The IliadANCIENT MYTH ALIVE TODAY
AENEAS FLEEING TROY
HOMER
HE IS ONE OF THE GREATEST POETS IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION.ENIGMATICALLY,LITTLE CAN BE SAID ABOUT HIM.HE PROBABLY LIVED AND WROTE
IN THE EIGHTH OR NINTH CENTURIES B.C.E.NO ONE IS CERTAIN OF THIS DATE.HE DID WRITE IN THE DIALECT OF THE ASIAN GREEKS.
HOMERIC TRADITION
HOMER HAS BEEN VISUALIZED AS BLIND.THERE IS NO EVIDENCE FOR SUCH AN ASSERTION.THIS IDEA IS BASED UPON A BLIND
MINISTREL IN THE ODYSSEY WHO SINGS OF THE FALL OF TROY.WE REALLY DON’T KNOW.SPECULATION HAS SUGGESTED THAT HOMER NEVER EXISTED.
CONTEMPORARY SCHOLARSHIP
THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY, IS BELIEVED BY MOST MODERN SCHOLARS TO BECOMPOSED IN ACONSISTENCY OF STYLE AND OUTLOOK
THAT INDICATES THAT THEY ARE THE WORKS
OF ONE AUTHOR.
DESPITE THE LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE POET
THE WORKS REMAIN CLASSICALLY ENDEARING.
MYTH AND IDEA IN THE ILIAD
THETIS IMPLORING ZEUS TO HELP ACHILLEUS
MYTHICAL STRUCTURE
“MYTHOS” FROM THE GREEKMEANING ANUNDERLYINGARCHETYPAL“TRUTH” TOLDIN STORY FORM.HUMANITY IS A MYTH MAKER.
WHILE MYTHS ARE NOT SCIENTIFICALLY “TRUE,”
STILL THEY REVEAL A POETIC OR PHILOSOPHICAL
DIMENSION OF TRUTH TO HUMANITY THAT MAY ULTIMATELY BE MORE
SIGNIFICANT FOR HUMAN BEINGS
OTHER THAN SCIENTIFIC TRUTH,
A POWERFUL DIMENSIONAL FIELD IN ITSELF.
CLASSICAL BEAUTY
THAT BEGAN
THE TROJAN
WAR
THREE GODDESSES
THREE OPINIONS
THREE OPTIONS
MORE THAN ONE INDIVIDUAL INVOLVED IN THE CLIMAX
ONE CONTEST SOLUTION
FOR EXAMPLETODAY, AS IN HOMER’S AGE, MANY EXPERIENCES REMAIN UNEXPLAINED.THE “TRUE” ORIGINS OF THE TROJAN WAR ARE UNKNOWN AND A MYSTERY.A MYTHICAL BEAUTY CONTEST WAS CREATEDBETWEEN THE THREE GREAT GODDESSESTHAT PARIS WOULD JUDGE.
HERA
ATHENA
APHRODITE
HERA, SISTER AND WIFE OF
ZEUS
MOST FANATICAL OF ALL THEOLYMPIANS: WILLING TO GO TOANY LENGTHS, INCLUDING THE
DECEPTIONOF HER HUSBAND FOR THE DEFEAT
OF TROY.
FIGHTS ONTHE
GREEK SIDE
ATHENAGODDESS OF
WISDOM
DAUGHTER OF ZEUS
SHE FIGHTS ON THE
GREEK SIDE
APHRODITE GODDESS OF LOVE
WITH HER CONSORT ARES, GOD OF WAR
SHE IS CONSTANTIN HER AFFECTIONS
FOR ANY SIDE
THE THREE GODDESSES OFFERED PARIS THREE DIFFERENT REWARDS
HERA OFFERS PARIS RULE OF ASIA
ATHENA OFFERS FAME IN WAR
POWER AND GLORY THE TWO
MOST TANTALIZING IDEALS OF THE PERIOD
APHRODITE OFFERS THE LOVE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN THE WORLD
HELEN, WIFE OF MENELAUS, KING OF SPARTA
PARIS ACCEPTS BEAUTY AND LOVE
IN AN AGE DOMINATED BY A CODE OF HONOR
THIS DECISION LEADS TO WAR
A UNIVERSAL COSMOLOGY IN ONE WHOLE
HOMER’S MYTHOLOGICAL
CONSTRUCTDICHTOMIESTO RETURN TO A MORE THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING
OF THE ANCIENT WORLD THAT HOMER PORTRAYS
WE MUST FIRST UNDERSTAND THAT THEN
LIKE TODAY
EVERYTHING
IN THE UNIVERSE EXISTED IN A
CONDITION
OF
OPPOSITES:
DICHTOMIES
GOOD-EVIL
LOVE-HATE
CHAOS-ORDER
HOT-COLD
WET-DRY
BLACK-WHITE
STRONG-POWERFULAND SO ONTO AS MANYOPPOSITESAS THE HUMAN MINDCAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE
EARTH FROM APOLLO
WHEN THESE OPPOSITES ARE IN BALANCE
THEN THE WORLD IS IN BALANCE.
