Heroic Homeric epic

Insomnia. Homer. Tight sails.

I read the list of ships halfway through:

This long brood, this crane train,

That once rose above Hellas.

Osip Mandelstam

Homer's heroic epic absorbed the most ancient myths and legends, and also reflected the life of Greece on the eve of the emergence of class society.

It is now considered established that around the 12th century BC, the Achaean tribes went to Troy in search of new lands and wealth. The Achaeans conquered Troy and returned to their homeland. The memory of the great last feat of the Achaean tribe lived among the people, and songs about the heroes of the Trojan War gradually began to take shape.

When Attica and Athens gained primacy in Greece, the Athenians also associated the exploits of the sons of Theseus with this war. Thus, it turned out that all the Greek tribes had a work in the Homeric epic that glorified their common great past, equally dear and eternal to all.

It is also interesting to note that the Homeric epic reflected an even more ancient culture, namely the culture of the island of Crete. In Homer one can find many elements of everyday life and social life that are reminiscent of this ancient culture. Cretan inscriptions mention the names of heroes known from Homer's epic, as well as the names of gods always considered purely Greek.

Homer's poems have a majestic, monumental character inherent in the heroic epic. However, in "Odyssey" there are many everyday, fairy-tale, and fantastic features. This is understandable, because the Iliad is dedicated to war, and the Odyssey to the vicissitudes of human life.

The plot of the Iliad is connected with the myth of the abduction of Helen, the wife of the Greek king Menelaus, ruler of Sparta, by the Trojan prince Paris. The Iliad begins from the moment when the plague began in the Greek camp in the tenth year of the siege. She was sent by the god Apollo, the patron saint of the Trojans, at the request of his priest, from whom the Greek leader Agamemnon had taken his daughter. The priest’s long speech is figurative and vivid. He asks for revenge.

Thus he cried; and silver-bowed Apollo listened!

He rushed quickly from the heights of Olympus, bursting with anger,

Carrying a bow over his shoulders and a quiver of arrows, covered from everywhere;

Loudly winged arrows, beating behind the shoulders, sounded

In the procession of the angry god: he walked, like the night.

To stop the plague, Agamemnon is forced to return his daughter to her father, but in return he takes the captive from Achilles. The angry Achilles, possessed by a feeling of bitter resentment, goes to his camp. Achilles refuses to participate in the siege of Troy.

Fierce battles begin, in which the Greeks are defeated by the Trojans. Then they send ambassadors to Achilles (IX canto), but to no avail; he refuses to take part in the battles. Finally, in Canto XVI, Patroclus, Achilles’ friend, enters the battle because he can no longer see his comrades die. In this battle, Patroclus dies at the hands of the Trojan hero Hector, the son of King Priam.

Only then Achilles, avenging his friend, enters the battle. He kills Hector, brutally mocking his corpse. However, old Priam, Hector’s father, appeared in Achilles’ tent at night and begs him to return his son’s body. Achilles, touched by the old man's grief and remembering his own father, whom he will never see, returns Hector's body and even establishes a truce to give the Trojans time to mourn their dead. The Iliad ends with the burial of the heroes of two warring camps - Patroclus and Hector.

The heroes of the poems are courageous and majestic. They know no fear of the enemy. Both the Greeks and the Trojans are depicted with great respect and love. It is no coincidence that the Greek Achilles and the Trojan Hector are examples of heroism. Achilles is a thunderstorm for the Trojans, a stern, unshakable warrior. He loves his homeland. But in his soul there also lives pity for the Trojan - the old man Priam, who lost his own son. He feels the bitterness of his own fate (he is destined to die in his prime). He takes revenge for insults, remembers evil, and sometimes cries like a child. But the main line of his character is heroism that knows no limits and devotion to the common cause. A remarkable example of the generosity of Achilles and the humanism of the ancient epic in general is the scene of the XXIV song of the Iliad, when Achilles gives the body of Hector to King Priam.

Swift-footed Achilles says:

“Elder, do not anger me! I myself understand that it must

To return your son to you: she brought me news from Zeus

My silver-footed mother, the sea nymph Thetis.

I feel that you too (you, Priam, cannot hide from me)

The strong hand of God led to the Myrmidon ships...

Together with Priam, Achilles laments the plight of man, and with him mourns the dead; he allows Priam to celebrate a funeral feast for Hector for twelve days and releases him to Troy with rich gifts.

Hector is a Trojan leader and the main defender of the city. He leaves his father, mother, wife and child, leaving for the last battle. The scene of Hector’s farewell to Andromache and his son is filled with tenderness and boundless love. The boy cries, frightened by his father's helmet. Hector takes the shining helmet off his head, and the child laughs and reaches for it. The mother is thoughtful and sad. She anticipates the death of Hector and the sad fate of his orphan son. Andromache watches the last duel from the city wall. Hector, deprived of the help of the gods, fights Achilles until his last breath. His life was given for his homeland.

The Odyssey depicts the events after the destruction of Troy. All the heroes returned home, except for Odysseus, king of the island of Ithaca. He wanders for ten years because of the hatred of the sea god Poseidon.

Muse, tell me about that experienced husband who

Wandering for a long time since the day when Saint Ilion was destroyed by him,

I visited many people of the city and saw their customs,

I grieved a lot in my heart on the seas, worrying about salvation

Your life and the return of your companions to their homeland...

The beginning of the Odyssey tells about the last events of the seven years of Odysseus's wanderings, when he lived on the island of the nymph Calypso. From there, at the behest of the gods, he goes to his homeland. Odysseus arrives in Ithaca in Canto XIII. Waiting for him at home is his wife Penelope, besieged by suitors, and his son Telemachus, who has become a young man. Odysseus stops with a swineherd, then, disguised as a beggar, makes his way into the palace and, finally, in alliance with his faithful servants, exterminates all contenders for Penelope’s hand, suppresses the uprising of the relatives of the murdered, and begins a happy life in the circle of his family. The image of Odysseus’s wife Penelope, a faithful, devoted and intelligent woman, is beautiful. For twenty years, Penelope raised her son and protected the house in the absence of her husband.

Homer describes Penelope’s joy when she was convinced that it was really Odysseus in front of her:

She was so happy, admiring her returned husband,

To tear his snow-white hands from his neck without having

Strength. The golden-troned Eos could have found them in tears...

The society represented by Homer is a patriarchal race that does not yet know class stratification. Kings work on an equal basis with shepherds and artisans, and slaves, if they exist, are captives taken in war and do not yet occupy a humiliated position in the family. Odysseus builds a raft for himself, Princess Nausicaa washes her clothes. Penelope weaves skillfully.

