This video lesson is dedicated to the topic "Homer. The Iliad and the Odyssey are the great ancient Greek poems. The theme of this lesson is related to the Trojan War, which is reflected in the heroic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey". We will try to find out what is true and what is fiction. Homer is one of the legendary names of world history, the founder of world art. In this lesson, you will find a fascinating story about the great singer and his great ancient Greek poems. Nowadays, scientists believe that the poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" were written in the 7th century BC. Previously, Homer's poems were considered simply literary works, not connected with reality. The whole world of that time was inclined to believe that they combined the content of various myths. No one could say what lies at the heart of the poem: truth or fiction. This question haunted the self-taught archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. He organized several expeditions to Greece and the peninsula of Asia Minor. The theme of our lesson is related to the Trojan War, as well as the heroic poems of the Aed of Ancient Greece, the Iliad and the Odyssey. We will try to find out what is true in these works, and what is fiction ...
Theme: Myths of the peoples of the world
Lesson: Homer. "Iliad" and "Odyssey" - the great ancient Greek poems
Homer is one of the legendary names of world history, the founder of world art, one of the symbols of humanity. No one knows, and, probably, is unlikely to find out biographical information about Homer. It is believed that he lived between the 12th and 7th centuries BC. Eleven cities dispute the right to be called the birthplace of this great singer. The great ancient Greek philosopher Plato said that Homer brought up all of Greece. There was even a cult of Homer. His name is interpreted in different ways. It is believed that "homer" means "accompanying", "guided" or "blind". Hence the widespread version of the poet's blindness.
Rice. 1. Homer, ancient Greek aed ()
Homer is the greatest city of Ancient Greece.
Aeds are professional singers who reworked folk legends and sang poems to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument, lyre or cithara.
Aed- (Greek aoidos, from aeido - I sing, I sing) - an ancient Greek professional poet and singer, performer of epic songs. From generation to generation, the Aeds passed on the traditions of their craft and ancient songs-tales. Aeds were constant participants in celebrations, feasts, competitions; in addition to the communities and kings who were in the service, there were wandering aeds.
The Aeds sang, accompanying themselves on the forminx, a stringed plucked instrument… The Aeds introduced elements of improvisation into their singing, supplementing and modifying traditional songs-tales, creating new ones… Later, the art of the Aeds was lost. (Gruber R.I., History of musical culture, vol. 1, part 1, M.-L., 1941, p. 272).
Lyra- among the ancient Greeks, a stringed plucked instrument, which had from three to eight strings (Explanatory Dictionary of D.N. Ushakov).
Kifara- an ancient Greek stringed plucked musical instrument ... The names kitarron, zither, guitar, etc. come from the word "kifara" (Encyclopedic Dictionary).
The skill of the Aeds was passed down from generation to generation. There were even whole families of professional singers. During the holidays, the Greeks were very fond of listening to the legends about the heroes performed by the Aeds. Writers and performers in Greece were treated with great respect.
Today, scientists believe that the poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" were written in the 7th century BC. Previously, Homer's poems were considered simply literary works, not connected with reality. The whole world of that time was inclined to believe that they combined the content of various myths. No one could say what lies at the heart of the poem: truth or fiction. This question haunted the self-taught archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. He organized several expeditions to Greece and the peninsula of Asia Minor.
Heinrich Schliemann- German archaeologist He made a huge fortune through trade. In 1863, he left commercial activity and began to search for places mentioned in the Homeric epic.
In 1873, he found the remains of the city of Troy, as well as the remains of the Kremlin in Tiryns and Mycenae. It became clear that there was still a campaign of the Achaeans, that is, the Greeks, against Troy.
The Greeks really moved to the peninsula of Asia Minor, since by that time Greece was very overpopulated. Shortly before 1200 BC, Troy was completely destroyed. But the folk epic explained this historical event mythologically:
At the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, all the gods feasted, only the goddess of discord Eris was not invited to the feast. Eris decided to take revenge on the gods. She took a golden apple, on which was written "the most beautiful", and, invisible to everyone, threw it on the table. Who is the most beautiful? A dispute arose between the wife of Zeus Hera, the warrior Athena and the goddess of love Aphrodite. It was decided that Paris, the son of King Priam of Troy and Queen Hecuba, would resolve the dispute. The goddesses promised great rewards for the decision in their favor. Hera promised him power over all of Asia, Athena - military glory and victory, Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful of all women, Helen, the daughter of Zeus and Leda, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite. Aphrodite helped Paris kidnap Helen, the most beautiful woman in Europe, from Menelaus, and Hera and Athena hated not only Paris, but also Troy, and decided to destroy the city and all the Trojans.
28 heroes-kings set off on a campaign for Helen to Troy, among whom was the cunning king of Ithaca Odysseus.
The siege of Troy lasted ten years.
Homer's poem "The Iliad" is based on the myth of the last year of the Trojan War. The name of the work comes from the second name of Troy - Illion.
The Iliad sings of military events and the exploits of the heroes of Agamemnon, Achilles, Menelaus, Hector and others. The protagonist of the Iliad "- Achilles, the son of the sea goddess Thetis and Peleus, king of the city of Phytia. Who did many deeds near Troy, and was killed by the arrow of Paris in the tenth year of the siege of the city of Troy. Although, according to the myth, he should be invulnerable: when he was still a baby, his mother, the goddess Thetis, bathed him in the river Styx, which flows through the underworld of the dead, and at the same time held him by the heel and therefore the only vulnerable part of Achilles' body was his heel. This is where the idiom "Achilles' heel" comes from, the most vulnerable spot.
Rice. 6. Bathing Achilles in the waters of Styx (Source)
Achilles had the closest friend - Patroclus, but the military leader of the Trojans, Hector, killed him. Achilles managed to avenge the death of his friend. This is one of the central episodes of the Iliad. This is a highly artistic work. The author very vividly depicts the immense grief of Achilles, who is ready to give his life, but to avenge the death of Patroclus.
But what a joy it is when I lost Patroclus,
Dear friend! Of all my friends, I loved him the most;
I valued them as my head; and I lost it!
Hector the murderer stole from him that huge armor,
Marvelous, bestowed by the gods, a precious gift to Peleus.
The mother, shedding tears, again said to him:
“Soon you will die, oh my son, judging by what you are saying!
Soon after the son of Priam, the end is prepared for you!”
To her, sighing heavily, swift-footed Achilles answered:
“Oh, yes, I will die now, when a friend is not given to me
Save yourself from the killer! Far, far from my dear home
He fell; and, of course, he called me, but I will save you from death!
What do I have in life? I won’t see the motherland with a drag,
I did not save Patroclus from death, nor other noble
Was not a protection to friends, from the mighty Hector to the fallen:
I sit idle before the courts; land is a useless burden…”
The description of the armor that Hephaestus forged for Achilles is admirable, so that he fought Hector and avenged the death of a friend:
And in the beginning he worked as a shield and huge and strong,
All decorating gracefully; around him he brought out the rim
White, shiny, triple; and attached a silver belt.
A shield of five sheets was made up and on a wide circle
God made many wonderful things according to creative plans.
There he presented the earth, he presented both the sky and the sea,
The sun, restless on its way, a full silver month,
All the beautiful stars that crown the sky...
He made on it a grape garden weighed down with a bunch,
All golden, only grape clusters turned black;
And he stood on silver, next to the stuck supports.
Near the garden and moat dark blue and white wall
Brought out of tin; a path led to the garden,
Which porters walk when the grapes are harvested.
There are girls and young men, with childish cheerfulness of heart,
The sweet fruit was carried in beautiful wicker baskets.
In the circle of their lad is beautiful in a ringing lyre
Sweetly rattling, singing beautifully to the linen strings
With singing, and with a cry, and with the clatter of feet, they rush in a round dance.
In the same place, the herd presented oxen raising their horns ...
The description of the battle between Hector and Achilles suggests that worthy opponents met. Hector meets Achilles face to face.
Rice. 7. The duel of Hector with Achilles ()
“I promise, Achilles,” says Hector, “if I kill you, I will take off your armor, but I won’t touch your body; promise me the same and you. “There is no place for promises: for Patroclus, I myself will tear you to pieces and drink your blood!” Achilles screams.
Hector's spear strikes the Hephaestus shield, but in vain; Achilles' spear strikes Hector's throat, and the hero falls with the words: "Fear the revenge of the gods: and you will fall after me."
The characters of Homer's heroes are far from folklore unambiguity and straightforwardness: either good or bad; either a hero or a coward. Achilles, mocking the body of the defeated enemy, was touched by the prayers of Hector's father and gave the enemy's body for burial. Here is the appeal of Hector's father to Achilles:
“Remember, Achilles, about your father, about Peleus! He is also old; maybe he is being pressed by enemies; but it is easier for him because he knows that you are alive and hopes that you will return. But I am alone: of all my sons, only Hector was my hope - and now he is gone. For the sake of your father, take pity on me, Achilles: here I kiss your hand, from which my children fell.
So saying, he aroused sorrow for his father and tears in him -
Both wept loudly, in their souls remembering their own:
The old man, prostrated at the feet of Achilles, - about Hector the brave,
Achilles himself is either about his dear father, or about his friend Patroclus.
Aeds are folk singers, so we find folklore elements in their works: repetitions, constant epithets. For example, "fast-footed Achilles", "silver-footed Thetis", "starry sky", even if the action takes place in the morning or afternoon. The songs were performed by heart, so the repetition of lines or stanzas helped memorize the tex and reproduce it.
The gods, active participants in the events, play a special role in this work. Some are on the side of the Trojans, others help their opponents. Often they argue and even fight among themselves. Who will win, Hector or Achilles, was also decided by the gods. Zeus raises the scales, on which there are two lots: Hectors and Achilles. The cup of Achilles rises, the cup of Hector descends to the underworld of the dead. Zeus gives a sign to Apollo to leave Hector, and Athena to help Achilles.
The Iliad ends with Hector's burial, but there is much more to come before Troy falls.
The siege of Troy lasted for ten years: first some won, then others. Finally, Odysseus came up with a trick: he invited the Achaeans to pretend that they were leaving Troy. And as a gift to the Trojans, “to build such a huge wooden horse so that the most powerful heroes of the Greeks could hide in it ..” When the Trojans dragged the “gift”, the soldiers hiding inside waited until night, got out of the horse, opened the gate and let the army in. So Troy fell.
1. Homer. Iliad (Translated by N. I. Gnedich). - M., "Azbuka", 2011.
2. Homer. Odyssey, Moscow, Nauka. Series "Literary Monuments", 2000.
3. Literature. 6th grade. At 2 p.m. / [V.P. Polukhina, V.Ya. Korovina, V.P. Zhuravlev, V.I. Korovin]; ed. V.Ya. Korovina. - M., 2013.
4. Losev A.F. Homer. Moscow, Young Guard. Hurrying series "Life of Remarkable People", 2006.
5. Encyclopedia "Myths of the peoples of the world". - M., 1980-1981, 1987-1988.
1. Large online library ().
2. Homer. Iliad (Translated by N. I. Gnedich) ().
3. Adventures of Odysseus (Retelling for children by N.A. Kuhn) ().
4. Odyssey translated by N. Zhukovsky ().
1. The task of choice. Based on the texts of the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer, write in your notebook:
a) Trojan heroes, patron gods.
Example. 1. Hector - the military leader of the Trojans.
b) Greek heroes, patron gods.
Example. 1. Achilles - the son of the goddess Thetis and the hero Peleus, the military hero of the Greeks.
c) The main plots of the poem
Example. 1. The scene of insulting Achilles by King Agamemnon, the refusal to fight against Troy.
2. * Write an essay-reasoning, how to understand and explain the meaning of the words said about Homer: “Homer made gods out of people, and turned gods into people”?
In the last centuries of the II millennium BC. large movements of tribes took place in the Eastern Mediterranean. As a result of these movements, the early slave-owning societies of Greece fell, the power of the Hittites collapsed, Syria, Phenicia and even Egypt were invaded. One of these movements was the previously mentioned migration of the Dorians. In terms of its scale, it was significantly inferior to the movements of the tribes in Asia Minor (campaigns of the "peoples of the sea") and covered only the territory of the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula, but its significance for the history of Greece was very great. For the next three centuries, mainland Greece was almost completely isolated from the countries of the ancient East. The construction of large structures such as palaces has ceased, there is no information about large farms, similar to those attested by documents of the Mycenaean time. Obviously, the separate slave-owning societies that had previously arisen were destroyed by the surrounding tribes, who still lived in the conditions of the primitive communal system. But at the same time, the newcomers took a lot from the population they conquered, which ultimately contributed to the transition of all Hellenic tribes to the slave system.
Until the beginning of our century, the only source of information about this period in the history of Greece was the ancient Greek traditions and fragmentary reports of much later Greek writers. Only in the last decade, thanks to the gradual accumulation of a large amount of archaeological data, has it become possible to more accurately characterize the development of individual areas of the Aegean basin during this period. However, along with archaeological data, Homeric poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, remain an important source for this period, the content of which is associated with the legend of the war of the Achaeans with Troy, which allegedly arose because of the abduction of Helen, the queen of Sparta, by the Trojan prince Paris.
