The Iliad. Structure, Myth, and Meaning (review)

Many have tried to expose the structural patterns of the Iliad, claiming to discern such phenomena as doublets, ring composition, repeated movements, and motif sequences. Some have been Unitarians eager to counter disintegration of the poem by Analysts; others have been oralists in search of the building blocks of composition-in-performance. These efforts have led to some key insights, but are often met with skepticism (and I write as one who has often peddled doublets, motif sequences, etc.). One problem is consistency of scale; this type of argument often mixes units of different size, from formulae to themes, in the creation of matching patterns. Another is that of cherry-picking; it can appear that scholars are emphasizing elements that serve their argument and ignore much else. The credibility gap widens when readers suspect that motifs and patterns have their origins more in the mind of the critics than in the poem.

Louden has produced a major study of large-scale patterning in the Iliad, following his similar study of the Odyssey.¹ That is the first four chapters at least; an additional three chapters examine parallels between the Homeric poem and Near Eastern (mostly Ugaritic and Old Testament) literature. The first part of the book proposes three movements of an extended motif pattern in the Iliad (covering Books 4–7/8, 11–17/20–24), and in addition an introductory pattern that is also threefold (Books 1–2/9–10/18–19); Book 3 is treated separately as an “overture.” The main (or “principal”) pattern consists of twenty motifs, while the “introductory” pattern is composed of another thirteen.

The study is a generous, even heroic, presentation of parallels, internal and external. There is much repetition in the Iliad, and Louden points out a number of correspondences in need of greater examination. For example, many scenes featuring Hector and his family occur at the city walls, not just the famous meeting of Hector and Andromache, and Louden interestingly brings Helen’s appearance at the walls into the discussion. Many of the arguments will not persuade, however. Some motifs are merely typological (e.g. heroic aristeia or vaunting); others are tortuously described in order to fit the perceived patterning. Since the motifs are required to appear in only two of the three related movements, the three-fold structure does not seem especially firm. Nor is the sequence of motifs. The reader will have already noticed that Book 3 (the “overture”) has been excused from the rest of the patterning, and that the “introductory” sequence in Books 9–10 interrupts the “principal” sequence of books 8–17. It is claimed that in Book 3 the principal motifs occur in the following order: 11, 10a, 12, 9, 9a, 19, 2, 14, 16, 5f, 15, 9. A further layer of categorization (I–V) is superimposed to this in order to provide some semblance of order. The enthusiasm for subdivision (“principal” motif 5 has six sub-motifs) can make the argument as hard to follow as it is to accept. In Chapter 5, in the Near Eastern second half of the book, the sixth motif confusingly unfurls a string of sub-motifs identified as 6a, 6b, 6c, A, A1, B, C, D, E, F, F1, G, H, H1, without explanation of the principles of differentiation (presumably H1 is a subset of H, which is a subset of 6c, the subset of 6). Much of the middle sequence of the “principal” pattern is unrecognizable as such; one finds Greeks playing roles assigned in the motifs to Trojans, or vice versa, in what is described as inversion or parody. It looks like Homer will need to study this book and revise heavily before the patterning thesis works well as a whole.

More discussion of methodology would have been welcome, especially in the context of past studies of the poem’s structure. Louden tends to see the structure as an aspect of composition, not reception. The corresponding patterns...