Poetry of Ancient Greece: military and not only
G. Moreau. Traveling Poet
The most famous examples of ancient Greek poetry, of course, are works related to the Trojan cycle - the poems of Homer, Stesichorus, Quintus of Smyrna, the unknown author "Cyprius", and some others. We have already talked about them in previous articles. Many researchers even call the famous beginning of the "Iliad" ("Anger, goddess, sing Achilles, Peleus's son...") as the first line of European poetry.
And, probably, with good reason it can be said that European poetry began precisely with the description of the battles and exploits of the “shiny helmeted” heroes. The very word "verses" in translation into Russian means "fighting ranks" - a number of words were meant, connected, like warriors, in a special system. This system was called rhythm, the words "rhythm" and "rhyme" have the same root, but it should be noted that rhymes in the modern sense of this word were not used in ancient Greek poetry.
The Greeks understood and appreciated the power of the poetic word. Aristophanes (who was called the "father of comedy"), quite seriously said that it was Aeschylus who brought up the fighters of Marathon and Salamis with his poetry. And the playwright Sophocles, after the performance of the play "Antigone", was elected a strategist - and justified the trust of the citizens: he successfully carried out several military operations.
Let's talk about some poets of Hellas, including military poetry, not related to the Trojan cycle.
Military poetry of Tyrtaeus
Tradition says that in the middle of the XNUMXth century BC. e. during the Second Messenian War, which was the hardest for Sparta, the ambassadors of Lacedaemon received an oracle in Delphi, instructing them to look for a leader in Athens. The instructions of the Pythians were then taken very seriously, and the Spartans allegedly really asked the Athenians to send them an experienced strategist. As a mockery, they received a lame school teacher and part-time poet Tirtey. However, the verses written by Tyrtaeus so inspired the Spartans that after his arrival they defeated the enemy troops in the first battle.
G. Moreau. Tyrtaeus singing during the battle
It is curious that much later (about 2 years later), Rouger Lille, in the lines of his Marseillaise, intuitively repeated the lines of one of Tyrtaeus' poems - and achieved a similar result. Tirtaeus wrote:
"Forward, O sons of the citizen fathers,
Men of the illustrious Sparta!
Men of the illustrious Sparta!
And these are the first lines of the Marseillaise:
“Forward, sons of the dear homeland!
The moment of glory is coming!”
The moment of glory is coming!”
But most modern researchers still believe that Tyrtaeus was a native of Sparta, and the legend of his Athenian (or in another version - Milesian) origin is considered an example of ancient Greek black PR. The fact is that the village with the name Afidna, which is called the birthplace of Tyrtaeus, existed not only in Attica, but also in Laconia. And the poems of Tyrtaeus are a vivid example of not Athenian and not even common Greek, but precisely Spartan patriotism.
There were 5 books of poems by Tyrtaeus, but only 150 poems have survived, in addition, some of them are known from the presentations of other authors, for example, Aristotle, Pausanias, Stobaeus, Lycurgus (in this case, the orator, not the Spartan legislator). In these works, Tyrtaeus glorifies the warriors who defeated the enemies, and writes about the humiliation of the vanquished, praises the heroes and sharply condemns the cowards. The program elegy "Beautification" speaks of the harmonious order of life in Sparta, established by Apollo himself, and contains a warning: "Covetousness, nothing else will destroy Sparta."
Agree, it would be difficult to expect this from a new Athenian.
At the same time, unlike Homer, the emphasis in the poems of Tyrtaeus is still not on the exploits of individual heroes, but on the importance of a common victory, the military unity of the entire Spartan army and the sacrifices that should be made on the altar of common interests. So they taught the hoplites in Sparta: do not pay attention to what is happening in other areas - in the center or on the flanks, keep the line, do not go forward, but also keep up with the comrades walking nearby.
Atypical military verses of Archilochus
The Greeks attributed the creation of most modern poetic meters to another poet of the XNUMXth century BC. e. - Archilochus.
