Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age, Vol. 3 of 3 I. Agorè: Polities of the Homeric Age. II. Ilios: Trojans and Greeks Compared. III. Thalassa: The Outer Geography. IV. Aoidos: Some Points of the Poetry of Homer.

ADVERTISEMENT.

Since the Sections which relate to Ethnology passed through the Press, the First Volume of Mr. Rawlinson’s Herodotus has appeared. Earlier possession of this important Publication would have emboldened me to proceed a step further in the attempt to specify the probable or possible form of the original Ethnic relation between the Pelasgians and the Hellenes of the Greek Peninsula, but designating the latter as pure Arian, and the former as Arian, with a residue or mixture of Turanian elements.

It has also been since the ‘Olympus’ was printed, that I have become acquainted with Welcker’s recent and unfinished ‘_Griechische Götterlehre_,’ (Göttingen, 1857.) I could have wished to refer to it at various points, and especially to avail myself of the clearer view, which the learned Author has given, of the position of Κρόνος.

Founding himself in part on the exclusive appropriation by Homer of the term Κρονίδης to Jupiter, he enables us to see how Jupiter may have inherited the sole use of the title as being ‘the Ancient of days;’ and how Κρόνος was a formation in the Mythology wholly secondary and posterior to his reputed son. (Welcker, sectt. 27, 8. pp. 140-7.)

Another recent book, M. Alfred Maury’s Histoire des Religions de la Grèce Antique, undertakes the useful task of unfolding largely the relations of the Greek religion to the East. But the division of it which deals with Homer specifically is neither complete nor accurate, and affords a new illustration of the proposition which I chiefly desire to establish, namely, that Homer ought to be treated as a separate and independent centre of study.

11, CARLTON HOUSE TERRACE, LONDON, March 15, 1858.

THE CONTENTS.

I. AGORÈ: OR THE POLITIES OF THE HOMERIC AGE.

Political ideas of later Greece Page 1 Their strong development in Heroic Greece 2 Germ of the Law of Nations 4 Grote’s account of the Heroic Polities 5 Their peculiar features, Publicity and Persuasion 6 Functions of the king in the Heroic Polities 8 Nature of the Pelopid Empire 9 Degrees in Kingship and in Lordship 10 Four forms of Sovereignty 12 First tokens of change in the Heroic Polities 12 Shown by analysis of the Catalogue 14 Extended signs in the Odyssey 17 Altered sense of Βασιλεὺς or King 18 New name of Queen 20 Disorganization caused by the War 21 Arrival of a new race at manhood 22 Increased weight of the nobles 24 Altered idea of the kingly office 25 The first instance of a bad King 27 Further change in the time of Hesiod 28 Veneration long adhering to the name 31 Five distinctive notes of Βασιλῆες in the Iliad 32 The nine Greek Βασιλῆες of the Iliad 35 The case of Meges 36 Of Phœnix 37 Of Patroclus and Eurypylus 38 Conditions of Kingship in the Iliad 39 The personal beauty of the Kings 40 Custom of resignation in old age 40 Force of the term αἴζηος 41 Gymnastic superiority of the Kings 44 Their pursuit of Music and Song 45 Ulysses as artificer and husbandman 46 The Kings as Gentlemen 47 Achilles in particular 48 Tenderness and tears of the Greek chiefs 49 Right of hereditary succession 50 Right of primogeniture 52 The Homeric King (1) as Priest 55 (2) as Judge 56 (3) as General 57 (4) as Proprietor: the τέμενος 58 His revenues, from four sources in all 59 Burdens upon them 61 The political position of Agamemnon 62 The governing motives of the War 64 Position of Agamemnon in the army 66 His personal character 67 The relation of sovereign and subject a free one 67 The personal attendants of the King 69 The Aristocracy or chief proprietors 69 The Trades and Professions 70 The Slaves of the Homeric age 72 The θῆτες or hired servants 74 Supply of military service 75 Whether there was a peasant-proprietary 77 Political Economy of the Homeric age 78 The precious metals not a measure of value 81 Oxen in some degree a measure of value 82 Relative scarcity of certain metals 84 Mode of government of the Army 85 Its military composition 88 Chief descriptions of fighting men 91 The Battle and the Ambuscade 92 The Βουλὴ or Council of the Greeks 94 It subsisted in peace and in war 97 Opposition in the Βουλὴ 98 Agamemnon’s proposals of Return 99 The influence of Speech in the Heroic age 102 It was a subject of regular training 103 Varied descriptions of oratory in Homer 104 Achilles the paramount Orator 105 The orations of the poems 106 The power of repartee 108 The power of sarcasm 109 The faculty of debate in Homer 111 The discussion of the Ninth Iliad 111 Function of the Assembly in the Heroic age 114 The formal use of majorities unknown 116 The great decisions of the War taken there 117 It was not summoned exclusively by Agamemnon 118 Opposition in the Agorè by the chiefs 119 Opposition by Thersites 120 Grote’s judgment on the case of Thersites 123 How that case bears witness to the popular principle 126 As does the Agorè on the Shield 126 Mode of addressing the Assembly 129 Its decisions in the Seventh and Ninth Iliads 129 Division in the Drunken Assembly 130 Appeal of Telemachus to the Ithacan Assembly 132 Phæacian Assembly of the Eighth Odyssey 134 Ithacan Assembly of the Twenty-fourth 136 Councils or Assemblies of Olympus 137 Judicial functions of the Assembly 139 Assembly the central point of the Polity 140 The common soul or Τὶς in Homer 141 Imperfect organization of Heroic Polities 143