Iliad and Odyssey
The Iliad covers the events that took place in the tenth year of the war of the Greeks (Achaeans) against Troy, when Achilles, one of the leaders of the Greek militia besieging Troy, argued over the division of booty with the main leader of the Greeks - Agamemnon and stopped participating in battles. After a series of defeats of the Achaeans, Achilles sent his friend Patroclus to help them, who died in battle with Hector, the son of the elderly king of Troy-Priam. Then Achilles decided to take part in the battles again. The Iliad ends with a description of the burial of Hector, who was killed in a duel with Achilles. The Odyssey sings of the ten-year wanderings of one of the participants in the Trojan War, Odysseus, king of the Greek island of Ithaca. After a series of semi-fantastic adventures, Odysseus returns to his homeland, where, with the help of his son Telemachus and faithful household members, he kills numerous suitors who sought the hand of his faithful wife Penelope, and restores his rights to Ithaca. Thus, the plots of both poems are connected by the unity of the theme and the circle of characters.
However, the Iliad does not contain a presentation of the Events from the beginning of the Trojan War and does not bring its story to the capture of Troy. The Odyssey, for its part, is not a direct continuation of the Iliad. Other episodes of the Trojan cycle were sung in the so-called kyklic poems, probably compiled no earlier than the 8th century. BC e. and have come down to us only in the form of a brief retelling of their content. Obviously, at the heart of both the Homeric and the Cyclic poems were legends related to the Trojan War. These legends were passed down orally from generation to generation and only after a few centuries served as the basis for major poetic works.
The exceptionally high merits of Homer's poems as artistic works of folk art - a figurative language rich in memorable comparisons, vivid characteristics of the characters, and finally, a complex composition, especially the Odyssey - testify not only to the genius of the author or authors of the poems, but also to a long path of development , who went through the Greek heroic epic before the creation of the Iliad and the Odyssey. For the historian, Homer's poems represent a truly invaluable treasury of information about the life and way of life of the Hellenes during the second half of the 2nd and the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e.
State structure
Homeric society has not yet emerged from the primitive communal system. It did not have a state, the apparatus of class oppression. The contradictions between the individual social groups were not yet sharpened to such an extent that such institutions as a standing army, prisons, and courts were required in order to keep the exploited and oppressed social classes in obedience. However, at this time, the gradual separation of the organs of the tribal system from the mass of the people had already begun. Tribal chiefs govern their tribes with little or no public assemblies. The Achaean militia near Troy is led by a council of basilei, the role of the assembly of soldiers is actually only to confirm the decisions of this council. And in Ithaca, during the 20-year absence of Odysseus, the people's assembly did not gather. In fact, all matters were decided by the nobility. In the description of the picture of the court, which is available in the epic, the verdict is passed by the elders, and the people only shout sympathy for one or another of the disputing parties.
Characteristic of the development of social relations in Homeric society is the absence of an organ of violence that could be used against the people. Engels in his work “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State” emphasizes that “at a time when every adult male in the tribe was a warrior, there was no public power separated from the people that could be opposed to it” (F. Engels , The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State, p. 108.). The structure of Greek society at the beginning of the 1st millennium can be called military democracy.
culture
The circle of scientific knowledge in the first two centuries of the 1st millennium BC. e. was small. First of all, this can be said about geographical knowledge. Homer knows well the geography of the Aegean basin, he is also familiar with the ethnic composition of the population of Asia Minor; however, everything that is outside these narrow limits is drawn by him only in the most general terms. The heroes of the epic show some knowledge in astronomy only insofar as knowledge of the paths of the movement of heavenly bodies was necessary for orientation to the sea.
The Homeric Greeks had somewhat clearer information about their past. The wide distribution of epic songs contributed to the preservation in the people's memory of memories of the strong Mycenaean kingdom, the prosperity of Crete and other centers of culture of the Bronze Age, and the Trojan War. All this information was combined in the Trojan cycle of legends; they formed the basis of the Homeric poems. However, due to the lack of written language, this information, when passed from generation to generation, lost its reliability and became more and more overgrown with fictitious details.
The greatest creation of Greek culture of that time was the heroic epic. Only as a result of the gradual improvement and selection of folk epic songs by many generations of singers and storytellers could the greatest poetic works of antiquity arise. The study of the language and style of the poems, the rather frequent repetition of individual words and images, and sometimes entire verses, and finally the very size of the poems - the hexameter, as well as observations of the oral epic creativity of many modern peoples - all this leads to the conclusion that the Homeric poems were not only the starting point for the subsequent rise of ancient Greek written literature, but also, to an even greater extent, the completion of a long path of development of Hellenic oral poetry.
Along with the epic songs included in Homer's poems, much of the poetry of that time has come down to us in fragments or in prose retellings.
Greek art of the XI-VIII centuries. we know from clay vessels decorated with the so-called geometric ornament, consisting of straight lines, zigzags, triangles and squares, less often circles. From combinations of these elements, sometimes rather intricate figures were created. Images of objects in the real world were also subjected to conditional, generalized geometric schematization. Horses were depicted with long, narrow, angular legs and elongated bodies, human figures were always drawn in profile: the body was in the form of an overturned triangle with limbs attached to it, and the head was in the form of a circle with a protruding nose. Compared with Mycenaean, and even more so with Minoan art, the geometric style gives the impression of a significant regression. However, in terms of the quality of clay and the technique of making vessels, ceramics with geometric ornaments are almost in no way inferior to Mycenaean ones.
The oldest known architectural monument of the 1st millennium, the temple of Artemis Orthia in Sparta, probably dates back to the turn of the 9th and 8th centuries. BC e. its width is 4.5 m, the length of the surviving part is about 12 m. The walls of the temple were built of mud, only the foundation was made of cobblestone; in the center of the temple, along the longitudinal axis, wooden pillars were placed to support the ceiling. Other, larger architectural structures were apparently built of wood. Some idea of their structure is given by Homeric poems. Odyssey's estate was surrounded by a palisade of oak stakes, and there were outbuildings in the courtyard. In the center of the estate there was a house with a megaron; the female half was on the second floor. A necessary accessory of the house of a noble person were various pantries and a room for ablution. All the buildings of the Odysseus estate were made of wood.
The clothes of the Homeric period also changed in comparison with the Mycenaean. Women wore long outerwear made of one piece of matter - the so-called peplos, the edges of which were torn off at the shoulder with a clasp. Men wore a sleeveless woolen shirt at that time - a tunic. On later geometric pottery, the nobility is depicted wearing multi-coloured woolen cloaks covered with rich geometric designs, and sometimes with more complex designs.
Myths of ancient Greece
In the Homeric poems we can find data on the religion of the ancient Greeks, mainly of the Mycenaean period; as for the beliefs of the period of the Homeric poems themselves, their study is also possible through the study of religious ideas of a later time, many elements of which go back not only to Homeric, but even to Mycenaean and even earlier times.
In the epic, the head of the gods is the Thunderer Zeus. His brothers were Poseidon, the god of the sea, and Hades, the god of the underworld. Zeus, along with his wife Hera and children - Apollo (god of the sun, music), Artemis (goddess of hunting), Ares (god of war), Athena (goddess of wisdom and crafts), Aphrodite (goddess of fiery), Hephaestus (god of fire) and Hermes (the god of trade), - according to the ideas of the early Greeks, lived on Mount Olympus. The Greeks imagined the gods as human beings. In the epic, the gods eat, drink, quarrel with each other, just like people. The world of the gods for the Greeks of Homer's time was a reflection of the world of the aristocracy. Each community had its own god or goddess. In Athens, first of all, Athena was honored, in Argos and Samos - Hera, etc.
In the religious ideas reflected in the epic, many traces of more primitive beliefs, such as totemism, have been preserved: Athena was depicted with an owl, Zeus with a bull or eagle, Artemis with a doe, etc. The roots of ideas about many of these gods go far back to Mycenaean time. Already on the monuments of the Mycenaean culture, many of the Olympian gods are depicted with their characteristic attributes. The Pylos inscriptions also mention many of these gods.
Religion strengthened the power of the aristocracy. The usual epithets of the Basileans were: “born by Zeus”, “raised by Zeus”. Many basilei boast of their long lineages going back to Zeus. Each of the main heroes of the Homeric poems is accompanied by one of the Olympian gods.
The main element of folk beliefs was the veneration of a local deity or legendary hero. Ideas about the spirits of rivers, forests, springs, etc. were also very tenacious. An important role in folk beliefs was played by the cult of ancestors. The cult of the deities of the earth, in particular the goddess of fertility Demeter and her daughter Kore, who was kidnapped by the god of the underworld Hades, was widely spread among the masses. In these cults, the fantastic ideas of the Greeks about the change of seasons are visible.
Numerous myths reflected the primitive ideas of the early Hellenes about the world around them. The myth of the theomachist Prometheus told how people learned to use fire, the myth of the craftsman Daedalus and his son Icarus reflected a man's dream of flying in the air. A whole cycle of myths was created about the great hero and worker Hercules, about the winner of the terrible Cretan half-bull-half-man Minotaur - the Athenian hero Theseus. In the myth of the journey of the Argonauts (sailors from the Argo ship) to Colchis for the Golden Fleece, the first attempts of Greek sailors to penetrate into the remote Black Sea countries were artistically reflected.
These ancient legends retain their great importance as outstanding monuments of the history of culture.
The Iliad by Homer
Even at the end of the 19th century, Homer's epic poem "The Iliad" was considered a poetic fiction, the work of folk fantasy. The Iliad was taught in schools, quoted, admired as a work of art of ancient times, as a literary monument of ancient culture. But no one dared to admit that the Iliad actually described past historical events. But then a German amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann appeared, who glorified his name with excavations at the site of ancient Troy, Mycenae and Tiryns, described by Homer. Schliemann's excavations in the 70s and 80s of the last century unexpectedly shed light on the heroic era described by Homer. Schliemann found the legendary Troy, discovered the ancient Aegean culture, about which historians knew nothing until then, and with his discovery advanced the knowledge of history in depth for almost a thousand years.
Heinrich Schliemann was the son of a poor Protestant pastor. Once, as a child, he received from his father as a gift the book "World History for Children", which, by the way, depicted the legendary Troy, described by Homer, in flames. The boy immediately believed that Troy really existed, that its huge walls could not be completely destroyed, that they were probably hidden under mountains of earth and debris caused by centuries. And he decided that later, when he became an adult, he would certainly find and dig up Troy.
But Heinrich's family became impoverished, the boy had to leave school and go to work in a small shop, where he spent whole days. Soon he fell ill with tuberculosis, could not work, but the dream of Troy did not leave him. The boy went on foot to Hamburg to go back to work, and got hired as a cabin boy on a ship that sailed to America. In the German Sea, during a severe storm, the ship was wrecked, and Schliemann barely escaped death. He found himself in Holland, in a foreign country, without any means of subsistence. However, there were kind people who supported him and got him a job in one of the trading offices.
In the evenings, in his spare hours, Schliemann studied foreign languages, which he spent half of his earnings on. He lived in the attic, ate poorly, but stubbornly studied languages, including Russian.
In 1846, Schliemann moved to St. Petersburg as an agent of a trading house, and soon began to conduct independent trade. He got lucky; he was able to save up money and by 1860 was already so rich that he liquidated the business and finally decided to fulfill his childhood dream - to start looking for Troy. In 1868, Schliemann went to Asia Minor to the coast of the Sea of Marmara. Guided only by the instructions of the Iliad, he began excavations on the Hissarlik hill, a few kilometers from the Hellespont, in the northwestern corner of Asia Minor.
The very name of the hill suggested that it was necessary to dig here. Hissarlik means "place of ruins" in Turkish. And the area was very similar to the one where, according to the description of the Iliad, Troy was located: a mountain in the east, a river in the west, and the sea was visible in the distance.
Schliemann began excavations in 1871 at his own expense. The assistant was his Greek wife, who also believed Homer's descriptions. The energy, enthusiasm and endless patience that Schliemann and his wife discovered during excavations are remarkable: they put up with all the inconveniences of camp life, endured all sorts of difficulties, endured both cold and heat. Through the wooden cracks of the house built by Schliemann, such a sharp wind blew through that it was impossible to light a kerosene lamp; in winter, the cold in the rooms reached four degrees, sometimes even the water froze. During the day, all this was tolerable, because they were all the time in motion in the air, but in the evening, as Schliemann said, “except for our inspiration for the great cause of discovering Troy, we had nothing to warm us!”
