Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Why Another Treatment of Greek Sacrifice?
- 1 Epics, Rituals, and Rituals in Epic: Some Methodological Considerations
- 2 Premises and Principles of Oath-Making in the Iliad
- 3 Ritual Scenes and Epic Themes of Oath-Sacrifice
- 4 Homeric Battlefield Theophanies, in the Light of the Ancient Near East
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Homeric Texts for the Principal Oaths Discussed
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - Epics, Rituals, and Rituals in Epic: Some Methodological Considerations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Why Another Treatment of Greek Sacrifice?
- 1 Epics, Rituals, and Rituals in Epic: Some Methodological Considerations
- 2 Premises and Principles of Oath-Making in the Iliad
- 3 Ritual Scenes and Epic Themes of Oath-Sacrifice
- 4 Homeric Battlefield Theophanies, in the Light of the Ancient Near East
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Homeric Texts for the Principal Oaths Discussed
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
EPICS AND RITUALS
Since most epics are replete with combats, battles, wars and assassinations, the killing scene is often an epitome or multivocal symbol of the scheme of values underpinning the whole work.
(Victor Turner)It has been argued that the way a hero engages the terms of his or her destiny is the very stuff of epic literature. The nature of fate and the cosmic principles which shape it penetrate the personal narrative of the epic hero usually at that point when he or she is close to death. Such is the case in the Iliad, especially in the poignant dying scenes of Sarpedon, Patroklos, and Hector – major heroes beloved by gods and men alike, whose deaths elicit pondering by divinities, foreshadow one another, and point ahead to the death of Achilles. Unlike those heroes, Achilles chooses to die young, and his coming to terms with his fate is a measure of his truly heroic stature. Yet the pathos of his fate is built up by the pathos of the other heroes, whose deaths in turn are built up by shorter dying scenes of lesser characters. So, for instance, the death of young Polydoros, Priam's “most beloved son” who is stabbed in the back while fleeing from Achilles (20.407–18), anticipates the longer dying scene of his brother Lykaon, who begs Achilles to spare him because his mother already has lost her other son and has just received Lykaon home again, after Achilles had abducted him (21.54–135).
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- Sanctified Violence in Homeric SocietyOath-Making Rituals in the Iliad, pp. 11 - 49Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005