Story Myth and Celebration in Old French Narrative Poetry 1050-1200 Review

The Iliad and the Odyssey, two of the oldest narratives to withstand fourth dimension. Accredited to Homer, these poetic verses accept preserved memories from an era gone by, an historic period of heroes. Although, information technology beckons the question, "Through what means?" That is, how did we get the versions we know and bask today?

Post-obit the turmoil that ravaged the Eastern Mediterranean world during what academics call the Late Bronze Age (time to come, LBA) period at approximately 1200 BCE, the known world would bring about a alter like no other. In Greece, the Mycenaean palaces and outlying settlements began to be abased or destroyed and by 1050 BCE, all recognizable features of the Mycenaean culture vanished. In Anatolia, not only had Troy fallen but the Hittite empire collapsed and left piddling proof of it e'er existing. Egypt was then badly weakened that it never over again regained its onetime glory. The Well-nigh E fell into a Dark Age, marking the beginning of a new era, the Fe Historic period. Nonetheless, all was not lost. With every passing comes a rebirth. Out of the ashes of the former arose new nations which would eventually define the Western Earth; nations that included Greece, Phrygia, the Neo-Hittites, Israel, etc.

The Greek Dark Age essentially wiped the Greeks off of the historical record until the 8th century BCE when they were active outside of the Greek mainland; that is in the Aegean / Ionian islands, Anatolia, Italy (Magna Gracia), Ischia, and Sicily. Prior to the disappearance of the Mycenaean Greeks in the LBA, writing was utilized in all of the Aegean to tape inventories and transactions. The Mycenaean script is referred to equally Linear B; an adaptation of the earlier Minoan Linear A. Linear A and B comprise hundreds of signs that stand for syllabic, ideographic, and semantic values. To date, Linear B has been the just deciphered script (translated by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick betwixt 1951 - 1953), providing insight into the more primitive form of Greek spoken by the Mycenaeans (Chadwick, 84).

This clay tablet with Linear B script, dated to 1450-1375 BC is Minoan and was found at Knossos past Arthur Evans. It records quantities of oil apparently offered to diverse deities. Source: Wikimedia

It would take centuries before the Greeks rediscovered writing. The earliest known and however fragmentary Greek inscriptions have been dated to the 8th century BCE. It is more often than not believed that the Greek alphabet was adopted and adapted from the already present Phoenician alphabet, in Euboea (the 2d largest Greek island in the Aegean Body of water) equally archeology seems to showcase that this region of Hellenic republic was 1 of the first to recover from the preceding Greek Dark Age (Burkert, 26). This adaptation of the Semitic script was the commencement alphabetic writing organisation that was not abjad (or consonant only); introducing vowels. It is this modified script that spread across the unabridged Mediterranean, to be used by the Phrygians, Lydians, Lycians, Carians, among other Anatolian nations in the East and by the Etruscans residing in Italy to the West. This modified script would later inspire the Latin character set utilized by the Romans.

Returning to Homer, scholars go along to argue his beingness. He has been dated to the Greek Archaic Period in the 8th BCE. Whether he existed or non is not the focus of this article, but 1 thing is for certain, equally is evident past his work, he was a poet; a traveling bard who sang these verses, virtually likely to the tune of a lyre. It was through poetic verse and the use of repetition that the poet was able to maintain an nearly consistent and fluid narrative in every performance. The oral composition of the Iliad and Odyssey would predate Homer every bit its themes and events would have been passed from generation to generation until we make it to Homer. Through archeology, historians are able to discern assorted Mycenaean activities over a bridge of fourth dimension during the LBA, in some cases in a disharmonism with the location of Ilium (i.due east. Troy) and would eventually inspire the Iliad. These warlike activities are recorded in the Hittite records excavated from the Hittite capital of Hattusa, well-nigh the modern town of Boğazkale (formerly, Boğazköy). These records besides comprise some of the toponyms and names establish in the epic (i.e. Achaea, Atreus, Alexandros, etc.). The events would make such an impression in this region that in the southern coastal regions of Anatolia, a Cilician leader (ca. 8th century BCE) of the later Fe Age would trace his lineage to the seer, Mopsus (Payne, 42-44).