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From the book 100 great secrets of archeology author Volkov Alexander Viktorovich From the book Love Joys of Bohemia author Orion Vega From the book Book 2. Changing dates - everything changes. [New Chronology of Greece and the Bible. Mathematics reveals the deception of medieval chronologists] author Fomenko Anatoly Timofeevich6. Medieval traces of the "ancient" Homer in the XIII-XIV centuries The well-known medieval family of Saint-Omer = Saint Homer The Trojan War is inextricably linked with the legendary name of Homer, who allegedly sang it for the first time in immortal poems. But since the Trojan War happened,
From the book of Atlantis of the sea Tethys author Kondratov Alexander MikhailovichA thousand years before Homer Not far from Mycenae is the city of Tiryns, called by Homer "strong-walled." Pausanias considered its powerful walls, the thickness of which reaches twenty meters, one of the wonders of the world, deserving astonishment no less than the Egyptian pyramids. Walls
From the book World History. Volume 3 Age of Iron author Badak Alexander Nikolaevich"Iliad" and "Odyssey" The poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" were created on the basis of a popular cycle of works about the war of the allied leaders of the Greek (Achaean) tribes against Troy. The title of these epic works is directly related to the content of the poems. So the name of the first "Iliad"
From the book History and Theory of Religions the author Pankin S F12. Mythology of Homer and Orphism The first signs of understanding the world can be found already in the works of Homer. Homer speaks of three first causes, which in a certain sense can be considered the first principles of the world, and calls them Nyx, Okeanos and Tethys. Nyx is the ancestral
author§ 22. The Trojan War in Homer's Iliad The Greatest Poet of Ancient Greece But the Greeks have forever preserved the memory of the glorious past. From mouth to mouth, from father to son, many
From the book General History. Ancient world history. 5th grade author Selunskaya Nadezhda Andreevna§ 23. Homer's poem "The Odyssey" Cunning Odysseus The Trojan War continued for many years. The Achaeans managed to take Troy only thanks to the resourcefulness of King Odysseus, the ruler of the small island of Ithaca. One dark night, they embarked on ships and sailed from the coast of Troy.
Truly one of the greatest works of antiquity, Homer's epic poem The Iliad delights scholars who puzzle over its mysteries and inspires horror in students who are destined to get to know this cultural heritage closely. Only the elite and especially stubborn read it to the end. And there is a simple explanation for this - not only have millennia passed since the poem was written, and the style of speech has changed a lot, as a result of which it is difficult for a modern reader to perceive the language of the work, but hexameter, incredible descriptions and abrupt changes in action add obstacles. Thanks to this, it is quite difficult to draw a storyline or understand who is on whose side. But probably! Therefore, let's try to understand one of the most interesting aspects of the poem - mythological. What and who is behind this, and whose side he takes in the Trojan War.
Even those people who have no idea that the Iliad exists, one way or another, know about the myths of Ancient Greece. And the myths of the so-called "Trojan cycle" entered the Homeric poem. In ancient times, the Greeks believed that the gods influence all their earthly affairs, the lives of every person. Therefore, they revered them, made sacrifices to them, built temples. So it is not surprising that gods are woven into the story about the historical battle of the Achaeans (Greeks) and Ilions (Trojans), sometimes helping, sometimes harming the soldiers. The Trojan battle did not leave many gods indifferent.
Role of Thetis
First of all, it is worth mentioning the sea nymph Thetis, the mother of Achilles, who, in particular, was on the side of her son, the Achaean. She took a promise from the mighty Zeus that the Achaeans would suffer defeats until they compensated her son for the full moral damage for the offense caused (we are talking about the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles because of the captives of Chryseis and Briseis, after which Achilles refuses to continue to fight together ).
Zeus in the fight against overpopulation of the Earth
Of course, the supreme god Zeus, who generally takes a neutral position, made a great contribution to the Trojan War. His goal was to help the Earth, burdened by a large population (which asked him to reduce the number of people), so I think he didn’t care who to remove, the main thing was to meet the standards. But since he also made a promise to Thetis - to spoil the life of the Achaeans for her offended son, the Thunderer kills two birds with one stone. Therefore, to a greater extent, he helps the Trojans, and forbids other gods to interfere in the war. Several notable points can be attributed to his “merits”:
- At the behest of the Thunderer, Sleep inspires Agamemnon at night that he can cope with Troy without Achilles, as a result of which he decides to send his weakened army back to battle.
- When Hector is wounded and discouraged, Zeus sends Apollo to help him, so that he gives him the strength and courage to fight on.
- Sends Eris (the goddess of discord and chaos) to the ship of Odysseus, so that with her cry she breathes courage and a desire to fight further into the Achaeans.
- With Irida (the goddess of the rainbow and the messenger of Olympus), he sends a message to Hector so that he does not enter the battle, but only inspires his troops until Agamemnon is wounded.
- Zeus decides the outcome of the war with the help of golden scales, on which he casts the lot of death. Exodus - the Trojans are destined to lose this war, Hector - to die.
- During one of the battles, she allows herself to attack Ares and Aphrodite, in addition throwing a couple of insults in their direction.
- Stops Achilles when he wants to kill Agamemnon after that fateful quarrel over captives.
- Incites Pandarus to shoot Menelaus with a bow when the parties were about to disperse. This unleashed the war further.
- Periodically helps Diomedes, now and then healing him, in addition, giving his divine permission to injure Aphrodite on the battlefield, which, in fact, he does, while Ares also gets it from him.
- Periodically helps the cunning Odysseus.
- Saves Achilles from Hector's spear.
- And then the same Achilles helps to kill Hector.
Despite the fact that Zeus is depicted as a great, brilliant and powerful god, to whom, it would seem, everything is subject, in reality he turns out to be not so omnipotent. At times, doubts, impulsiveness, or even illogicality slip through his actions. He cannot even keep track of what is happening on Olympus in his absence, and, even knowing the deceit of his wife, he is still being deceived by her.
Hera and her contribution to the fate of Ilion
The beautiful wife of the Thunderer Hera does not want to just watch how the Achaeans fail one after another, because for some time now she has not favored the Trojans (Paris awarded the golden apple in the dispute between the three goddesses to Aphrodite, and not to her, which greatly hurt her pride). Unlike other gods, she does not appear during battle, but invariably uses her proven weapons - cunning, deceit and beauty. To allow the Achaeans to win, she hatches a cunning plan - to charm, seduce, and finally lull Zeus, who is watching the battle from the high mountain of Ida. To do this, she enlists the support of Poseidon, who enters the battle on the side of the Achaeans, deceitfully borrows a magic belt of seduction from Aphrodite and persuades Son to put Zeus to sleep. For a while, this helps the Achaeans, but only until Zeus, awakened from a sweet dream, again takes the situation into his own hands.
Fear and Loathing Athens
The goddess of wisdom and just war, Athena, for the same reason as Hera, fights on the side of the Achaeans. Among them, she especially singles out Odysseus and Achilles, for the sake of whose victory she takes far from the most fair measures. Some of them look petty and mean:
Aphrodite on the warpath
It would seem that the goddess of beauty and love, the beautiful Aphrodite, should do what to do in the war. But there was a place for her too - on the side of the Ilions. During the decisive duel between Menelaus and Paris, seeing how her favorite is losing, she takes Paris away from the battlefield, no matter how ironic it may sound - right into the bedroom, where she and Elena, as if nothing had happened, will indulge in love. That's why she's Aphrodite.
As a true loving mother, she saves her son Aeneas, who received a wound from Diomedes, asking Apollo to move him from the battlefield. Then Diomedes, inspired by Athena, wounds her too.
Apollo even sent a pestilence
Everyone knows that Apollo, the god of music and art, shoots a bow perfectly, and he repeatedly used this skill on the battlefield, helping the soldiers of Troy. At the very beginning of the poem, an angry god, with the help of arrows, sends a pestilence to the Achaean army for the insult caused to his priest Chris (Agamemnon refused to give Chris his daughter even for a ransom).
Especially often on the battlefield, he helps his favorite Hector, until the scales of fate call him death. He played the main role in the murder of Patroclus by Hector, leaving the Achaean horrified and practically unarmed.
Poseidon wants but can't
The supreme god of the seas behaves rather ambiguously, but he can be understood and forgiven! With all his heart he wants to help the Achaeans, but nervously walks from corner to corner and cannot choose between his pride of a divine scale, which tells him to be a little more decisive and intervene in the battle, and prudence, which he also has enough not to run into a divine the wrath of Zeus' elder brother. This Hera is also muddying the waters - go, he says, help the Achaeans, how many sacrifices and gifts they have presented you, how can you stay away! To which the lord of the seas angrily replies that let none of the immortals even think to argue with the supreme god Zeus, he said not to interfere - we do not interfere! Saddened, he sat aside, looked at the battle, saw how the valiant Achaeans were dying, and then he boiled! Why is he worse than Zeus ?! The fact that he was born a little later, or the fact that his lot fell to rule the sea?! So Poseidon decided that he has the right to the role of the supreme god no less than the Thunderer, and no one can forbid him to make decisions on his own! With such pleasant thoughts, the sea rebel set off to raise the completely fallen spirit of the Achaeans, just as he had just raised his own. In the form of an estimate, he walked among the Achaeans, and repeatedly with his pathos speeches helped them to take advantage over the Trojans. But then Zeus, deceived by his beloved wife, wakes up and sends a message to Poseidon - get out of the battle or you will fight with me! The rebellious spirit and self-esteem have not yet left the sea lord, and he almost runs into divine anger, shouting out that let Zeus teach his children with such fervor what to do and what not to do, but Iris appeals to his prudence. Poseidon, having submitted, leaves home, finally offendedly throwing a threat that if Zeus does not allow Troy to be destroyed later, he will make an enemy in the person of the immortal sea god. Poseidon has the last word, but a small victory!
Mars: he is not he when he is hungry
Despite the fact that the god of war is the most impulsive, violent and bloodthirsty, in the Iliad his image is so pitiful that it is even ridiculous. He looks like a stupid bumpkin who gets cuffed from one side, then from the other, and not like a majestic god and an invincible warrior. He helps the Trojans in every possible way and raises a warlike spirit in them. But then he gets bruises from Athena, then from some simple mortal Diomedes wound. And most importantly, he cries about this misunderstanding to his father Zeus, and he only gets annoyed with him.
The similarity of the ancient gods with people in Homer's poem is striking: they are also subject to passions, they can be cruel, treacherous, vindictive and pitiful, or generous and kind. They have fun at feasts, weave intrigues, quarrel with each other over trifles, and make mistakes. They have their weaknesses, affections and personality. In short, they are no better than humans, and to some extent even worse. From eternal boredom they are saved only by people with whose fate they play. Having exalted themselves above the world, they crave only worship and submission to their will, there is an emptiness inside them that cannot be filled, and therefore they often do not care how many people die at their hands. And in spite of everything, they remain gods - they have supernatural powers, beauty and eternal life.
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SONG ONE
Muse, tell me about that experienced husband who,
Wandering long since the day when Saint Ilion was destroyed by him,
I visited many people of the city and saw customs,
I grieved a lot with my heart on the seas, caring about salvation
Your life and the return of companions to the homeland; futile
There were, however, worries, he did not save his companions: they themselves
They brought death on themselves by sacrilege, madmen,
Having eaten the bulls of Helios, the god walking above us, -
He stole the return day from them. Tell me about it
Something for us, O daughter of Zeves, benevolent Muse.
All the others, who escaped the faithful death, were
At home, avoiding both war and the sea; its only, separation
With a sweet wife and the homeland of the crushed one, in a deep grotto
Light nymph Calypso, goddess of goddesses, arbitrary
She held her by force, in vain wishing that he was her husband.
But when, at last, the reversal of times brought
The year in which the gods appointed him to return
To his house, to Ithaca (but where and in the arms of true friends he
All did not escape from anxiety), the gods were filled with pity
All; Poseidon alone persisted in persecuting Odysseus,
God-like husband, until he reached his homeland.
But at that time he was in a remote country of the Ethiopians
(Extreme people settled in two ways: one, where descends
God is luminous, others, where it rises), so that there from the people
Lush obese bulls and rams take the hecatomb.
There he, sitting at a feast, had fun; the other gods
At times they were gathered in the halls of Zeves.
With them people and immortals, the father begins a conversation;
In his thoughts was Aegistus blameless (his own Atridov
Son, the famous Orestes, killed); and thinking about it
Zeus the Olympian addresses the word to the assembly of the gods:
"It's strange how mortal people blame us gods for everything!
Evil is from us, they say; but don't you often
Death, contrary to fate, is brought on by madness?
So is Aegisthus: is it not fate, in spite of the wife of Atrids
Did he take him by killing him when he returned to his homeland?
He knew the true death; from us was sharp-eyed to him
Ermius, the destroyer of Argus, was sent down to kill
He did not dare to encroach on his husband and refrained from marrying his wife.
"Revenge for Atris will be done by the hand of Orestes when he
He wants to enter his house, having matured, as an heir, "so it was
Ermiy said - in vain! did not touch Aegist's heart
God is gracious with advice, and he paid for everything at once."
Zeus said: "Our father, Kronion, the supreme ruler,
Your truth, he deserved death, and so let him die
Every such villain! But now it breaks my heart
With his heavy fate, Odysseus is cunning; long time ago
Suffering, separated from his own, on an island, embraced by waves
The navel of the wide sea, wooded, where the nymph rules,
Daughter of Atlas, the thief who knows the seas
All the depths and which alone supports the bulk
Long huge pillars pushing the sky and the earth apart.
