CLAS/HIST1631

1
CLAS/HIST1631

• Lecture 2 Archilochus

2
Review

• To what uses did Greeks put the skill of writing
  in the 8th century BC?
• What time period do Homer's poems, the Iliad and
  the Odyssey, purport to describe?
• What is the name of the process by which Homer's
  poems were composed?
• What new kind of fighting appeared in the 8th
  century, replacing that which is described in
  Homer's poems?

3
A Guide To Names in Ancient History

• Greek names are strange partly because they come
  to us through Latin, actually ?????????
• Better to have some sound in mind than none
• 'ch' Greek 'chi', not like our church, but k
  puff of air
• What is the difference betweeen kite and lake
• So some texts will say 'Arkhilokhos' for
• For English purposes, say 'k'
• Pronounce every syllable

4
Archilochus, Some Notes

• Born in early 7th century on Paros
• Father, Telesicles, founded a colony on Thasos
• His mother was a slave, Enipo
• Writes heart-felt poetry of love, war, politics
  and life

5
Understanding a Person In the Past

1. Form First Impressions
2. Do you like him?
3. Would you want to have lunch with him / marry
   him?
4. Who is he like?
5. Piece Together the Fragments
6. Why does one poem praise Neoboule and then
   another call her a cow?
7. Put him / her in context
8. Interrogate the Sources
9. Repeat

6
Always Read Closely

• ??µ? d' ??? ?e??p?? µ?? ???a????? ??a?t??,
• ?a? ???s??? ??at?? d???? ?p?st?µe???.
• Although I am a servant of Lord Enyalios Ares,
  god of war,
• I also know well the lovely gift of the Muses.

7
Forming Impressions

• Why is this easy with Archilochus?
• E.g
• Some barbarian is waving my shield, since I was
  obliged to leave that perfectly good piece of
  equipment behind under a bush. But I got away, so
  what does it matter? Let the shield go I can buy
  another one equally good.
• Critias, for example, doesn't like him.

8
Archilochus the Lover

• Neoboule I have forgotten, believe me, do.... A
  woman like that would drive a man crazy. She
  should get herself a job as a scarecrow. I'd as
  soon hump her as kiss a goat's butt.
• Such is the passion for love that has twisted its
  way into my heartstrings and closed deep mist
  across my eyes stealing the soft heart from
  inside my body...

9
Context Laughing at the Hero

• Now when Pond-larker saw Loud-crier perishing,
  he struck in quickly and wounded Troglodyte in
  his soft neck with a rock like a mill-stone so
  that darkness veiled his eyes from the
  pseudo-epic Battle of Frogs and Mice

10
Questioning the Aristocrat

• I don't like the towering captain with the
  spraddly length of leg, one who swaggers in his
  lovelocks and cleanshaves beneath the chin. Give
  me a man short and squarely set upon his legs ...
• Ares is a democrat there are no special people
  on a battlefield.

11
Interrogate the Sources

• The tradition that Telesicles had been informed
  by the oracle at Delphi that his son was to be
  immortal is a late one and would have no
  bearing on his decision.
• What is the reasoning here?
• What makes one source more reliable than another?

12
Textual Transmission

• Most of our ancient Greek and Roman texts come to
  us this way
• Until the advent of the printing press, all was
  copied by hand
• What errors could they make?

13
How Else Might Our Sources for Archilochus Fail
Us?

• Is lyric poetry always truthful memoir?
• What is the purpose of a poet?
• How can we tell when a poet is 'telling the
  truth'?