Sanctified Violence in Homeric Society: Oath-Making Rituals and Narratives in the Iliad (review)

One new trend in Homeric studies is oral traditional theory, which, through the study of formulaic utterances, places the Homeric poems in a wider epic cosmos. In her book, Kitts combines oral traditional theory with anthropology to use Homer's Iliad as evidence for the institution of oath-making in the "ancient world beyond epic" (3), and to show how a ritual leitmotif is established "for the devastation of the Trojans as a consequence of their violating a divinely witnessed oath" (3).

Her book divides into four. In chapter 1 Kitts sets out various anthropological theories for seeing ritual scenes in epic poetry as symbolic modes of communication, and for examining "the ancient audience's experience of the sticky interface between the actual ritual performance and the poetic ritual scene" (5). Chapter 2 establishes the cultural foundations of Homeric oath-making, using underlying ritual patterns, rather than specific terminology, to identify oath-making scenes. Chapter 3 takes two examples—in Iliad 3 and 19—to illustrate the workings of the oath institution and the possible resonance of oath-avenging with battlefield slaughter. Chapter 4 outlines battlefield theophanies in the Iliad and Near-Eastern traditions "to show a shared Mediterranean imagination regarding the roles of gods on the battlefield" (10).

Kitts raises a number of important concerns. First, she challenges conventional approaches to ancient Greek sacrifice, showing how commensual sacrifice scenes in the Iliad avoid mention of blood or the animal's death; those features are true rather of oath-sacrificing ritual. She then explores how these two types of sacrifice ritual play out differently in the narrative and, in particular, how the description of battlefield deaths "are rendered in such a way as to elicit comparisons with the killing and dying of the animal victims of oath-sacrifice in Books 3 and 19, insinuating a figurative equation of killing in war with killing in sacrifice" (3).

The extent to which the audience is invited to regard the scenes of battle as "ritual slaughter" lies at the heart of the argument. As she puts it: "It is intriguing that the victims who die gasping and panting like sacrificial lambs are on the Trojan side, given the Trojan culpability as perjurers of the oath in Book 3" (156). Yet, it is never made clear quite how that thesis might affect our understanding of the Iliad as a whole. Kitts devotes a chapter to Near Eastern parallels, whose war rhetoric often attributes the slaughter of enemies to divine retribution for violated oaths; but whether we should regard the Iliad as a sacred text or how the Iliad's resonances with sacrificial discourse work in its narrative does not receive due attention.

One passage Kitts does tackle in detail is Achilles' killing of Lykaon, in which she makes a good case for this scene's resonance with sacrificial discourse. Yet, the analysis is complicated by virtue of being treated on two separate occasions (57–71, 162–70). Furthermore, at its conclusion the reader is directed (168) to a prior treatment (in the Journal of Ritual Studies 13 [1999]), which, incidentally, is a good deal more pointed and highlights the book's lack of clarity.

This book represents a significant expansion of Kitts' previous articles (see also Journal of Ritual Studies 16 [2002]), primarily by the inclusion of ritual theory and more detailed case studies; yet, the aim of comprehensiveness diminishes considerably the argument's precision and focus. First, the Homeric scholar may find the introductory chapter on anthropological theory hard-going enough without more references hampering discussion of particular examples. The train of thought is at times bewildering, as typified by the mix of conjunctions used (however, yet, but, but, 104–6) to explain Achilles' throwing down of the scepter. But most telling against comprehensibility is a jargon-rich discourse, which does little to elucidate the analysis. Other problems exist: the utility of...