By the power of Atlanta, the daughter of Odysseus, shedding tears,
Holds, with the magic of insidious and caressing words about Ithaca
Memory hoping to destroy it. But wishing in vain
To see at least smoke rising from the native shores in the distance,
Death alone he prays. Compassion will not enter
In your heart, Olympian? Are you not satisfied with gifts
He honored in the Trojan land, in the midst of the Achaean ships there
Making sacrifices to you? Why are you angry, Kronion?
Objecting to her, the cloud-collector Kronion answered:
"Strange, my daughter, the word has flown out of your mouth.
I forgot Odysseus, immortal like a man,
So distinguished in the host of people and mind and diligent
Offering sacrifices to the gods, boundless heaven to the lords?
Not! Poseidon, the enveloper of the earth, stubbornly feuds with him,
All indignant because the Cyclops Polyphemus is divine
He is blinded by him: the strongest of the Cyclopes, Phosoy a nymph,
Daughter of Fork, lord of the desert-salty sea,
He was born from her union with Poseidon in deep
Grote. While the earth shaker Poseidon Odysseus
To betray death and not powerful, but, driving everywhere by sea,
He leads him away from Ithaca. Let's think together
How would he return his homeland. Poseidon refuse
Must from anger: one with all the immortals in a dispute,
Despite the eternal gods, without success, he will be angry.
Here is the bright-eyed Zeus daughter of Athenaeus Pallas
Zeus said: "Our father, Kronion, the supreme ruler!
If it pleases the blessed gods to see the homeland
Could Odysseus the cunning, then Ermius the argus-killer,
The performer of the will of the gods, let him be on the island of Ogygsky
To the nymph, beautifully curly-haired was sent down from us to announce to her
Our verdict is unchanged, that the time has come to return
In the land of his Odyssey, in trouble constant. I
I'll go straight to Ithaca to excite the son of Odysseus
Fill his heart with anger and courage, so that he calls
He is at the council of the thick-haired Achaeans and in the house of the Odysseus
The entrance was forbidden to suitors, who mercilessly destroy him
Small cattle and bulls, crooked-horned and slow-moving.
Sparta and Pylos sandy then he will visit to know,
Are there any rumors about the dear father and his return,
Also, so that a good reputation is established in people about him.
When she finished, she tied golden soles to her feet,
Ambrosial, everywhere it is above water and above solid
By the bosom of the boundless earth, lightly carried by the wind;
Then she took a war spear, studded with copper,
Solid heavy and huge, it also fights in anger
She is the strength of the heroes, the birth of the thundering god.
The goddess stepped violently from the top of Olympus to Ithaca.
There in the yard, at the threshold of the doors of the Odyssey house,
She stood with a copper-sharp spear, clothed in the image
Guest, ruler of the Tafians, Mentes; brought together
All the suitors, riotous husbands, there the goddess saw;
Playing dice, they sat in front of the entrance on the skins
Bulls killed by them; and the heralds, establishing the table,
Together with the agile slaves they ran: they poured
Water with wine in the pier craters; and those nostril
Having washed the tables with a sponge, they were moved and various meats
Having cut a lot, they carried it. Goddess Athena
Before the other Telemachus the god-like saw. Regrettable
With his heart, in the circle of suitors, he sat, thinking about one thing:
Where is the noble father and how, returning to his homeland,
He disperses predators throughout his dwelling,
The authorities will perceive and will again be their master.
In such thoughts with the suitors, sitting, he saw Athena;
He immediately got up and hurried to the entrance, indignantly
In the heart that the wanderer was forced to wait outside the threshold; approaching
He took the stranger's right hand, took his spear,
Then he raised his voice and threw out a winged word:
"Rejoice, stranger; come in to us; we will treat you cordially;
You will declare your need to us, being satisfied with our food.
Having finished, he went ahead, followed by Pallas Athenaeus.
With her, entering the banquet chamber, to the high column
Right with a spear he came up and hid it there in a setting
Smoothly hewn, where they were locked in the old days
The spears of King Odysseus, in constant trouble, were.
To rich armchairs, skillfully made, bringing Athena,
He invited her to sit in them, covering them in advance with a patterned
Cloth; for the feet there was a bench; then he put
A chair carved for yourself at a distance from others, so that the guest
The noise of the wildly merry crowd did not spoil the dinner,
Also, to secretly ask him about his distant father.
Then she brought a silver hand to the tub to wash them
A golden washstand filled with cold water, a slave,
Smooth then pushed the table; put on him
Housekeeper bread with various edibles, from the stock
Issued by her willingly; on the dishes, lifting them high,
The local clerk brought various meat and, having offered it to them,
He placed golden cups on the table in front of them;
The herald began to look for wine to be filled more often
Cups. Grooms came in, riotous men, and sat down
Chin on armchairs and chairs; the heralds brought water
Wash their hands; the slaves brought them bread in baskets;
The youths poured cups with a light drink to the brim.
They raised their hands to the prepared food; when
The hunger of their delicious food was satisfied, it entered them
There is something else in the heart - the desire for sweet singing and dancing:
To feast they are an adornment; and a ringing zither herald
Femiya gave, to the singer, in front of them at all times
Sing to the compelled; Striking the strings, he sang beautifully.
Then Telemachus carefully said to the bright-eyed Athena,
He bowed his head to her so that others would not hear him:
"My dear guest, do not be angry with me for my frankness;
Here they have fun; they have only music and singing on their minds;
It's easy: they devour someone else's without pay, wealth
Husband, whose white bones, perhaps, or rain
Somewhere it wets on the shore, or the waves roll along the seaside.
If he suddenly appeared before them in Ithaca, then everything would
Instead of saving both clothes and gold, they began
Just pray that their legs are faster.
But he died, comprehended by an angry fate, and consolation
No to us, although sometimes they come from earthly people
News that he will return, there will be no return for him.
Who are you? What tribe are you? Where do you live? Who is your father?
Who is your mother? On what ship and what way
Arrived in Ithaca and who are your sailors? To our edge
(This, of course, I know myself) you didn’t come on foot.
Also speak frankly, so that I may know the whole truth:
Was it the first time you visited Ithaca, or have you already been here
Guest of the Odysseys? In those days, foreigners gathered a lot
In our house: my parent loved to treat people.
"I will tell you everything frankly; I am King Anchialus
Wise son, called Mentes, I rule the people
Cheerful Tafians; and now my ship to Ithaca
Together with my people I led, traveling dark
By sea to the peoples of a different language; I want in Temes
Get copper by exchanging shiny iron for it;
I put my own ship under the forested slope of Neyon
On the field, in the pier of Retre, far from the city. Our
Ancestors have long been considered guests to each other; this is,
Perhaps you yourself often hear when you visit
The grandfather of the hero Laertes ... and they say he no longer walks
More to the city, but far away lives in the field, dejected
Grief, with the old maid, who, the old man of peace,
Reinforces him with food when he gets tired, dragging
Across the field back and forth in the midst of his grapes.
I am with you because they told me that your father
At home ... but it is clear that the gods delayed him on the way:
For the noble Odysseus has not yet died on earth;
Somewhere, surrounded by the abyss of the sea, on a wave-embracing
The island is locked alive, or maybe he suffers in captivity
Wild predators who forcibly took possession of it. But listen
What I will predict to you, what almighty gods to me
They invested in the heart, which will inevitably come true, like myself
I believe, although I am not a prophet and I am inexperienced in guessing by birds.
He will not be long apart from his dear homeland, at least
He was bound by iron bonds; but return home
He will find the right remedy: he is cunning for inventions.
You tell me now, without hiding anything from me:
Do I truly see in you the son of Odysseus? You are wonderful
With his head and beautiful eyes he is similar; still me
I remember him; in the old days we saw each other often;
It was before sailing to Troy, where from the Achaeans
The best with him in their steep-sided ships rushed.
Since then, neither he nor I have met him anywhere.
"My good guest," answered the judicious son of Odysseus,
I will tell you everything frankly, so that you can know the whole truth.
Mother assures me that I am his son, but I myself do not know:
It is probably impossible for us to know who our father is.
It would be better, however, I wished that I was not so ill-fated
The husband was the father; in his possessions he is to old age b late
Lived. But if you ask, then he, from the living
The most unfortunate now, my father, as people think.
The daughter of the light-eyed Zeus, Athena, answered him:
"It seems that it pleases the immortals that he was not without glory in the future
Your house, when Penelope was given such as you
Son. Now tell me without hiding anything from me
What's going on here? What congregation? Do you give
A holiday, or are you celebrating a wedding? Not a folding feast here, of course.
It only seems that your guests are unbridled in your
They are outrageous at home: every decent person in society with them
Be ashamed, seeing their shameful behavior."
"My good guest," answered the judicious son of Odysseus,
If you want to know, then I will tell you frankly.
Once our house was full of wealth; he was respected
All while that husband was inseparably here.
Now the hostile gods have decided otherwise, having covered
His fate is impregnable darkness for the whole world;
I would be less upset about him when he died:
If he had perished in the Trojan land among his warlike comrades.
Or in the arms of friends, having endured the war, he died here,
The tomb hill above it would have been poured by the Achaean people,
He would leave great glory to his son for all time ...
Now the Harpies have taken him, and he has gone missing,
Forgotten by the light, graveless, one contrition and cries
Leaving a legacy for my son. But I'm not only talking about him
crying; the gods sent me another great grief:
Everyone who is famous and strong on our different islands.
The first people of Dulikhia, Zama, forest Zakynthos,
The first people of Ithaca rocky mother Penelope
They stubbornly push for marriage and rob our estate;
The mother does not want to enter into a hated marriage, nor from marriage
He has no means to escape; and they devour mercilessly
Our goodness and myself will finally be ruined."
With great anger, the goddess Athena answered him:
"Woe! I see how distant your father is now
It is necessary to deal with shameless suitors with a strong hand.
Oh, if he entered those doors, returning suddenly,
In a helmet, covered with a shield, in his hand two copper-pointed spears! ..
So for the first time I saw him at the time when he
In our house he rejoiced with wine, having visited in Ether
Ila, son of Mermer (and that side of the distant
King Odysseus reached on his fast ship;
Poison, deadly to people, he was looking for in order to give them drink
Their arrows, encrusted with copper; but Eli refused
Give him poison, fearing to irritate the all-seeing gods;
My father endowed it with him out of great friendship with him).
If in the form of such Odysseus suddenly appeared to the suitors,
Marriage would be made to them, the fate of the inevitable comprehended, bitter.
But - that we, of course, do not know - in the bosom of the immortals
Hidden: is it appointed from above for him, returning, to destroy them
In this house, or not. We now think collectively
How would you clean your house from robbers yourself.
Listen to what I say, and notice to yourself that you will hear:
Tomorrow, calling the noble Achaeans to the council, before them
Announce everything, calling the immortals as witnesses of the truth;
After that, demand that all the suitors go home;
Mother, if marriage is not disgusting to her heart,
You suggest that you return to the house of the powerful father,
A dear daughter, as befits a dignity, he will endow her.
I also zealously advise, if you accept my advice:
A strong ship with twenty equipped rowers, set off
Himself for his distant father, to find out what
Pylos first visit, you know that the divine Nestor
Will say; then Menelaus find the golden-haired in Sparta:
He arrived home last of all the copper-plated Achaeans.
If you hear that your parent is alive, that he will return,
Wait for him a year, patiently enduring oppression; when
In honor of him, the mound of the grave here is an embankment and the usual magnificent
Perform a feast on him; Get Penelope to marry you.
After, when you arrange everything in the proper order,
Having firmly resolved, with a prudent mind, invent a means,
How would you suitors who forcibly seized your house,
In it, destroy either by deception, or by sheer force; you
You can’t be a child anymore, you’ve gone out of childhood;
Do you know what a divine youth Orestes is before the whole
He was adorned with light with honor, having avenged Aegisthus, with whom
Was his glorious parent slain maliciously?
It must be firm so that your name and descendants are praised.
The time, however, is for me to return to my swift ship.
To companions, waiting, of course, for me with impatience and boredom.
You take care of yourself, respecting what I said."
"My dear guest," answered the judicious son of Odysseus,
Desiring my benefits, you speak to me as to a son
Good father; I will not forget what you advised.
But wait, though you are in a hurry to go; it's cool here
Having refreshed your bath and limbs and soul, you will return
You are on a ship, a rich gift to the pleasure of the heart
Taking it from me so that I can keep it as a keepsake, as a custom
There is between people, so that when they say goodbye, the guests give each other.
The daughter of the light-eyed Zeus, Athena, answered him:
"No! Don't hold me back, I'm in an immense hurry on the road;
Your gift, promised me so cordially by you,
Returning to you, I will accept and take you home gratefully,
Having received something dear as a gift, and giving dearly himself."
With these words Zeus' bright-eyed daughter disappeared,
Quick invisibly bird suddenly flying away. Settled
Firmness and courage she is in Telemakhov's heart, livelier
Recall making him about his father; but he penetrated the soul
Mystery and felt fear, guessing that he was talking with God.
Then he, the divine husband, approached the suitors; In front of them
The famous singer sang, and with deep attention they sat
They are silent; about the sad return of the Achaeans from Troy,
Once established by the goddess Athena, he sang.
