Na, o Franklin ithele na mou steilei ti bibliografia pou tou eixa zitisei, alla epeidi exase tin electroniki mou dieythynsi tin esteile sto Stelio, me ton opoio milisa prin apo ligo. Mou milise ligo gia ton Franklin kai ti douleia tou, exei asxolithei me tin ennoia tou diatonikou kai mesa apo mia sygritiki meleti ypostirizei oti oi Ellines to ofeiloun stin Anatoli........... Omos tora exo na teleioso kati, tha ta poume isos argotera me perissoteres leptomereies, allios ayrio:)
Meta tin pemti... (akoma gemisma, alla se ligo arhisoume to kopsimo, sbisimo, aferesoume ta peritta, asafi, lanthasmena logia. Kapou prepi na stamatisi i fliaria, na doxasti to lakonizin...:).)
Meta tin proti amixania pos na mazeytoun me kapoio noima kai taxi ola ayta ta stoixeia gia to xoro apo ton Omiro, anadyontai ta prota stoixeia. Mi mas apasxolei ayti ti stigmi an einai liga i polla. As symfonisoume tora pos einai arketa gia na xekinisei mia ereyna. Kai giati me ton Omiro? Epeidi einai stin arxi kai sti synexeia ginetai syxna se ayton anafora. Me tin proti matia epibebaionetai pos ta keimena tautohrona lene polla kai liga. Ti kryvetai mesa sto mythiko plaisio gia ti zoi kai to horo? Pandos oso perisotero diabaseis, niotheis pos opou kai an angixeis, o,ti episodio exetaseis, anoigoun 'dromoi', esto san pseudaisthisi, gia ritorika tehnazmata. I Amalteia-aiga dinei trofi, amrosia kai nektar bgainoun apo ta kerata tou, to derma tis ginetai aspida, kai natoi oi Kourites, armatomenoi, me toribodi horo kryboun, prostateboun ton mikro Dia. Kanei kai autos polla thaumata argotera, ap to kefali tou xepida i oplizmeni Athina, stin aiga-aspida tis einai zografismeni i tromeri Medousa. Stin Pallada dinetai protia gia ton polemiko horo.[Endiaferon exigisi, pos efebre ton aulo.*] Uperboli an leme pos sta epomena "ouranos kai gi tha horevoun?"* As afisoume kalytera na mas odigisei o idios o Omiros se gamous kai giortes athanaton kai thniton, se polemo opou 'horevei' o Aris. Sto ergastirio tou Hefaistou, i aspida tou 'kathreutis', kozmohoreutiko mastoreuma, me horostasi san auto pou eftjaxe a Daidalos gia tin Ariadni. Ston omiriko kosmo horevoun oi enaretoi kai oi amartoloi, oi 'atimoi' mnistires pou theloun na 'kleboun tin Pinelopi, xoris na xeroun pos i Moira me ton Odussea tous etoimazei to teleutaio glendi, kai me to nima tou toxou tha ihisei thanatiforos mousiki. Apati-pagida perimenei tous apatilous, o zitianos-kamouflarismenos Odusseus deihnei tin proti parastasi. Apo ekei kai o "asemnos" horos ton akleiton? Opou koitas, englima kai timoria. Pos tha glitoseis? An o ponos pia einai aforitos, i oraia Eleni xerei na parigorei, rihnei sto krasi magika filtra, etsi xehnoun oi kalesmenoi ta basana,tora isiha hairontai, evruhoro to palati tou Menelaou, thaumazoun ta epidexia kinisi ton akrobaton. Oh ayti i Eleni, oi basilisses, kai oi doules! Akourastes me to adrahti, ton argalio, ftiahnoun me haroumeni porfira violettia nimata, ifasmata, rouha gia to horo sto gamo. Ravoun, plenoun adiakopa. Kapou, san ti Nausika, xekourazondai horeuontas me tin bala, to paihnidi ton Phaiakon. Posa herja prepi na pjanoume, papous, propaous..., mehri na ftasoume ston Omiro? Anarothitithikame pos axiologoume ton Omiro, to mutho? Kai erhete amesos to proto kai grigoro apandisi. Koitaxame to limma gia ton Homero sto OCD (Homer: 718), perigrafei periliptika to homeriko problima, dinei perilipseis ton ypotheseon pou pragmateyontai ta dyo epi, milaei gia tin exairetiki ikanotita tou Homerou na katanoei kai na perigrafei tin anthropini symperifora kai antidraseis, gia tin polyploki domi tou daktylikou exametrou pou xrisimopoiei k.a. Leei episis oti istorikoi blepoun sta epi antikatoptrismous tis koinonias kai ton politikon blepseon ton “Skoteinon Xronon” pou epontai tis mycenaikis katastrofis (teli 13ou), akoma kai tis koinonias tou 8ou aiona p.X. Mono apolithomenes mnimes tis mykenaikis periodou epibionoun sta erga tou. I Iliada topotheteitai gyro sto 750, eno I Odysseia gyro sto 725 p.X. (epoxi tou apoikismou). Kleinei milontas gia ti methomeriki poiisi kai ekei anaferaetai ston Hesiodo, stous Homerikous ymnous kai sta poiimata tou epikou kyklou apo ta opoia sozontai mono perilipseis apodidomenes ston Proklo (pithanos grammatikos tou 2ou ai.). An kai ayta ta poiimata einai ysterotera ton Omerikon, I simasia tous gia mas egkeitai sto oti antiprosopeyoun ta themata tis heroikis poiisis opos itan prin apo ton Omero. “Thus, by a time reversal, the partially known later material can make some claim to priority over the earlier”.
