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BLOOD, HONOUR AND STATUS IN ODYSSEY 11*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2014

Bridget Martin
Bridget Martin*
Affiliation:
University College Dublin
*
bridget.martin@ucd.ie
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Extract

During the necromantic ceremony in Odyssey 11 Odysseus slits the throats of two sheep and then proceeds to drain their blood into the βόθρος, or pit, which he has dug in the ground (Od. 11.35–6). At this point in the ceremony the dead swarm up from the Underworld, displaying an innate attraction to the blood (Od. 11.36–7). Such is the overwhelming response of the dead that Odysseus must draw his sword in order to hold back the multitudes who clamour to drink the offering (Od. 11.48–50). Odysseus refuses to allow the dead to approach the blood until Tiresias has drunk the offering and offered a prophecy for the future (Od. 11.95–6). After Tiresias has concluded his prophecy for Odysseus some of the other dead step forward and drink the blood, but to what end? Odysseus does not seek prophecies from these figures, nor do they produce any, which means that their reason for desiring and drinking the blood must lie elsewhere.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 64 , Issue 1 , May 2014 , pp. 1 - 12
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 2014 

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Footnotes

*

This article is an extension of §§4 and 5 of ch. 1 of my dissertation: B. Martin, ‘The return of the dead in Greek tragedy’ (Diss., University College Dublin, 2012). This particular chapter examined the awareness of the dead in the Homeric Underworld. I offer my sincere gratitude to the anonymous reader for this article who provided many helpful comments and suggestions. I am also indebted to Michael Lloyd for his help with the theories from their earliest conception. All errors that remain are my own.

References

1 The fact that Odysseus must produce his sword in order to protect the blood from the incorporeal dead is something of an anomaly. Ogden, D., Greek and Roman Necromancy (Princeton, 2001), 180–3Google Scholar theorizes that the sword is a ‘protective amulet’ or that it could be viewed as a variant of the ῥάβδος used by Hermes to conduct the souls to the Underworld and therefore unconnected with the physical abilities of the dead. It may also be suggested, however, that the dead remember the danger of a sword during life and so retain a fear of it in death, thus displaying the continuance of their memory and awareness after death (a theory for which I am indebted to Michael Lloyd).

2 Burkert, W., Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical, tr. Raffan, J. (Oxford, 1985)Google Scholar, 196; see also Albinus, L., The House of Hades: Studies in Ancient Greek Eschatology (Oxford, 2000), 49–50.Google Scholar

3 Heubeck, A. and Hoekstra, A., A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey, Vol. II, Books IX–XVI (Oxford, 1989), 86Google Scholar, on Od. 11.144–9.

4 Nilsson, M.P., Geschichte der griechischen Religion: Die Religion Griechenlands bis auf die griechische Weltherrschaft, Bd. 1 (Munich, 1992)Google Scholar, 177.

5 Rohde, E., Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality among the Greeks, tr. Hillis, W.B. (New York, 1925), 1.36–7Google Scholar; Vermeule, E., Aspects of Death in Early Greek Art and Poetry (Berkeley, 1979)Google Scholar, 23; Hentze, C., Homers Odyssee (Amsterdam, 1964)Google Scholar, 146, on Od. 11.148.

6 Johnston, S.I., Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece (Berkeley, 1999)Google Scholar, 8.

7 Garland, R., The Greek Way of Death (Ithaca, NY, 1985)Google Scholar, 2; Bouvier, D., ‘La mémoire et la mort dans l'épopée homérique’, Kernos 12 (1999), 57–71CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 61 and n. 13; Ogden (n. 1), xxiv; Büchner, W., ‘Probleme der Homerischen Nekyia’, Hermes 72 (1937), 104–22Google Scholar, at 111–12.

