Homer's epics Iliad and Odysseus (also translated as Iliad and Odyssey) are the earliest two literary works in ancient Greece and the earliest important works in the history of European literature. ?
There has been a lot of debate about its author and formation process. At present, the consensus view is this:?
At the beginning of BC12nd century, a tribal war lasted for ten years in Troy, Asia Minor. After the war, there appeared many songs and legends about the war in Asia Minor and Greece, most of which mainly praised the heroes in the war. These songs are handed down from generation to generation by folk singers. In the ninth and eighth centuries BC, a folk blind singer named Homer, with his superb artistic talent, processed and arranged these long-standing folk songs and compiled two complete long poems. This is the origin of the name "Homer's epic". ?
However, the epic at this time only existed in the form of oral folk songs. Epic became a literary work in the 6th century BC. At that time, scholars in Athens recorded this epic at the request of Consul Petratu, and made it basically finalized. After a long period of spread and evolution, it was finally compiled by scholars in Alexandria, Egypt from the third century BC to the second century BC. At that time, due to the rise of the Kingdom of Macedonia, Greece became a part of its territory, and the cultural center was transferred from Athens to Alexandria. )?
It can be seen that the writing of Homer's epic has experienced a long historical process from the late Greek clan society to the decline of slave society. It is not Homer's personal creation, but based on folk songs, formed by the combination of collective and individual wisdom, and finally compiled by scholars. ?
The main plot of Homer's epic?
The Trojan War described in Homer's epic has been confirmed by archaeological excavations. Troy, located on the northwest coast of Asia Minor, was once an important cultural center during the Aegean civilization, with rich products and prosperous business. At the beginning of BC12nd century, some tribes with relatively backward cultural development on the Greek Peninsula once formed a joint army and crossed the Aegean Sea to attack Troy. The war lasted for ten years and ended in burning Troy. Historically, this was a tribal war launched by the ancient Greeks in the late clan society to plunder wealth and slaves. But in Homer's epic, this war is a different scene, with a strong color of myths and legends, which is naturally inseparable from the prosperity of myths in the history of early Greek civilization. ?
When the parents of Achilles, the main hero of Ilion, held a wedding, they forgot to invite Eris, the goddess of discord. The goddess waited for revenge and threw a "golden apple of discord" at the banquet, which read "For the most beautiful goddess". Hera, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, really fought for each other. Zeus, the king of the gods, told them to go to Paris, the prince of Troy, to judge. All three goddesses promised Paris the greatest benefit. Hera made him the greatest king, Athena the bravest warrior and Aphrodite the most beautiful wife. Paris gave Aphrodite the Golden Apple Award. The goddess kept her promise and helped Paris kidnap the beautiful Helen, the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, and took away a lot of wealth. Greek tribes decided to crusade, elected Agamemnon, the younger brother of Menelaus and king of Mycenae as the leader, and organized 100000 troops and1000 warships to cross the sea to attack Troy. The war lasted for more than nine years, with the help of the gods, but Troy was never broken. ?
In the tenth year, the Greek army was fighting. Agamemnon, as the head coach, arrogantly took away a female prisoner of Achilles, the most intrepid leader, and Achilles went on strike in anger. The story of the Ilion begins with the anger of Achilles, focusing on what happened on May1day in the tenth year (the whole poem * * * line 15693, volume 24). ?
Because the Greek army lost its bravest general, they could not resist the fierce offensive of the Trojan army led by Hecktor, the brother of Paris, and retreated all the way to the seaside. Agamemnon tried to reconcile with Achilles and asked him to take part in the war, but he was rejected. At this time, Achilles' friend Patroclus saw that the Greek army was about to collapse, so he borrowed Achilles' armor and killed it on the battlefield, repelling the Trojan attack, but was killed by Hecktor himself. Achilles was heartbroken when he heard the news. Regretting his loyalty, he returned to the battlefield in a rage, killed Hecktor and dragged the body behind the chariot. Later, Hecktor's father, Priam, the old king of Troy, redeemed his son's body from Achilles. There is a temporary truce between the two sides. The Pharaoh of Troy held a grand funeral for Hecktor. "Ilianji" came to an abrupt end here. ?
