Promise-giving And Treaty Making: Homer And The Near East (mnemosyne, Bibliotheca Classica Batava Supplementum)

This book challenges the current view of the Homeric epics that they reflect only the institutions and ideas of the Dark Ages, during which they were composed, telling us nothing about the Mycenaean Age preceding it. Comparing evidence from the Near East with the Homeric corpus, Peter Karavites argues that the epics actually contain much that harks back to the Mycenaean Age, and that the two eras may not be completely discontinuous after all. Most contemporary scholars maintain that the mighty Mycenaean period was almost completely separated from the Dark Ages and that virtually no evidence of the former remains, with the exception of the archeological finds and the meager testimony of the Linear B tablets. However, the Near Eastern evidence about treaties and other forms of promising suggests that the Iliad and Odyssey may indeed provide historical pictures of the Mycenaean times featured in their narratives. PROMISE-GIVING AND TREATY-MAKING HOMER AND THE NEAR EAST 3 CONTENTS 7 List of Abbreviations 9 Preface 11 Introduction 13 The Focus 14 1. The Structural Composition of the Homeric Agreements 15 2. The Near Eastern Treaties 16 3. Later Greek Treaty-Making 19 4. The Mycenaean Gap 20 The Logic 22 The Design 25 PART ONE. THE HOMERIC AGREEMENTS: THEIR CORPUS, TERMINOLOGY, AND STRUCTURE 27 I. The Corpus of Homeric Agreements 29 The Homeric Texts 30 The Agreements Compared and Contrasted 53 The Oral Character of the Homeric Agreements 57 II. The Linguistic Evidence 60 The Significance of Philotês 60 The Interrelation of Horkia, Horkos, and Omnyein 70 Conclusion 93 III. The Structure of Homeric Agreements 94 The Preamble 95 The Recounting of Antecedent History 99 Stipulations 101 The Invocation of Gods as Witnesses 110 Curses and Blessings 116 Conclusion 119 IV. Other Features of Homeric Agreements 120 Other Maledictions 121 1. The destruction and transformation of cities 122 2. Ravenous wild animals 122 3. The ravishing of wives 123 4. The destruction of weapons 123 5. Warriors becoming women 124 6. Refusal of burial 124 7. Devastating flood 125 Ritual 128 Suzerainty Treaties 131 PART TWO. SOME COMMON CONTENTS AND OTHER FEATURES SHARED BY NEAR EASTERN AND HOMERIC TREATIES 137 V. The People 139 The Role of the People 139 Stipulations Concerning the Fate of Fugitives 160 VI. War Conventions 169 The Talking and Sharing of Booty 169 The Use of Surrogates 182 Firing the First Shot 187 VII. Conventions Associated with Treaty-Making 191 Meals 191 Deposition and Recitation 199 The Duration of the Agreement 206 VIII. Conclusion: Continuity or Discontinuity? 213 Bibliography 219 Index of Proper Names and Titles 229 Index of Transliterated Terms 235 SUPPLEMENTS TO MNEMOSYNE 237 This book challenges the current view of the Homeric epics, according to which they reflect only the institutions and ideas of their own time, telling us nothing about the Mycenaean Age preceding it. Using a comparative analysis of evidence from the Near East and the Homeric corpus, Peter Karavites comes to the bold conclusion that the epics actually contain much that harks back to the Mycenaean Age, and that the two eras may not be completely discontinuous after all. Most contemporary scholars maintain that the mighty Mycenaean period was almost completely separated from the Dark Ages and that virtually no evidence of the former remains, with the exception of the archeological finds and the meager testimony of the Linear B tablets. However, the Near Eastern evidence about treaties and other forms of promising suggests that the Iliad and Odyssey may indeed provide historical pictures of the Mycenaean times featured in their narratives. Challenges the current view of the Homeric epics, according to which they reflect only the institutions and ideas of their own time, telling us nothing about the Mycenaean Age preceding it. The author uses a comparative analysis of evidence from the Near East and the Homeric corpus.