At the same time, property inequality appears, the leaders receive the best booty, the fate of the slaves depends on the will of the master. Penelope, for example, mercilessly threatens the old nanny, loyal to her masters; Odysseus betrays the guilty servants to cruel execution; The warrior Thersites, not without reason, reproaches the leaders for self-interest and ambition and accuses them of all the hardships of war. However, his words do not find sympathy among the warriors, since they are obsessed with one idea - to defeat the enemy. For this, they are ready to forget the insults from the leaders.

Odysseus is a brave warrior, but at the same time a man experienced in life’s adversities. Odysseus knows how to fight not only with weapons, but also with smart words. If necessary, he can deceive and use cunning. The main thing in him is love for his native land, for his wife and son, whom he has not seen for many years. For their sake, he even rejected the immortality that the nymph Calypso wanted to give him.

In the XIV song of the Odyssey it is said that “people are different, some love one thing, others another.” In Homer's poems, the gods are as diverse and interesting as people. Here is the faithful assistant of the Greeks, especially Odysseus, the wise Athena, here is the treacherous, gloomy Apollo, protector of the Trojans, and the wild, blood-covered god of war Ares.

What about the things around people? They are beautiful and "sacred". Every thing made by human hands is good and is a work of art. Hundreds of lines are devoted to the description of the shield of Achilles; even the latch on the door of Odysseus’s house is carefully described. A person is delighted with his skill, his art, his active work. He not only fights and destroys, but strives to create something necessary and at the same time beautiful.

The language of the poems is especially worth noting. They were written in hexameter (hexameter dactyl), which was pronounced somewhat into a sing-song manner. Constant epithets, extended comparisons and speeches of the heroes are also of great importance.

Constant epithets, for example, “cloud-catcher” Zeus, “white-armed” Hera, “silver-footed” Thetis, are mostly complex and somewhat cumbersome. Extensive comparisons (the battle, for example, is depicted as a raging fire, a storm in the forest, a fight of wild animals, a river flood that breaks all the dams) slow down the narrative, as do the speeches that the heroes often exchange during a fierce battle. The slow pace of the narrative and its majestic character are colored with unusual colors in the description of nature.

In the poems, every thing is visible, tangible and colorful. The sea, for example, is “gray” in the foam of the surf, “violet” under the blue sky, “purple” in the rays of the sunset. Even the earth in the Iliad “laughs” in the shine of shields and armor under the spring sun.

Thus, the Homeric epic embodies not only the harsh heroism of war, but also the joy of creativity, creative work and peaceful life, based on respect for man, on the awakening in him of the best, humane feelings.

That is why the Homeric epic is rightfully considered an encyclopedia of ancient life.

Bibliography

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When we hear or read about ancient Greek heroes, we imagine strong, physically developed athletes striving for glory and challenging fate. But was Odysseus, one of the most famous characters in Homer’s poems “The Iliad” and “Odyssey”, like this? How did he glorify and immortalize his name? What feats did you accomplish?

Myths and poems of Homer

From century to century, ancient Greek myths told about the origin and structure of the world, the deeds of heroes and Olympian gods. The wonderful world of mythology fascinated and frightened, explained and prescribed; it reflected the value system of Ancient Greece and the connection of times. Hellenic myths had a huge influence on the formation of European and world culture, and the names of many heroes, gods and monsters became common nouns, symbols of some qualities and properties. For example, a chimera is a symbol of something non-existent that can give rise to dangerous illusions and misconceptions.

With the development of social, economic and other public relations, mythological consciousness began to collapse, and the poems of the legendary Homer “Iliad” and “Odyssey” served as a kind of bridge between folklore and literature.

The heroic epic of Homer is the peak of the development of Hellenic mythology, but at the same time its artistic interpretation. In addition, as archaeological excavations by Heinrich Schliemann have proven, Homer's poems to some extent reflect the reality of the 11th-9th centuries BC. and can serve as a historical source. Homer is the first ancient Greek poet was, according to legend, blind and lived in the 8th century BC. However, there is no reliable information confirming the fact of its existence yet. But there are wonderful epic poems that recreate the magnificent world of ancient Greek mythology and, at the same time, had a huge impact on the development of all European culture.

The cross-cutting character of both Homer's poems is Odysseus, king of Ithaca, participant in the Trojan War.

If in the Iliad he is one of the minor (albeit key) characters in the siege of Troy, then in the Odyssey he is the main character.

Biography of Odysseus

The name "Odysseus" in ancient Greek means "angry" or "wrathful". The Romans called him Ulysses. The name Odysseus now has a common meaning: an odyssey is a long, dangerous journey filled with adventures.

Odysseus is the son of Argonaut Laertes and Artemis's companion Anticlea. According to legend, Odysseus's grandfather was Zeus, supreme Olympian god.

Odysseus's wife - Penelope, her name became a symbol of marital fidelity. Long She waited twenty years for her husband to return from the military campaign, deceiving numerous suitors with inventive cunning.

A major role in the poem “Odyssey” is played by the son of the main character, Telemachus.

Turning to the Homeric epic, we can identify the fateful events in the life of the legendary hero:

• participation in matchmaking with Helen the Beautiful, where Odysseus meets his future wife Penelope;
• participation, albeit reluctantly, in the Trojan War;
• protection of the body of Achilles;
• creation of the Trojan horse;
• a ten-year journey by sea and numerous adventures in which Odysseus loses all his companions;
• returning to Ithaca in the guise of an old beggar;
• the brutal extermination of Penelope's numerous suitors;
• happy family reunion.

All these events create a unique portrait of Odysseus, a characteristic of his personality.

Hero's personality

The main feature of Odysseus’ personality is its universality and cosmic nature. The genius of Homer created the image of a comprehensively developed person. Odysseus appears not only as a brave hero and winner on the battlefield, he also performs feats among monsters and wizards.

He is cunning and reasonable, cruel, but devoted to his homeland, family and friends, inquisitive and crafty. Odysseus is an excellent speaker and wise adviser, a brave sailor and a skilled carpenter and trader. He refused eternal youth and love, offered by the nymph Calypso, who was in love with him, in order to return to his homeland, to his family.

Thanks to his cunning and resourcefulness, Odysseus overcame numerous dangers:

• on the island of the Cyclops he blinded the giant Polyphemus and thereby escaped death and saved his comrades;
• defeated the sorceress Circe;
• heard the sirens singing, but did not die;
• passed on a ship between Scylla and Charybdis;
• defeated Penelope's suitors.