But the war is not over yet. Later, Achilles was shot dead by Paris with an arrow. The Greek army was replaced by two other leaders: the brave Ajax and the resourceful Odysseus. Ajax and Odysseus failed in the battle for Achilles' armor, so he committed suicide in anger. Finally, Odysseus made a Trojan horse plan, abandoned the Trojan horse with an ambush outside Troy, and withdrew under the pretence. The Trojans pushed Troy's horses into the city. That night, the Greek army attacked Troy from the inside. The war that lasted for ten years is finally over. The leaders of the Greek army who had been in exile for a long time returned home with looted property and prisoners. Odysseus and his companions also embarked on a journey back to their hometown of Ithaca. Another epic centered on Odysseus' maritime adventures, Odysseus, began (full poem * * * 12 1? Five elements, 24 volumes). ?
Odysseus' trip to his hometown was extremely bumpy. He drifted at sea for another ten years. The epic adopts flashback method, first writing that he drifted to Skiri Island in the tenth year and was entertained by the local king. He told the king about his experience of drifting at sea: he met a storm at sea; Cyclops Cook swallowed his partner with a rope; Goddess Circe used witchcraft to turn other companions into pigs; He went to the ghost domain and met the dead souls of many acquaintances; Escaped from the Sai Ren demon island confused with songs; Escaped the banshee Shula and the banshee Calb Dis hidden under the whirlpool; He ran aground on an island after the ship was sunk by Zeus, and was detained by the myth of the goddess Calypso mythology for seven years before leaving. Later, he arrived in Sri Island. After hearing what happened to him, the king sent a boat to take him home. At the same time, his son Telemarco is looking for his trace everywhere; The nobles of Ithaca thought Odysseus was dead, and they were also pursuing his wife Penelope, trying to win his property and status. Penelope has been expecting her husband's return. Odysseus finally returned to Ithaca after suffering. Knowing what happened at home, he disguised himself as a beggar, sneaked into the palace, killed the suitor who occupied his palace, and finally reunited with his wife. ?
The above is the main content of Homer's epic. Through the description of war and the struggle between man and nature, the two epics highlight the valuable qualities of the ancient Greek heroes' collectivism supremacy and indomitable enterprising spirit. ?
Heroism in Homer's Epic?
Homer's epic is the product of the transition from clan commune system to slavery in ancient Greece. Most of the heroes portrayed in the epic are full of the spirit of clan heroes and the consciousness of early slave owners. ?
Achilles is brave and unstoppable; He can take care of the overall situation, forget the past and fight resolutely; He had a clear love-hate relationship and was heartbroken at the death of his best friend. After killing your opponent, drag him to the back of the chariot to vent his anger. All these reflect his true colors of heroism. However, he refused to participate in the war out of personal interests, and was unwilling to reconcile in order to show his important position, which eventually led to heavy casualties in the Greek army. This fidgety and willfulness shows his personal clan aristocratic consciousness.
In contrast, Hecktor is more heroic and collectivist. He foresaw that the polis would be destroyed, that he would be killed and that his wife would become a slave. But he resolutely went into battle on behalf of his father, took the lead, and finally shed blood on the battlefield. The description of Hecktor's farewell to his wife and the scene of mourning for her in the whole city after Illion's death have added to the tragic color of this image. ?
Odysseus is the most obvious slave owner in Homer's epic. He is the king of Ithaca and a wise and brave general in the Greek army. He has all the qualities and talents of a slave owner. He is resourceful and eloquent; He has indomitable courage, and he is determined to return to his hometown regardless of all hardships; He was single-minded about love, resisted the temptation of God, and finally returned to his wife. He cares about his subordinates, sympathizes with slaves and is loved by people. At the same time, he is also hypocritical and cunning, and he is extremely cruel to disloyal domestic slaves. ?
