Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age, Vol. 3 of 3: I. Agorè: Polities of the Homeric Age. II. Ilios: Trojans and Greeks Compared. III. Thalassa: The Outer Geography. IV. Aoidos: Some Points of the Poetry of Homer.Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart)
Philosophy
Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age, Vol. 3 of 3: I. Agorè: Polities of the Homeric Age. II. Ilios: Trojans and Greeks Compared. III. Thalassa: The Outer Geography. IV. Aoidos: Some Points of the Poetry of Homer.
Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart)
Civilization, Homeric; Epic poetry, Greek -- History and criticism; Homer
Again, among the thirteen who have been identified as objects of Trojan
worship, we find one, namely, Γαῖα, of whom we can hardly say that she
was worshipped in Greece; though she was invoked, as by Agamemnon in
the Nineteenth Book, and by Althea in the Ninth, to add a more solemn
sanction to oaths.
14. Together with her, we may take notice of a fourteenth deity,
apparently of great consideration in Troy, namely, the River Scamander.
He bears a marked sign of ancient worship, in having a divine
appellation, Xanthus, as well as his terrestrial one, Scamander. He
had an ἀρήτηρ, by name Dolopion. To him, according to the speech
of Achilles, the Trojans sacrificed live horses. He enters into
the division of parties among the gods about the war, and fights
vigorously against Achilles, until he is at length put down by
Hephæstus, or Vulcan. As a purely local deity, however, he has of
course no place in the Greek mythology.
15. Though we have no direct mention of the translation of Tithonus
by Ἠὼς, or Aurora, yet, as Homer gives Tithonus a place both in the
genealogy of the Dardanidæ, and likewise by the side of Aurora, we may
consider that, by thus recognising the translation, he also points out
Aurora as an acknowledged member of the supernatural order in Troas.
Several among these names call for more particular notice: especially
those of Vulcan, Earth, and Scamander.
~_Worship of Vulcan in Troas._~
The case of Vulcan, and his place in Troy, may serve to remind us of
a proposition somewhat general in its application; this namely, that,
in classifying the Trojan divinities, Homer need not have intended
to imply that the same name must in all cases carry exactly the same
attributes. We must here bear in mind, that probably all, certainly
almost all, of the properly Olympian gods, were Greek copies modified
from Oriental or from traditive originals. But as these conceptions
were propagated in different quarters, each country would probably add
or take away, or otherwise alter, in conformity with its own ruling
tendencies. Hence when we find a Vulcan in Greece, and a Vulcan in
Troas, it by no means follows, that each of them presented the same
features and attributes. If Homer believed them to be derived from a
common original in Egypt or elsewhere, that would be a good and valid
reason for his describing them by the same name, though the Trojan
Vulcan might not present all the Hellenic traits, nor _vice versâ_.
In some cases, such as those of Jupiter, Apollo, Minerva, Diana, and
Venus, there is such a correspondence of attributes entering into the
portraiture of the respective deities in the two countries, that their
identity, at least so far as the evidence goes, seems quite unimpaired
and unequivocal. But we have no means of showing from the poems, that
the Trojan Hephæstus corresponded with the Greek one. Indeed when we
find no mention of his being actually worshipped in Greece, and at the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account