In essence, Odysseus's voyage is a path into the unknown, comprehension and mastery of the unknown, a road to oneself and the acquisition of one's own personality.

The legendary hero appears in Homer's poems as representative of all humanity, discovering and learning the world. The image of Odysseus embodied all the richness of human nature, its weaknesses and vastness. It is no coincidence that many famous writers and poets turned to this image: Sophocles, Ovid, Dante, Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, P. Corneille, L. Feuchtwanger, D. Joyce, T. Pratchett and others.

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Homer's epic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" are the first known monuments of ancient Greek literature. They were created in the first third of the 1st millennium BC. Of course, they could not belong to the pen of only one author (Homer) and appear suddenly, as a result of individual creativity. If these works of genius were compiled by one poet, who is conventionally called Homer, then this work was based on the centuries-old creativity of the Greek people. It is no coincidence that the most diverse periods of the historical development of the ancient Greeks were reflected in Homer’s poems.
In principle, the Homeric epic describes the communal-tribal organization of society. But the period depicted in the poems is very far from the real communal-tribal collectivism of the ancients. Signs of highly developed private property, private initiative within the framework of clan organizations and slavery are already creeping into Homer's epic. True, slaves so far only perform the work of shepherds and house servants. But, if in the Iliad slavery is still patriarchal in nature, then in the Odyssey the degree of exploitation of slaves increases significantly.
Based on the foregoing, we note that Homer’s poems were written not just in an epic style, which reflects the communal-tribal formation, but in its later variety - a free or mixed epic style. In contrast to the earlier, strict epic style, the free style reflects the period of the emergence of private property, the appearance on the stage of an individual personality, although not yet completely separated from the clan community, but already aware of himself as an independent hero. This hero often acts on his own initiative and sometimes even enters into battle with the gods, like Diomedes, who wounded Aphrodite and the god of war Ares himself. Diomedes, as a hero of the late, free epic style, is ready to fight even with Apollo, and Odysseus in the second Homeric poem (Odyssey, canto 5) is not inferior to the god of the sea himself, Poseidon.
Sometimes the independence of the Homeric hero instills fear in the gods. In this regard, when the gods consult among themselves, discussing the future fate of the king of Ithaca Odysseus, Zeus admits that people are in vain blaming the gods for their misfortunes. If they had not acted contrary to fate, they would have avoided many troubles. Concerned about Odysseus' excessive independence, the gods decide to return him to Ithaca, otherwise he will return there regardless of the will of the gods, thanks to his own perseverance and determination.
Such behavior of the hero, of course, is not allowed in the strict epic style, which reflected the life of ancient Greek society, welded into a monolithic collective. This collective subordinated absolutely every personal life, and individual human life was considered only in connection with the activities of the entire collective. An individual human life in itself had no value; only the entire collective as a whole mattered; it seemed to represent a single organism, and human lives entered into it as cells. The same structure of relationships exists in some phenomena of living nature, for example, in an anthill. In the 20th century, a striking example of such an organization of society is the Stalinist totalitarian state.
There is a whole series of myths associated with the Trojan events. The poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" are only small parts of this vast Trojan mythology. The Iliad describes only a few episodes, covering 51 days of the ten-year siege of the Asian city of Troy by the Greeks. According to all the rules of the genre, this is a heroic poem. “The Odyssey,” as researchers of the Homeric epic say, at first, apparently, was not part of the Trojan cycle and was just an analogy of the adventurous fairy-tale mythology of the Argonauts. Reworking the myths about Odysseus, Homer introduced into a purely adventure narrative the idea of ​​the hero returning to his homeland from under the walls of defeated Ilion. Thus, the main idea of ​​the Odyssey is the hero’s love for his homeland, for his wife, for the family hearth, which is desecrated by obsessive suitors seeking Penelope’s hand.
It is no coincidence that these motives of heroism and love for the motherland predominate in the poems. The fact is that the Homeric epic took shape at a time when the once strong Greece was ravaged by Dorian tribes invading from the north of the Balkan Peninsula. By creating his poems, which incorporated ancient songs, myths and historical legends, Homer wanted to remind the Achaeans (there was no single name for the Greek people at that time) of their glorious heroic past, to awaken in them love for their homeland and the will to resist the invaders. Therefore, Homer represents the generation of ancient heroes, in contrast to his contemporaries enslaved by the Dorians, as endowed with all sorts of virtues - a worthy role model.
Here we can recall the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, similar in meaning to Homer’s poems, by an unknown ancient Russian author, whose work warned the Russian princes mired in civil strife on the eve of the Mongol-Tatar invasion.