It can be seen that while trying to render the noble qualities of various heroes, the epic did not avoid their shortcomings, and sometimes even severely criticized them. Therefore, people have always regarded Homer's epic as the pioneer of critical realism literature. ?
It should be said that as a work formed during the transition period from ancient Greek society to slavery, the aristocratic tendency in the epic is inevitable. At that time, due to the uneven distribution of social wealth, the tendency of increasing differentiation between nobles and civilians became more and more obvious. The inviolability of personal wealth is gradually regarded as a social norm. The noble's heroic struggle for the vested interests of the group is regarded as the supreme virtue. The heroic images depicted in the epic are also the representatives of these tribal nobles. Their thoughts not only represent a positive, optimistic and enterprising attitude towards life, but also represent a social moral standard that matches the brand-new social system. ?
The Artistic Achievements of Homer's Epic
Homer's epic originated in the prosperous period of myths and legends and heroic stories in the history of ancient Greek literature. The whole work is not only rich in content and fascinating in plot, but also has reached a high level in art?
First of all, large scale and ingenious conception are a major feature of epic structure. Both epics show the social, political, economic, cultural, military and other aspects of the transitional period of ancient Greece on an unprecedented scale, covering the historical events that occurred in the past two decades. However, the epic does not directly describe its whole process, but adopts a highly concentrated and generalized creative technique, which not only highlights the key points, but also takes into account the overall situation. Based on Achilles' anger twice, The Ilion highly concentrated the plot in the fifty-one days of the last year of the war, but only described what happened in nine days. Odysseus first describes Odysseus' 42-day experience at sea before returning to his hometown Ithaca, and then shows his 10-year experience at sea in flashback. At the same time, with Tremaco looking for his father and family reunion as a clue, the whole article echoes from beginning to end and is seamless. This structural layout makes the plot of the whole poem fascinating and full of drama. ?
Secondly, epic is written in natural and plain spoken language, using a lot of expressive skills of oral art, such as exaggeration, contrast, metaphor, fixed modifiers, rhetoric and so on. The application of these artistic techniques is inseparable from its structural characteristics of taking the overall situation into account and highlighting key points. Exaggeration, contrast, metaphor and other techniques run through, making the whole poem magnificent and heroic; It is also expressive when portraying characters, such as using the surprised expressions and whispering actions of the elders when they see Helen to contrast their amazing beauty, and using the eagle chasing pigeons to compare Achilles' pursuit of Hecktor. At the same time, the use of fixed modifiers effectively highlights the personality characteristics of characters, such as "agile Achilles" and "resourceful Odysseus". The use of repeated idioms reflects the characteristics of works originated from oral art, which is conducive to deepening the impression and forming a sense of rhythm. According to statistics, the whole poem repeats about 9000 lines, accounting for one-third of the length of the whole poem. In a word, the reason why the whole work has epic momentum and can create vivid characters is precisely because of the introduction of folk oral art?
Thirdly, the unique rhythm of poetry itself and the rich imagination derived from myths and legends greatly enhance the appeal of the works. Epic adopts short verse style, six steps and no rhyme ending, which makes the whole poem full of rhythm and elasticity. Ancient Greek mythology itself contains colorful imagination. Integrating them into poems with unique expressive force adds romanticism to the whole poem on the basis of realism. ?
Since ancient times, Homer's epic has been regarded as the epitome of ancient Greek culture. In this work, people can not only enjoy colorful myths and legends and magnificent heroic stories, but also learn a lot of knowledge about astronomy, geography, history and philosophy, which can be used as a model for literary creation. Since the fifth century BC, people have been reciting Homer's epic at the celebrations held every four years in Athens, ancient Greece. Many famous writers in later generations, such as Virgil, Dante, Milton, Goethe, etc. Draw creative materials from the epic and stimulate creative inspiration. The great influence of Homer's epic in the history of European literature and cultural development will make it irreplaceable forever.