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Homer. The Iliad and the Odyssey are great ancient Greek poems. School encyclopedia Myths of ancient Greece Homer Iliad Odyssey

In the last centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. Large movements of tribes took place in the Eastern Mediterranean. As a result of these movements, the early slave societies of Greece fell, the Hittite power collapsed, and Syria, Phenicia, and even Egypt were invaded. One of these movements was the previously mentioned migration of the Dorians. In terms of its scale, it was significantly inferior to the movements of tribes in Asia Minor (the campaigns of the “peoples of the sea”) and covered only the territory of the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula, but its significance for the history of Greece was very great. Over the next three centuries, mainland Greece was almost completely isolated from the countries of the ancient East. The construction of large structures such as palaces stopped; there is no information about large farms similar to those attested by documents of the Mycenaean period. Obviously, the individual slaveholding societies that had arisen earlier were destroyed by the surrounding tribes, who still lived under the conditions of a primitive communal system. But at the same time, the newcomers took a lot from the population they conquered, which ultimately contributed to the transition of all Hellenic tribes to the slave system.

Until the beginning of our century, the only source of information about this period in the history of Greece was ancient Greek legends and fragmentary reports of much later Greek writers. Only in the last decade, thanks to the gradual accumulation of a large amount of archaeological data, has it become possible to more accurately characterize the development of individual areas of the Aegean basin during this period. However, along with archaeological data, Homer's poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, remain an important source for this period, the content of which is connected with the legend about the war of the Achaeans with Troy, which allegedly arose due to the abduction of Helen, Queen of Sparta, by the Trojan prince Paris.

"Iliad" and "Odyssey"

The Iliad covers the events that took place in the tenth year of the war of the Greeks (Achaeans) against Troy, when Achilles, one of the leaders of the Greek militia besieging Troy, argued over the division of booty with the main leader of the Greeks, Agamemnon, and stopped participating in the battles. After a series of defeats for the Achaeans, Achilles sent his friend Patroclus to help them, who died in battle with Hector, the son of the elderly king of Troy, Priam. Then Achilles decided to take part in the battles again. The Iliad ends with a description of the burial of Hector, killed in a duel with Achilles. “The Odyssey” glorifies the ten-year wanderings of one of the participants in the Trojan War—Odysseus, king of the Greek island of Ithaca. After a series of semi-fantastic adventures, Odysseus returns to his homeland, where, with the help of his son Telemachus and his faithful household members, he kills numerous suitors who sought the hand of his faithful wife Penelope, and restores his rights in Ithaca. Thus, the plots of both poems are connected by the unity of theme and circle of characters.

However, the Iliad does not contain a statement of Events from the beginning of the Trojan War and does not bring its story to the capture of Troy. The Odyssey, for its part, is not a direct continuation of the Iliad. Other episodes of the Trojan cycle were sung in the so-called cyclic poems, probably composed no earlier than the 8th century. BC e. and have reached us only in the form of a brief retelling of their content. Obviously, both Homeric and Cyclical poems were based on legends related to the Trojan War. These tales were passed down orally from generation to generation and only after several centuries did they serve as the basis for major poetic works.

The exceptionally high merits of Homer's poems as works of folk art - figurative language, rich in memorable comparisons, vivid characteristics of the characters, and finally, complex composition, especially the Odyssey - testify not only to the genius of the author or authors of the poems, but also to the long path of development , which went through the Greek heroic epic before the creation of the Iliad and Odyssey. For the historian, Homer's poems represent a truly invaluable treasury of information about the life and everyday life of the Hellenes during the second half of the 2nd and early 1st millennium BC. e.

State structure

Homeric society had not yet emerged from the primitive communal system. There was no state - an apparatus of class oppression. The contradictions between individual social groups had not yet become so acute that institutions such as a standing army, prisons, and courts were required in order to keep the exploited and oppressed social classes in line. However, at this time the gradual separation of the organs of the clan system from the mass of the people had already begun. Tribal leaders govern their tribes almost without the participation of popular assemblies. The Achaean militia near Troy is led by a council of basileans; the role of the meeting of soldiers is actually reduced only to confirming the decisions of this council. And during the 20-year absence of Odysseus, no public assembly met in Ithaca. In fact, all matters were decided by the nobility. In the description of the picture of the court found in the epic, the verdict is passed by the elders, and the people only shout out sympathy for one or the other of the disputing parties.