UNBALANCED, CATASTROPHIC RESULTSHAPPEN
CONSEQUENCES
THE ABDUCTION OF HELEN BY PARIS (OR SEDUCTION, TAKE YOUR PICK) LEADS TO AN
UNBALANCE IN THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE TIME PERIOD,
AND IN A WORLD DOMINATED BY THE HONOR CODE, LEADS TO WAR.
THIS IS AN INEVITABLE CONSEQUENCE:
THE NATURE OF MAN LEADS TO WAR.
THE ANCIENT GREEKS EXPRESSED THIS ARCHETYPAL
CONCEPT
IN THE IDEA OF ERIS—THE GODDESS OF DISCORD.
HOWEVER, THERE IS BOTH A
GOOD AND A BAD ERIS,
RATHER LIKE THE CONCEPT OF
YIN AND YANG, WHEREIN ERIS
CONTAINS THE ALL OF CREATION, BOTH GOOD
AND EVIL.
RAMIFICATIONS
THIS IS THE SAME AGE OLD CONCEPT OF THE ETERNAL BATTLE BETWEEN
DARK AND LIGHT
THAT RAGES NOT ONLY IN THE SKIES AROUND US,
BUT ALSO IN THE SECRET HEART OF US ALL.
IN THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN
PHILOSOPHY, IT IS
EXEMPLIFIED BY THE FALL
IN THE Garden of Eden,
And
the
battle
Between
God
And
SATAN
AN AGES OLD CONFLICT
HATE, PRIDE, ENVY, REBELLION, PETTINESS
ANOTHER GOOD ANALOGY FOR UNDERSTANDING
THE PRECEDING CONCEPT,
BECAUSE IN THE TROJAN WAR, HUMANS ARE
PARTIALLY RESPONSIBLE
FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF ERIS EITHER BECAUSE THEY:
FAIL TO ADEQUATELY DEAL WITH THE CONCEPT BY REASON AND LAW OR
THEY SELF-SUBMIT TO ERIS, CREATING EVEN MORE ERIS AS ACHILLES DOES IN BOOK I
OR
THEY SUBMIT TO THE IDEA OF GODS OF FATE PARTIALLY AFFECTING HUMAN ACTIVITY
MOTIVATING IDEALSIDEALS CONTINUED
HOW DID HUMANS LIVE IN SUCH A UNIVERSE?
HOW DID THEY COME TO TERMS WITH THIS WORLD?
HOW DID THEY FASHION THEIR LIVES?
WE HAVE A GENERAL IDEA OF HOW TO RESPOND
TO THESE QUESTIONS:
ARISTOCRACY OF THE HOMERIC AGE DID THE FIGHTING, THINKING, IDEALIZING (SOUND FAMILIAR?)
• IN THIS FASHION HUMANS MIGHT FIND SOME MEASURE OF MEANING AND PLEASURE FROM A LARGELY UNCOMPRISING
• UNIVERSE OF ERIS.• EMBEDDED IN AN HONOR
CODE, THESE VALUES DEFINED AND GAVE HONOR TO THE ARISTOCRATS OF GREECE AND TROY.
IDEALS CONTINUED
• A MAN WAS NOTHING IF HE DID NOT POSSESS TIME (TEE-MAY), THE ESTEEM OF HIS FELLOW ARTISOCRATS.
• THE GREATEST WAY TO ACHIEVE TIME WAS TO FIND GLORY (KUDOS).
• GLORY WAS PRIMARILY ACHIEVED IN WAR, THOUGH ONE COULD ALSO FIND GLORY IN BEING A POET.
• KEY TO ACHIEVING GLORY WAS THROUGH ARETE (AR-EE-TAY),
• WHICH IS BEST TRANSLATED AS
• EXCELLENCE.• THIS IS THE STORY OF
THE ILIAD.• LET US GO THERE.