At present, how would these many historical events form the single myth we know equally the Trojan State of war and inspire Homer to sing of it in the Iliad and Odyssey? To quote Harvard classicist Gregory Nagy, "In general, we don't find that historical facts are the kernel of myth simply that myth organizes historical facts (Nagy, 27)." Since myth tin can use history, information technology would organize these events to form the Iliad (and the Odyssey); thus orally preserving historical details and sung about for generations. With each telling, the bard reciting the Iliad and Odyssey, inspired and guided by the Muses would allow various elements of these epics to evolve, allowing the now gone era to sound that much more fascinating. The function of the bard was to entertain.

While many scholars place the written composition of both the Iliad and Odyssey to the fourth dimension of Homer, it is this writer'due south opinion that it is very unlikely. The earliest known evidence of these two poems beingness written and canonized, trace back to the Pisistratid era. Statements fabricated by the 1st century BCE Roman philosopher, Cicero, claim that Pisistratus, an Athenian tyrant who ruled between 546 and 527 BCE, established a Committee of Editors of Homer to edit the "existing" texts of the poems and remove any errors and interpolations, thus canonizing the text specifically for recitation at Athens' annual Panathenaic festival.  Socrates allegedly stated that Pisistratus, son of Hipparchus, was the first to bring the Homeric poems into Athens (Bryce, 14-16, 195-196). Whatever these sources tell us, they seem to signal that the Iliad and Odyssey, in their written grade existed in the Pisistratid menses. In response to Cicero's assertion in that written copies existed earlier that, it should be noted that he did live over 4 centuries afterward this commissioned event. It is difficult to prove or disprove the annotate fabricated.

In the late 19th century CE, archaeologists discovered an aboriginal deposit (intended for garbage) of tens of thousands of papyri fragments located at the ancient Greek colony of Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. Amongst the manuscripts found were the Iliad and Odyssey. These copies appointment to as early as the 3rd century BCE and are consistent (with the exception of orthography) with the 10th century CE Venetus A (oldest fully extant manuscript of the Iliad) and the Laurentianus (oldest fully extant manuscript of the Odyssey); which provide the translations we read today. The Oxyrhynchus fragments are the oldest surviving copy.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 21: The Iliad II:745-764. Author's image. Courtesy of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. ]

And then, what about the gap betwixt the 8th and 6th centuries BCE? It is this author'southward opinion that these stories were preserved in art and manufactured goods (see below) instead of being written down and the multiple traditions or variations were sung by one or more than bards trained in the Homeric tradition until the mid-to-late 6th century BCE canonization. Evidence for these variants stem from the black and carmine effigy art painted and preserved on Greek vases. For example, one such varied scene can be institute on the then-called François Vase, which is an elaborate Athenian bowl painted by Kleitias about 575 BCE and it shows the funeral games of Patroclus. Of the v charioteers named, only Diomedes coincides with the Iliad'due south competitors in the race (Finley, 28). This confirms Cicero's initial claim that variations of the epics did be.

François Vase (c 570 BC). Source: Wikimedia

As mentioned in a higher place, it is highly unlikely that the Iliad and Odyssey, in their completed and continuously evolving and varied forms, would exist written downwards equally soon as the Greek alphabet is adopted and used. Although, information technology wouldn't be too unrealistic for individuals to exist inspired enough to manufacturer products that contains references to these epics, as is the case with the Cup of Nestor, establish on the Greek colonized site of Pithekoussai on the Italian island of Ischia. The major events of these epics would be preserved in the effigy art of Greek vases every bit they are orally retold past the traveling bards until i mean solar day, when it is commissioned to consolidate and write these epics downwardly.

Featured image: Ulysses at the court of Alcinous. Artist: Francesco Hayez (1791-1882). Source: Wikimedia

By Petros Koutoupis

Sources

Burkert, Walter. The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1995. [Print]

Bryce, Trevor. The Trojans and Their Neighbors. New York: Routledge, 2006. [Print]

Chadwick, John. The Decipherment of Linear B. New York: Cambridge Upwards, 1958. [Impress]

Finley, Chiliad.I. The World of Odysseus. New York: New York Review, 2002. [Impress]

Nagy, Gregory. "Is Homer Historical? An Archeology Odyssey Interview." Interview by Jack Meinhardt. Archæology Odyssey May/Jun. 2004: 26+. [Print]

Payne, Annick. Fe Age Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2012. [Print]

Wikipedia, 2014. The Loving cup of Nestor . [Online]

Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestor%27s_Cup#The_.22Cup_of_Nestor.22_from_Pithekoussai

[Accessed iv May 2014]

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Source: https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/homer-oral-tradition-canon-001633

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