II. ILIOS. THE TROJANS COMPARED AND CONTRASTED WITH THE GREEKS. Relationship of Troy and Greece twofold 145 Greek names of deities found also in Troas 147 Include nearly all the greater deities 150 Worship of Vulcan in Troas 151 Worship of Juno and Gaia in Troas 153 Worship of Mercury in Troas 154 Worship of Scamander 155 Different view of Rivers in Troas 158 Essential character of Trojan River-worship 160 Trojan impersonations from Nature rare 162 Poverty of Mythology among the Trojans 165 Their jejune doctrine of a Future State 166 Redundance of life in the Greek system 168 Worship from hills 169 The nations compared as to external development of religion.-- 1. Temples 170 2. As to endowments in land, or τεμένεα 172 3. As to Groves’ ἄλσεα 173 4. As to Statues of the Gods 174 5. As to Seers or Diviners 177 6. As to the Priesthood: Priesthood in Greece 179 Priesthood in later Greece 183 Priesthood among the Trojans 184 Comparative observance of sacrifice 187 The Trojans more given to religious observances 189 Homer’s different modes of handling for Greece and Troy 190 Moral superiority of his Greeks on the whole 192 Homer’s account of the abduction of Helen 193 The Greek estimate of Paris 197 Its relation to prevailing views of Marriage 200 And to Greek views of Homicide 202 The Trojan estimate of Paris 205 Public opinion less developed in Troy 206 The Trojans more sensual and false 207 Trojan ideas and usages of Marriage 210 The family of Priam 211 Stricter ideas among the Greeks 215 Trojan Polity less highly organized 216 Rule of Succession in Troy 217 Succession to the throne of Priam 219 Paris, most probably, was his eldest son 221 Position of Priam and his dynasty in Troas 223 Meaning of Τροίη and of Ἴλιος 224 Evidence from the Trojan Catalogue 225 Extent of his sovereignty and supremacy 228 Polity of Ilios: the Βασιλεύς 232 The Assembly 232 The greater weight of Age in Troy 234 The absence of a Βουλὴ in Troy 236 The greater weight of oratory in Greece 239 Trojans less gifted with self-command 242 And with intelligence generally 244 Difference in the pursuits of high-born youth 245 Difference as to αἰδὼς 246 Summary of differences 247