2. Gods

In Homer's epic, myth and historical reality, truth and fairy-tale fiction are closely intertwined. It is no coincidence that at first even the reality of the ancient existence of the city of Troy itself was questioned. But in the 70s of the last century, the German archaeologist-enthusiast Heinrich Schliemann discovered the ruins of the ancient city of Iliova (Troy) in the north of Asia Minor.
Based on ancient Greek myths, the Iliad and Odyssey are heavily populated with Olympian gods. Olympus and earth live in close unity. In Homer's poems, the world appears in mythological form as a single tribal community led by Zeus.
The ancient Greeks believed that the immortal celestial beings were fully endowed with the whole gamut of human feelings, that they interfered in the lives of heroes, and determined the destinies of those who live on earth.
In addition to their virtues, the gods also have all the human shortcomings that Homer mercilessly ridicules. They, just like people, quarrel, scold, and sometimes even fight. The gods are vindictive and vengeful. But they are also concerned about the fate of the heroes fighting under the walls of Ilion. After all, according to the ideas of the ancient Greeks, generations of heroes descend from Zeus, who is called by Homer “the father of men and gods,” or from his relatives. Some heroes are directly related to the gods. Like, for example, Achilles - the son of the sea goddess Thetis, the Lycian king Sarpedon, who is the son of Zeus and the goddess Europa, and others.
The epic always deals with events so significant for the destinies of entire peoples that, by the will of the ancient singers - the Aeds (Homer was also considered a blind singer), the gods necessarily intervene in these events. The events that caused the Trojan War are also clearly of a cosmic nature. The myth tells that the Earth, burdened with a huge human population, turned to Zeus with a request to reduce the human race. Zeus heeded the request of the Earth and started a war between the Greeks and Trojans. The reason for the war was the abduction of the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus, Helen, by the Trojan prince Paris. The angry Menelaus, together with his brother Agamemnon, gathers a Greek army and sails on ships to Ilion.
In the Iliad and Odyssey, as well as in the entire Trojan cycle, the gods take a direct part in events. The motivation for all the personal actions of the heroes comes from the outside. What, for example, was the reason for Achilles’ anger at the leader of the Greek army, Agamemnon? Wrath, which brought the Achaeans, as it is said in the poem: “suffering without counting” and “many strong souls of heroes” who sent them to Hades. The reason for the quarrel between the two heroes was the captive, daughter of the priest Chryses, Briseis, whom Agamemnon took from Achilles. By the will of Apollo, he was forced to give his captive Chryseis to her father Chryses. Thus, the culprit of the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon turned out to be the god Apollo, who sent an evil disease to the Achaean army and thereby forced Agamemnon to return the daughter, captured from him, to the priest of the temple of Apollo in Troy.
Also, other actions of heroes and life situations are motivated by the will of the gods. When, for example, during a duel, Menelaus grabbed Paris by the helmet and dragged him to the Achaean camp (Iliad, song 3), the goddess Aphrodite broke the helmet strap and freed Paris. But the belt could have broken on its own, without the intervention of Aphrodite, who patronized Paris.
The gods not only intervene in human life, they direct the thoughts and actions of people in the direction they need. As a result of the decision of the gods and the direct influence of Pallas Athena, who sympathizes with the Achaeans, the Trojan Pandarus shoots at the Greek camp, treacherously violating the recently concluded truce. When the Trojan Priam comes to Achilles’ tent to ask for the body of his son Hector, he goes to meet him. Here all the actions of Priam and Achilles are inspired by the gods.
However, the Homeric epic should not be understood to mean that man in himself means nothing, and that the true heroes are the gods. Homer hardly took mythology literally and represented man as just a pathetic plaything of the gods. Without a doubt, Homer puts human heroes in the first place in his poems, and his gods are only a generalization of human feelings and actions. And if we read about how the deity invested some action in this or that hero, then this should be understood in such a way that this action is the result of a person’s own decision. But this decision came to his mind so subconsciously that even the hero himself considers it divine predestination. And although the strict epic style implies that all thoughts, feelings and actions of a person are inspired by the gods, Homer, on this strict epic basis, gives infinitely diverse types of relationships between heroes and gods. Here there is the complete subordination of man to the divine will, and the harmonious unification of the divine and human will, and a rude attack by man on one or another Olympian god.
In Homer's poems there is almost not a single episode where the gods, who are, as it were, the main culprits of events in the lives of the heroes, do not act. The gods are at enmity with each other just like the Achaeans and the Trojans, divided into two camps. The Trojans are constantly patronized by Apollo, Ares, Aphrodite, the Achaeans - Pallas Athena, the wife of Zeus Hera, Thetis. This doesn't happen by accident. The fact is that the Trojan mythology of the ancient Greeks reflected the complex process of mutual assimilation of the cultures of the Balkan and Asia Minor Greeks that was taking place at that time. As a result of this assimilation, gods, so to speak, of Asian origin appeared in the pantheon of Olympian deities. These are Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, who constantly sympathize with the Trojans. When Zeus allows the gods to enter the war, they all immediately side with the defenders of Ilion. This is natural for the psychology of the ancients. After all, according to their concepts, the gods are also members of their tribal communities and are subject to the requirements of community ethics, which, first of all, obliges them to defend their homeland.

Homer laughs at the gods very often. He even depicts the famous battle of the gods not in a heroic, but rather in a humorous way. And indeed, is it really possible to take such a battle of the gods seriously, when Apollo and Poseidon shook land and sea so much that they
“Hades, the ruler of the underworld, came into horror underground,
In horror, he jumped from the throne and screamed loudly to
Poseidon, the earth shaker, did not open the bosom of the earth..."
Comics reach the level of burlesque when the sublime is depicted as base. In burlesque style, Homer almost always describes scenes taking place on Olympus. His gods mostly feast and laugh. An example is the first song of the Iliad, where Hera’s marital jealousy is described. Zeus intends to beat his jealous wife, and the bandy-legged freak Hephaestus makes the feasting gods laugh by rushing around the house with a goblet of wine.
Satirical motifs are also strong in Homer’s poems. Thus, the Cyclopes in the poem “Odyssey” are depicted as a caricature and satire of people living without any laws. The images of some gods and heroes are also satirical. And although humorous and satirical tendencies are just a touch in the diverse palette of shades with which Homer describes the gods and heroes, this is precisely why he received criticism in his time. Already at that time, Homer was condemned by some contemporaries from the point of view of religion and morality. Many ancient Greeks were offended by what they thought was the frivolity with which Homer endowed his gods and heroes with almost all human weaknesses and vices. The main detractors of the blind singer were the Pythagoreans and Orphics. Along with them, Xenophanes critically assessed the works of Homer. He wrote: “Everything that people have that is dishonest and shameful was written to the gods by Homer and Hesiod: theft, adultery and mutual deception.” Plato also considered Homer’s myths about the gods just a thin lie, and Heraclitus, in general, called for Homer to be expelled from public meetings and even punished with rods!
Alas, this is probably the fate of all geniuses, which from century to century justifies the statement that “there is no prophet in his own country.” The Jews did not accept Christ, in Rus' archpriest Avvakum was burned at the stake, and what to go far, in our country in the 20th century more than one prophet was expelled abroad or put behind bars. At least the same Solzhenitsyn.
But let’s not exaggerate; Homer, of course, had his admirers. They considered his poems the center of wisdom, rewrote and memorized them. They perceived Homer as an ideal and role model. Roman heroic poetry, in particular the poetry of Virgil, also developed under the influence of Homer. However, it is not yet known who would have prevailed if book publishing in those days had been similar to ours. I’m afraid that “The Iliad” and “Odyssey” would not have been published then, and if they had been published, it would probably have been with large bills. But Homer, fortunately, had another way out - he sang his poems. (Like Vysotsky in our time).