Characteristic of the development of social relations in Homeric society is the absence of an organ of violence that could be used against the people. Engels in his work “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State” emphasizes that “at a time when every adult man in the tribe was a warrior, there was still no public power separated from the people that could be opposed to it” (F. Engels , The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, p. 108.). The structure of Greek society at the beginning of the 1st millennium can be called military democracy.

Culture

The circle of scientific knowledge in the first two centuries of the 1st millennium BC. e. was small. First of all, this can be said about geographical knowledge. Homer is well aware of the geography of the Aegean basin and is also familiar with the ethnic composition of the population of Asia Minor; however, everything that is outside these narrow frameworks is depicted by him only in the most general terms. The heroes of the epic show some knowledge of astronomy only insofar as knowledge of the paths of the heavenly bodies was necessary for orientation at sea.

The Homeric Greeks had somewhat clearer information about their past. The wide dissemination of epic songs contributed to the preservation in the people's memory of memories of the strong Mycenaean kingdom, the prosperity of Crete and other centers of Bronze Age culture, and the Trojan War. All this information was combined in the Trojan cycle of legends; They formed the basis of Homer's poems. However, due to the lack of writing, this information, when transmitted from generation to generation, lost its reliability and became increasingly overgrown with fictitious details.

The greatest creation of Greek culture of that time was the heroic epic. Only as a result of the gradual improvement and selection of folk epic songs by many generations of singers and storytellers could the greatest poetic works of antiquity arise. The study of the language and style of the poems, the fairly frequent repetitions of individual words and images, and sometimes entire verses, and finally the very size of the poems - hexameter, as well as observations of the oral epic creativity of many modern peoples - all this leads to the conclusion that Homeric poems were not only the starting point of the subsequent rise of ancient Greek written literature, but also to an even greater extent the completion of a long path of development of Hellenic oral poetic creativity.

Along with the epic songs included in Homer's poems, much of the poetry of that time has come down to us in fragments or in prosaic retellings.

Greek art of the 11th–8th centuries. we know from clay vessels decorated with so-called geometric patterns, consisting of straight lines, zigzags, triangles and squares, less often circles. From combinations of these elements, sometimes quite intricate figures were created. Images of objects in the real world were also subjected to conditional, generalized geometric schematization. Horses were depicted with long, narrow angular legs and elongated bodies, human figures were always drawn in profile: the body was in the form of an overturned triangle with limbs attached to it, and the head was in the form of a circle with a protruding nose. Compared to Mycenaean, and even more so Minoan art, the geometric style creates the impression of significant regression. However, in terms of the quality of clay and the technique of making vessels, ceramics with geometric patterns are almost in no way inferior to Mycenaean ones.

The oldest known architectural monument of the 1st millennium, the Temple of Artemis Orthia in Sparta, probably dates back to the turn of the 9th and 8th centuries. BC e. its width is 4.5 m, the length of the surviving part is about 12 m. The walls of the temple were built of adobe, only the foundation was made of cobblestones; In the center of the temple along the longitudinal axis, wooden pillars were placed to support the ceiling. Other, larger architectural structures were apparently built from wood. Some idea of their structure is given by Homer's poems. Odysseus's estate was surrounded by a palisade of oak stakes, and there were service buildings in the courtyard. In the center of the estate there was a house with a megaron; the women's half was on the second floor. A necessary accessory to the house of a noble person were various storerooms and a room for ablution. All buildings of Odysseus's estate were made of wood.

The clothing of Homeric times also changed compared to Mycenaean times. Women wore long outerwear made of one piece of material - the so-called peplos, the edges of which were cleaved at the shoulder with a clasp. At that time, men wore a sleeveless woolen shirt - a chiton. Later geometric pottery depicts members of the nobility wearing multi-colored woolen cloaks covered with rich geometric patterns and sometimes more complex designs.

Myths of ancient Greece

In the Homeric poems we can find information about the religion of the ancient Greeks, mainly of the Mycenaean period; As for the beliefs of the period of the Homeric poems themselves, their study is also possible through the study of religious ideas of a later time, many elements of which go back not only to Homeric, but even to Mycenaean and even earlier times.