8 Heath, J., ‘Blood for the dead: Homeric ghosts speak up’, Hermes 133 (2005), 389–400Google Scholar. For a detailed examination of the vocal abilities of the dead see Stramaglia, A., ‘Le voci dei fantasmi’, in De Martino, F. and Sommerstein, A.H. (edd.), Lo spettacolo delle voci (Bari, 1995), 193–228Google Scholar. Although Stramaglia does not fully question the vocal abilities of the Homeric dead in Odyssey 11 and the necessity of blood in relation to this, he does state that necromancers may overcome the silence of the dead through blood offerings (204–5).

9 Eisenberger, H., Studien zur Odyssee (Wiesbaden, 1973)Google Scholar, 174 suggests that Odysseus’ question to Tiresias is formulated for no other reason than to explain the use of the blood as, first, Odysseus seems to ignore the fact that he himself prevented his mother from approaching the blood and, secondly, because Tiresias does not specifically refer to Anticlea in his answer but rather to the dead in general.

10 Sourvinou-Inwood, C., ‘Reading’ Greek Death: To the End of the Classical Period (Oxford, 1995)Google Scholar, 813.

11 Macchioro, V.D., ‘La catabasi orfica’, CPh 23 (1928), 239–49Google Scholar, at 241–2. Macchioro names the two narratives A and B (A is identified as the original Homeric Nekuia and B as an interpolation which is Orphic in origin), and divides them as follows: Narrative A: lines 51–234, 358–537, 627–35; Narrative B: lines 235–327, 538–626. It is difficult to make this distinction commensurate with the drinking of the blood. The lines which Macchioro identifies as Narrative A, wherein the dead are pale shadows in need of blood, include Elpenor and Achilles who do not drink. Similarly, the lines identified as Narrative B include the parade of women who are explicitly described by Odysseus as approaching – although, admittedly, not drinking – the blood (11.228–34).

12 Büchner (n. 7), 111–12.

13 Clarke, M., Flesh and Spirit in the Songs of Homer: A Study of Words and Myths (Oxford, 1999)Google Scholar, 189 n. 67.

14 Heath (n. 8), 391–3. See also Tsagarakis, O., Studies in Odyssey 11 (Stuttgart, 2000), 108–9Google Scholar n. 456, who suggests that the dead can display emotion only after tasting the blood but that the ‘story-teller did not have to remind his audience of this once he has made the point clear’.

15 Vermeule (n. 5), 29.

16 Sourvinou-Inwood (n. 10), 81–2.

17 For a description of the traditional offerings made at graves and the symbolism of these offerings see Alexiou, M., The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition (Oxford, 2002 2), 7–10.Google Scholar

18 There is a plethora of scholarly publications on Homeric and general Greek eschatology; some of the more pertinent ones in relation to the discussion of this article are: Rohde (n. 5), 3–54; Vermeule (n. 5), 1–41; Sourvinou-Inwood, C., ‘To die and enter the House of Hades: Homer, before and after’, in Whaley, J. (ed.), Mirrors of Mortality: Studies in the Social History of Death (London, 1981), 15–39Google Scholar; ead. (n. 10), 17–107; Bremmer, J., The Early Greek Concept of the Soul (Princeton, 1983)Google Scholar; id., ‘The soul, death and the afterlife in Early and Classical Greece’, in Bremer, J.M. et al. (edd.), Hidden Futures: Death and Immortality in Ancient Egypt, Anatolia, the Classical, Biblical and Arabic-Islamic World (Amsterdam, 1994), 91–106Google Scholar; Burkert (n. 2); Nilsson (n. 4), esp. 192–7; Zaborowski, R., ‘Meandres de la psychologie homerique: le cas d'Ajax’, Organon 34 (2005), 5–20Google Scholar; Albinus (n. 2); Tsagarakis (n. 14), 105–19.

19 This explains why Anticlea, Agamemnon and Achilles must ask for news of their still living loved ones, suggesting that their knowledge in this regard is extremely limited (Od. 11.174–9, 457–61, 492–7) but they are obviously aware of the actions which are performed in their honour, as indicated by their response to Odysseus’ ceremony. This combination of awareness and ignorance is also found later in Greek tragedy, most obviously with Darius in Aeschylus' Persians. While Darius is ignorant of the current fate of Persia (Aesch. Pers. 715) he is very much aware of the gifts which Atossa and the Persian Elders poured in his honour (ibid. 685).