4. Heroes

If Homer’s gods, as noted above, carry all the features of ordinary people and the poet sometimes reduces his description of the gods’ activities to sarcasm (as if justifying the well-known saying that from the great to the ridiculous is one step), then some heroes he equally bestows the characteristics of the gods. This is Achilles, born from the goddess Thetis, invulnerable to arrows and spears, whose armor is made by the god Hephaestus himself. Achilles himself is like a god. From one of his screams, the Trojan troops flee in horror. And what is the description of the spear of Achilles worth:
“It was hard
That strong, huge ash tree; none of the Achaeans
Couldn't move; only Achilles shook it without difficulty..."
Of course, Homer's poems, created in the era of communal-tribal disintegration, show the heroes in their new quality. These are no longer heroes of a strict epic style. Traits of subjectivism, instability, and effeminacy creep into the characters of Homer's heroes. The psychology of some of them is very capricious. The same Achilles, undoubtedly the main character of the Iliad, throughout the entire poem knows only that he is capricious, harming his own compatriots over trifles, and when Hector kills his best friend Patroclus, he falls into a real rage. He puts his personal interests above patriotic duty. Although, according to the laws of the strict epic style, he had to fight not out of revenge, but out of duty to his homeland.
Achilles is probably one of the most complex figures in all ancient literature. His character reflected all the contradictions of that era of transition from the communal-tribal form of society to slavery. In Achilles, along with insane cruelty and thirst for revenge, tender feelings for Patroclus and for his mother, the goddess Thetis, coexist. Significant in this regard is the scene when Achilles cries with his head on his mother’s lap.
Unlike the cunning and treacherous Odysseus, Achilles is straightforward and brave. Even knowing about his bitter fate to die young, he still undertakes this dangerous trip to Ilion. Meanwhile, as has already been said, this is the hero of a later epic, when the ideals of harsh heroism were already a thing of the past, and the hero’s capricious personality, very selfish and nervous, was in line. Instead of the former primitive collectivism, an individual personality appeared on the stage. Namely, a person, and not just a hero, since according to the laws of the tribal community, every man must be a hero. Every man was expected to fight bravely for his community, and cowardice on the battlefield was considered the greatest disgrace.
But in view of the fact that Homer’s work is based on heroic mythology, the personality in his poems is still in a strong connection with his family and tribe, he represents a single whole with them. A different portrayal of personality would go beyond the boundaries of the epic and would show a picture of later classical slavery.
The son of the Trojan king Priam, Hector, strictly observes the rules of communal ethics. Unlike the hysterical Achilles, he is strict, fearless and principled. His main goal is to fight for his homeland, for his people, for his beloved wife Andromache. Like Achilles, he knows that he must die defending Troy, and yet he openly goes into battle. Hector is the epitome of an epic hero with almost no flaws.
Agamemnon, unlike Hector, is endowed with numerous vices. He is also a brave warrior, but at the same time weak-willed, greedy and, so to speak, a morally unstable subject. Sometimes a coward and a drunkard. Homer often tries to belittle him, to present him from an ironic perspective. Along with the Olympian gods, Homer also makes fun of the heroes. In general, the Iliad can be interpreted as a satire on the Achaean kings, especially Agamemnon and Achilles. Of course, the leader of the Achaeans, Agamemnon, is not as capricious and petty as Achilles, because of whose selfish resentment the Greeks suffered such great losses. He is in many ways more principled and honest, but still cannot be considered a classic epic hero. Agamemnon, in a way, matches the eternally feasting and laughing Olympian gods.
And finally, Odysseus, as Homer says, “is equal in intelligence to God.” His image cannot be understood in a simplified way, as the image of only a diplomat and practitioner, and even more so, a cunning and adventurer. The adventurousness of the image of Odysseus in the second Homeric poem would have had its rightful place if the hero had not had a selfless love for his native hearth, “the smoke of his native land” and for Penelope waiting for him in Ithaca. But we must not lose sight of the time of creation of the Odyssey, that is, the period of decomposition of tribal relations. In this regard, in Homer’s epic, willy-nilly, some features of the new, emerging social order were reflected - slavery.
The synthesis of myth, fairy tale and real life led to one goal - the creation of the image of a new hero, who absorbed the features necessary for an active person in the era of the exploration of new lands, the development of navigation, crafts, slavery and trade. It is no coincidence that Homer turns to a clearly adventurous plot. In Odysseus, he was attracted primarily by intelligence, enterprise, dexterity, patience and courage - everything that was required for a hero of modern times. Indeed, unlike the other Achaean kings, Odysseus also wields a carpenter’s ax when building a raft for himself, as well as a battle spear. People obey him not by order or the law of the tribal community, but by the conviction of the superiority of his mind and life experience.
Of course, Odysseus is practical and cunning. He gladly receives rich gifts from the Phaeacians and, on the advice of Pallas Athena, the hero’s patron, hides these treasures in a cave. Once in Ithaca, he falls with emotion at his native land, but at that moment his head is full of cunning plans for how to deal with insolent suitors.
But Odysseus is fundamentally a sufferer. No wonder Homer constantly calls him “long-suffering.” He is more of a sufferer than even a cunning man, although Odysseus’s cunning seems to be limitless. It is not for nothing that in the Iliad he often acts as a spy, disguised as he makes his way into Troy, besieged by the Achaeans. The main reason for Odysseus’s suffering is an insurmountable longing for his homeland, which he cannot achieve due to the will of circumstances. The gods take up arms against him: Poseidon, Aeolus, Helios and even Zeus. Terrible monsters and cruel storms threaten the hero with death, but nothing can restrain his craving for his native Ithaca, love for his father, wife, and son Telemachus. Odysseus did not even hesitate in his choice when, in exchange for his homeland, the nymph Calypso promised to grant him immortality and eternal youth. Odysseus chooses a path home to Ithaca full of hardships and dangers. And, of course, the role of a bloodthirsty killer who mercilessly deals with the suitors, filling the entire palace with their corpses, does not fit well with this tenderly loving husband and father. What can you do, Odysseus is a product of his cruel era, and the suitors would not have spared him either, if Odysseus had fallen into their hands.

