Weekly Journal 5: Greek Literature in Translation (Spring 2019)
Today’s class began with the discussion of what happens in book 14 of the Iliad? In book 14, we read that Hera intervenes by tricking Aphrodite, Sleep, and Zeus. Each time she deceives them in “love” and uses the power of love or eros. We note that this particular book is the aristeia of Hera; instead of battling with strength she fights with love and manipulation.
Hera invokes the powers of many gods; she even uses the power of eros. In this book, we see that there is a different take in the notion of a hero at her best as she uses trickery as her strength. We see a series of victories for Hera as she gets wants she wants from the level boss Zeus, and she also has Poseidon on her side.
Like stated earlier, book 14 could be described as Hera’s aristeia. Interestingly, for the most time, the Iliad is built up of many aristeia. In the halfway point in book 14, we see an aristeia of love that has resonances to earlier parts of the work.
In book 14 line 153 we see the word aegis which is a breastplate with a Gorgon head on it which is an Apotropaic symbol and Zeus is often described as Zeus of the aegis. In this particular series of lines, it is defined as the seduction scene of Hera to Zeus. Here the woman of trickery puts on a zone and arrays herself in loveliness and works in persuasion.
In the Iliad there are two ways for persuasion; the Achilles way is by force, and the alternative that we saw in book nine is with Odysseus and politics/manipulation or seduction. There are the non-warlike ways of getting the best of someone like we see in book 14 with Hera. However, we even see persuasion used as a tactic earlier on in the Iliad in book three when Paris loses to Menelaus; Paris is a form of persuasion, seduction, and beauty.
Our class then posed the question of what is so amazing between the battle between Aphrodite and Hera? Throughout the Iliad, we see that Hearn and Aphrodite are natural enemies in the Trojan war. In book 14 we see Aphrodite who is the goddess of love and knows all the tricks get played by Hera at her own game. As we know, this move on Hera’s part is going to be a tragedy for Patroclus and Achilles as it turns the war in favor of the Trojans.
In line 197 of book 14, we see Hera use her trickery with the story she tells Aphrodite. Hera states that she is offering to prepare the marriage that involves an Eris (striff) in orders to persuade Aphrodite. Hera tells Aphrodite that she wants to get dressed up for this event of marriage, which is usually a job of Aphrodite who would go when a couple has a discord. Here in this scene, we see how Hera is horning into Aphrodite’s turf. Ultimately, Aphrodite happily agrees and gives Hera divine armor of seduction.
Then we see that Hera goes to Sleep (Hypnos) who is a brother to Thanatos (death). In class, we learned that we get the word euthanasia from Thanatos. Here, Hera repeats her plan to sleep whose initial reaction was no as he did not want any trouble with Zeus. However, Hera offers Sleep one of the graces Pasithea for marriage in line 268, thus striking the usage of love, marriage, and lust to persuade Sleep which is the same thing that Aphrodite did to Paris.
Hera is amazingly becoming all goddesses. Her aristeia is arousing all gods powers; Sleep, Athena, Aphrodite, Zeus, and Poseidon. Hera is a goddess of Heroes and is someone who helps them at the right time and in this case, Hera is acting as a hero who is going through an aristeia.
In line 300 of book 14, we see Hera’s encounter with Zeus. Zeus uses a priamel in line 317 where he is trying to be appealing to Hera. Basically, in this scene he is saying he slept with all these women/goddesses that he wants Hera more than ever. If we remember back in book three in line 442, we see a similar concept with Paris. Hera responds with the technique of saying she can’t do it (have sex) here to drive Zeus crazy. Zeus then drives clouds to cover the mount Ida so that no one could see them have sex.
When they have sex bloom crocus and hyacinths which are plants that usually bloom in spring around Easter time, this is a symbol of that this is springtime, stating that their lovemaking was a springtime. When the two merges (Hera and Zeus), new life on earth emerge which is all very timely.
Book 14 is somewhat of a platte cleaner for the Iliad. It is the one main platte cleansers because it does not focus on war and its an attention to love and seduction. Hera’s lovemaking to Zeus is a new beginning its a spring. However, what follows the spring is a bitter harvest.
Our class discussion then transitions to talking about what happens when Zeus wakes up. When Zeus awakens, it is the beginning of the downfall of the rollercoaster. Book 15 line 49 is where Zeus spells out how the rest of the Iliad is going to play out. Zeus states that he is going to give Hector an aristeia and that he will give up his son Sarpedon. This statement of Zeus is seen as a relation to the Christian god. Furthermore, Zeus states that the fall of Troy will come due to the designs of Athena (Trojan Horse). Here in this scene where Zeus is laying out his boule stating the punishment of the violation of Xenia that Paris created.