In the epic, the head of the gods is the thunderer Zeus. His brothers were Poseidon, the god of the sea, and Hades, the god of the underworld. Zeus together with his wife Hera and children - Apollo (god of the sun, music), Artemis (goddess of the hunt), Ares (god of war), Athena (goddess of wisdom and crafts), Aphrodite (goddess of the forehead), Hephaestus (god of fire) and Hermes (god of trade) - according to the ideas of the early Greeks, lived on Mount Olympus. The Greeks imagined gods in the likeness of people. In the epic, the gods eat, drink, and quarrel with each other, just like people. The world of the gods for the Greeks of Homer's time was a reflection of the world of the aristocracy. Each community had its own god or goddess. In Athens, Athena was honored first of all, in Argos and Samos - Hera, etc.

In the religious ideas reflected in the epic, many traces of more primitive beliefs were preserved, for example, totemism: Athena was depicted with an owl, Zeus with a bull or an eagle, Artemis with a doe, etc. The roots of ideas about many of these gods go far back to the Mycenaean time. Already on the monuments of Mycenaean culture many of the Olympian gods are depicted with their characteristic attributes. The Pylos inscriptions also mention many of these gods.

Religion strengthened the power of the aristocracy. The usual epithets of the Basileans were: “born of Zeus”, “fed by Zeus”. Many Basilei boast of their long lineages going back to Zeus. Each of the main characters of Homer's poems is accompanied by one of the Olympian gods.

The main element of folk beliefs was the veneration of a local deity or legendary hero. The ideas about the spirits of rivers, forests, springs, etc. were also very tenacious. The cult of ancestors played an important role in popular beliefs. The cult of earth deities, in particular the fertility goddess Demeter and her daughter Cora, abducted by the god of the underworld Hades, became widespread among the masses. In these cults one can see the fantastic ideas of the Greeks about the changing of the seasons.

Numerous myths reflected the primitive ideas of the early Hellenes about the world around them. The myth about the god-fighter Prometheus told how people learned to use fire, and the myth about the artificer Daedalus and his son Icarus reflected man’s dream of flying in the air. A whole cycle of myths was created about the great hero and worker Hercules, about the winner of the terrible Cretan half-bull, half-man Minotaur - the Athenian hero Theseus. The myth about the journey of the Argonauts (sailors from the ship "Argo") to Colchis for the Golden Fleece found an artistic reflection of the first attempts of Greek sailors to penetrate the remote Black Sea countries.

These ancient tales retain their great significance as outstanding monuments of cultural history.

Even at the end of the 19th century, Homer’s epic poem “The Iliad” was considered a poetic fiction, a work of folk fantasy. The Iliad was taught in schools, quoted, and admired as a work of art of great antiquity, as a literary monument of ancient culture. No one dared to admit that the Iliad actually described past historical events. But then a German amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann appeared, who glorified his name with excavations at the site of ancient Troy, Mycenae and Tiryns, described by Homer. Schliemann's excavations in the 70s and 80s of the last century unexpectedly shed light on the heroic era described by Homer. Schliemann found the legendary Troy, discovered the ancient Aegean culture, about which until then historians knew nothing, and with his discovery advanced the knowledge of history almost another thousand years.

Heinrich Schliemann was the son of a poor Protestant pastor. Once as a child, he received from his father as a gift the book “World History for Children,” which, by the way, depicted the legendary Troy engulfed in flames, described by Homer. The boy immediately believed that Troy really existed, that its huge walls could not be completely destroyed, that they were probably hidden under mountains of earth and debris caused by centuries. And he decided that later, when he became an adult, he would certainly find and dig up Troy.

But Heinrich’s family became poor, the boy had to leave school and go to work in a small shop, where he spent whole days. Soon he fell ill with tuberculosis and was unable to work, but the dream of Troy did not leave him. The boy went on foot to Hamburg to go to work again, and hired himself as a cabin boy on a ship that was sailing to America. In the German Sea, during a strong storm, the ship was wrecked, and Schliemann barely escaped death. He found himself in Holland, in a foreign country, without any means of subsistence. However, there were kind people who supported him and got him a job in one of the trading offices.

In the evenings, during free hours, Schliemann studied foreign languages, on which he spent half of his earnings. He lived in an attic, ate poorly, but persistently studied languages, including Russian.

