From Hittite to Homer : The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic

La 4e de couverture porte : "This book provides a groundbreaking reassessment of the prehistory of Homeric epic. It argues that in the Early Iron Age bilingual poets transmitted to the Greeks a set of narrative traditions closely related to the one found at Bronze-Age Hattusa, the Hittite capital. Key drivers for Near Eastern influence on the developing Homeric tradition were the shared practices of supralocal festivals and venerating divinized ancestors, and a shared interest in creating narratives about a legendary past using a few specific storylines: theogonies, genealogies connecting local polities, long-distance travel, destruction of a famous city because it refuses to release captives, and trying to overcome death when confronted with the loss of a dear companion. Professor Bachvarova concludes by providing a fresh explanation of the origins and significance of the Greco-Anatolian legend of Troy, thereby offering a new solution to the long-debated question of the historicity of the Trojan War." Cover 1 Half-title 2 Title page 4 Copyright information 5 Dedication 6 Table of contents 8 List of maps 12 List of figures 13 List of tables 15 Acknowledgments 16 List of abbreviations 18 Notes on the text 23 Maps 35 Additional material 40 1 Introduction 42 Status quaestionis 42 The world of the Hittites 46 An outline of the book 53 2 Hurro-Hittite narrative song at Hattusa 61 Introduction 61 Members of the genre of Hurro-Hittite narrative song 64 The formal features of Hurro-Hittite narrative song 76 Bilingual poets 87 The functions of Hurro-Hittite narrative song 90 Conclusion 93 3 Gilgamesh at Hattusa: written texts and oral traditions 95 Introduction 95 The Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh 97 The Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh in the Hittite archives 101 The Hittite Song of Gilgamesh 104 The Hurrian Song of Gilgamesh and Song of Huwawa 113 Conclusion 117 4 The Hurro-Hittite ritual context of Gilgamesh at Hattusa 119 Introduction 119 Background 120 The Hurro-Hittite pit ritual involving the story of Gilgamesh 122 Gilgamesh in Mesopotamian rituals 126 Pit rituals 127 The Purification Ritual for the Former Gods 136 Odysseus’ katabasis 140 Myth and ritual: the chicken and the egg? 149 Conclusion 151 5 The plot of the Song of Release 152 Introduction 152 The opening 154 The assembly scene 158 The hospitality scene 165 The parables 170 Conclusion 172 6 The place of the Song of Release in its eastern Mediterranean context 173 Introduction 173 The assembly scene in its Near Eastern context 174 The assembly scene of the Song of Release and the Iliad 180 The hospitality scene of the Song of Release in its eastern Mediterranean context 183 The messenger scene in the Song of Release in its eastern Mediterranean context 186 Conclusion 187 7 The function and prehistory of the Song of Release 190 Introduction 190 The Song of Release and royal ancestor veneration 190 The origin of Hurro-Hittite narrative song 197 Conclusion 206 8 Sargon the Great: from history to myth 207 Introduction 207 The Anatolian reception of legends of Sargon 208 From history to myth, from oral to written 219 The šarrena ritual 223 King lists and genealogies as indexes for world history 228 Naram-Sin and Hector 232 Conclusion 237 9 Long-distance interactions: theory, practice, and myth 240 Introduction 240 Wandering seers or Orientalizing construct? 