20 Johnston (n. 6), 8. Tsagarakis (n. 14), 108 similarly does not view the reaction of the dead to the blood as an indication of innate awareness as he states it is doubtful whether ‘the “urge” of the ghosts to drink blood presupposes “drives” and “capabilities” of bodily beings that contradict the view of a shadowy existence’.

21 See e.g. Eisenberger (n. 9), 187 and Burkert (n. 2), 196 who states that as ‘images crystallised in memory psychai may persist in their activity of life or situation of death’.

22 I discuss the theory of the status of the dead in the Underworld and how it is affected by the absence of burial rites and honour in a more general sense in B. Martin, ‘The mutilation and non-burial of the dead in Homer's Iliad’, Dublin Death Studies 1 (forthcoming). This article considers the various consequences of the denial of burial (including the reduction of status for the deceased in the world of the living as well as the dead) in order to determine the source of the popularity of non-burial and mutilation as a threat and punishment in the Iliad.

23 Schmiel, R., ‘Achilles in Hades’, CPh 82 (1987), 35–7Google Scholar, at 37.

24 Schmiel (n. 23), 36. The other three instances are Il. 23.592–5; Od. 3.232–5, 16.106–7.

25 Martin (n. 22).

26 See Dodds, E.R., The Greeks and the Irrational (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1951), 104–5Google Scholar for a discussion on dream figures.

27 For examples where γέρας is used to mean a special prize or status see Il. 1.118, 120, 123, 133, 135, 138, 276, 356, 507; 2.240; 4.323; 9.111, 344, 422; 16.54, 56; 18.444; 19.89; 20.182; Od. 7.10, 150; 11.175, 184, 534; 15.522; 20.297. For a discussion on the relationship between the term γέρας and burial rites see Redfield, J.M., Nature and Culture in the Iliad: The Tragedy of Hector (Chicago, 1975)Google Scholar, 175 and Garland, R., ‘Geras thanontôn: an investigation into the claims of the Homeric dead’, BICS 29 (1982), 69–80Google Scholar. Martin (n. 22) looks in detail at the threat of non-burial in Homer.

28 For the belief that non-burial presents a barrier in admittance to the Underworld see e.g. Sourvinou-Inwood (n. 18), 18; ead., ‘A trauma in flux: death in the 8th century and after’, in Hägg, R. (ed.), The Greek Renaissance of the Eighth Century B.C.: Tradition and Innovation (Stockholm, 1983), 33–49Google Scholar, at 36; Sourvinou-Inwood (n. 10), 63; Vermeule (n. 5), 12; Bremmer (n. 18 [1983]), 89–108; Griffin, J., Homer on Life and Death (Oxford, 1980)Google Scholar, 47; Bouvier (n. 7), 63.

29 Martin (n. 22). van Gennep, A., The Rites of Passage, tr. Vizedom, M.B. and Caffee, G.L. (Chicago, 1960)Google Scholar; see also Hertz, R., ‘A contribution to the study of the collective representation of death’, in id., Death and the Right Hand, tr. R. and Needham, C. (Aberdeen, 1960), 27–86.Google Scholar

30 Van Gennep (n. 29), 11.

31 Ibid. 146–65.

32 Leaf, W., The Iliad, Vol. II, Books XIII–XXIV (London, 1888)Google Scholar, 385 n. 71 posits that the phrase ‘εὐρυπυλὲς Ἄϊδος δῶ’ (Il. 23.74) may be translated as the ‘threshold’ of the house of Hades, and as such does not necessarily mean that they are in the Underworld proper. This, however, seems unlikely. He states that it is used to mean this in its usage in Od. 11.568–71 in the description of Minos passing judgment on the dead but I see no reason to translate it in this manner in either instance.