In 1846, Schliemann moved to St. Petersburg as an agent of a trading house, and soon began to conduct independent trade. He got lucky; he was able to save money and by 1860 he was already so rich that he liquidated the business and finally decided to fulfill the dream he had cherished since childhood - to begin the search for Troy. In 1868, Schliemann went to Asia Minor to the coast of the Sea of Marmara. Guided only by the instructions of the Iliad, he began excavations on the hill of Hisarlik, a few kilometers from the Hellespont, in the northwestern corner of Asia Minor.

The very name of the hill suggested that it was necessary to dig here. Hisarlik means “place of ruins” in Turkish. And the area was very similar to the one where, according to the description of the Iliad, Troy was located: in the east there was a mountain, in the west there was a river, and in the distance the sea was visible.

Schliemann began excavations in 1871 using his own funds. His assistant was his Greek wife, who also believed Homer's descriptions. The energy, passion and endless patience that Schliemann and his wife discovered during the excavations are worthy of surprise: they put up with all the inconveniences of camp life, endured all kinds of difficulties, endured both cold and heat. Such a sharp wind blew through the wooden cracks of the house built by Schliemann that it was impossible to light a kerosene lamp; In winter, the cold in the rooms reached four degrees, sometimes the water even froze. During the day, all this was tolerable, because they were constantly in motion in the air, but in the evening, as Schliemann said, “except for our inspiration for the great cause of the discovery of Troy, we had nothing that would warm us!”

Troy is not a legend, but reality

As has now been established, there were nine cities or settlements on the Hissarlik hill, which sequentially arose one in the place of the other. The higher the layer, the younger the settlement. The uppermost city was built at the beginning of our era. Schliemann was faced with the question: how deep should one dig to reach Homer's Troy?

The Iliad says that Troy burned down, and Schliemann opened one layer after another, going deeper and deeper, but did not find any traces of the fire. Finally he reached a small settlement surrounded by a low wall, where there were many burnt objects. Schliemann decided that this was Homer's Troy. But he, who had dreamed of its discovery all his life, was mistaken. This settlement most likely dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. Apparently, Schliemann was in such a hurry to dig to the burned city that he did not notice the real Troy on the way and destroyed its walls. It was only after Schliemann's death that his collaborator Dörpfeld discovered the surviving antiquities of the overlying city, which dates back to the 18th century BC and which can be identified with Homer's Troy.

During the excavations, Schliemann discovered a large treasure, which he called “Priam’s treasure.” Workers during excavations accidentally came across a golden object. Schliemann immediately realized that an important find was hidden nearby, but he was afraid that the workers might steal the things. To save the find, he ordered them to go to lunch earlier than usual, and when everyone had left, he personally, at the risk of his life - since the wall under which he had to dig threatened to collapse every minute - began the excavation. And he actually found and preserved for science a rich treasure, consisting of copper, silver and gold vessels of various shapes and sizes. In one vase lay two magnificent tiaras and many small gold items, a headband, many earrings and bracelets, and two goblets. The treasure also included bronze weapons.

Section of buildings on Hisarlik: 1 - original hill; 2 - an ancient city, mistaken by Schliemann for Troy; 3 - Homeric Troy, discovered by Dörpfeld; 4 - Greek city from the beginning of our era.

"Gold-abundant Mycenae"

Mycenae plays a prominent role in the legendary history of Greece. According to legend, Mycenae was built by the mythical hero Perseus, and the builders were the mythical Cyclops giants - with one eye on their forehead. All the poetic legends of the Greeks speak of the former glory, wealth and power of Mycenae, and Homer directly calls Mycenae “abundant with gold.” According to legend, Mycenae was the center of a strong and wealthy kingdom, ruled by powerful rulers. Schliemann's excavations confirmed all this.

The ruins of Mycenae have long been known: the remains of walls made of colossal stones, with the famous “Lion Gate” and a domed tomb called the “Treasury of King Atreus”.

Schliemann began his excavations at the site of the proposed acropolis, because legends say that it was there that the graves of the Mycenaean kings were located. A few weeks after the first blows of the spade were heard, inside the acropolis, a whole world of a new, as yet unknown culture opened up before Schliemann’s eyes. The graves contained up to seventeen buried bodies, which were literally littered with jewelry. There were golden masks that covered the faces of the dead, tiaras, breastplates, baldrics, golden plaques that decorated clothes, rings, bracelets, weapons, many metal and clay vessels, images of bull heads and various animals, several golden idols, swords with inlays and golden goblets with images of bulls, birds and fish.