III. THALASSA. THE OUTER GEOGRAPHY OF THE ODYSSEY. Why it deserves investigation 249 Principal heads of the inquiry 251 The two Spheres of Inner and Outer Geography 252 Limits of the Inner Geography 255 The intermediate or doubtful zone 257 The Sphere of the Outer Geography 260 The two Keys of the Outer Geography 261 The traditional interpretations valueless 262 Manifest dislocations of actual nature 263 Postulates for examining the Outer Geography 264 The Winds of Homer 265 Special notices of Eurus and Notus 267 Of Zephyr and Boreas 268 Points of the Compass for the two last 270 For the two first 272 Scheme of the four Winds 273 Signification of Eurus 273 Homeric distances and rates of speed 275 Particulars of evidence on speed 277 The northward sea-route to the Euxine 280 Evidence from Il. xiii. 1-6 281 From Od. vii. 319-26 282 From Od. v. 44-57 283 From Od. xxiv. 11-13 285 Amalgamated reports of the Ocean-mouth 287 Open-sea passage to the Ocean-mouth 289 Homeward passage by the Straits, why preferred 290 Three maritime routes to the Ocean-mouth 291 Its two possible originals in nature 292 Straits of Yenikalè as Ocean-mouth 294 Summary of facts from Phœnician reports 295 Two sets of reports are blended into one 296 The site of Ææa; North-western hypothesis 298 North-eastern hypothesis 300 Argument from the Πλαγκταὶ 302 From the Island Thrinacie 302 Local notes of Ææa 303 Site of Ogygia 304 Argument from the flight of Mercury 305 From the floatage of Ulysses 306 From his homeward passage 308 Site of Scylla relatively to the Dardanelles 309 Why Ææa cannot lie North-westward 311 Construction of Od. xii. 3, 4 312 Construction of Od. v. 276, 7 315 Genuineness of the passage questionable 316 Its real meaning 317 Homer’s indications of geographical misgivings 318 Stages of the tour of Ulysses to Ææa (i-vi.) 320 Ææa and the Euxine (vi-viii.) 325 Remaining stages (viii-xi.) 327 Directions and distances from Ææa onwards 329 Tours of Menelaus and Ulysses compared 331 The earth of Homer probably oval 334 Points of contact with Oceanus 337 The Caspian and Persian Gulf belong to Oceanus 338 Contraction and compression of the Homeric East 340 Outline of Homer’s terrestrial system 342 Map of Earth according to Homer 343

EXCURSUS I. Parentage and Extraction of Minos. On the genuineness of Il. xiv. 317-27 344 On the sense of the line Il. xiv. 321 346 Collateral testimony to the extraction of Minos 347

EXCURSUS II. On the line Odyss. v. 277. Points of the question stated 349 Senses of δεξιὸς and ἀριστερὸς 350 Illustrated from Il. xiii 352 On the force of the Homeric ἐπὶ 354 Force of ἐπὶ with ἀριστερὰ 356 Illustrated from Il. ii. 353. Od. xxi. 141 358 From Il. i. 597. vii. 238. xii. 239, 249 359 From Il. xxiii. 335-7 360 From Il. ii. 526 362 Application to Od. v. 277 364 Another sense prevailed in later Greek 365

IV. AOIDOS. SECT. I. On the Plot of the Iliad. The Theory of Grote on the structure of the poem 366 Offer related in the Ninth Book and its rejection 369 Restitution and gifts not the object of Achilles 371 The offer was radically defective 373 Apology needed in particular 375 Consistency maintained in and after Il. ix 377 Skilful adjustment of conflicting aims 379 Glory given to Achilles 380 Glory given to Greece 380 Trojan inferiority mainly in the Chiefs 382 But it pervades the poem 384 In the Chiefs it is glaring 385 Conflicting exigencies of the plan 387 Greeks superior even without Achilles 388 Harmony in relative prominence of the Chiefs 389 Retributive justice in the two poems 392 The sufferings of Achilles 394 Double conquest over his will 395