Horis elpida, na exandlisoume to omiriko zitima, toso katatesoume prokatabolika, kai akoma den eidame tipota!:) Kat odon simplironoume tin eikona, to peribalon, ta genetria tou omiriko horeuti.As statoume ligo touto to sumeio, kanondas to proto cekarisma, horeutika, doi bima bros, ena piso...:)An xanakoitazoume to OCD, blepoume oti ayta pou leei isos einai kapos "palaioteres" apopseis, kai isos kapoia pragmata exoun anatheorithei i anatheorountai ... Etsi, gia paradeigma o Mazarakis-Ainian (Omeros kai Arxaiologia 2000) episimainei, stirizomenos stis arxaiologikes martyries, oti synyparxoun stoixeia apo tria istorika stromata: ena proistoriko, kyrios mykinaiko, ena endiameso ton Skoteinon Xronon (11os-9os ai. p.X.) kai ena tou 8ou aiona, tis periodou diladi kata tin opoia ezise o Omeros kai pragmatopoiithike i katagrafi ton proton epon. (Omos edo bazoume pali ena erotimatiko, kathos to diastima pou pithanos ezise o poiitis exei teleytaia dieyrynthei arketa, 900-650p.X.( Anihti erotisi, pou perimeni lisi: Sxetika me tin proti katagrafi ton epon ti xeroume?). O Ainian ypostirizei oti ta omerika keimena symballoun idiaitera stin anasystasi tis eikonas tis koinonias ton mykinaikon, ton skoteinon, i ton ysterogeometrikon xronon, me tin proypothesi oti o ereynitis elegxei poies apo tis anafores tou poiiti anagontai se kathe periodo kai poies einai dimiourgima tis fantasias tou. Mila kai gia methomerikes paremboles(?)oi opoies apoteloun ena allo stroma...
Tethikan ligo biastika ta exis erotimata: Ti einai to 'dromo' tou aido? ([Ekfrasi 'mistirio" o Brouno Snell exetazi sto biblio Anakalipsi tou peumatos. Blepe meta stin enotita mousiki.] Ti kalo mas kani to ambrosia kai nektar, kai apo pou pernoume?:) Pja einai ta musiko-horeutika taumata ton theon? As rotisoume ton Apollona.
Autos, mou makria toxeui, apagagi kritikous pirates kai me to kalo anemo den stamatai mehri den ftasoun sto iero topo pou idrii to nao tou. Oi proti ieris oi nautiki pythanon den xehasane ta tragoudja kai to horo ap to patrida , mehri oi makrini apogoni tous taumazonde auti tin mousiki ikanotita.(Blepe Panagopoulo.) Edo filoxenoun to pjo spoudeo mousiko agona, kai ektelite a 'pythikos nomos'. Lene pos itan mimisi, agona anamesa ton Apollona kai to drako. Ta meri tou targoudiou zondanevoun to mahi, arhizi me ton anihnevsi to pedio pou tha gini sungrousi, stadiaka prohorai... o drakos trizi ta dontja, xepsihai (syrigmos)... Meriki san na idane to prototipo to legomeni 'programatiki' mousiki. An kai den einai fronimo na paromjazoume me Ravel,- 'Apgeuma tou Drakou":)- axizi na skeftoume ligaki auto to 'programa'. Ti ekane enas horeutis an sunodeve tetio mousiki? Ta etrize ta dontja? Stringlize san diabolemeno surigx, hanondas tin psihu tou? Malon ohi, oi ekleti krites den epitrepane tetjes hondrades, alla oi mousiki panda eihane tropous,(kai akoloutos oi horeutes), idietera katalila gia auto ta 'magika' pneusta pou ligizoun eki pou theli o embiros mousikos, fernondas anemo, brohi, anasa, kraugi... Parafrasoume tous omorikous stiuhous:
Kai autoi pou xortasan apo fai kai poto, palikaria, kai gemisan tous kratires me poto kai moirasan se olous afou prota erixan ligo sta potiria, kai oli ti mera exileonan to theo me tragoudi kai xoro(?), tragoudontas oraio ymno kai doxologontas ekeinon pou apo makria toxeyei, akoustikane ap ton Apollo, kai eyxaristiotan i psyxi tou.* Megali tuhi pos sotikan duo umnoi,kai etsi boroume na ipopsiastoume tetjous ihous. Ne men metagenesteri , alla den apokliete pos mesa apo makrohroni paradosi filaxane to iero, megalopnoi ufos, ithos.