33 Martin (n. 22).

34 Cf. Aesch. Cho. 345–62.

35 Vernant, J.-P., ‘A “beautiful death” and the disfigured corpse in Homeric epic’, in id., Mortals and Immortals: Collected Essays, ed. Zeitlin, F.I. (Princeton, 1991), 50–74Google Scholar, at 50 says of the kalos thanatos: ‘The Iliad calls aneres (andres) those men who are in the fullness of their masculine nature, both male and courageous, who have a particular way of dying in battle, at the acme of their lives. As if it were an initiation, such a death endows the warrior with the set of qualities, honors, and values for which the elite, the aristoi, compete throughout their lives.’

36 Heath (n. 8), 395–6.

37 See e.g. Macchioro (n. 11), 239 and Bouvier (n. 7), 63, who suggests that Elpenor here and Patroclus in Iliad 23 occupy ‘une zone intermédiaire’ in which they are ‘en pleine possession de leur mémoire et de leur conscience’. Tsagarakis (n. 14), 117–18 with n. 510 views Elpenor as a product of the ‘older concepts of the corporeal existence of the dead’ in Odyssey 11 whereby as long as he remains unburied he may be considered to be ‘real’ and so does not need the blood in order to speak. As soon as he has been buried, however, he will enter the Underworld proper and lose this awareness. Clarke (n. 13), 189 n. 67, on the other hand, categorically denies that Elpenor is at ‘some intermediate stage of admission to the afterlife’ or that his request for burial alludes to any effect which this may have upon his life in the Underworld.

38 Vernant (n. 35), 68–9 suggests that the erection of a tomb and being memorialized in epic song are the two necessities in order for a warrior's exploits to remain in societal memory. See also Bouvier (n. 7), esp. 62–8 for a discussion on the importance and attainment of memory for the dead, although I cannot agree with Bouvier's theory (68) that ‘si les mortels doivent se souvenir des défunts, les morts, eux, doivent être sans mémoire’.

39 Zaborowski (n. 18), 9–10.

40 Ogden (n. 1), 179–80 points out that the desire to partake in honorific offerings meant there was a danger during a necromantic ceremony of being overwhelmed by the number of ghosts responding to the summons.

41 Eisenberger (n. 9), 177.

42 Meyer, E., ‘Der Ursprung des Odysseusmythus. Mit Einem Anhang Ueber Todtendienst und Heroencult’, Hermes 30 (1895), 241–88Google Scholar, at 252 n. 1 supports the use of ἐπεὶ ἴδεν ὀφθαλμοῖσιν (‘when he saw him with his eyes’) as an alternative to the more common line ἐπεὶ πῖεν αἷμα κελαινόν (‘when he drank the dark blood’). Büchner (n. 7), 112 n. 1, however, points out that: ‘In 390, wo von Agamemnon die Rede ist, haben zwar die meisten Handschriften ἐπεὶ πῖεν αἷμα κελαινόν, aber auch die Lesart ἐπεὶ ἴδεν ὀφθαλμοῖσιν ist gut bezeugt. Wäre jenes von vornherein überliefert gewesen, so hätte gewiß niemand das zweite dafür eingesetzt. Wohl aber konnte jemand, der an der Nichterwähnung des Bluttrunks Anstoß nahm und den Anstoß beseitigen wollte, auf die Konjektur “ἐπεὶ πῖεν αἷμα κελαινόν” verfallen’.

43 Heath (n. 8), 394.

44 Büchner (n. 7), 111–12; Heath (n. 8), 396.

45 Tsagarakis (n. 14), 109 n. 456.

46 See Zaborowski (n. 18), esp. 11–16 for a discussion on the anger of Ajax and what this can tell us about the awareness of the dead in the Homeric Underworld.

47 In Sophocles’ Ajax, the hero's burial, and consequently his honour, is brought into doubt following his suicide, and he is only granted burial by the intervention of his enemy, Odysseus (Soph. Aj. 1332–73). Similarly, in the Little Iliad (fr. 3 West, Eust. 285.34) we are informed that the hero was buried rather than cremated owing to the anger of Agamemnon, which suggests that this was considered to be a less honourable outcome.