To summarize what has been said, we note that the immortal creations of Homer had a huge influence on all subsequent world literature. The influence of Homer's poems on Roman literature was strong. In general, the heroic epic is a historically logical stage in the artistic exploration of the world, which arose in the ancient and Middle Ages at decisive, turning points in the destinies of peoples. These include, in addition to Homer’s poems “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” the Indian “Mahabharata” and “Ramayama,” the Icelandic sagas, the tales of the Nibelungs of the ancient Germans, the Kyrgyz “Manas,” the Karelian-Finnish “Kalevala” and much more. As a stylization of such an epic poem, one can note “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” by Friedrich Nietzsche. Among the works of the 20th century, “Quiet Don” by Mikhail Sholokhov can undoubtedly be considered as an epic.
“The works of Homer are an excellent encyclopedia of antiquity,” wrote the poet N. I. Gnedich, who first translated the Iliad into Russian in 1829. Zhukovsky, Belinsky, and Gogol admired Homeric poems.
The Homeric epic has not lost its relevance in our time - in the era of the collapse of patriarchal-communal Stalinist barracks socialism and the emergence of something new, still incomprehensible, but certainly better. Gone are the days of thoughtless glorification of the so-called glorious revolutionary past. The pantheon of “Kremlin gods” has noticeably diminished. The strict epic style in describing our past victories and achievements was replaced by a mixed style of criticism and satire. The ancients were right: from the great to the ridiculous - one step. The main thing is not to tear yourself away from your homeland. After all, the road to Ithaca is so long.

2.2 The main characters of the Homeric epic

Is it possible to talk about the characters of Homer's heroes? Is it even possible to somehow judge the characters of the characters in the folk epic, who, apparently, have experienced repeated finishing and alteration and are usually endowed with qualities that elevate them above ordinary people? In Homer, this exaggeration of the various merits of his heroes is especially and constantly emphasized. “Divine”, “godlike”, “godlike” are epithets not only of heroes, but also of secondary, however, always positive characters. Let us recall, for example, the “godlike swineherd Eumaeus” from the Odyssey. And yet the obviously “heroic” tone and style of the folk epic do not obscure, and sometimes even emphasize the personal traits of the characters. In fact, if we take our epics, isn’t Ilya Muromets a character? Don't we find the same thing in the Finnish epic "Kalevala" and in the epic poems of other peoples? Meletinsky E.M. On the most ancient type of hero in the epic of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples of Siberia // Problems of comparative philology: Coll. Art. to the 70th anniversary of V.M. Zhirmunsky. - M.; L.: Nauka, 1964. - P. 433.

It is interesting to contrast the characters of the two main characters of the Iliad - Achilles and Hector, which was done, of course, by Homer himself, but comments are not superfluous.

In ancient Greek mythology, Achilles is one of the most popular and famous heroes of the Trojan cycle. His life and exploits were glorified, changed or supplemented by later Greek poets. On the contrary, the name of Hector in Greek mythology is associated only or almost only with the Iliad. Even in the Odyssey, Hector is essentially forgotten.

But let’s compare the Thessalian Greek Achilles and the Trojan Hector according to their place in the Iliad and in the Trojan War in general. The first was not involved in the events that caused this war, but took an active part in it and was killed before the capture of Troy, at a time when the Achaeans had not yet achieved any military successes.

Hector also had no personal connection to the reasons that gave rise to the Trojan War, but as the strongest and bravest warrior of Troy and as the eldest son of King Priam, he had to lead the defense of his native city, fought with honor against the Achaeans and was killed by Achilles shortly before the capture of Troy, remaining impregnable for some time.

So, both heroes entered the Trojan War from the very beginning, but Hector was forced, and Achilles succumbed to the persuasion of the organizers of the Trojan War. Both died before the capture of Troy. Both - ardent participants in the Trojan War - had nothing to do with its outcome. It is therefore impossible not to note the similarity of their destinies and the fact that the pictures of the war in the tenth year of the siege of Troy in Homer’s poem formed only a general background for the last days of both heroes.

The Iliad itself says relatively little about Achilles' past. The son of the mortal Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis, born in Thessaly, the king of the Myrmidons, enjoying the special protection of the gods, chose instead of a long, happy, peaceful life a short life, but full of exploits and military glory. In pre- and post-Homeric tales, his childhood is depicted differently. The most popular version is that the goddess Thetis bathed her little son in the waters of the Styx, the river of the underworld, which made him invulnerable in future battles. At the same time, the mother held the child by the heel, and it became the only vulnerable spot on Achilles’ body. Already at the end of the siege of Troy, the arrow of Paris, directed by Apollo at the heel of the hero, struck him down on the spot. Hence the expression “Achilles heel” - a weak, vulnerable spot.

The boy Achilles grew up in the care of the teacher Phoenix and the wise centaur Chiron. When the call for a campaign against Troy spread throughout Greece, Thetis, who knew that her son’s participation in this campaign would end in his untimely death, tried to hide Achilles on the island of Skyros, where he, dressed in a woman’s dress, lived among the daughters of King Lycomedes. According to one version, Nestor persuaded him to participate in the Trojan War, according to another, Odysseus, who, under the guise of a merchant, laid out military weapons among women’s jewelry among women’s jewelry, at the sight of which Achilles gave himself away. So he became a participant in the Trojan War, leading an army of the Myrmidons, stationed on 50 ships.

The Iliad speaks of Achilles as the most glorious hero of the Trojan War, and throughout Greek mythology he seems to be an ideal warrior, no less famous than the most famous and ancient heroes - Hercules, Theseus, Jason and some others. In places mythologically associated with the life and deeds of Achilles, his cult existed and sacrifices were made. The creators and listeners of post-Homeric poems E.M. Meletinsky treated Achilles with admiration. The origin of the heroic epic: Early forms and archaic monuments. - M.: Eastern Publishing House. Literary, 1963. - P. 162. .

Homer repeatedly emphasizes that Achilles in the Achaean camp surpassed everyone in strength and courage. His constant epithets are “noble”, “swift-footed”. The highest goddesses of the Greek Pantheon - Hera and Athena, the wife and daughter of Zeus - are especially merciful to him. He is the only one who decides to argue with the commander-in-chief of the Achaeans, Agamemnon, who demands a beautiful new captive to replace the captive who was in his possession, the daughter of the priest Chryses, who must be returned to her father at the request of the god Apollo. It was Achilles' anger over this that served as the plot basis for the entire Iliad. In the midst of the dispute, Achilles even intends to kill Agamemnon. According to Homer, justice is on the side of Achilles, since he rejects, and Agamemnon, as the supreme power, as the “shepherd of nations,” on the contrary, demands a revision of the division of the spoils of war captured long ago, and above all the beautiful captives. By the will of the gods, Achilles somewhat pacifies his anger, but refuses to participate in the further siege of Troy, while giving his captive to Agamemnon (recognition of the inviolability of military customs in the division of military spoils). Insulted, he no longer takes part in the battles near Troy, but also does not return to his home in Thessaly, which he himself speaks about in the heat of a quarrel, but does not dare to go against the will of the gods. During the actual dispute with Agamemnon, Achilles admits that he did not know any insults from the Trojans, he had nothing to take revenge on them for, and he came to fight in Troy, in fact, only “seeking the honor of Menelaus.” Later we learn from the Iliad that the anger of Achilles almost cost the Achaeans the complete defeat and destruction of their ships by the Trojans.