Pjon horo didete stin Pallada? Ti simeni Pallada? Ti mas leei to omeriko keimeno gia tous Kouretes? Oi Faiakes pou xoreyoun -(betarmones, perimenoume edo ti prosfati gramma tou idikou, me ti bibliografia...:)!- kata kapoion tropo kai symfona me ton Strabona pou parafrazei ton Skepsio sxetizontai me tous Kouretes-Korybantes (Strabo, Geographica, 10.3.21). O xoros ton Koureton einai polemikos xoros. O "xoros tou Are" mporei na exei sxesi? Ti symbolizei, kathreytizei, antiprosopeyei ? O Kretas Merionis pou ton "xoreyei" me epidexiotita mas paei kapou?.... Apo pjon matheni na horevi o Aris?Kala, o Aris kai i Afroditi ehoun kori tin Armonia. Kai tora ti tha gini, klini o kuklos, kai oi omorfes horautarades kopeles fernoun sto kozmo, genane mahites? O laos tou Ahillea anamfisbitita kamaroni me polemikes aretes. Tetjes polemistes zitane axious arhigous kai uparhigous otan shimatizoun penintameli tagmata. Enas ap autous o polemoharis Eudoros, pou ton genise agami kopela.I Polumele pou itan omorfi sto xoro, kori tou Fylanta. Ayti tin eroteytike o dynatos Argeirofontis otan tin eide me ta idia tou ta matia anamesa stis mainades pou tragoudoun sto xoro tis thorybodous Artemis me ti xrysi ti adrahti. Edo berdeutike ligaki pali to gi me ton ourano. Menades me tin Artemi? Isos mono tha teatrika erga boroun na mas diafotisoun ti egine edo? O mithos trefi to teheatro, to theatro efeuemenizi ti zoi, sizitjete i parastasi stin agora, pernoun paradigmata oi logi, dikogori, sofistes na girofernoun me auta ta themata, na dihnoun exipnada, kerdisoun entiposi, lefta. I anapoda, apo ti zoi perni dinami to theatro kai katreftisi to prosopo tou elina, dihnondas ipsos kai bathos? Oute to ena, oute to allo, ara aliloepidrasi...:)Horos dialektikos, tesis, anthitesis, sunthesis. Ti kanoun oi ellines otan den horeuoun?
Mimitikos o arhaios horos? Me ti batmo katreftizi tin paragmatikotita? Ipirhane sumbasis? Pantos stin isteri arheotita thaumazondas tin ekfarsititita tis zitithike mia horeftria ga doulja dierminea-metafrasti. I aplos eina iperboli, anaxiopisto anekdoto? Ti lei o Platon kai o Aristoteles ga tin mimesis? Ara to horo tou psara dihni pos pjanis psari, o polemistis pos epitheti, aminete, skotoni, o arthopoios pos psini, i porni pos porneuete? Na o Ektoras, kamaroni pos xeri to horo tou Ari, den ine pedaki i ginekoula, sikoni aneta, giroferni aristera kai dexia to megalo aspida tou epidexia. Den itan mallon poupoulo, polla barja dermatina srtomata, entheta metallikes , an tripitikane ta prota, esvise ta epomena to dinami, sto ekto stamatise to foniko dori. Ti kanoun oi polemistes otan horeboun? Proetimazonde? Rihnonde sto glendi na xehasoun to Haro? Pantos o Achilleas katapraini to stenohoria tou me glikofoni forminga, apomakra, isiha, ti horos teriaze to iremo peximo tou? O iroas mas klei, o Aris trehi na vri maniasmena mahi allou, akontistes pou xeglistrane, den tus pjani, htipisi akonti, allogodamastes...O horos tou Ari nane agrios? I mipos einai monopleures, hondrokommenes oi synitismenes doxasies. Stin Sparti opjos prosehi, me ekplixi apokalipsi pos ipirhe dipla to sinitismeno akampto, akardo, amjialo ikona tou fonia, mia apisteuti leptotita sti mousiki kai sto horo. Arage i sofi demones, kentauri, pou didaskane to pedi Ari, Irakli, Achillea, proetimasane emobora terrata? Giati i thei, imithei, kai iroes prota-prota matheoun mousiki kai horo, kai meta pane sto mahi? Makari na borusame na rotisoume ton piiti-stratioti Archiloho, opjos tautohrona ipiretise tin Mousa kai ton Ari. Giati ohi, bori na krivete kapja apandisi sta piimata tou.
