Homeric Age

Грачева А.Д.

The period from the XI-IX centuries BC in the history of ancient Greece has two names: the Homeric period or the Period of the Dark Ages. These names are not chosen by chance. It is called Homeric because Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" are important, but not the only, evidence for early Greek society. The period of the Dark Ages is called in connection with the economic and cultural decline in Greece at this time. The oldest known historical monuments of ancient Greek literature are Homer's two poems, The Iliad and the Odyssey. The Greeks considered the author of the works to be a real historical person, but researchers question this, and it is precisely with these works that the appearance in the late 18th century is connected. the so-called "Homeric question", the main problem of which is connected with the origin of these poems. The founder of Homeric criticism was Abbot Francois de Aubignac (1604-1676). He wrote the work "Dissertation on the Iliad" (published in 1715), in which he expresses the idea that the Iliad is a combination of songs of different aoidoi, or epic singers, and Homer himself did not exist. The abbot's point of view was developed by the German philologist F. A. Wolf (1759-1824), who was the first to study Homer's poems from a scientific point of view. It was he who, as a result of his research, raised the "Homeric question", which later caused a lot of discussion. In 1795, the philologist became the author of "Prolegomena (Introduction) to Homer". In his work, F. A. Wolf challenges the traditional idea of the unity of Homeric poems. In support of his point of view, the author cites 3 arguments: 1. individual inserts and contradictions in poems 2. ancient authors attribute the first record of the poems to the time of Peisistratus (VI century BC), and this is several centuries later than the events described in the poems 3. the development of writing among the Greeks, which the philologist refers to the VII-VI centuries BC. The German scientist considers it impossible to create such voluminous poems in a non-written time. In his opinion,"The Odyssey" and "The Iliad" are a collection of separate songs collected together under Peisistratus. F. A. Wolf does not deny the integrity and unity of the poems, but believes that their unity lies in the material itself, in the myth and cannot belong to only one author. The philologist considers it possible that most of the songs in the poems belong to one author, whom he calls Homer. After the work of F. A. Wolf, a dispute arose among scientists, which split philologists into two camps: analysts and unitarians.

ANALYSTS - G. Herman "the theory of the primordial nucleus". According to this theory, the Odyssey and the Iliad appeared not as a combination of independent works, but as an extension of a certain "core" that contained the main points of the plot. It was based on two epics, the Great Odyssey and the Great Iliad. Later authors supplemented and expanded these epics, sometimes there were parallel versions of the same episode. It was as a result of these expansions that the poems grew by the time they were recorded in the sixth century BC. Contradictions within the epic were created in the process of adding and expanding them by different authors, but the presence of the main core in each of the poems ensured the preservation of elements of unity. - George Grote "the theory of the main core". The researcher saw in the Iliad a combination of two large poems: the Achilleads and the Iliads, and considered some of the songs to be separate works. - Karl Lachmann "theory of small songs". The philologist drew attention to the inconsistencies and contradictions between different parts of the poem, which means that they may have been written by different authors. - A. Kirchhoff "theory of compilation". According to this theory, the poems are composed not of individual songs, but of four separate poems: a poem about the journey of Telemachus, two poems about the wanderings of Odysseus, and, finally, a poem about Odysseus' return to his homeland. UNITARIANS The founder of this direction is G. W. Nitzsch "Studies on the history of Homer" (1830-1837) and "Poetry of legends among the Greeks" (1852). In his works, he argued that the compositional contradictions between individual parts, allegedly testifying in favor of the collective authorship of poems, are inherent in any work of fiction, and besides, in Homer they are so insignificant that they do not violate the artistic unity of the works. In addition, G. W. Nitzsch argues that the use of writing is not a necessary condition for creating such poems. And writing itself appeared among the Greeks earlier than F. A. Wolf believes. THE MODERN STATE OF THE "HOMERIC QUESTION" AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS - in the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" there are a number of plot-compositional contradictions (twice noon, two lives, repeated murders) - in the Iliad and Odyssey, there are layers of different periods. The poems simultaneously describe two epochs. Plot and narration of the Achaean era, the time of the Trojan War and the battles that followed it. But economic, cultural and everyday realities are inherent in the society of the "Dark Ages". Thus, despite the fact that these are exclusively artistic works, their value in historical research is enormous. The creation of poems is attributed to the IX-VIII centuries BC. e. The Iliad was written earlier than the Odyssey. - The formation of the poems took place in Asia Minor, in the Ionian-Aeolian region, in an aristocratic environment that preserved the traditions of the Mycenaean time and culture - "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" are connected in an artistic whole - The discrepancy between the leading artistic idea and the material collected in Homeric poems can have various explanations. On the one hand, this may have resulted from the fact that the small size of the "great Iliad" and "great Odyssey", which already contained the entire main idea, were subsequently subjected to various reworkings and extensions (the "core"theory). On the other hand, the unitary hypothesis presupposes that the artistic conception of poems in their present form is already the last stage in the history of their composition, i.e., the last stage in the history of their composition. that each of the poems has its own "creator" who processed the ancient material, subordinating it to his own design, but was unable to destroy all traces of the heterogeneity of the material used by him. There is a version according to which "The Iliad "and" The Odyssey " have already been supplemented as large poems with a number of new episodes. Summing up the above, we can conclude that the specific history of the composition of the Homeric epic remains controversial.