In the upper rest, hearing inspired singing,
Penelope hurried down the high steps,
Elder Ikaria's wise daughter: they went down together with her
Two of her maids; and she, the god among women,
Entering that chamber where her suitors feasted,
Beside the pillar, the ceiling holding high there, she became,
Covering your cheeks with a shiny head veil;
On the right and on the left, the maids stood respectfully; queen
With weeping, she then addressed the inspired word to the singer:
"Phemius, you know so many others that delight the soul
Songs composed by singers to the glory of gods and heroes;
Sing one of them, sitting before the assembly, one; and in silence
Guests will listen to her for wine; but stop what you started
a sad song; my heart skips a beat when i
I hear her: of all, I got the most severe grief;
Having lost such a husband, I always mourn for the deceased,
So filled with his glory and Hellas and Argos.
"Dear mother," objected the judicious son of Odysseus,
How do you want the singer to ban our pleasure
Then to sing that his heart awakens in him? Guilty
This is not a singer, but Zeus is guilty, sending from above
People of high spirit will be inspired by their will.
No, do not prevent the singer about the sad return of the Danae
Sing - with great praise people listen to that song,
Every time with her, as with a new one, admiring her soul;
You yourself will find in it not sadness, but sadness delight:
Was not one from the gods condemned to lose the return day
King Odysseus, and many other famous people died.
But good luck: do, as you should, the order of the economy,
Yarn, weaving; see that the slaves are diligent in their work
Were our own: to speak is not a woman’s business, but a business
Husband, and now mine: I am my only master.
So he said; amazed, Penelope went back;
To the heart of the words of the wise son, having accepted and at rest
Shut up on top, in the circle of close maids
She wept bitterly for her Odysseus,
The goddess Athena did not bring sweet sleep to her eyes.
That sometimes the grooms in the darkened chamber were noisy,
Arguing about which of them will share the bed with Penelope.
Turning to them, the judicious son of Odysseus said:
"You suitors of Penelope, arrogant with violent pride,
Let us now quietly have fun: interrupt your noisy
Dispute; it is more fitting for us to pay attention to the chanter who,
Our hearing is captivating, like the gods with high inspiration.
Tomorrow morning I invite you all to gather in the square.
There, I will tell you publicly to your face, so that you all clean up
All; but on you I will call the gods; and Zeus won't slow down
He fell silent. Grooms, biting their lips with annoyance,
Those who were struck by his bold word were surprised at him.
But Antinous, the son of Evpeytov, answered him, objecting:
"The gods themselves, of course, taught you, Telemachus
To be so arrogant and impudent in words, and trouble for us when you
In wave-embracing Ithaca, by the will of Kronion, you will
Our king, already having the right to do so by birth!
"Friend of Antinous, do not be angry with me for my frankness:
If Zeus gave me dominion, I would gladly accept.
Or do you think that the royal lot of all is worse in the world?
No, of course, being a king is not bad; wealth in the royal
The house accumulates soon, and he himself is in honor of the people.
But among the Achaeans of the wave-embracing Ithaca there is
Many worthy of power, both old and young; between them
You choose when King Odysseus is no more.
In my house, I am the only master; I belong here
Power over slaves, for us Odysseus obtained in battles.
Here Eurymachus, the son of Polybius, answered Telemachus like this:
"O Telema, we do not know - that is hidden in the bosom of the immortals, -
Who is appointed over the Achaeans of the wave-embracing Ithaca
Reign; in your house, of course, you are the only ruler;
No, there will not be, as long as Ithaca is inhabited,
There is no one here who would dare to encroach on your property.
But I would like to know, my dear, about the current guest.
What is his name? What fatherland does he glorify
Earth? What kind and tribe is he? Where he was born?
Did he come to you with the news of the desired return of your father?
Or visited us, having come to Ithaca for his own needs?
Suddenly he disappeared from here, without waiting for at least a little
We reviewed; he was not an easy man, of course.
“Friend Eurymachus,” answered the judicious son of Odysseus, “
The day of meeting with my father is forever lost to me; I won't
Believe no more rumors about his imminent return,
Below the vain prophecies about him, to which, calling
In the house of fortunetellers, the mother comes running. And our current guest
Was Odyssey's guest; he hails from Taphos, Mentes,
The son of Anchialus, the wise king, rules the people
Gay-loving Tafians." But, speaking so, I was convinced
In his heart Telemachus that he saw the immortal goddess.
The same, again turning to dance and sweet song,
They began to make noise again in anticipation of the night; when
Black night in the midst of their cheerful noise has come,
Everyone went home to indulge in carefree peace.
Soon Telemachus himself in his high chamber (on a beautiful
The courtyard was facing it with a vast view in front of the windows),
After seeing everyone off, he went, thinking to himself about many things.
Carrying a lighted torch, in front of him with careful zeal
There was Eurycleia, the intelligent daughter of Pevsenorids Ops;
She was bought in the blooming years by Laertes - he paid
Twenty bulls, and her with her well-behaved wife
In his house he respected equally, and did not allow himself
Lodge touch her, fearing the jealousy of a woman.
Carrying the torch, Eurycleia led Telemachus - behind him
From childhood she went and pleased him more diligently
Other slaves. She opened into the rich bedroom
doors; he sat down on the bed and, taking off his thin shirt,
He threw it into the hands of a caring old woman; carefully
Folded into folds and angled, on the nail of Eurycleus a shirt
Beside the bed, artfully chiseled, hung; quiet
She left the bedroom; closed the door with a silver handle;
I tightened the latch tightly with a belt; then she left.
He is all night on the bed, covered with soft sheepskin,
In his heart he pondered the path established by the goddess Athena.
CANTO TWO
Then the beloved son of the Odysseus also left the bed;
Having put on a dress, he hung his sophisticated sword on his shoulder;
After, beautiful soles tied to light legs,
He left the bedroom, his face like a radiant god.
Calling the sonorous heralds of the king, he commanded
Call them a call to gather thick-haired Achaeans on the square;
They clicked; others gathered in the square; when
They all gathered and the assembly became complete,
With a copper spear in his hand, he appeared before the host of the people -
There was not one, two dashing dogs ran after him.
Athena illuminated his image with inexpressible beauty,
So people marveled when they saw him approaching.
The elders parted before him, and he sat down in his father's place.
The first word was then spoken by the noble Egypt,
An old man, bent over the years and experienced a lot in life;
His son Antiphon, a spearman with King Odysseus
To the horseable Troy for a long time in a ship with a twisted side
swam; he was put to death by Polyphemus the fierce in deep
Grote, the last kidnapped by him for supper food.
Three remained for the elder: one, Evrin, with suitors
Rampant; two helped their father cultivate the field;
But he could not forget about the deceased; he cried about him
Everyone was distressed; And so, broken, he said to the people:
"I invite you to listen to my word, people of Ithaca;
We haven't had a council meeting since we left here.
King Odysseus departed in his fast ships.
Who has gathered us now? Who needs that suddenly?
Is the youth flourishing? Is it a husband, ripe for years?
Have you heard the news about the enemy force coming towards us?
Does he want to warn us, scouting everything in detail in advance?
Or about the benefits of what the people intend to offer us?
He must be an honest citizen; glory to him! Yes it will help
Zeus, his good thoughts will be successful.
Finished. The son of Odysseus was delighted with his words;
He immediately decided to stand up and speak to the assembly;
He spoke before the people, and he, going to them, into the hand
The scepter was invested by Pevseneor, the herald, the sensible adviser.
First turning to the elder, he said to him: "Noble
Elder, he is close (and soon you will recognize him), who are you here
Collected - it's me, and my sadness is great now.
I have not heard of the enemy force coming towards us;
I don’t want to warn you, having explored everything in detail in advance,
Also, the benefits of folk now do not intend to offer.
Now I am talking about my own misfortune that has befallen my house.
Two troubles for me; one: I have lost my noble father,
Who was king over you and always loved you like children;
More evil is another misfortune, from which our whole house
Soon it will perish and everything that is in it will be completely destroyed,
The one that pursues the mother of relentless suitors, our
Citizens of the most distinguished, gathered here, sons; they are disgusted
Directly to the Ikariev house to turn to their offer
The elder listened to the daughter, endowed with a generous dowry,
I gave of my own free will to someone who is more pleasant to the heart.
Not; it is more convenient for them, every day bursting into our house in a crowd,
To cut our bulls, and rams, and fattened goats,
Eat until you drop and our light wine is merciless
Spend. Our house is ruined, because there is no such
Husband, what is Odysseus, to save him from the curse.
We ourselves are helpless now, evenly and after
We will be, worthy of pity, without any protection at all.
If there was strength, then I myself would find control;
But grievances become unbearable; house of the Odysseys
They rob shamelessly. Doesn't your conscience bother you? At least
To the extent of strangers, be ashamed of the people and peoples of the district,
Our neighbors, gods be afraid of vengeance, so that with anger
They themselves did not comprehend you, being indignant at your untruth.
Well, I appeal to the Olympic Zeus, I appeal to Themis,
Strict goddess, the advice of the founding husbands! Our
Recognize the right, friends, and me alone to lament
Leave grief. Or maybe my noble parent
How he offended here the deliberately copper-shod Achaeans;
Maybe you deliberately take revenge on me,
Robbing our house to excite others? But wish it were better
We, so that both our livestock and our recumbent stock, you yourself
They took it by force; then there would be hope for us:
Until then, we would have begun to wander the streets, begging you
Give us what is ours, as long as not everything is given to us;
Now you are tormenting my heart with hopeless grief.
So he said in anger and threw his scepter to the ground;
Tears from the eyes rushed: compassion penetrated the people;
Everyone sat motionless and silent; no one dared
To respond with a bold word to the son of King Odysseus.
But Antinous got up and exclaimed, objecting to him:
"What did you say, Telemachus, unbridled, arrogant?
Having offended us, are you plotting to lay the blame on us?
No, you do not blame us, suitors, before the Achaean people
I must now, but my cunning mother, Penelope.
Three years have passed, the fourth has already come
Since playing with us, she gives us hope
To everyone, and to everyone separately, he promises himself, and to lead
Good sends to us, unkind in the heart for us plotting.
Know what she treacherously came up with a trick:
The great camp in the chambers, setting its own, began there
Thin-wide fabric and, having gathered us all, she said to us:
"Young men, now my suitors, - because in the world
No Odysseus - let's postpone our marriage until the time it will be
My work is over, so that the fabric I have begun will not be wasted to me;
Elder Laertes I want to prepare a coffin cover
Before he is in the hands of forever sleepy death
Given away by the parks, so that the Achaean wives would not dare
I reproach that such a rich husband is buried without cover.
So she told us, and we obeyed her with a man's heart.
What? She spent the whole day at weaving, and at night,
Having lit the torch, she herself unraveled everything woven during the day.
The deception lasted for three years, and she knew how to convince us;
But when the fourth was brought by the reversal of times,
One of the servants, who knew the secret, revealed to all of us;
We ourselves then found her behind a loose cloth;
So she was reluctantly reluctant to finish her work.
You listen to us; we answer you so that you can know everything
Himself and so that the Achaeans are in charge of everything evenly with you:
Mother departed, commanding her immediately, agreeing to marriage,
Choose between us the one who is pleasing to the father and herself.
But if he continues to play with the sons of the Achaeans...
Reason generously endowed her with Athena; Not only
She is skilled in various needlework, but also a lot
Knows tricks unheard of in ancient days and Achaean
Wives beautifully curly-haired unknown; whatever Alcmene
Ancient, neither Tyro, nor the magnificently crowned princess of Mycenae
It didn’t enter into the mind, then the now shifty mind of Penelope
Invented to our detriment; but her inventions are in vain;
Know that we will not stop destroying your house until
She will be stubborn in her thoughts, by the gods
Into the heart of the invested; of course, to her great glory
That will turn, but you will mourn the destruction of wealth;
We, I say, will not leave you either home or anywhere else.
A place until Penelope chooses a husband between us."
"O Antinous," answered the judicious son of Odysseus,
I do not dare to think about ordering to leave
The one who gave birth to me and nursed me; my father is far away;
Whether he is alive or dead, I do not know; but it will be difficult with Icarium
I pay when Penelope is forced out of here
I will send - then I will be subjected to both the wrath of my father and persecution
Demon: terrible Erinyes, leaving his house, calls
Mother on me, and I will cover myself with eternal shame before people.
No, I would never dare to say such a word to her.
You, when your conscience bothers you a little, leave
My house; establish other feasts, your own, not ours
Spending on them and watching in turn in their treats.
If you find what is more pleasant and easier for you
To destroy one and all arbitrarily, without payment, - devour
All; but I will call the gods on you, and Zeus will not slow down
To strike you for a lie: then inevitably all of you,
Likewise, without pay, you will perish in the house that you have plundered."
Thus spoke Telemachus. And suddenly Zeus the Thunderer
He sent down two eagles from above to him from a rocky mountain;
Both at first, as if carried by the wind, flew
Nearby they spread their huge wings wide;
But, having flown into the middle of a meeting full of noise,
They began to circle rapidly with incessant flapping of wings;
Their eyes, looking down on their heads, sparkled with misfortune;
Themselves then, scratching each other and chest and neck,
To the right they sped away, flying over the assembly and the hail.
