Every telling of a myth is different from other tellings of that story (Catherine Project 2)

 Catherine Project, Spring 2024, Homer -- Response 2, Il. 5-8

Every telling of a myth is different from other tellings of that story, and the Iliad is no exception. Many myths are different in the Iliad than in other Greek sources, in large and small ways. One example in our reading this week is Aphrodite’s parentage: whereas in another early Greek text Aphrodite is born from Cronus’ testicles floating in sea form (Hesiod Theogony 188f), in our reading Aphrodite is the child of Zeus (5.428) and a goddess Dione (5.370).

Sometimes it’s possible to see trends in these deviations which potentially explain why the Iliad might present myths differently than other texts. For example, the Iliad sometimes omits or downplays monsters, magic and the supernatural (in contrast to the Odyssey). In our reading this week, for example, it leaves out Bellerophon’s famous winged horse Pegasus from its telling of the story of Bellerophon (6.200, contrast the Theogony; though do note the monster Chimaera just a few lines above). Perhaps the story of Aphrodite’s birth in the foam is too weird for the Iliad.

One effect of downplaying monsters and magic is to sharpen the divide between mortals and gods; in that story of Bellerophon, for example, the Iliad does not describe how Bellerophon rose on his winged horse to challenge the gods on Olympus, instead simply saying “when he became hated to all the gods.” Generally (though not always) in the Iliad, unlike in other myth, the separation between mortals and gods is presented as unbridgeable: mythic characters who elsewhere become divine or immortal are simply dead in the Iliad, including Castor and Pollux (3.243-4) and Heracles (implied in our reading at 5.390f, explicit later at 18.117-9). Generally in the Iliad, mortals – even exceptional mortals, the children of gods – have no hope of apotheosis or a happy afterlife. Their life on earth and their reputation and possessions they leave to posterity is hence all the more important.

APPENDIX

A few other changes in our reading in emphasis or deviation from other myths, in bullet points:

• Gods might be able to die? (Il. 5.388, 885-7).
• coyness of references to Ganymede (5.266). “[the lineage], which Zeus gave to Tros as a penalty (ποινή) for Ganymede.” cf. Il. 17.232. Iliad never shows any homosexual relationships and valorizes heterosexual relationships (Hector and Andromache). Homosocial relationships will likely be a topic of a future response.
• Sisyphus is presented positively, as ‘cleverest’ (kerdistos) of men; contrast Od. 11.593f. Iliad loves cleverness (positive depictions of Odysseus in books 1-4).
• Greeks had a big feast on Lemnos while en route to Troy (8.230). Not a crazy idea (Philoctetes was left on Lemnos while en route to Troy, Il. 2.722, Cypria argument paragraph 8). Maybe hosted by Jason’s son Euneos, who still sells wine to the Greeks while fighting at Troy (7.467-75). 

And of course a bunch of myth in our reading is exactly what you’d expect:

• Athena was a friend to Tydeus, Diomedes’ father (5.800f, lots in book 5).
• Aeneas is the son of Aphrodite and Anchises (5.247-8); cf. the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite
• Jason (the leader of the Argonauts) had a child (Euneos) with Hypsipyle while the Argonauts stayed on Lemnos (7.467-75); cf. Apollonius of Rhodes’ Argonautica.
• the Titans are unhappily imprisoned in Tartarus (8.479-81); cf Theogony
• Heracles had tasks from Eurystheus; he received help from Athena for one of these, where he retrieved a dog from the Underworld (Il. 8.362f)
• Heracles previously sacked Troy under the reign of Laomedon (Il. 5.637). Linked to that first sack is the former wall of Poseidon and Apollo at Troy (Il. 7.452-3)