One golden goblet on a high stem was decorated with two doves. Looking at it, Schliemann remembered that a similar vessel was described by Homer in the Iliad:

“I placed a wonderful cup that Nelid brought with me.
Studded with gold nails, he had four
Pens; and near each of the gold there are two doves
It’s as if they were pecking at grains.”

Schliemann's findings exceeded all expectations. What was previously recognized only as poetic fiction turned out to be reality! Legends about the wealth and power of Mycenae not only found full confirmation, but turned out to be even weaker than reality.

Equally significant and interesting were Schliemann’s excavations in Tiryns, a city called “fortified” by Homer. According to legend, Tiryns was also a construction of the Cyclops. Having risen, Mycenae eclipsed its former glory. The ruins of Tiryns were piles of stones, even more colossal than those at Mycenae.

Tiryns, like Mycenae, was built on a hill, the top of which was surrounded by thick fortress walls 20 meters high. They were made of stone blocks weighing from 3 to 13 tons. In some places the thickness of the walls reached 8 meters. Within the walls there was a network of galleries and chambers with pointed vaults that served as food warehouses. In the Tiryns palace, as in Mycenaean, there was a central room where meetings of the king with the nobility and magnificent feasts took place; Homer called it the “chamber of feasts.” Then there was a male half of the premises, a female half, a room that served as a bathhouse, the floor of which consisted of a solid stone slab weighing 20 tons. Clay water pipes were also found here.

Without inspired faith in what Homer described, Schliemann would not have made his great discoveries! He could not have done what he did, he could not have lifted the veil over ancient history! He opened a new horizon for us, discovered a still unknown Aegean culture only because he believed in the authenticity of ancient legends!

Truly one of the greatest creations of antiquity, Homer’s epic poem “The Iliad,” delights scientists who puzzle over its mysteries, and instills horror in students who are faced with the fate of becoming closely acquainted with this cultural heritage. Only a select few and those who are especially stubborn read it to the end. And there is a simple explanation for this - not only have millennia passed since the poem was written, and the style of speech has changed greatly, as a result of which it is difficult for a modern reader to perceive the language of the work, but hexameter, incredible descriptions and sudden changes in action also add obstacles. Thanks to this, it is quite difficult to carry out a storyline or understand who is on whose side. But probably! Therefore, let's try to understand one of the most interesting aspects of the poem - mythological. What and who is behind this, and whose side he takes in the Trojan War.

Even those people who have no idea that the Iliad exists, one way or another, know about the myths of Ancient Greece. And the Homeric poem included the myths of the so-called “Trojan cycle”. In ancient times, the Greeks believed that all their earthly affairs, the lives of every person, were influenced by the gods. Therefore, they revered them, made sacrifices to them, and built temples. So it is not surprising that gods are woven into the narrative telling about the historical battle of the Achaeans (Greeks) and Ilionians (Trojans), sometimes helping and sometimes harming the warriors. The Trojan battle did not leave many gods indifferent.

The role of Thetis

First of all, it is worth mentioning the sea nymph Thetis, the mother of Achilles, who was, in particular, on the side of her son, the Achaean. She made the mighty Zeus promise that the Achaeans would suffer defeats until they compensated her son for full moral damages for the offense caused (we are talking about the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles over the captives Chryseis and Briseis, after which Achilles refuses to continue fighting together ).

Zeus in the fight against overpopulation of the Earth

Of course, the supreme god Zeus, who generally takes a neutral position, made a great contribution to the Trojan War. His goal was to help the Earth, which was burdened by a large population (which asked him to reduce the number of people), so I think he didn’t care who to remove, the main thing was to meet the standards. But since he also made a promise to Thetis - to ruin the lives of the Achaeans for her insulted son, the Thunderer kills two birds with one stone. Therefore, to a greater extent, he helps the Trojans, and forbids other gods to interfere in the war. Several particularly significant points can be attributed to his “merits”:

At the behest of the Thunderer, Sleep inspires Agamemnon at night that he can cope with Troy without Achilles, as a result of which he decides to send his weakened army to battle again.
When Hector is wounded and discouraged, Zeus sends Apollo to his aid to give him strength and courage to fight on.
Sends Eris (goddess of discord and chaos) to Odysseus’s ship so that with her cry she inspires courage and the desire to fight further in the Achaeans.
With Iris (goddess of the rainbow and messenger of Olympus) sends a message to Hector so that he does not enter into battle, but only inspires his troops until Agamemnon is wounded.
Zeus determines the outcome of the war with the help of golden scales, on which he casts lots of death. The outcome is that the Trojans are destined to lose this war, and Hector is destined to die.