According to the sources, it was in the work of Archilochus that such genres as elegy and fables received their final form. His fable about a wolf who did not want to wear a collar is considered the first work of this genre in all European literature.
In addition, Archilochus is considered the creator of iambic six-foot (the main poetic size of Greek and Roman drama), epod (two-line size, in which a large verse is followed by a smaller one) and trochea (archaic trochaic).
Supposed sculpture of Archilochus, Roman copy of a Greek original
And it is the professional warrior Archilochus who is considered the creator of the genre of lyric poetry - in the modern sense, since at that time, regardless of the content, those verses were called lyrics, the reading of which was accompanied by playing the lyre.
"His beautiful rose
With a branch of myrtle
She was so happy.
Shadow hair
They fell on her shoulders
And on the back."
With a branch of myrtle
She was so happy.
Shadow hair
They fell on her shoulders
And on the back."
Here it is just right, of course, to recall the lines of A. Tvardovsky:
"Who said that there is no place for songs in the war?"
Archilochus was a native of the island of Paros and a contemporary of Tyrtaeus: in one of his poems he mentions a solar eclipse dated by astronomers to April 6, 648 BC. e.
His father was a free man of noble origin (and even led the colonization of the island of Thasos), and his Thracian mother was a simple slave. Being illegitimate, Archilochus did not receive an inheritance and was at first a priest of the temple of Demeter, probably his first poems were hymns in honor of this goddess and her daughter Persephone, as well as in honor of Dionysus. But later, Archilochus preferred the career of a mercenary warrior - which he reports in one of his poems:
“I have my bread mixed with a sharp spear,
and with a spear
I get wine.
I drink, leaning on a spear.
and with a spear
I get wine.
I drink, leaning on a spear.
At the same time, unlike the same Homer, Archilochus did not become an exalted singer of great heroes. On the contrary, his descriptions of battles are realistic, and sometimes undisguised irony also slips through:
“We overtook and killed exactly seven by the count,
There were a thousand of us…”
There were a thousand of us…”
By the way, these lines can be used to judge the true scale of the battles of that time: a thousand soldiers is probably the entire army of the Greek policy, including detachments of mercenaries.
Contemporaries admired the poems of Archilochus, but many condemned him for his mundane and not at all heroic description of battles and battles.
“If you win, don’t flaunt your victory,
They will win - do not be upset, lock yourself in the house, do not cry.
Rejoice in good fortune in moderation, grieve in moderation in adversity.”
They will win - do not be upset, lock yourself in the house, do not cry.
Rejoice in good fortune in moderation, grieve in moderation in adversity.”
It was even said that he justified cowardice. Here is how Archilochus tells about the loss of his shield:
Willy-nilly I had to
Throw it to me in the bushes.
I myself escaped death.
And let it disappear
My shield.
Nothing worse
I can get a new one."
Throw it to me in the bushes.
I myself escaped death.
And let it disappear
My shield.
Nothing worse
I can get a new one."
Archilochus died before reaching old age - in one of the battles on his native island of Paros. As is often the case, recognition came after death. At the beginning of the 100th century BC. e. on the island of Paros, the sanctuary of Archilochus (Archelocheyon) was even built with fragments of his poems carved on stones. And in XNUMX BC. e. a statue of this poet was erected on Paros.
Hesiod
G. Moreau. Hesiod and the Muse
Another famous ancient Greek poet, Hesiod, lived in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries. BC e.
It is in his presentation that we know the myth of the four "ages" (historical eras): gold, silver, copper and modern - iron (this is described in Hesiod's poem "Works and Days"). Between the copper and iron ages, Hesiod singled out the age of heroes, in whose veins divine blood flowed. He attributed the events of the Trojan War to the age of heroes. And in the poem "Theogony" Hesiod tried to systematize and bring to a common denominator the conflicting legends about the gods. And in the "Catalogue of Women" he gave a list of beauties who entered into a relationship with the Olympic gods, whose sons became the founders of noble Greek families. The philosopher and poet Xenophanes, by the way, condemned both Homer and Hesiod. He said:
“Everything that people have dishonorable and shameful, attributed to the gods Homer and Hesiod: theft, adultery and mutual deceit.”