Already ancient critics of the Iliad noted that in the poem itself, not much space was given to the anger of Achilles; this was discussed at length by later European scientists Thomson J. Studies on the history of ancient Greek society. - M.: Foreign publishing house. Literary, 1958. - P. 62. . But if we turn to the text of the poem without any bias, it is clearly seen that from the anger of Achilles one way or another follows the temporary success of the Trojans, their transition from defense to offensive, a threat to the Achaean camp itself, Hector’s murder of Achilles’ friend Patroclus, which is why Achilles Great anger and in new armor, made at the request of Thetis in one night by the god Hephaestus, returns to the battle, kills Hector with the help of Athena at the walls of Troy. This is followed by the appeasement of Achilles' anger, the release of Hector's body to his father, Priam, and a detailed description of the funeral of first Patroclus and then, at the end of the poem, Hector. Thus, the main plot line of the Iliad from beginning to end is indeed the anger of Achilles, the events and consequences closely related to it.

In the image of Homer's Achilles we see the ideal of the Hellenic heroic period, very far from, for example, the ideal of the medieval knight. Although “nobility” is one of his most important and constant epithets, it apparently means only the origin of the hero (mother is a goddess), which elevates him above ordinary people. The epithet “swift-footed” emphasizes the athletic qualities of Achilles, which were valued by the ancients, unlike today, primarily from a military point of view. The main thing in Homer's Achilles is his boundless courage, physical strength and beauty. It is precisely by these “parameters” that Ajax the Elder, the best warrior among the Achaeans after Achilles, is compared with him. It is curious that nowhere in Homer is the intelligence and wisdom of Achilles noted. Homer tacitly admits that he is nowhere near Nestor or Odysseus in this regard. Having appeared at Troy with his Myrmidons, during the first nine years Achilles, it seems, became famous for nothing except raids and robberies throughout the Troas. From the Iliad one can understand that he had similar plans against the Dardanian king Aeneas, who was grazing his flocks on the mountains of Ida, which prompted the latter to participate in the war on the side of the Trojans. From the lamentations of Andromache, Hector’s wife, we learn that at the same time he reached the king of Cilicia and Andromache’s father Getion, killed him along with all his sons and plundered the city. Homer does not report such work “on the side” during the siege of Troy by other Achaean leaders. Thus, according to Homer, Achilles is elevated above others by his still irrepressible and insatiable thirst for war, murder, robbery, and violence in themselves. No wonder, wanting to take revenge on Agamemnon by refusing to participate in the siege of Troy, Achilles sat idle, but his soul was hungry for both battle and battle.

Thus, with the utmost clarity, the Hellenic ideal of a warrior husband emerges before us - brave, powerful, beautiful in body and face, but also without pity, cruel, selfish.

Let us remember the grandiose mythical cycle about Hercules and his twelve labors. This greatest of the heroes of Greek mythology committed murders of various monsters and people in a forced, motivated manner. Achilles went to fight in Troy for the sake of war as such, for the sake of murders and robberies. Homer himself does not deny the excessive cruelty and bloodthirstiness of his main character, his purely barbaric habits, his unworthy mockery of the dying Hector and then his body, his brutal murder of twelve innocent Trojan youths in honor of the funeral of Patroclus. Homer himself, whose sympathies for the Achaeans, in contrast to the Trojans, often clearly shine through in the solemnly dispassionate speech of the poem, notes that “he also planned an unworthy deed against Hector.”

At the same time, knowing that the end of his life is near, Achilles is not afraid of death, he boldly goes to meet it, but for now, for now. enjoys the special favor of the gods, who even go so far as to fight alongside him, being invisible, and provide him with advantages in battle. Infinitely brave just because he knows about his invulnerability until the last, fateful hour, Achilles in his “private life” highly values ​​​​friendship, inconsolably mourns his friend Patroclus, organizes a grand funeral for his body and sports competitions in honor of the deceased, generously rewarding the winners in various types of games. His heart is able to soften in a conversation with Priam about handing over the body of Hector, which he had desecrated. The magnanimous robber Achilles, one might say, anticipates many similar characters in European literature, but with the difference that in most cases he, like other heroes of Homer’s poems, did good deeds, only yielding to the will of the gods. However, the gods themselves interfered in the actions and destinies of mortal heroes, guided exclusively by personal sympathies and preferences, and not by “moral principles” and yielding only to the will of the almighty Fate. This was the behavior of Hera and Athena from the beginning to the end of the Trojan War and during the subsequent wanderings of Odysseus, who cruelly took revenge on the entire Trojan people for not recognizing them as “most beautiful” by the only Trojan, Paris.

Judging by Homer's poems, the Greeks of the heroic period knew neither modesty nor sentimentality, and murder was justified by “practical” expediency alone, while looting on the battlefield was considered valor.

Such was one of the most beloved heroes of the Greek epic, the son of Peleus, Achilles. His first feat during the campaign against Troy was the murder of one of the Troadian kings, Cycnus, who prevented the landing of the Achaean army on the shores of the Hellespont and was thereby an ally of Troy.

The essence of Achilles's last exploit, judging by later legends, is the same. After the murder of Hector, the Amazons, led by their queen Pentheseleia and the son of the ruler of Ethiopia, Memnon, arrived to help the Trojans. Both were killed by Achilles. As we would say now, the hero’s “track record” was distinguished by the invariability of his chosen path and testified to his high, although, from our point of view, narrow professionalism. Subsequently, Achilles was not credited with a single feat performed with a humane purpose, for which Hercules, Perseus, and Theseus became famous. The barbaric and robber nature of Achilles was revealed in all its splendor in his meager, short “biography”. Perhaps none of the mortal heroes of Greek mythology enjoyed such patronage of the gods as Achilles. Not excluding Hercules, who had to endure so much exorbitant labor. A special divine measure of encouragement was, as we remember, the strengthening of Achilles’ strength before his return to battle with food and drink from the celestials brought by Athena. And another special favor: after his death, he becomes in the underworld the ruler of the souls of the dead, although, however, the soul of Achilles himself does not highly value this privilege.

Such absolute superiority of Achilles over all mortals on the battlefield, which the ancients treated with delight and admiration, in the eyes of the modern reader sharply weakens the human traits of one of the most beloved heroes of the ancient Greeks. It is incompatible today even with the very concept of heroism.