Everyone, amazed, followed the birds with their eyes, and each
I thought that their appearance foreshadowed the future.
Alifers, an experienced old man, spoke here before the people,
Son of Mastors; of all his peers, he is the only one in flight
Bird was skillful in guessing and prophesied the future; full
"I invite you to listen to my word, people of Ithaca.
First, however, in order to bring the suitors to reason, I will say
They, that the inevitable misfortune rushes at them, which is not for long
Odysseus will be separated from his family, that he
Somewhere close lurks, and death and death are preparing
To all of them, and also to many others who live in Ithaca
Mountainous disaster will be. Let's think about how
In time for us to curb them; but it's better, of course, when
They themselves pacified; then now everything would be more useful
It was for them: not inexperienced so I say, but probably
Knowing what will happen; came true, I affirm, and everything that I told him
Here he predicted before the ships of the Achaeans went
Odysseus the wise went to Troy and with them. For many
Disasters (so I said) and lost all companions,
Unfamiliar to everyone, at the end of the twentieth year to the fatherland
He will return. My prediction is now being fulfilled."
Finished. Eurymachus, the son of Polybius, answered him: "Better
Old storyteller, return home to your minors
Prophesy to the children there, so that no misfortune happens to them.
In our case, more truly than you, I am a prophet; we are pretty
We see flying in the sky in the light rays of Helios
Birds, but not all fatal. And King Odysseus in the distant
The edge died. And you would die with him! Then
Here you did not invent such predictions, exciting
Anger in Telemachus, already irritated, and, of course, hoping
Get something as a gift from him for yourself and your family.
Listen, however, - and what you hear will be true, -
If you are this young man with his old knowledge
If you arouse anger with empty words, then, of course,
This will turn to him in pure grief;
He won't be able to do anything against us all.
Well, you reckless old man, you will incur punishment,
Heavy heart: we will bitterly make you lament.
Now I will offer Telemachus more useful advice:
Let him command his mother to return to Ikaria's house,
Where, having prepared everything necessary for marriage, a rich dowry
A dear daughter, how fittingly her rank, he will endow.
Otherwise, I think, we, the sons of the noble Achaeans,
We will not stop torturing her with our matchmaking. no one here
We are not afraid of Telemachus full of sonorous speeches,
Below the prophecies with which you, gray-haired talker,
You annoy everyone - that's why you are more hated by us; and their house
We will ruin the whole for our feasts, and retribution from us
They don't have any until the desired by us
Marriage will not be decided by her; waiting everyday for who will
She of us is finally preferred, we turn to others
We delay the brides in order to choose, as it should, wives among them.
The sensible son of Odysseus meekly answered him:
"O Evrimah, and all of you, famous suitors, more
I don’t want to convince you and I won’t say a word to you in advance;
The gods know everything, the noble Achaeans know everything.
You are a strong ship to me with twenty accustomed quickly
Now equip the rowers on the sea: I want
Sparta and Pylos sandy first visit to visit,
Are there any rumors about a dear father and what
In people there is a rumor about him, or hear a prophecy about him
Ossa, who always repeats Zeves' word to people.
If I know that he is alive, that he will return, then I will
Wait for him a year, patiently enduring oppression; when
Rumor will say that he died, that he is no longer among the living,
Then, immediately returning to the dear land of the fathers,
In honor of him, I will build a tomb hill here and splendidly
I will perform a feast on him; I will persuade Penelope to marry."
When he had finished, he sat down and was silent. Then rose the unchanging
Companion and friend of Odysseus, the immaculate king, Mentor.
Odysseus entrusted him with the departure of the house, to be submissive
Elder Laertes and commanded to save everything. And complete
Good thoughts, turning to fellow citizens, he said to them:
"I invite you to listen to my word, people of Ithaca:
Meek, good and friendly to be no one ahead
The skiptron-bearing king must not, but having expelled the truth from his heart,
Let everyone oppress people, boldly lawlessness,
If you could forget Odysseus who was ours
He loved his people as a good king, like a benevolent father.
There is no need for me to blame suitors unbridled and daring
The fact that they, self-ruling here, are plotting evil.
They themselves play with their heads, ruining
The house of Odysseus, which, they think, we will not see.
I want to shame you, citizens of Ithaca: having gathered here,
You sit indifferently and do not say a word against
A small crowd of suitors, even though your number is large."
The son of the Evenors then, Leocritus, exclaimed indignantly:
"What did you say, reckless, malicious Mentor? Humble us
Citizens you offer; but deal them with us, whom
Also a lot, at the feast it is difficult. At least suddenly
Your Odysseus himself, ruler of Ithaca, appeared also by force
Us, noble suitors, in his rejoicing house,
He planned to expel him from there, his return to his homeland
It would be for his wife, who yearned for him for so long, not for joy:
An evil death would have befallen him if many of us
He decided to overcome one; you said a stupid word.
Well, you disperse, people, and everyone take care of home
Deed. And let the Mentor and the sage Alifers, Odysseus
Those who have kept their loyalty, Telemachus will be equipped on the way;
For a long time, however, I think he will sit here, collecting
News; but he will not be able to make his way."
So saying, he arbitrarily dismissed the assembly of the people.
Everyone, leaving, went to their homes; suitors
They returned to the house of Odysseus, the noble king.
But Telemachus went alone to the sandy seaside.
Washing his hands with salty moisture, he exclaimed to Athena:
"You who visited my house yesterday and in the misty sea
She commanded me to swim, so that I would explore, wandering, isn't it
Rumors of a sweet father and his return, goddess,
Help me kindly; the Achaeans make my way difficult;
More than others, suitors are powerful, full of malice.
So he spoke, praying, and before him in the twinkling of an eye,
Similar to the Mentor in appearance and speech, Athena appeared.
Raising her voice, the winged goddess threw a word:
"You are brave, Telemachus, and you will be wise when you have
That great power with which both word and deed
All your father wanted to do; and you will achieve what you want
Goals, finishing your way unhindered; when you are not straight
Son of Odysseus, not son of Penelopin direct, then hope
Rarely are sons like fathers; more and more
Some are worse than their fathers, and few are better. But you will
You, Telemachus, are both wise and bold, since not at all
You are deprived of the great Odysseus power; and hope
There is for you that you will successfully complete the undertaking.
Let the suitors, iniquity, plot evil - leave them;
Woe to the insane! They are in blindness, unfamiliar with the truth,
They do not foresee their death, nor the black fate, daily
Coming closer and closer to them, to suddenly destroy them.
You can undertake your journey immediately;
Being your father's friend, I will equip
A fast ship for you and I will follow you myself.
But now return to the suitors; and you on the road
Let them prepare food, let them fill the vessels;
Let them pour wine and flour into amphoras, sailor
Nutritious food, in leather, dense furs will be prepared.
That sometimes I will recruit rowers; ships in Ithaca,
Embraced by the sea, there are many both new and old; between them
The best one I will choose myself; and immediately he will be us
The path is made, and let us lower it to the sacred sea."
Thus spoke Athena, Zeus's daughter, to Telemachus.
Hearing the voice of the goddess, he immediately left the shore.
Returning to the house with sadness of a sweet heart, he found
There are powerful suitors: some were ripped off in the chambers
Goats, and others, having slaughtered pigs, fired at them in the yard.
With a sharp grin, Antinous approached him and, forcibly
Taking him by the hand and calling him by name, he said:
"A hot-tempered young man, an evil talker, Telemachus, do not worry
More about harming us either in word or deed, but rather
Be friendly with us without any worries, have fun, as it used to be.
Well, the Achaeans will not slow down your will to fulfill: you will receive
You and the ship and selected rowers, in order to quickly reach
To Pylos, dear to the gods, and learn about the distant father."
The sensible son of Odysseus meekly answered him:
"No, Antinous, it is indecent for me and you, arrogant, together
Against the desire to sit at the table, having fun carefree;
Be satisfied with the fact that our property is the best
You, suitors, ruined while I was a minor.
Now, when, having matured and listening to smart advisers,
I learned everything, and when courage awakened in me,
I'll try to call on your neck the Park of the inevitable,
Is it so, or otherwise, whether having gone to Pylos, or having found here
Means. I'm going - and my path will not be in vain, although I
I'm going as a fellow traveler, because (it was so arranged by you)
It is impossible for me to have my own ship and rowers here."
So he said his hand from Antinous's hand
Pulled out. Meanwhile, suitors, establishing a plentiful dinner,
Many sharp words offended his heart.
Thus spoke some of the impudently haughty scoffers:
"Telemachus intended to destroy us in earnest; perhaps
Many he will bring to his aid from the sandy Pylos, many
Also from Sparta; about that he, we see, cares much.
It may also happen that the rich land of Ether
He will visit, so that, having obtained poison there, deadly to people,
Here, poison the craters with them and destroy us all at once.
“But,” the others answered mockingly first, “who knows!
It can easily happen that he himself, like a father, will die,
Long wandering the seas far from friends and family.
With that, of course, he will worry us too: then we will have to
All to divide among themselves their property; let's give up the house
We are Penelope and the husband she has chosen among us."
So grooms. Telemachus went to his father's pantry,
The building is spacious; heaps of gold and copper lay there;
There were a lot of dresses in chests and fragrant oil stored;
Clay kufas with perennial and sweet wine stood
Next to the walls, concluding a divinely pure drink
In the bowels of the deep, in case Odysseus returns
To the house, having endured severe sorrows and many vicissitudes.
Double-leaf doors, double-locked, to that pantry
Served as an entrance; venerable housekeeper day and night
There, with a highly experienced, vigilant zeal, she kept in order
All Eurycleia, intelligent daughter of Pevsenorids Ops.
Calling Eurycleia into that pantry, Telemachus said to her:
"Nanny, fill the amphorae with fragrant, delicious wine
After the dear one that you keep here,
Remembering him, about the unfortunate, and all hoping that in his house
King Odysseus will return, and escaped death and the Park.
With it you fill twelve amphorae and cork amphoras;
Similarly, prepare leather, dense furs, organ
full of flour; and that each of them contained twenty
Mer; but you alone know about this; collect all supplies
in a bunch; I will come for them in the evening, at a time when
Penelope will go to her upper rest, thinking about sleep.
I want to visit Sparta and Pylos sandy to visit.
Are there any rumors about the dear father and his return?
Finished. He Eurycleia, diligent nurse, crying,
With a loud sob, the winged one threw the word: "Why are you,
Our dear child, open to such thoughts
Heart? Why do you aspire to a distant, alien land
You, our only consolation? your parent is
Met the end between hostile peoples far from home;
Here, while you are wandering, they will insidiously arrange
Kov, to lime both you and your wealth will be divided.
Better stay with us at your own; there is no need
In the terrible sea you will go into trouble and into storms.
Answering her, the judicious son of Odysseus said:
"Nanny, my friend, do not worry; not past the gods, I decided
On the road, but swear to me that your mother will not know anything from you.
Before, until eleven or twelve days have passed,
Or until she asks about me herself, or someone else
She won’t tell secrets - I’m afraid that she won’t fade from crying
Freshness of the face." Eurycleia became great gods
To swear; when she swore and made her oath,
Immediately she poured all the amphorae with fragrant wine,
She prepared thick leather sacks full of flour.
He, having returned home, remained there with the suitors.
A clever thought was born here in the heart of Pallas Athena:
Taking the form of Telemachus, she ran around the whole city;
To everyone you meet, affectionately addressing, get together
She invited everyone to the fast ship in the evening.
After, having come to Noemon, the reasonable son of Phronius,
She asked to give the ship - Noemon agreed willingly.
A light ship for salty moisture, having lowered and stocks,
Necessary for every durable ship, having collected, in fact
The goddess placed him at the exit to the sea from the bay.
People came together, and in everyone she aroused courage.
A new thought was born here in the heart of Pallas Athena:
In the house of Odysseus, the noble king, having entered, the goddess
She brought a sweet dream to the suitors feasting there, clouded
The thoughts of the drinkers and snatched the goblets from their hands; attraction
Having yielded to sleep, they went home and did not last long.
They waited for him, he was not slow to fall on tired eyes.
Then the bright-eyed daughter of Zeus told Telemachus,
Calling him out of the lavish dining room,
Similar to the Mentor in appearance and speech: "It's time, Telemachus, for us;
All our light-shod companions have already gathered;
Sitting by the oars, they wait for you impatiently;
Time to go; it is not good for us to put off our way.”
Having finished, Pallas Athena went ahead of Telemachus
Quick step; Telemachus hastily followed the goddess.
Having approached the sea and the ship that was waiting for them, they were there
Companions of the thick-haired ones were found near the sandy shore.
Telemakhov's holy power then turned to them:
"Brothers, let's hasten to bring travel supplies; they are already
Everything is prepared in the house, and the mother has not heard of anything;
Also, nothing is said to the slaves; only one secret
He knows." And he quickly went ahead; after him all the others.
Taking supplies, they have them on a well-arranged ship
Folded, as the beloved son of Odysseus commanded them.