It is said that once Hesiod defeated Homer himself in a contest. The victory was awarded to him by the king of Chalkis Paned - on the grounds that Hesiod "narrated about agriculture and peace, and not wars and massacres." Contemporaries, on the contrary, wanted to listen to poems about heroes and battles, and therefore Paneda was condemned, he even became the hero of a proverb - as an example and embodiment of an imbecile person.
Pindar
Pindar with lyre, fresco in Pompeii
Another great poet of Hellas, Pindar, was a representative of a noble Theban family. He was born around 517 BC. e. in Cynoscephalae (Boeotia) - near the famous Mount Helikon, which was considered the abode of the Muses.
According to legend, as a child, Pindar fell asleep in the shade of trees, waking up, he saw bees above his head and felt the taste of honey on his lips. According to another version, this incident happened to him in infancy - when he was lying in the cradle. Hearing about this, his father sent the boy to study with the best musicians, including his uncle Skopelin, who played the aulos well, the Athenian musician Apollodorus, the poetess Myrtis of Anthedon and the poet Las Hermione.
Very soon, Pindar gained fame as one of the best aeds of Hellas. It was even said that the god Pan learned the songs of Pindar and danced to them with the nymphs. And in Delphi, a throne was intended for the poet, on which no one could ascend - except Pindar. The epinicia (ode) composed by Pindar was considered the highest award for the winner at the Olympic (and other) games. 45 such odes have survived to our time: 14 were written in honor of the winners of the Olympic Games, 12 are dedicated to the winners of the Pythian games, 11 - Nemean, 8 - Isthmian. But Pindar also had a hymn written by him in honor of the hetaerae.
Throughout his life, Pindar was defeated only 5 times in singing competitions, and a certain Corinna came out the winner. Unfortunately, not a single poem of this woman has survived to our time. Alexander the Great, as you know, ordered the destruction of the rebellious Thebes, and the citizens of this city sold into slavery - except for the descendants of Pindar, and people connected with the Macedonians by bonds of hospitality.
Another legend is connected with the death of this poet. Allegedly, Persephone reproached him in a dream:
"You sang all the gods except me, but soon you will sing me too."
After 10 days, Pindar died, after another 10 - one of his relatives said that the poet appeared to her in a dream and dictated a hymn in honor of Persephone.
Later, Pindar's poems were highly appreciated in Rome, Horace, for example, compared them to a mountain stream. However, in modern times, Pindar was no longer very popular, and Voltaire called him
"an exalted singer of Greek riders and fisticuffs", "who in the old days glorified the horses of the most worthy philistines from Corinth or from Megara" and "possessed an incomparable gift to talk endlessly without saying anything."
Arion
Many researchers believe that it was Arion who was the first to artistically process the solemn songs in honor of Dionysus (dithyrambs) and suggested that they be performed in turn by different (alternating) choirs. From this performance, the classical ancient Greek tragedy later developed. Ovid, 700st century Roman poet BC, who lived about XNUMX years after Arion, wrote:
“What sea, what land of Arion does not know?”
But the poems of Arion (which are believed to have been about two thousand) have not survived to our time, so one has to take the word of the ancient authors. A famous legend claims that Arion, thrown overboard by sea robbers, was saved by a dolphin.
Arion on a Roman mosaic, Sicily, XNUMXth c. n. e.
In the city of Tarant, with which the legend connects the journey of Arion, a coin was issued with the image of a human figure sitting on a dolphin.
Coin of Tarentum, circa 510–500 BC e.
However, another legend connects the appearance of this coin with Phalanthos, the leader of the Parthenians who left Sparta (“children of virgins” are illegitimate children of Spartan women during the First Messenian War), who is considered the founder of Tarentum. He was also rescued by a dolphin after being shipwrecked.
Ivik
This poet, who lived in the second half of the VI century BC. e., was a contemporary and probably a good friend of another famous ancient Greek lyricist - Anacreon: at one time they lived at the court of the tyrant Polycrates of Samos. Its homeland is the Greek colony of Rhegium, located in southern Italy.