Despite the fact that Zeus is depicted as a great, brilliant and powerful god, who seems to be in control of everything, in reality he turns out to be not so omnipotent. At times, doubts, impulsiveness, or even illogicality creep into his actions. He cannot even keep track of what is happening on Olympus in his absence, and, even knowing the treachery of his wife, he still falls for her deception.

Hera and her contribution to the fate of Ilion

The beautiful wife of the Thunderer Hera does not want to just watch how the Achaeans suffer failures one after another, because for some time now she has not favored the Trojans (Paris awarded the golden apple in the dispute between the three goddesses to Aphrodite, and not to her, which greatly hurt her pride). Unlike other gods, she does not appear during battle, but invariably uses her proven weapons - cunning, deception and beauty. To allow the Achaeans to win, she builds an insidious plan - to charm, seduce and finally put Zeus to sleep, who is watching the battle from the high mountain of Ida. To do this, she enlists the support of Poseidon, who enters the battle on the side of the Achaeans, tricks Aphrodite into borrowing a magic belt of seduction, and persuades Dream to put Zeus to sleep. This helps the Achaeans for a while, but only until Zeus, awakened from a sweet dream, again takes the situation into his own hands.

Fear and Loathing of Athena

The goddess of wisdom and just war, Athena, for the same reason as Hera, fights on the side of the Achaeans. Among them, she especially singles out Odysseus and Achilles, for the sake of whose victory she takes far from the most fair measures. Some of them look petty and mean:

During one of the battles, she allows herself to attack Ares and Aphrodite, in addition throwing a couple of insults at them.
Stops Achilles when he wants to kill Agamemnon after that fateful quarrel over the captives.
Incites Pandarus to shoot Menelaus with a bow when the parties were about to separate. This started the war further.
Periodically helps Diomedes, healing him every now and then, in addition giving his divine permission to wound Aphrodite on the battlefield, which he, in fact, does, while Ares also gets it from him.
Periodically helps the cunning Odysseus.
Saves Achilles from Hector's spear.
And then the same Achilles helps kill Hector.

Aphrodite on the warpath

It would seem that what should the goddess of beauty and love, the beautiful Aphrodite, do in war? But there was also a place for her there - on the side of the Ilions. During the decisive duel between Menelaus and Paris, seeing how her favorite is losing, she takes Paris away from the battlefield, no matter how ironic it may sound - straight into the bedroom, where he and Helen, as if nothing had happened, will indulge in love. That's why she's Aphrodite.

Like a true loving mother, she saves her son Aeneas, who was wounded by Diomedes, by asking Apollo to move him from the battlefield. Then Diomedes, inspired by Athena, wounds her too.

Apollo even sent a pestilence

Everyone knows that the god of music and art Apollo is an excellent archer, and he repeatedly used this skill on the battlefield, helping the soldiers of Troy. At the very beginning of the poem, the angry god, with the help of arrows, sends a pestilence to the Achaean army for the insult caused to his priest Chryses (Agamemnon refused to give Chrys his daughter even for a ransom).

Especially often on the battlefield he helps his favorite Hector, until the scales of fate pronounce his death. He played the main role in the murder of Patroclus by Hector, leaving the Achaean terrified and practically unarmed.

Poseidon wants, but cannot

The Supreme God of the Seas behaves rather ambiguously, but he can be understood and forgiven! With all his heart he wants to help the Achaeans, but nervously walks from corner to corner and cannot choose between his pride of divine proportions, which prompts him to be a little more decisive and intervene in the battle, and prudence, which he also has enough not to run into the divine the wrath of his elder brother Zeus. This Hera also muddies the waters - go, she says, help the Achaeans, how many sacrifices and gifts they presented to you, how can you stay on the sidelines! To which the ruler of the seas irritably replies that let none of the immortals even think of contradicting the supreme god Zeus, he said not to interfere - we won’t interfere! Sad, he sat to the side, looked at the battle, saw how the valiant Achaeans were dying, and then he began to boil! Why is he worse than Zeus?! Because he was born a little later, or because his lot fell to rule the sea?! So Poseidon decided that he had the right to the role of the supreme god no less than the Thunderer, and no one could forbid him to make his own decisions! It was with such pleasant thoughts that the sea rebel set off to raise the completely fallen spirit of the Achaeans, just as he had just raised his own. In the guise of a scout, he walked among the Achaeans, and with his pathetic speeches he repeatedly helped them gain an advantage over the Trojans. But then Zeus, deceived by his beloved wife, wakes up and sends Poseidon a message - leave the battle or you will fight with me! The rebellious spirit and self-esteem had not yet left the sea lord, and he almost ran into divine wrath, shouting that even with such fervor Zeus teaches his children what to do and what not, but Iris appeals to his prudence. Poseidon, having submitted, goes home, finally offendedly threatening that if Zeus does not allow Troy to be destroyed later, he will make an enemy in the person of the immortal sea god. The last word remained with Poseidon, a small victory, but a victory!

