The Iliad: Structure, Myth, and Meaning

CHAPTER FIVE: Subgenres of Myth in the Iliad I

chapter five www Subgenres of Myth in the Iliad I Greek literature is a Near Eastern literature. —m. l. west w 1. Siege myths The Iliad is set against a background of siege myth,1 a myth depicting a hostile force encamped before a city intending to sack it. Frequent elsewhere in Greek myth—for example, Heracles’ earlier sack of Troy and traditions of the Seven against Thebes—siege myth probably existed in Greek culture at least as early as the Mycenaean era, as depictions of sieges on the silver rhyton from Mycenae and a Theran fresco suggest.2 Homeric epic bears unmistakable signs of Near Eastern influence, as we will see throughout chapters 5–7. Siege myths are quite common in older Near Eastern traditions , including Lugulbanda and the Thunderbird, Gilgamesh and Aka, Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta (all Sumerian), and Kirta (Ugaritic). But in no extant Near Eastern tradition is siege myth more common than in Old Testament (OT) myth.Throughout the books of conquest (Deut–2 Kings) and the prophetic books (Isaiah-Malachi) dozens of sieges are depicted. In myth a city is besieged because its people have offended the gods. If the attacking force is successful, it is because the gods support them. In this respect all siege myths are holy wars, divinely provoked, divinely decided, ‘‘If disaster strikes a city, is it not the work of the Lord?’’ (Amos 3:6; cf. Ezek throughout).Yahweh’s frequent epithet, ‘‘the God of Hosts,’’ embodies this principle and cuts both ways, supportive of the Israelites’ armies when they are the attackers, supportive of enemy armies when the Israelites, because of their wrongdoing, are besieged. Compare Knox and Russo (352–53): ‘‘Classicists will doubtless be reluctant to apply the notion of ‘Holy War’ to the well-greaved Achaeans. . . . The definition of Holy War . . . required simply that the summons to war—and thus the assurance of victory—come from God Himself. This is precisely what has occurred in Agamemnon’s dream.’’ Although modern Homeric criticism, in my view, tends to downplay the larger sacred dimensions of the Iliad, comparison with OT myth helps bring out moral thrusts of the poem’s plot, which are at times latent, at other times explicit.There is considerable common ground in the forms of wrongdoing the Iliad attributes to the Trojans and which OT myth depicts in the inhabitants of the besieged city (see 8.Trojan misconduct in chapter 6). Siege myths tend to come in two different types: some identify with the attacking force, which tend to be heroic, and the others identify with the besieged, which tend to be laments. The Iliad has both types, but the majority of the poem is given to the heroic deeds of the attacking Greeks. Lament is closely identified with the Trojans, and surfaces primarily in the speeches of Andromakhe, Priam, and Hekabe, as they envision their fates after the sack of Troy. OT siege myths feature the same dichotomy, using the heroic mode to portray the Israelites in the conquest of Canaan (Joshua) and in their battles with the Philistines and other nearby peoples (e.g., 1 and 2 Sam), but switching to lament when they are besieged (Lam and the prophetic books). In the prophetic books, the OT thus turns to those subgenres of myth which the Iliad uses to depict the Trojans’ plight, whereas in the books of conquest the OT employs the subgenres of myth the Iliad employs to depict the Greeks. The high style of heroic siege myths focuses on an individual, Heracles, Patroklos, or Akhilleus, as capable of sacking Troy single-handedly.3 In OT myth the high style is only used of the Israelites (Josh–2 Chron), never of their attackers. In the OT, lament siege myths are marked by a greater realism than the heroic style, which, for its effects, depends on the miraculous, the deeds of heroes and gods. When the Israelites are besieged, the myths delineate the specific weaponry, strategy, and situations of the attackers, a less heroic and more mundane view of the victors. For the besieged, the horrors of deprivation of food and water, rationing of supplies, and even cannibalism replace the heady, positive view conveyed by narratives identifying with the attackers. The Iliad approaches these topics only to depict Troy after it has been sacked (in forward-looking speeches by Andromakhe, Priam, and Hekabe). Since the Iliad downplays the perspective of the besieged, except...