Ivik in bas-relief in Reggio Calabria
It is believed that this poet, outlining another legend, often reduced the heroic tone of the story. In the III-II centuries. BC e. in Alexandria, his poems were collected in 7 books. For a long time it was believed that Ivik's poems did not survive, but papyri were found near the Egyptian city of El Bahnas containing fragments of 40 of his poems, which are now considered the earliest examples of choral lyrics.
At present, this poet is known mainly due to the legend set forth in Schiller's ballad "Ivikov Cranes" (1797): the poet was allegedly mortally wounded by robbers when he was on his way to the Isthmian Games (in honor of Poseidon) in Corinth. Cranes flying by began to appear in the cities where the killers entered, who were eventually exposed. This is how the "crowded expression" "Ivikov cranes" appeared. However, an inscription has been preserved indicating that Ivik died in his native city.
Sappho
Bust of Sappho, early XNUMXth century BC BC, Roman copy of a Greek original, Musei Capitolini
The real name of this poetess from the city of Mitylene (Lesbos Island) is Psaptha, which can be translated as “Clear” or “Light”. Sappho is an adaptation that has already become traditional, sometimes this name is pronounced and written like Sappho.
She lived in the 630th-570th centuries. BC e. (presumably in 2017-10 BC). The name Sappho was included in the canonical list of the Nine Lyricists, and fellow countrymen respected the poetess so much that they knocked out coins with her image. In modern Greece, also in XNUMX, a collectible silver coin with a face value of XNUMX euros was issued.
Plato wrote about her:
“Nine only naming muses, we offend Sappho, shouldn’t we honor the tenth muse in it?”
An unknown contemporary poet called Sappho "among the immortal muses a mortal muse", her house was called the "house of the servants of the muses", and later abbreviated as a museum.
Strabo can read:
"It is in vain to look in the whole course of history for a woman who could bear even an approximate comparison with Sappho in poetry."
Solon, an Athenian politician, legislator (and poet), one of the "seven wise men" of Ancient Greece, having heard Sappho's poems already in old age, asked his grandson to recite them in his presence - because he did not want to leave the world before he learned them.
Sappho gathered girls of noble birth around her, giving them lessons in music, poetry, dance - which is why she was later portrayed as a fan of non-traditional relationships. In fact, Sappho was married, gave birth to a daughter, Cleida, her pupils got married - and for each of them she wrote a wedding song on this occasion.
Sappho and her pupils in a painting by Francis Coates Jones
One of the rejected admirers of Sappho was the famous poet Alcaeus, whose poems had a great influence on Horace, it was even suggested that many of Horace's odes are a translation of Alcaeus' songs that have not come down to us. In one of his poems, Alcaeus calls Sappho "violet-haired, sweet-smiling, pure."
Aristotle quoted some source that has not come down to us, which mentions the feelings of Alcaeus for Sappho. Hephaestion also wrote about the love of this poet for Sappho. Athenaeus reports that Alcaeus "often sang about his love for Sappho", we know about this from Hermesianakt's "List of things about love".
During late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, the love story of Alcaeus for Sappho was a popular subject in art. The following verses by Sappho, addressed to Alcaeus, have been preserved:
"You are my friend. But a wife
bring the younger one into your house.
I'm older than you.
Share your blood
I won't make up my mind with you."
bring the younger one into your house.
I'm older than you.
Share your blood
I won't make up my mind with you."
Alcaeus and Sappho. Red-figure vase painting, ca. 480 BC e. Munich, State Museum of Antique Collections
It is said that the dying Sappho forbade her daughter to cry, since grief and tears are indecent in a house dedicated to the service of the muses. And according to another legend, she died by throwing herself into the sea from the Leucadian rock dedicated to Aphrodite - it was believed that a person who survived after such a jump was healed of unhappy love.
P. Lawson. Sappho on the rock. North facade of the Louvre
This is by no means a complete story about some of the poets of Hellas.
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