The origins and ends of Troy

If Homer had told the tale of Troy in a linear way, the following passage might have been very near the opening of his poem. It's the descent of the kings of Troy from Dardanus down to Priam. But in fact it comes in Book 20.213 ff, quite near the climactic and decisive fight between Achilles and Hektor.

The passage evokes the blessed, proud and happy beginnings of the city sacred to the gods:

"Howbeit, if thou wilt, hear this also, that thou mayest know well my lineage, and many there be that know it: at the first Zeus, the cloud-gatherer, begat Dardanus, and he founded Dardania, for not yet was sacred Ilios builded in the plain to be a city of mortal men, but they still dwelt upon the slopes of many-fountained Ida. And Dardanus in turn begat a son, king Erichthonius, [220] who became richest of mortal men.

And of course the horses of Troy have pride of place:

Three thousand steeds had he that pastured in the marsh-land; mares were they. rejoicing in their tender foals. Of these as they grazed the North Wind became enamoured, and he likened himself to a dark-maned stallion and covered them; and they conceived, and bare twelve fillies. These, when they bounded over the earth, the giver of grain, would course over the topmost ears of ripened corn and break them not, and whenso they bounded over the broad back of the sea, would course over the topmost breakers of the hoary brine. And Erichthonius begat Tros to be king among the Trojans, and from Tros again three peerless sons were born, Ilus, and Assaracus, and godlike Ganymedes that was born the fairest of mortal men; wherefore the gods caught him up on high to be cupbearer to Zeus by reason of his beauty, that he might dwell with the immortals. And Ilus again begat a son, peerless Laomedon, and Laomedon begat Tithonus and Priam and Clytius, and Hicetaon, scion of Ares. 

Two remarkable aspects of this recounting of the lineage must be noted. The first is that the speaker of these lines is not Homer, but Aeneas, who now places himself within that genealogy:

And Assaracus begat Capys, and he Anchises; but Anchises begat me and Priam goodly Hector. This then is the lineage amid the blood wherefrom I avow me sprung.

At the very point at which the fate of the city hangs by a thread, Aeneas, whom Homer knew would survive, is recapitulating his origins and descent as well as those of all the children of Priam.

The other remarkable thing here is that Aeneas isn't speaking to a friend or god or ally. He's speaking to Achilles. The gods have arranged for these two warriors to meet in battle, and the recital of forebears will precede the clash of arms.

After some more words, the two fighters are at the striking point when Poseidon turns to the other gods, explains that Troy has earned Zeus's hate, and foretells the fate of Aeneas:

And forthwith he [Poseidon] spake among the immortal gods, saying: "Now look you, verily have I grief for great-hearted Aeneas, who anon shall go down to the house of Hades, slain by the son of Peleus, for that he listened to the bidding of Apollo that smiteth afar—fool that he was! nor will the god in any wise ward from him woeful destruction. But wherefore should he, a guiltless man, suffer woes vainly by reason of sorrows that are not his own?—whereas he ever giveth acceptable gifts to the gods that hold broad heaven. Nay, come, let us head him forth from out of death, lest the son of Cronos be anywise wroth, if so be Achilles slay him; for it is ordained unto him to escape, that the race of Dardanus perish not without seed and be seen no more—of Dardanus whom the son of Cronos loved above all the children born to him from mortal women. For at length hath the son of Cronos come to hate the race of Priam; and now verily shall the mighty Aeneas be king among the Trojans, and his sons' sons that shall be born in days to come." Iliad 20.292 ff

The entire family tree from Dardanus (actually, before him was Teucer) to Romulus and Remus is here. When the entire lineage is put together, the "linear" tale leads directly from Teucer to Rome. In rescuing Aeneas from the anger of Achilles, Homer's Poseidon is opening the way to Virgil's Aeneas and a new sacred city, the Imperium Romanum. 

Rome 100 AD

Features of Meleager and Atalanta

Among the curious features of Ovid's story of Meleager, Atalanta, and the Calydonian Boar Hunt:

The large assembly of mythological heroes from all around Greece -- a gathering comparable only to the group that joined Jason in his quest, and to the armies of Agamemnon in the Iliad.

The manner in which Ovid introduces the heroes is interesting. He names 36 men in rapid-fire succession, and many of them are paired as brothers, twins, or close friends (Theseus and Pirithous, e.g.). Then he comes to Atalanta. Only she receives a description:

Atalanta

And Atalanta, the warrior girl of Tegea, the glory of Arcadia’s woods, with a polished brooch clasping the neck of her garment, and her hair simply done, caught in a single knot. An ivory quiver, holding her arrows, that rattled as she moved, hung from her left shoulder, and her left hand held the bow. So she was dressed: as for her face, you might truly say, the virgin was there, in a boy, and a boy, in the girl.




This gesture of singling out one from a crowd will be repeated within the story itself. Here the one singled out is distinguishable in part for the ambiguity of her features -- she's almost a single set of twins, boy and girl in one, and her childhood -- saved and reared by bears and hunters! She seems a being on the border between the human and a thing of nature.

Wikipedia offers some background on Meleager and Atalanta. Ovid sets the scene in "rich Achaea" in the north of the Peloponnese peninsula.