Mars: he is not he when he is hungry

Despite the fact that the god of war is the most impulsive, violent and bloodthirsty, in the Iliad his image is so pitiful that it is even ridiculous. He looks like a stupid lout who gets punches from one side or the other, and not like a majestic god and an invincible warrior. He helps the Trojans in every possible way and raises their warlike spirit. But either he gets bruises from Athena, or he gets wounded from some mere mortal Diomedes. And most importantly, he cries about this misunderstanding to his father Zeus, but he only gets annoyed with him.

The similarity between the ancient gods and people in Homer’s poem is striking: they are also subject to passions, they can be cruel, treacherous, vengeful and pitiful, or generous and kind. They have fun at feasts, weave intrigues, quarrel with each other over little things, and make mistakes. They have their own weaknesses, attachments and personality. In a word, they are no better than people, and to some extent even worse. They are saved from eternal boredom only by the people whose destinies they play with. Having elevated themselves above the world, they only crave worship and submission to their will; there is an emptiness inside them that cannot be filled, and therefore they often do not care how many people die at their hands. And despite everything, they remain gods - they have supernatural powers, beauty and eternal life.

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From the book New materials for the modern history of the Slavs in general and the Slavic-Russians before Rurik’s time in particular with a light outline of the history of the Russians before Christmas author Klassen Egor Ivanovich

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6. Medieval traces of the “ancient” Homer in the XIII-XIV centuries The famous medieval family of Saint Omer = Saint Homer The Trojan War is inextricably linked with the legendary name of Homer, who allegedly first sang it in immortal poems. But since the Trojan War happened,

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From the book World History. Volume 3 Age of Iron author Badak Alexander Nikolaevich

“Iliad” and “Odyssey” The poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey” were created on the basis of a popular cycle of works about the war of the allied leaders of the Greek (Achaean) tribes against Troy. The name of these epic works is directly related to the content of the poems. So the name of the first "Iliad"

From the book History and Theory of Religions author Pankin S F

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§ 22. The Trojan War in Homer’s poem “The Iliad” The greatest poet of Ancient Greece After the invasion of the northern conquerors, Greece was thrown back in its development. But the Greeks forever preserved the memory of the glorious past. Many things were passed down from mouth to mouth, from father to son.

From the book General History. Ancient world history. 5th grade author Selunskaya Nadezhda Andreevna

§ 23. Homer’s poem “Odyssey” Cunning OdysseusThe Trojan War continued for many years. The Achaeans managed to take Troy only thanks to the resourcefulness of King Odysseus, the ruler of the small island of Ithaca. One dark night they boarded ships and sailed from the shores of Troy.

. The Greeks had already spent nine years near Troy amid battles and raids. The fateful tenth year comes, the year of deciding the fate of the besieged city (see Trojan War), when suddenly the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles over the possession of the beautiful captive Briseis gives a new turn to the course of affairs. Insulted in a sense of honor and love, the angry Achilles remains with his ships near the seashore and no longer goes out to battle with the Trojans. With tears, he complains to his mother, the goddess Thetis, about the insult he has suffered, and she prays to the heavenly king Zeus to send victory to the Trojans until the Achaeans honor her son. Zeus nods his head in agreement - nods so that his fragrant curls scatter and the heights of Olympus tremble and shake.

Trojan War. Iliad. Video tutorial

The Trojans, led by the brilliant Hector, soon gain the upper hand over their Greek enemies; They not only confront those in the open field near the walls of their city, they push them back even into the ship camp, fortified with a ditch and rampart. Threatened with death, Hector stands at the very ditch and longs to defeat the last stronghold of the enemy.