241 Push-pull factors encouraging long-distance interactions 247 Long-distance elite interaction and transmission of narratives 252 Medicine, long-distance travel, and cosmogonies 254 Conclusion 258 10 Festivals: a milieu for cultural contact 260 Introduction 260 Hittite festivals 262 Feasts and festivals in second-millennium Greece 267 A festival of Mycenaean Thebes 270 First-millennium Greek festivals 273 The Delia 277 The Milesian New Year festival 282 Apollo as a vector for transmission of cult 284 The Chaoskampf myth in its festival setting: Syro-Anatolia 291 Conclusion 304 11 The context of epic in Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Greece 307 Introduction 307 Ancestor veneration and mortuary ritual in the Mycenaean period 309 Elite competition and epic in post-palatial Greece 314 The Protogeometric period: the age of nostalgia 319 Heroes and meropes anthropoi: the shared concept of divinized ancestors among Early Iron Age Greeks and Syro-Anatolians 326 The Odyssey as a narrative of long-distance elite interactions 336 Conclusion 340 12 Cyprus as a source of Syro-Anatolian epic in the Early Iron Age 342 Introduction 342 Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age: a member of the brotherhood of Great Kings 344 The arrival of the Greeks in Cyprus 347 Cultural continuity in Syro-Anatolia 351 Iatnana, Danuna, and the House of Mopsus 357 Contact between Greece and Cyprus in the Early Iron Age 362 Cypriot epics about Aphrodite? 364 Conclusion 370 13 Cultural contact in Late Bronze Age western Anatolia 372 Introduction 372 Contacts among Ahhiyawa, west Anatolia, and the Hittites in the Late Bronze Age: the beginnings of a cultural memory about the Trojan War? 374 Transmission of Hittite cultural features to west Anatolia in the Late Bronze Age 383 Transfer of people and cultural features between Greece and Anatolia 385 Conclusion 388 14 Continuity of memory at Troy and in Anatolia 390 Introduction 390 Reminiscences of Bronze Age Troy in the Homeric tradition 392 Cultural continuity and Greek migrations in Early Iron Age west Anatolia 397 Troy across the end of the Bronze Age 402 Troy as a place of remembrance 408 Genealogical and dynastic ties with the Bronze Age Anatolian Past 414 Continuity of elite mortuary practices in Syro-Anatolia, Mopsus’ hbreveešti-house, and Karatepe 420 Conclusion 434 15 The history of the Homeric tradition 436 Introduction 436 The date of ‘‘Homer’’: an overview 437 The upper and lower limit for the creation of a Greek epic about Troy 441 The refining of the pre-Homeric Greek epic tradition: competition among Aeolic and Ionic poets 443 Conclusion 457 16 The layers of Anatolian influence in the Iliad 459 Introduction 459 Relations between Achaeans and Anatolians as portrayed in the Iliad 462 Bilingual Anatolian epic poets 467 A Phrygian-Aeolic tradition about the fall of Troy? 470 A pro-Trojan Iliad 473 Lycian influence on the Iliad: a Milesian setting? 479 Lycian hero worship in the Iliad: the death of Sarpedon 486 Apollo ́s role in the transfer and transmission of the Iliad 490 Conclusion 494 Appendix: Contraction and the dactylic hexameter 499 References 506 Subject index 606 List of Hittite texts by CTH number 678 Index of tablets and inscriptions 683 Concordance of tablets from Ugarit 690 Introduction -- Hurro-hittite Narrative Song At Hattusa -- Gilgamesh At Hattusa: Written Texts And Oral Traditions -- The Hurro-hittite Ritual Context Of Gilgamesh At Hattusa -- The Plot Of The Song Of Release -- The Place Of The Song Of Release In Its Eastern Mediterranean Context -- The Function And Prehistory Of The Song Of Release -- Sargon The Great: From History To Myth -- Long-distance Interactions: Theory, Practice, And Myth -- Festivals: A Milieu For Cultural Contact -- The Context Of Epic In Late Bronze And Early Iron Age Greece -- Cyprus As A Source Of Syro-anatolian Epic In The Early Iron Age -- Cultural Contact In Late Bronze Age Western Anatolia -- Continuity Of Memory At Troy And In Anatolia -- The History Of The Homeric Tradition -- The Layers Of Anatolian Influence In The Iliad. Mary R. Bachvarova. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. This book takes a bold new approach to the prehistory of Homeric epic. It argues that the Near Eastern influence on early Greek hexameter poetry primarily came from a single Syro-Anatolian tradition of oral narrative song, which included the Song of Gilgamesh and the Kumarbi Cycle, starting in the eleventh century BCE.