Book 16 is the aristeia of Patroclus. In class, we asked the following question: What is the biggest mistake of Patroclus? In book 16, Patroclus is instructed to no scale the walls of Troy, which he does anyway. Here we are introduced to the idea of ate: we can be lured into doing something crazy and madness; madness folly from the gods; the gods can create situations for us that makes someone act unruly (divine folly) or victory disease.
Line 684 is an example of Patroclos’ ate. The tragic ending of the Iliad is in line 688 where Zeus’ mind is stronger. This argument made in this line is a fortiori argument and shows that we all are vulnerable to the manipulation of the gods.
In this scene; we should think about human responsibility through the example of Patroclos. Throughout the Iliad, Patroclus is described as the embodiment of all you would want in a warrior. Our class then came up with the question of: Whom would you arrest for the death of Patroclus? The answers to this interesting question are as follows:
Nestor → plated the idea
Achilles → refusion
Apollo → gives the first blow
Euphorbos → gives the second blow
Hector
Zeus → boule
Agamemnon → outraging Achilles
Menelaus
Paris / Helen
Eris → discord
Patroclus death provides a foreshadow that Hector will die by the hands of Achilles because he wasn’t able to kill Patroclus on his own.
Thursday’s class begin with the discussion of how Achilles likens Patroklos as a little girl crying showing that Achilles compares himself to a mother. We then talked about how human agency is in our fate or by the course of our lives. What choices did we make? What decisions were made by others?
Patroklos is our best way in the Iliad that we try to understand Human agency. As Americans, we tend to think of us as being self-made. You have opportunities presented in life, and you either seized these opportunities or you didn’t. The Iliad however, takes a different aspect of this concept. The Iliad shows that some things you have no choice like when Patroclus dies, and the scene of his ate. The Iliad view is that we are like specks in a glass of water.
We then note how the Iliad gives human agency a C whereas the Odysseus gives it an A+. These two bodies of literature represent two halves of what we are; we are in control versus we are not in control. We will see in book 24 of the Iliad of how it sums of human agency in line 532. In this scene, is the ransoming of Hector where Achilles uses a concept that is predominantly used by Zeus: the two urns.
The two urns are like Zeus’ lottery system. Achilles uses this technique to consol Priam. Achilles states that humans live in sorrows and the gods don’t feel any harm/sorrows. The two options of the urns are a rollercoaster life (good and bad things that are proportional) the other life is all crap, a downhill slope of events. This reasoning of Achilles explains why there is so much suffering in the world. Achilles continues his speech by giving examples by using his father, himself, and Priam.
This made me think about a conversation that I had with one of my Friends who was going through a rough week. He was asking why do bad things happen to him and what is the point of everything. I tried to explain to him how bad things happen to everyone. Sometimes you’re going to have great things and other times you’re not. It’s all a continuous cycle of excellent and adverse events.
Our class discussion then continued with the following question in regards to the Iliad all the way up to book 17: How much control do the gods have in fate?
The Greek mythology, the fates were three sisters who were often depicted as weavers of a tapestry on a loom, with the tapestry dictating the destinies of men. We then asked, is there any fate that Zeus is particularly beholden to? We decided that Zeus has both political and natural constraints.
Remember, the greek universe is divided up into three provinces; the sky, Sea/Land, Underworld. There is a natural constraint that Zeus faces as he is the god of the heavens and he is bound to this constraint. We also see a restraint of political and social norms when Zeus is burdened to whether he should save his son Sarpedon. Throughout the Iliad, we see that Zeus’ mind can be tricked (temporarily) but his boule is still in order. We will see in book 19 that Zeus himself can be influenced by ate.
Then the following questions arose: Why do the gods flip flop? Where does Zeus’ loyalty lie?
We stated that it’s a chicken and egg kind of thing in the relationship between Zeus and Xenia. If Zeus wants to be King of the gods he has to be the protector of this most critical factor (Xenia). As it is a social norm his worship would decline if he wouldn’t govern/enforce xenia. Maybe loyalty isn’t the right word to use; an obligation may be better to describe this relationship. Zeus is also the god of oaths and therefore has a contractual obligation to Xenia.
