Homeric Hymn to Apollo, conclusion

hAp conclusion. Some closing thoughts on the hymn:

1) The hymn obviously tells several different stories: birth on Delos, the Delian festival, founding Delphi, bringing the Cretans. But nevertheless it's pretty unified in themes and language; an anthology hymn.

2) Over the course of the hymn, we see pretty much the whole Greek world, from Miletus to Ithaca, Crete to Samothrace; but we don't go beyond that world. That is, this is a pretty earthy hymn compared to Demeter. No Olympus (or just the glimpse at the beginning), no Underworld, just the inhabited Greek world.

But in focusing on the whole of the Greek world, it's definitely more panhellenic than Demeter, which in its epichoric references seems intended for an Attic audience.

3) Throughout the language feels not quite homeric: lots of unhomeric hapaxes, and also unhomeric words found in later Greek (πρυτανευσέμεν, πριν + indicative); but simultaneously it feels like our author is potentially purposefully engaging with Homer, especially in the connections between the Cretans' journey and the Odyssey. A slightly later author than Homer, already engaging with the Homeric tradition.

4) I suppose the hymn succeeds on its own terms -- it defines Apollo as being all about the kithara, bows, and oracles (131-2), and the hymn more or less bears out those three attributes. But I don't emerge liking Apollo very much. He is callous and cruel to Telphousa and the Cretans, and the virtues he does display (killing the snake) don't do that much for me. Possibly liking Apollo is not really the goal.

5) I do kinda like that Apollo loves the woods -- he is all about that wooded grove (ἄλσεα δενδρήεντα, 6x in this hymn, 1x in the Od. also of Apollo).

6) Feels like a missed opportunity that we don't get a 'contemporary' section for Delphi, like we do with Delos, where we get a description of the contemporary festival. The focus on Delphi's foundation -- and very early foundation -- means we miss out on a lot of what makes Delphi important (oracles, treasuries, etc). The glimpse of Delphi's future in the last five lines is just too short.

Overall -- hDem is more fun. hAp feels like a little dutiful.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why does Odysseus reject Calypso’s offer to stay with her forever? (Catherine Project 8)

 Catherine Project, Spring 2024, Homer -- Response 8,  Od. 5-8 When Calypso tells Odysseus he may go home now if he wishes, she repeats her offer (apparently offered many times before) that Odysseus could instead stay with her, be lord of the household, and be immortal (Od. 5.208-210; cf. 5.135-6, 7.255-7, 23.333-8); Calypso thinks that Odysseus wants to see his wife, even though Calypso is more beautiful. Odysseus readily admits that Calypso, as an immortal goddess, is more beautiful, but even so he wants to see his home and his day of homecoming.  Putting aside what Calypso gets out of the deal (epic’s male perspective assumes Calypso would of course want Odysseus), I personally have always found it hard to understand Odysseus’ response and choice here. Immortality with a beautiful, loving goddess on an island paradise (5.63-76) would seem pretty close to the ideal human condition, even by the Od.’s standards. What Calypso offers sounds a lot like what is promised t...
Read more

Achilles Tatius

Outline of the whole work at https://docs.google.com/document/d/11rmnyWDzCEN2surASr83wxULyQeh06K6y8eQQQ84Xrc/edit?usp=sharing Some closing thoughts on Achilles Tatius: Quite a mix of genres: paradoxography, geography, ecphrasis, legal speech/rhetoric, light philosophy. At times the narrative is clearly being constructed in order to provide an excuse for some setpiece, e.g. the description of the phoenix that ends book 3. Book placement: as that phoenix anecdote exemplifies, books often end in a high point, e.g. book 5 ends in the climactic lovemaking between Kleitophon and Melite. Women are underdeveloped in the text: we rarely see things from their perspective, and even when we do (e.g. Leucippe’s narration at the end of the work or Melite’s pleas in book 5), their motivations are thin. Leucippe is particularly bad – she never really arises above the level of passive, beautiful love interest. The work plays with the cliches of love (perhaps a motivating force for the genre as a whole)...
Read more

Solon 27

Solon 27 A child, still young, grows his teeth and throws them out in his first seven years (0-7). When god fulfills the next seven (8-14), he shows the signs of hebe. In the third (15-21), his beard and limbs grows, changing the skin's flower. In the fourth (22-28), everyone is by far the best in strength, when men reach the peaks of arete. In the fifth (29-35), it's time for a man to think about marriage and to seek the generation of children. In the sixth (36-42), a man's mind sharpens about everything, and he no longer wants to do dumb things. In the seventh (43-49) and eighth (50-56), he is by far the best in mind and tongue. Of both there are fourteen years. In the ninth (57-63), he still is able, but his tongue and wisdom are softer toward great arete. If he should achieve the tenth (64-70) and reach his full measure, not untimely would he obtain death's share. 
Read more