As if sensing the deep contradictions in the nature of Achilles and foreseeing the possibility of a negative reaction from his readers, Homer appeals to the highest authority - to Zeus himself.

The Aeolians (the northern group of ancient Greek tribes inhabiting Thessaly and Macedonia), who undertook the first colonization of the northwestern part of Asia Minor and, consequently, the Troas, are believed by scientists to have created, based on their conquests, the first, pre-Homeric edition of the Iliad, their national (much later - a pan-Greek) hero and became Achilles - a warrior-conqueror with all the qualities necessary for such a profession. Whether Homer introduced anything new into his characterization in his Iliad, we do not know and will never know. And although in later and even modern literature the name of Achilles means the name of one of the greatest heroes of antiquity, from a modern point of view it is difficult to sympathize with this character of the Iliad. But this is, perhaps, how human memory in general works, and not only personal, but also popular: the good is remembered better and longer, becoming more and more radiant in the distance, the bad, criminal, shameful fades, and even a veil of greatness is thrown over it.

Thus, the destruction of Troy was a triumph, a triumph of the Greek people, who created a huge military alliance under a single command to achieve this goal. But at the same time, in the minds of the ancient Greeks, there remained a deep conviction in the initial and pre-predicted doom of Troy and its people, as well as the conviction in the predestined fate of everyone, no matter who he was - a simple person, a king or a hero. The power of Doom is inexorable, the future is bleak for everyone. So, use the present as best you can

The Trojan War did not bring success to either side. It turned into a tragedy, a collapse, but generated not by chance, but by the inscrutable ways of fate. The fate of Troy, the Trojans, and the Achaean heroes was predicted and inexorable. For most of its participants, the Trojan War brought death or shame, exile.

The belief in gods and demons in Homer's epic is very real, but they are depicted in a form that has little in common with primitive and crude folk beliefs. Hera, Kirka and Calypso are beautiful women in luxurious toilets, drowning in pleasure and experiencing subtle experiences. The very image of the meeting between Zeus and Hera (Il., XIV), according to many researchers, is nothing more than a parody of the old myth about the sacred marriage of Earth and Heaven. There is a lot of parody in the famous battle of the gods (Ill., XXI). Priests and Prophets, it is true, are found in Homer, but they hardly have any other meaning than a purely plot one, i.e. except for artistic use. Regarding all kinds of miraculous phenomena and signs, Hector directly says (Il., XII, 243): “The best sign of all is “only one thing: to fight for the fatherland.” Here we have before us that artistic mythology and religion that has never again manifested itself in humanity with such strength and expressiveness. Homer's poetic depiction of gods and demons is consistent with his heroic style. These are absolutely the same artistic characters as the most ordinary heroes and people. When Diomedes (Il., V) wounds Aphrodite and Ares, this wound is no different from the wound of any mortal hero. When Aphrodite saves her favorite Paris (Ill., 111), her help is also no different from the help of an ordinary comrade in arms. Homeric poems thus finally transform the epic into a purely poetic creation. That is why they are distinguished by a completely unique and unsurpassed ironic and humorous depiction of the divine and heroic world, characteristic of an ascending civilization.

Gods and fate. Finally, the object of artistic reality in Homer is the gods and fate. The gods every now and then intervene in human life, and not only interfere, but literally tell a person all his decisions and actions, all his feelings and moods. The Trojan Pandarus (Ill., IV) shoots at the Greek camp, treacherously violating the just concluded truce; the reader is usually indignant and condemns Pandarus. But this happened as a result of the decision of the gods and the direct influence of Pallas Athena on Pandarus. Priam goes to Achilles' tent (Ill., XXIV), and friendly relations are established between them; They usually forget that all this was inspired to Priam and Achilles by the gods from above. If we understand Homer’s plot literally, then we will have to say with complete certainty that man is certainly humiliated in Homer, that he is turned into a soulless instrument of the gods, and that the heroes of the epic are exclusively gods. However, Homer hardly understood mythology literally. In fact, Homer's gods are only a generalization of human feelings and moods, human actions and will, and a generalization of the entire socio-historical life of man. If this or that human act is explained by the command of a deity, then in fact this means that this act was committed by a person as a result of his own internal decision, so deep that even the person himself experiences it as something given to him from the outside. Homer's heroes (Agamemnon, Achilles, Menelaus) are not at all embarrassed to object to the gods and object quite rudely; The gods themselves are not at all distinguished by high moral behavior: they are characterized by any vices, passions and bad deeds. In some places one can assume predetermination of fate. But just as often a person acts “against fate.” After all, today the predestination of fate is one, but tomorrow, perhaps, it will be different. So why shouldn’t the hero act contrary to the decision of fate known to him today and show his own will? Thus, on the issue of gods and fate, Homer’s poems occupy a transitional position between ancient fatalism and the freedom of man of later times.

Heroes and their exploits are often depicted for purely aesthetic, and not at all mythological, purposes. The Odyssey (VIII, 577-580) says that the exploits of the heroes of the Trojan War have meaning only as the subject of songs for subsequent generations. In this regard, we must also consider Homer’s images of the singers Demodocus and Phemius, captured by the inspiration of the muses and decorating the solemn and festive life of the new heroes of the period of civilization.

Bottom line: Homer’s ideology, rooted in the communal tribal formation, also reflects a rising civilization, a rising humanism, including criticism of the decaying clan aristocracy, a skeptical attitude towards gods and heroes, a well-defined anti-war tendency and, in general, humanism in morality, religion and aesthetics. Homer is also no stranger to a critical approach to the new, just emerging slave society.

People and their characters. Homer portrays heroes in the same way. Almost all of them are strong, beautiful, noble; they are also “divine”, “divine”, or at least trace their origins to the gods. However, this depiction of Homer’s heroes cannot be called standard. It is often very far from the epic stencil, is distinguished by great diversity and already foreshadows the complexity of later literature.

Achilles is a formidable hero of the Homeric epic, self-confident, devoted to his homeland and people. However, it is often forgotten that he is extremely angry and rude, that because of some captive he leaves the battlefield and betrays his compatriots; he is stubborn and intractable, although the ambassadors (Il., IX) persuade him in every possible way; he returns to fighting only because he seeks to avenge his friend; he is merciless to Hector and preaches the right of a strong beast, refusing him to fulfill his dying prayer, and with senseless cruelty and outrage he drags his corpse around Troy for nine days.