Prior to the Metamorphoses, Meleager appears in Apollodorus, and in a tale told by Phoenix in the Iliad 9.529 ff -- there he's cited as a parallel to and gloss upon Achilles, sitting out the siege of his own city because of anger towards his mother. This is discussed here as well.

A common themed sarcophagus in Roman times was the Meleager Sarcophagus.

More about Meleager.

The sceptre of Agamemnon

The descendents of Tantalos via Pelops lead directly to Homeric epic and Greek tragedy.

Here's how Homer traces the line of Pelops through the sceptre of Agamemnon, (Iliad 2. 100 ff trans. Lattimore):

Powerful Agamemnon stood up holding the sceptre Hephaistos had wrought him carefully. Hephaistos gave it to Zeus the king, the son of Kronos, and Zeus in turn gave it to the courier Argeiphontes, and lord Hermes gave it to Pelops, driver of horses, and Pelops again gave it to Atreus, the shepherd of the people. Atreus dying left it to Thyetes of the rich flocks, and Thyestes left it in turn to Agamemnon to carry and to be lord of many islands and over all Argos.

According to Theoi, the sceptre was the ancient Greek equivalent of the crown, symbol of kingship. Atreus and Thyestes are here understood to be the sons of Pelops, as in later accounts.

According to Pausanias, the sceptre was the only work of Hephaistos considered authentic in the ancient world:

Poets have sung, and the tradition of men has followed them, that Hephaistos made many works of art, but none is authentic except only the scepter of Agamemnon. Description of Greece 9. 41. 1 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C 2nd A.D.)

Agamemnon holding his sceptre, 400 B.C.

A few notes for Niobe

felicissima matrum

dicta foret Niobe, si non sibi visa fuisset.

Niobe would have been spoken of as the most fortunate of mothers,

if she had not seemed so to herself.

I know we're not quite "done" with Athena vs. Arachne - the startling conclusion of their certamen remains to be read. But looking ahead:

- William S. Anderson is quite helpful in drawing some of the parallels between Niobe and Pentheus (of book 3) - both are warned by prophets (Pentheus by Tiresias, Niobe by Manto), both confront citizens of their state who are worshipping a deity other than their leaders, i.e., Pentheus as King of Thebes and Niobe now as wife of the king of Thebes, and both cry out: "Quis furor?"

What madness, to prefer the gods you are told about to the ones you see? Why is Latona worshipped at the altars, while as yet my godhead is without its incense? Tantalus is my father, who is the only man to eat the food of the gods. My mother is one of the seven sisters, the Pleiades. Great Atlas, who carries the axis of the heavens on his shoulders, is one of my grandfathers. Jupiter is the other, and I glory in having him as my father-in-law as well. The peoples of Phrygia fear me. Cadmus’s royal house is under my rule: and the walls, built to my husband’s lyre, and Thebes’s people, will be ruled by his power and mine. (Kline)

“quis furor, auditos” inquit “praeponere visis

caelestes? aut cur colitur Latona per aras, numen adhuc sine ture meum est? mihi Tantalus auctor, cui licuit soli superorum tangere mensas, Pleiadum soror est genetrix mea, maximus Atlas 175est avus, aetherium qui fert cervicibus axem; Iuppiter alter avus socero quoque glorior illo. Me gentes metuunt Phrygiae, me regia Cadmi sub domina est, fidibusque mei commissa mariti moenia cum populis a meque viroque reguntur.

- Anderson is also helpful in noting the meaningful resonances of Niobe's family tree: daughter of Tantalos, sister of Pelops (whom Tantalos chopped up and served to the gods, only to be miraculously re-constituted, minus a shoulder) and Broteas (another strange fate), mother of 14 healthy children, wife of Amphion, daughter-in-law of Antiope. (Left: Jupiter and Antiope by Franz Anton Maulbertsch.)

- If you have a chance, have a look at where Niobe appears in Homer, Iliad 24 - the moment within the scene between Achilles and Priam - what role does the tale of Niobe (around line 602 ff.) and the description of her eating, play there? Achilles says to Priam:

"Thy son, old sire, is given back according to thy wish, and lieth upon a bier; and at break of day thou shalt thyself behold him, as thou bearest him hence; but for this present let us bethink us of supper. For even the fair-haired Niobe bethought her of meat, albeit twelve children perished in her halls, six daughters and six lusty sons. The sons Apollo slew with shafts from his silver bow, being wroth against Niobe, and the daughters the archer Artemis, for that Niobe had matched her with fair-cheeked Leto, saying that the goddess had borne but twain, while herself was mother to many; wherefore they, for all they were but twain, destroyed them all. For nine days' space they lay in their blood, nor was there any to bury them, for the son of Cronos turned the folk to stones; howbeit on the tenth day the gods of heaven buried them; and Niobe bethought her of meat, for she was wearied with the shedding of tears. And now somewhere amid the rocks, on the lonely mountains, on Sipylus, where, men say, are the couching-places of goddesses, even of the nymphs that range swiftly in the dance about Achelous, there, albeit a stone, she broodeth over her woes sent by the gods. But come, let us twain likewise, noble old sire, bethink us of meat; and thereafter shalt thou make lament over thy dear son, when thou hast borne him into Ilios; mourned shall he be of thee many tears."

- As Niobe proudly notes, she's also the granddaughter, via her mother Dione, of Atlas.

Weeping Rock, Mt. Sipylus, Manisa, Turkey