged in his own act of neikos ‘quarrel’, I.07.095. [[GN 2016.08.11 via comments at I.02.220–221, I.02.225–242, I.03.038, I.03.059, I.03.100.]]
I.07.177–180
subject heading(s): ‘best of the Achaeans’
The field of nine Achaeans competing for the title of ‘best of the Achaeans’ in response to Hector’s challenge and to Nestor’s reproach is now narrowed down to three: Ajax, Diomedes, and Agamemnon. [[GN 2016.08.11 via BA 30.]]
I.07.197–198
subject heading(s): biē ‘force, violence, strength’; mētis ‘mind, intelligence’
Ajax boasts that he is superior to other Achaeans both by way of biē ‘force, violence, strength’, I.07.197, and by way of idreiē ‘intelligence’, I.07.198. In Homeric diction, a synonym for the second of these two words would be mētis ‘mind, intelligence’. [[GN 2016.08.11 via BA 31.]]
I.07.203
subject heading(s): nīkē ‘victory’
The role of Zeus in awarding nīkē ‘victory’ to the Achaeans is primary, while the corresponding role of Athena is only secondary. [[GN 2016.08.11 via HC 4§109.]]
I.07.228
subject heading(s): thūmoleōn ‘having the heart [thūmos] of a lion’; Hēraklēs; Achilles; Odysseus
I.07.288–289
subject heading(s): biē ‘force, violence, strength’; mētis ‘mind, intelligence’
Even Hector acknowledges the superior status of Ajax among the Achaeans: Ajax excels in biē ‘force, violence, strength’, I.07.288, and in pinutē ‘intelligence’, I.07.289. In Homeric diction, a synonym for the second of these two words would be mētis ‘mind, intelligence’. [[GN 2016.08.11 via BA 31.]]
I.07.298
subject heading(s): eukhesthai ‘declare; pray, boast’; hero cult; cult hero
Hector seems to be saying that the Trojan women ‘pray’ to him, as expressed by the verb eukhesthai. This turn of phrase may point to the status of Hector as cult hero beyond his epic existence. [[GN 2016.08.11 via BA 149.]]
I.07.319–322
Q&T via BA 133
subject heading(s): dais ‘feast, division of portions (of meat), sacrifice’; isos/isē ‘equitable’
The theme of awarding the choice cut of meat to the foremost warrior in the context of a dais ‘feast, division’ continues to accentuate what is missing in this picture, which is the fact that Achilles lost his equitable share at the beginning of the Iliad. [[GN 2016.08.11 via BA 133.]]
I.07.324
subject heading(s): biē ‘force, violence, strength’; mētis ‘mind, intelligence’
The choice of the word mētis ‘mind, intelligence’ in the sense of ‘plan’ here is relevant to the undercurrent of an opposition between this word and the word biē ‘force, violence, strength’. The opposition of mētis and biē corresponds to a potential antagonism between Odysseus and Achilles. [[GN 2016.08.11 via BA 48.]]
I.07.336–343
subject heading(s): Achaean Wall
Nestor, in speaking to the assembled Achaeans, prescribes that they build a Wall for the purpose of protecting both them and their ships from the attacks of the Trojans. This purpose is spelled out at I.07.338. What Nestor prescribes for the Achaeans to accomplish here at I.07.336–343 is then actually accomplished by them, as described at I.07.434–442, where the purpose of protecting both the Achaeans and their ships is restated, I.07.437. The details of the prescription and of the description supplement each other. For example, an important detail that is absent in the prescription is supplemented in the description: the word teikhos ‘wall’, referring to the overall structure that the Achaeans are building, is absent in the prescription, I.07.337, but this word is present in the description, I.07.436. Both in the prescription and in the description, at I.07.336–338 and at I.07.435–437 respectively, the Wall is linked to the collective tumbos ‘tomb’ that the Achaeans are to build for their war dead, I.07.336 and I.07.435: this tomb is located right next to the pyre where the bodies of the dead are cremated, I.07.337 and I.07.436. [[GN 2016.09.29.]]
I.07.382
subject heading(s): therapōn ‘attendant, ritual substitute’; therapontes of Ares
In contexts where the plural therapontes in combination with Arēos ‘of Ares’ is applied to the Achaeans=Danaans=Argives (at I.07.382 here, to the Danaans) as a grouping of warriors, the deeper meaning is more evident than in other contexts. [[GN 2016.08.04 via the comment on I.02.110 via BA 293–295; GMP 48; H24H 6§32.]]
I.07.421–423
subject heading(s): Ōkeanos
What follows is epitomized from H24H 10§30. The cosmic river Okeanos is situated at the outermost limits of the world, which is encircled by its stream. The circular stream of the Okeanos flows eternally around the world and eternally recycles the infinite supply of fresh water that feeds upon itself: see I.14.246–246a, I.18.399, I.20.065. This mystical river Okeanos, surrounding not only the earth but even the seas surrounding the earth, defines the limits of the known world. Every evening, as the sun sets at sunset, it literally plunges into the fresh waters of this eternally self-recycling cosmic stream, I.08.485, and it is from these same fresh waters that the sun rises again every morning at sunrise, as here at I.08.421–423 as also at O.19.433–434. This cosmic river Ōkeanos, encircling the known world, is a boundary delimiting light from darkness, wakefulness from sleep, life from death. The movement of the sun both into and out from the waters of the Ōkeanos is envisioned as a cosmic model for an alternation between sleep and awakening, between death and rebirth. [[GN 2017.07.23 via BA 196; GMP 99, 237–238, 246.]]
I.07.433–465
subject heading(s): Achaean Wall; Trojan Wall
Within these verses I.07.433-465 is a description of the building of the Achaean Wall at I.07.434–442 that matches the prescription given by Nestor at I.07.336–343. While the Wall is being built, I.07.434–442, the gods are watching, I.07.443–444, and Poseidon makes a speech to Zeus, I.445–453, indicating that this Achaean project is against his will and, presumably, against the will of Apollo. Poseidon is concerned that the kleos or epic ‘glory’ of the Achaean Wall, I.07.451, will detract from the corresponding glory of the Trojan Wall that had been built by him together with Apollo for Laomedon, who had been king of Troy before Priam, I.07.452–453. Zeus responds with reassurances, I.07.454–464, reaffirming the kleos or epic ‘glory’ that belongs to Poseidon, I.07.458 (σὸν …κλέος). In other words, Poseidon and Apollo will never lose the epic glory that is theirs because they built the Wall of Troy. And Zeus then utters a prophecy about the teikhos ‘wall’ of the Achaeans, I.07.461: it will be destroyed once the Achaeans leave the Trojan landscape, I.07.459–464. So the kleos or epic ‘glory’ of the Achaean Wall, as signaled in the wording of Poseidon at I.07.451, will not destroy the kleos or epic ‘glory’ that is owed to Poseidon and to Apollo for their building of the Trojan Wall. In terms of this formulation made by Zeus, it is not clear whether the Trojan Wall will later be utterly destroyed or simply damaged when the Achaeans finally conquer Troy. Such a distinction is relevant to a claim made in historical times by the inhabitants of New Ilion, which was in fact the Old Ilion, otherwise known simply as Troy: the people of Ilion maintained that their Wall had not been completely destroyed by the Achaeans in the Trojan War and that their city, despite all the destruction, had never been left completely abandoned. This claim is documented but rejected by Strabo 13.1.40 C599. See Point 7 of the anchor comment at I.09.328–333 about efforts of Aeolians to possess ancient Troy and its environs in the historical period. [[GN 2016.10.01 via HPC 179–180, 207.]]
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.