In vain now the leader of the Greeks Agamemnon extends the hand of reconciliation to the angry Achilles; he is ready to give him Briseis, with seven other girls and various jewelry in addition. Achilles remains unshakable: “Even if he offers me all the treasures stored in the rich Orkhomenes or in Egyptian Thebes, even then I will not change my intentions until he completely erases my shame,” he answers the envoys of Agamemnon.

The pressure of enemies is becoming more and more menacing. No matter how bravely the Achaeans defend the fortification, Hector finally crushes the gate with a huge block of stone. The Achaeans fall like felled ash trees under the blows of the Trojans. The ship of the hero Protesilaus is already on fire and threatens to set fire to the rest of the Hellenic fleet. Confusion and noise fill the entire Hellenic camp.

Then his best friend hurries to Achilles Patroclus. “You,” says Patroclus, “were not brought into the world by Peleus and Thetis, but by the dark abyss and the above-water rocks: your heart is as insensitive as stone.” With tears, he asks Achilles for permission to take his armor and go out with it into battle at the head of his tribe, the Myrmidons, so that the Trojans, mistaking him for Pelidas himself, would no longer dare to press on the ships. Achilles agrees, but on the condition that Patroclus only drives the enemy beyond the fortress moat, and then immediately returns.

In the heat of battle, Patroclus pursues the fleeing Trojans to the very city walls and causes terrible devastation. But disarmed and fogged by the patron of Troy, the god Apollo, pierced by Hector's spear, he falls into the dust. With difficulty they save his corpse and bring it to the Greek camp; Patroclus' weapons and armor become the spoils of the winner.

Achilles’ grief for his fallen comrade, a meek, dear hero, is endless. Achilles wants to rest next to his friend in the burial mound. With fear, Thetis hears the mournful cry of her dear son in the depths of the sea and hurries with her sisters to the Trojan shore. “Didn’t Zeus do for you everything you asked him to do?” - she says to her crying son. And he replies that life is not sweet to him until Hector falls to dust in front of him, pierced by his heavy spear.

Achilles burns with the thought of revenge. While Thetis hurries to Hephaestus to get a new weapon from him for her son, the battle is again approaching the ships. But Achilles shouts three times across the ditch in his loud voice, and the frightened Trojans immediately fled. Contrary to the advice of Polydamus, the Trojans, at the call of Hector, spend the night near the sentry fires in the open field.

At dawn, Achilles, in new weapons and with a shield of many craftsmanship, rushes towards their camp, waving a heavy spear made of strong ash. The destroyer is terribly raging among the Trojan regiments: he fills the Scamander River with corpses, so that the waves are saturated with blood and turn purple. At the sight of such trouble, the Trojan king Priam He orders the guards to open the gates to those running, but not to let go of the gates, so that Achilles does not burst into the city. Hector alone remains outside the gate, not heeding the requests of his pleading parents who look at him from above the tower. However, when Achilles appears with a terrible ash spear on his mighty shoulder, Hector’s heart trembles, and he runs around the wall of Troy three times in fear.

Zeus feels sorry for the knight pursued by Achilles: Hector always honored him with sacrifices and prayers. Zeus weighs the lot of both on the golden scales of fate, but Hector's cup falls down. Achilles overtakes him, pierces him with a spear, ties him with his feet to a chariot, so that Hector’s beautiful head drags in the dust, and drives the horses to the ships amid pitiful cries from the walls of Troy.

Achilles wants Hector's body to decay unburied, and Patroclus arranges a magnificent funeral, burning twelve captured Trojans along with his body at the stake for the repose of the fallen hero.

Achilles drags the body of the murdered Hector along the ground

Once again Achilles takes out his anger on the lifeless Hector; he drags his corpse three times around the grave of his comrade. But the gods pour pity into his heart. At night, Hector’s father, Priam, comes to Achilles’ tent with rich gifts, and hugging his knees, reminds him that he also has an old father far away.

Melancholy and sorrow take possession of the soul of the Greek hero. Tears and deep sadness about the lot of all earthly things lighten the burden of grief for Patroclus, which had hitherto weighed on his chest. Achilles gives the elderly Priam the body of his son, which the gods have preserved from decay, to bury.

The Trojans mourn their hero in mournful songs for ten days, and then they burn his body, collect the ashes in an urn and lower it into the grave ditch.