Soon he himself entered the ship for the goddess Athena;
Near the stern of the ship, she fit; next to her
Telemachus sat down, and the oarsmen, hastily untying the ropes,
They also boarded the ship and sat on the benches by the oars.
Then the bright-eyed daughter of Zeus gave them a fair wind,
A marshmallow wafted fresh, roaring the dark sea.
Exciting the vigorous rowers, Telemachus ordered them to
Arrange tackle; obeying him, a pine mast
They raised at once and, deep into the nest, hoisted,
She was approved in it, and ropes were pulled from the sides;
White was then tied with braided sail straps;
Filled with wind, it rose, and the purple waves
There was a loud noise under the keel of the ship flowing into them;
He ran along the waves, raking his way into them.
Here shipbuilders, having arranged a black fast ship,
They filled the bowls with sweet wine and, praying, created
A libation due to the ever-born, immortal gods,
More than others, the bright-eyed goddess, the great Pallas.
The ship calmly made its way all night and all morning.
CANTO THREE
Helios rose from the beautiful sea and appeared on a copper
The vault of heaven to shine for the immortal gods and for mortals,
Rock subject to people living on a fruitful land.
That sometimes the ship reached Neleev city
Lush, Pylos. The people sacrificed there on the shore
Black bulls to Poseidon, the azure-curly god;
There were nine benches there; on the benches, five hundred each,
People were sitting, and there were nine bulls in front of each.
Having tasted sweet wombs, they already burned before God
Hips while the sailors entered the pier. removed
Tackle and anchor the rickety ship, settling down to earth
They went out; Telemachus, following Athena, also
Came out. Turning to him, the goddess Athena said:
"Son of the Odysseys, now you must not be shy;
For then we set off into the sea, in order to find out in what
Your father was abandoned to the earth by fate and what he endured.
Boldly approach the horses bridle Nestor; know us
It must be what thoughts are in his soul.
Feel free to ask him to tell you the whole truth;
Of course, he will not tell a lie, gifted with a great mind.
“But,” the judicious son of Odysseus answered the goddess, “
How to approach me? What greeting shall I say, Mentor?
Few still in reasonable conversations with people I am skillful;
Also, I don't know if it's proper for the younger ones to question the older ones?"
The daughter of the light-eyed Zeus, Athena, answered him:
“Many things yourself, Telemachus, you will guess with your mind;
A benevolent demon will reveal much to you; do not mind
The will of the immortals, I think you were born and raised.
Having finished, the goddess Athena went ahead of Telemachus
Quick step; Telemachus followed her; and hastily
They come to the place where the Pilaeans, having gathered, sat;
There with his sons and Nestor sat; their friends, establishing
They feasted, fussed, put on skewers, roasted meat.
Everyone, seeing foreigners, went to meet them and, hands
When serving them, they asked them to sit down in a friendly manner with the people.
The first, who met them, Nestor's son, noble Pisistratus,
Gently taking both by the hand, on the sandy shore
Place on soft spread skins invited them to take
Between the elderly father and the younger brother Thrasimedes.
Give them a sweet taste of the womb, he is fragrant wine
He filled the cup, took a sip of wine and said bright-eyed
Daughters of Zeus aegis holder Pallas Athena:
"Wanderer, you must call Poseidon the lord: you are now
They came to us for his great feast; having committed
Here, as custom dictates, before him is a libation with a prayer,
You and your comrade cup with a divinely pure drink
Give, I think he also prays to the gods, because
All of us, people, have need of beneficent gods.
He is younger than you and, of course, the same age as me;
That is why I offer you the cup in advance."
When he had finished, he handed the goblet of fragrant wine to Athena.
She was pleased with the act of a reasonable young man, the first
Who offered her a goblet of fragrant wine; and became
With a loud voice, she calls on Poseidon the lord:
"King Poseidon, landowner, I pray to you, do not reject
We who hope here that you will fulfill our desires.
Glory to Nestor with his sons, first, grant you;
After the rich mercy, show others favorably
Here, from the Pylians, now having taken the great hecatomb;
Give us then, Telemachus and me, to return, having finished
Everything for which we came here in a ship with a rough side."
So having prayed, the goddess herself made a libation;
After a two-tiered goblet she served Telemachus;
In his turn, the beloved son of Odysseus also prayed.
Parts were distributed and a glorious feast began; when
The speech was addressed to the visitors by Nestor, the hero of the Gereneas:
"Wanderers, now it will not be indecent for me to ask you,
Who are you, since you have enjoyed enough food.
Who are you, tell me? Where did they come to us on a wet road;
What is your business? Or wandering around without work,
Back and forth across the seas, like free miners, rushing,
Playing with his life and adventuring troubles to the peoples?
Having gathered his spirit, the judicious son of Odysseus
So, answering, he said (and Athena encouraged him
Heart, so that he could ask Nestor about his distant father,
Also, so that a good reputation is established in people about him):
You want to know where and who we are from; I'll tell the whole truth:
We are from Ithaca, lying under the wooded slope of Neyon;
Well, they came to you not for the common people, for their own business;
I wander, so that, inquiring about my father, I can visit,
Where is the noble Odysseus, constant in trouble, with whom
Ratouya together, you are the city of Ilion, they say, crushed.
Others, no matter how many there were, fought against the Trojans,
Disastrously, we heard, died in the distant side
All; and his death from us impregnable Kronion
Hid; where he found his end, no one knows: is it on earth
He fell firmly, overpowered by evil enemies, whether in swells
The sea died, swallowed by the cold wave of Amphitrite.
I hug your knees so that you favorably
The fate of my father revealed to me, declaring that his
I saw with my eyes or that from which I heard by chance
Wanderer. He was born by his mother into misfortune and grief.
You, not sparing me and out of pity, not softening the words,
All tell me in detail what you yourself were an eyewitness to.
If, then, my father, noble Odysseus, is for you,
Whether in word or deed, could be useful in those days, as with you
He was in Troy, where you endured so much trouble, Achaeans,
Remember this now and truly tell me everything."
"My son, how strongly you reminded me of the misfortunes in that land
Met by us, the Achaeans, firm in strict experience,
Part, when in the ships, led by the cheerful Pelid,
We chased prey across the dark foggy sea,
Part, when in front of the strong Priam city with enemies
They fought furiously. Of ours at that time, all the best fell:
Poor Ajax lay down there, Achilles and councils lay there
Wisdom equal to the immortal Patroclus, and there lies my dear
Son of Antilochus, blameless, brave and just as wondrous
The ease of running, how he was a fearless fighter. And a lot
We experienced various other great disasters, about them
Can even one of the earthly people tell everything?
If for five whole years and six years you could incessantly
Collect news about the troubles that happened to the cheerful Achaeans,
You would, without knowing everything, returned home dissatisfied.
For nine years we worked to destroy them, inventing
Many tricks, - Kronion decided to end violently.
In smart councils, no one there could be put along
With him: far ahead of everyone by the invention of many
Cunning King Odysseus, your noble parent, if
Truly you are his son. I look at you with amazement;
With him and speeches you are similar; but who would have thought that
Is it possible for a young man to resemble him so much in clever speech?
Well, I constantly, as long as we waged a war, on the advice,
In the assembly of the people, he always spoke at the same time with Odysseus;
We agree in opinions, we are always together, having considered strictly,
They chose only one thing, which was more useful for the Achaeans.
But when, having overthrown the great city of Priam,
We returned to the ships, God parted us: Kronion
The Achaeans planned to prepare a disastrous path across the seas.
Not everyone had a bright mind, not everyone is fair
They were - that's why an evil fate befell
Many who angered the bright-eyed daughter of a terrible god.
The goddess Athena kindled a strong strife among the Atrids:
Both, convene intent people for advice, recklessly
We collected them not at the usual time, when it was already setting
Sun; the Achaeans got together, drunk with wine; The same
One by one they began to explain to them the reason for the meeting:
King Menelaus demanded that the Argive men return
The path along the wide sea ridge rushed immediately;
That Agamemnon rejected: he still holds the Achaeans
Then he thought that they, having made the holy hecatomb,
Wrath reconciled the terrible goddess... baby! Still he
Evidently, he did not know that there could be no reconciliation with her:
The eternal gods do not change quickly in their thoughts.
So, turning insulting speeches to each other, there both
Brothers stood; collection of light-shod Achaeans
The cry was filled with fury, opinions divided into two.
All that night we spent hostile against each other
Thoughts: Zeus prepared punishment for us, lawless ones.
In the morning alone on the beautiful sea again by ships
(Taking both booty and virgins deeply girded) went out.
But half the other Achaeans remained on the shore
Together with King Agamemnon, shepherd of many nations.
We gave way to the ships, and they ran along the waves
Quickly: under them, the god was smoothing the deep sea.
Coming soon to Tenedos, we sacrificed there to the immortals,
Give us a homeland by praying to them, but Diy is still adamant to us
He hesitated to allow the return: he angered us with a secondary enmity.
Part of the king Odysseus, the giver of wise advice,
In multi-oared ships, she rushed in the opposite
The path for Atrid to submit to King Agamemnon again.
I hastily with all the ships subject to me
He swam forward, guessing that a demon was preparing a disaster for us;
And the son of the poor Tydeus swam with all his own;
Later, Menelaus the golden-haired went on his way: in Lesbos
He overtook us, undecided which way to choose for us:
Above the rocks of plentiful Chios, your way to Psyra
Edit, leaving it on the left hand, or below
Chios past the howling Mimant?
We prayed to Diya for a sign to give us; and, having given a sign,
He commanded that, cutting the sea in the very middle,
We went to Euboea for a quick, close misfortune to avoid;
The wind is fair, whistling, rustled, and, fishy
Making the path easily, the ships reached Gerest
By the night; from many bulls we laid fat thighs
There on the altar of Poseidon, measuring the great sea.
The fourth day was completed, when, having reached Argos,
All the ships of Diomedes, the currier of the horses, became
At the pier. Right in the meantime, I sailed to Pylos, and not once
The fair wind, initially sent to us by Diem, did not subside.
So I returned, my son, without any news; and until now
I still could not tell who died from the Achaeans, who was saved.
What did we learn from others, living under a home roof,
Then I will tell you, as it should, without hiding anything.
We heard that with the young Achilles the great son
All his myrmidons, spearmen returned home;
Live, they say, Philoctetes, beloved son of Pean; healthy
Idomeneo (none of the companions who escaped with him
Together the war, without losing at sea) reached Crete;
To you, of course, and to a distant land came about Atris
Rumor how he returned home, how he was put to death by Aegisthus,
Like Aegisthus, at last he deserved his reward.
Happiness when the deceased husband remains cheerful
Son to avenge, like Orestes, who struck down Aegisthus, with which
His many-glorious parent was slaughtered maliciously!
So it is with you, my beloved friend, so beautifully ripened,
It must be firm so that your name and descendants will be praised."
After listening to Nestor, the noble Telemachus answered:
"Son of Neleus, O Nestor, great glory of the Achaeans,
True, he took revenge, and terribly took revenge, and to him from the peoples
The honor will be universal and there will be praise from posterity.
Oh, if only they gave me the same power
Gods, so that in the same way I could take revenge on suitors who inflict
So many insults to me, insidiously plotting my death!
But they did not want to send such a great grace
Gods neither to me, nor to my father - and my lot from now on is patience.
So Nestor, the hero of the Gerenees, answered Telemachus:
"You yourself, my dear, reminded me of that in your own words;
We heard that, oppressing your noble mother,
In your house, the suitors do a lot of lawless things.
I would like to know: do you yourself bear it with your will? Is the people
Does your land hate you, at the instigation of God?
We do not know; it can easily happen that he himself
When he returns, he will destroy them, whether alone, having called the Achaeans ...
Oh, when to love the bright-eyed maiden Pallas
So could you, as she loved Odysseus
In the land of Troy, where we have suffered many troubles, Achaeans!
No, the gods have never been so frank in love,
How frank was Pallas Athena with Odysseus!
If you were appropriated by her with the same love,
The very memory of marriage would be lost in many of them."
The sensible son of Odysseus answered Nestor thus:
"Elder, unrealizable, I think, your word; about the great
You talk, and it's terrible for me to listen to you; won't happen
That is never at my request, nor at the will of the immortals.
The daughter of the light-eyed Zeus, Athena, answered him:
"A strange word from your mouth, Telemachus, flew out;
It is easy for God to protect us from afar, if He wants;
Well, I would have agreed to meet disasters sooner, so that only
Sweet return day to see how, having avoided disasters,
Return to the house to fall before your hearth, like a great
Agamemnon fell by the betrayal of a cunning wife and Aegisthus.
But it is also impossible for the gods from the common hour of death
To save a person dear to them when he is already betrayed
In the hands of forever lulling death, fate will be."
So the judicious son of Odysseus answered the goddess:
"Mentor, we will not talk about it, although it destroys us
It is the heart; We won't see him return.
The black fate and death were prepared for him by the gods.
But now, asking about something else, I want to turn
To Nestor - with truth and wisdom he surpasses all people;
He was, they say, a king, the ruler of three generations,
In his bright image, he is like an immortal god -
Son of Neleus, tell me without hiding anything from me,
How was Atrid Agamemnon the space-powerful was put to death?