The Early Iron Age in Greece is studied through settlements, cemeteries, pottery, metal objects and comparison with epic poetry. Evidence from Athens, Euboea, Argolis and elsewhere shows different regional trajectories after the collapse of Mycenaean palaces. Wealthy burials at Lefkandi and imported objects rule out a complete disappearance of distant connections and luxury goods.

Agriculture and livestock formed the economic base. Linear B palace archives disappeared, while the Greek alphabet spread later, in the eighth century BCE. Iron became increasingly common in weapons and tools; its spread cannot be explained solely by the supposed arrival of the Dorians. Timber and mudbrick buildings survive less well, but archaeology identifies traces of houses and substantial structures.

Homeric epic depicts elite basileis, free households, dependent workers and enslaved people. Thetes were free hired workers, not a single hereditary group. Kinship, councils of elders and assemblies matter in the narrative, but the poems cannot be read as a description of one constitution of the eleventh to ninth centuries BCE.

The basileus exercises military leadership, settles disputes and speaks in assembly. The balance of his authority with councils and communities varied. “Military democracy” is a scholarly model, not the ancient name of this order. The development of local communities, new technologies and renewed connections prepared the formation of Archaic poleis.

Related topics

• Ancient Greece
• Archaic Greece

Literature and sources

1. Andreev Yu. V. The Early Greek Polis (Homeric period). 2nd ed., additional edition — St. Petersburg: Humanitarian Academy,2003,447 p. 2. Andreev Yu. V. Gomerovskoe obshchestvo [Homeric society]. The main trends of socio-economic and political development of Greece, XI—VIII centuries BC — SPb.: Nestor-Istoriya.,2004. — 496 p. 3. Homer. The Iliad. Odyssey, Moscow: Prosveshchenie Publ.,1987,400 p. 4. History of Ancient Greece/ Edited by V. I. Kuzishchin.Moscow: Vyssh. shk.,2003,399 p. (in Russian) 5. Radzig S. I. Istoriya drevnegrecheskoy literatury [History of Ancient Greek Literature], Moscow: Higher School,1982,487 p. 6. Sergeev V. S. Istoriya Drevnei Gretsii [History of Ancient Greece] St. Petersburg: Poligon Publ.,2002,801 p. 7. Tronsky I. M. Istoriya antichnoi literatury [History of ancient literature], Moscow: Vysshaya shk.,1983,464 p.

• Lefkandi: burials and imports in the Early Iron Age