Where was Menelaus? What a destructive
Did the cunning Aegisthus invent to make it easier to cope with the strongest?
Or, before reaching Argos, he was still among strangers
Was he also daring his enemy to an evil murder?
"Friend," answered Nestor, the hero of the Gereneas, to Telemachus,
I will tell you everything frankly, so that you can know the whole truth;
Indeed, everything happened just as you yourself think; but if
In the fraternal dwelling of Aegisthus, he found alive, returning
To your house from the battle of the Trojans, Atrids Menelaus, golden-haired,
His corpse would then not have been covered by the earth of the grave,
Birds of prey and dogs would have torn him to pieces, without honor
In a field far beyond the city of Argos, lying, his wife
Our people would not mourn him - he did a terrible thing.
That time, as we fought on the fields of Ilion,
He is in a safe corner of the multi-equestrian city of Argos.
The heart of Agamemnon's wife was entangled with cunning flattery.
Before the divine Clytemnestra herself was disgusted
It was a shameful thing - she had no vicious thoughts;
There was a singer with her, to whom King Agamemnon,
In preparation for sailing to Troy, he commanded to watch his wife;
But, as soon as fate betrayed her to crime,
That song-singer was exiled by Aegisthus to a barren island,
Where he was left: and the birds of prey tore him to pieces.
He invited her, who wanted one with him, to his house;
He burned many thighs on holy altars before the gods,
With many contributions, and with gold and fabrics, he decorated the temples,
Such a daring thing with an unexpected ending with success.
We, having left the land of Troy, sailed together,
I and Atrids Menelaus, bound by close friendship.
We were already before the sacred Sounion, the Cape of Attia;
Suddenly Menelaev's feeder Phoebus Apollo invisibly
He killed with his quiet arrow: controlling the running
The ship, the helm was held by a highly experienced firm hand
Frontis, Onetor's son, the most of all earthly
The secret penetrated to own the ship in the ensuing storm.
He slowed down his path, although he was in a hurry, Menelaus, so that on the shore
Honor the burial of a friend with a proper triumph;
But when on his steep-sided ships again he
The high cape of Malea went into the dark sea
Quickly reached - everywhere thundering Kronion, planning
Death, overtook him with a noisy wind breathing,
He raised mighty, heavy, mountainous waves.
Suddenly, parting the ships, he threw half of them to Crete,
Where the kydons live near the bright streams of Yardan.
A smooth cliff is seen there, rising above the salty moisture,
Moving into the dark sea at the extreme limits of Gortyn;
Where the great waves hit the western shore at Festus
Note catches up and a small cliff crushes them, repelling,
Those ships found themselves; by dexterity escaped death
People; their ships perished, shattered on sharp stones.
Five other dark-nosed ships, stolen by the storm,
A mighty wind and waves rushed to the coast of Egypt.
There Menelaus, gathering treasures and much gold,
Wandered among the peoples of a different language, and at the same
Time Aegisthus committed a lawless deed in Argos,
Having betrayed Atrids to death, the people submitted silently.
For seven whole years he ruled in the golden-bountiful Mycenae;
But on the eighth from Athens returned to his death
Godlike Orestes; and he slew the murderer, with whom
His many-glorious parent was slaughtered maliciously.
Having established a great feast for the Argives, he made a burial
He and the criminal mother, along with Aegisthus the contemptible.
On that very day, and Atrids Menelaus, the challenger in battle,
He arrived, having collected wealth, as much as he could fit in the ships.
You are not for long, my son, wander far from your homeland,
The house and legacy of the noble father leaving the victim
Daring robbers, eating yours mercilessly; plunder
Everything, and the path you have made will remain useless.
But Menelaus Atris (I advise, I demand) must
You visit; he recently arrived in the fatherland from alien
Countries, from people from whom no one, once brought
To them across the wide sea with a swift wind, could not
Alive to return, from where he cannot fly to us in a year
A swift bird, so terrifying is the great abyss of space.
You will go from here or by sea with all yours,
Or, when you wish, with earth: horses with a chariot
I will give, and I will send my son with you, so that he will show you
The path to Lacedaemon is divine, where Menelaus is golden-haired
reigns; you can ask Menelaus about everything yourself;
He, of course, will not tell a lie, gifted with a great mind.
Finished. In the meantime, the sun had gone down and darkness had set in.
Turning her word to Nestor, Athena said:
"Elder, your speeches are reasonable, but we will not hesitate;
Must now cut out tongues, and King Poseidon
Together with other gods, make a libation with wine;
Time to think about the bed of the deceased and the dream of peace;
The day at sunset is gone, and it won't be decent anymore
Here we sit at the meal of the gods; It's time for us to leave."
Thus spoke the goddess; everyone respectfully listened to her.
Here the servants gave them water to wash their hands;
Youths, filling bright craters to the brim with a drink,
They carried it in bowls, according to custom, starting on the right;
Throwing their tongues into the fire, they made a libation,
standing; when they created it and enjoyed the wine,
How much the soul desired, Telemachus the noble with Athena
They began to gather for the night on their high-speed ship.
Nestor, having restrained the guests, said: “Yes, they won’t let
Eternal Zeus and other immortal gods, so that now
You have gone from here to a fast ship for the night!
Don't we have clothes? Am I a beggar?
As if in my house there are no covers, no soft beds
No, so that I myself and my guests enjoy the deceased
Sleep? But there are enough covers and soft beds.
Is it possible that the son of such a great man, that the son of Odysseus
Chose the ship's deck as a bedroom while I
Alive and my sons dwell with me under one
A roof, so that everyone who comes to us can be treated in a friendly way?
The daughter of the light-eyed Zeus, Athena, answered him:
"You said a clever word, beloved old man, and you must
Telemachus will fulfill your will: that, of course, is more decent.
Here I will leave him to rest under your roof
He spent the night. I myself should return to the black ship
It should be to encourage our people and tell them a lot:
I am the oldest of our companions for years; they are
(All young, all the same age as Telemachus) kindly
Will, out of friendship, they agreed to see him on the ship;
That's why I want to return to the black ship.
Tomorrow, with the dawn, I will go to the people of the brave kavkons
It is necessary that there people pay me an old, considerable
Duty. Telemachus, after he stays with you,
With your son in the chariot, send you, commanding the horses
Give them the most agile in running and the most excellent in strength.
So saying to them, the bright-eyed daughter of Zeus withdrew,
Flying like a swift eagle; the people were amazed; amazed
Seeing such a miracle with your own eyes, Nestor.
Taking Telemachus by the hand, he amiably said to him:
"Friend, you, of course, are not timid in heart and strong in strength,
If you, young, are so clearly accompanied by the gods.
Here from the immortals living in the abodes of the bright Olympus,
There was none other than Dieva, the glorious daughter of Tritogen,
So distinguished your father in the host of the Argives.
Be favorable, goddess, and to us and great glory
Give to me, and to my children, and to my well-behaved wife;
I'm your one-year-old heifer, forehead, in the field
Freely roaming, still unfamiliar with the yoke, as a sacrifice
Here I will bring her, adorning her horns with pure gold.
Thus he spoke, praying; and Pallas heard it.
Having finished, he went ahead of the sons and sons-in-law of the noble
To his house, richly decorated Nestor, the hero of the Herenia;
With Nestor to the royal richly decorated house and others
They also entered and sat down in order on armchairs and chairs.
The elder then filled the goblet to the brim for the assembled
Light wine, poured from an amphora after eleven years
The housekeeper, who removed the roof from that treasured amphora for the first time.
With them he made a libation of the great
Daughters of Zeus the aegis holder; when the others
All, having made a libation, enjoyed the wine enough,
Everyone returned to himself, thinking about the bed and sleep.
Wishing the guest peace, Nestor, the hero of the Gerenei,
Telemachus himself, the intelligent son of King Odysseus,
In the resoundingly spacious rest, the bed indicated a welt;
Peisistrat lay down beside him, spearman, leader of men,
The former of the brothers is alone unmarried in his father's dwelling.
Himself, in the interior of the royal house, peace is removed,
Lying down on the bed, softly remade by the queen, Nestor.
A young woman with purple fingers arose from the darkness Eos;
From the soft bed rose Nestor, the hero of the Gereneas,
Coming out of the bedroom, he sat down on hewn, smooth, wide
Stones, at the door of a high serving as a seat, white,
Shining brightly, as if anointed with oil, on them
Before, Neleus sat, like a god with many minds;
But long ago he was taken away by fate to the abode of Hades.
Now, on the stones of the Neleevs, Nestor sat down, sceptron-bearing
Pestun Achaean. To him the sons gathered, from the bedrooms
Released: Ekhefron, Perseus, Stration, and Aretos, and young
God like beauty Thrasymedes; finally the sixth to them,
The youngest of the brothers has come, the noble Peisistratus. And next
The beloved son of the Odysseus was invited to sit with Nestor.
Nestor, the hero of the Gereneas, addressed the audience here:
"Dear children, hasten to fulfill my command:
More than others, I wish to bow down to the mercy of Athena,
Apparently, who was with us at the great feast of God.
In the field, run one after the heifer, so that immediately from the field
The shepherd, who looks after the flocks, drove her out to us; the other
Should go to the black ship Telemakhs and call to us
All seafaring people, leaving only two there; finally
Let the third immediately be the goldsmith Laerkos
Called to decorate the heifer with pure gold horns.
All the rest, stay with me, commanding the slaves
Arrange a plentiful dinner in the house, arrange in order
Chairs, firewood to prepare and bright water to bring us."
So he said; everyone began to take care: from the field a heifer
Soon they drove; Telemach's people came from the ship,
With him they swam across the sea; the goldsmith also appeared,
Bring the projectile necessary for forging metals: an anvil,
Hammer, jewel-finish pincers, and more than usual
He did his work; the goddess Athena came
Accept the sacrifice. Here is the artist Nestor, the buffer of horses,
Gave pure gold; he bound the horns of the heifer with them,
Strive diligently so that the sacrificial gift is pleasing to the goddess.
Then they took the heifer by the horns of Stration and Ekhefron;
Wash their hands with water in a tub lined with flowers
Carried out of the house Aretos, in the other hand he is with barley
The box was holding; Thrasymedes, the mighty warrior, came up,
With a sharp ax in hand, strike the victim while preparing;
Perseus set up the cup. Here is Nestor, the bridle of the horses,
Washing his hands, he showered the heifer with barley and, leaving
Wool from her head to the fire, prayed to Athena;
Behind him and others praying a heifer with barley
They showered the same. Nestor's son, Thrasymedes the mighty,
Muscles tensed, hit, and, deeply stuck in the neck,
The ax crossed the veins; the heifer fell down; cried out
All daughters, and daughters-in-law of the king, and with them the queen,
Meek in heart, Klimenova is the eldest daughter of Eurydice.
The same heifer, clinging to the bosom of the path-bearing earth,
They raised it - the noble Pisistratus stabbed her at once.
After, when the black blood was exhausted and there was no
Life in the bones, having decomposed it into parts, separated
The thighs and on top of them (twice wrapped around, as it should, the bones
Fat) bloody meat covered with pieces; together
Nestor lit it at the stake and sprinkled it with sparkling wine;
They started, substituting the grips with five points.
Burning thighs and tasting the sweet womb, the rest
They cut everything into pieces and began to fry on skewers,
Sharp skewers quietly in the hands over the fire turning.
That sometimes Telemachus Polycaste, the youngest daughter
Nestor, was taken to the bath for washing; when
The virgin washed him and rubbed clean with oil,
Putting on a light tunic and putting on a rich mantle,
He came out of the bath, with a radiant face like a god;
He took a place near Nestor, the shepherd of many peoples.
The same, having roasted and removed the spinal meat from the skewers,
They sat down for a delicious dinner, and the servants carefully began
Run, pouring wine into golden vessels; when
Their hunger was satisfied with sweet drink and food,
Nestor, the hero of the Herenia, said to the noble sons:
"Children, harness the thick-maned horses to the chariot immediately
It is necessary that Telemachus be able to rush on the path at will.
That command of the king was soon fulfilled;
Two thick-maned horses were harnessed to the chariot; into her
The housekeeper put bread and wine in reserve, with various
Food, which is only suitable for kings, pets of Zeus.
Then the noble Telemachus became in the shining chariot;
Next to him is Nestor's son Pisistratus, the leader of the peoples,
Became; pulling the reins with a mighty hand, he struck
With a strong whip on the horses, and fast horses rushed
Field, and the resplendent Pylos soon disappeared behind them.
All day the horses raced, shaking the chariot drawbar.
In the meantime, the sun had set, and all the roads had darkened.
The travelers arrived at Thera, where the son of Ortiloch, Alpheus
Born bright, the noble Diocles had his own house;
After giving them lodging for the night, Diocles treated them cordially.
A young girl with purple fingers Eos came out of the darkness.
Travelers, once again standing in their shining chariot,
Quickly on it from the yard through the portico rushed sonorous,
Often chasing horses, and the horses galloped willingly.
Lush plains, abundant in wheat, having reached, they are there
They finished the path made by mighty horses quickly;
In the meantime, the sun had set, and all the roads had darkened.