Pjos eina o aidos tou Odusseia? Ti theorite san pigi sto horo ton akliton? Pjes ousies borousan pithanon na epireazoun tous horeutes? Ti kanoun oi akrobates? Pos dinonde oi horeutes? Pos einai oi enfanisi tous? Ti einai i sfera? Pos pezete? Haraktirise to horo ton Phaikon, tin Nausika, ton Laodama, Polomidi? Ti 'axia' ehei to horo tou Pari? An kai zalistikate, oi erotisis den ehoun teliomo...:)
Pos katarizete, epexergazete to linari? Htipjete, traujete alipita pano sta agathja tou sakandsohirou..:) Etsi katarisoun, eleuteronoun oi ines, etimo san aspro sinnefo sto adrahti, na strivis nima,bafis prfira, kitrina, ifenis oti hriazete. Paromja me ta erotimata, pou akoma 'ahtenista', berdemena perimenoun na vrun ti sosti tesi, morfi, apandisi. Pjos lei: uranos kai gi horeuei?
Ston Omero ouranos kai gi mporei na mplekontai, alla telika emeis anazitontas-psaxnontas ton xoro theloume na xexorisoume to mythiko stoixeio apo tin alitheia? Alla isos na eimaste antimetopoi me perissotera stromata alitheias, kai tote xreiazomaste to xystri.
Meta tin proti amixania pos na mazeytoun me kapoio noima kai taxi ola ayta ta stoixeia gia to xoro apo ton Omiro, anadyontai ta prota stoixeia. Mi mas apasxolei ayti ti stigmi an einai liga i polla. As symfonisoume tora pos einai arketa gia na xekinisei mia ereyna. Kai giati me ton Omiro? Epeidi einai stin arxi kai sti synexeia ginetai syxna se ayton anafora. Me tin proti matia epibebaionetai pos ta keimena tautohrona lene polla kai liga. Ti kryvetai mesa sto mythiko plaisio gia ti zoi kai to horo? Pandos oso perisotero diabaseis, niotheis pos opou kai an angixeis, o,ti episodio exetaseis, anoigoun 'dromoi', esto san pseudaisthisi, gia ritorika tehnazmata. I Amalteia-aiga dinei trofi, amrosia kai nektar bgainoun apo ta kerata tou, to derma tis ginetai aspida, kai natoi oi Kourites, armatomenoi, me toribodi horo kryboun, prostateboun ton mikro Dia. Kanei kai autos polla thaumata argotera, ap to kefali tou xepida i oplizmeni Athina, stin aiga-aspida tis einai zografismeni i tromeri Medousa. Stin Pallada dinetai protia gia ton polemiko horo.[Endiaferon exigisi, pos efebre ton aulo.*] Uperboli an leme pos sta epomena "ouranos kai gi tha horevoun?"* As afisoume kalytera na mas odigisei o idios o Omiros se gamous kai giortes athanaton kai thniton, se polemo opou 'horevei' o Aris. Sto ergastirio tou Hefaistou, i aspida tou 'kathreutis', kozmohoreutiko mastoreuma, me horostasi san auto pou eftjaxe a Daidalos gia tin Ariadni. Ston omiriko kosmo horevoun oi enaretoi kai oi amartoloi, oi 'atimoi' mnistires pou theloun na 'kleboun tin Pinelopi, xoris na xeroun pos i Moira me ton Odussea tous etoimazei to teleutaio glendi, kai me to nima tou toxou tha ihisei thanatiforos mousiki. Apati-pagida perimenei tous apatilous, o zitianos-kamouflarismenos Odusseus deihnei tin proti parastasi. Apo ekei kai o "asemnos" horos ton akleiton? Opou koitas, englima kai timoria. Pos tha glitoseis? An o ponos pia einai aforitos, i oraia Eleni xerei na parigorei, rihnei sto krasi magika filtra, etsi xehnoun oi kalesmenoi ta basana,tora isiha hairontai, evruhoro to palati tou Menelaou, thaumazoun ta epidexia kinisi ton akrobaton. Oh ayti i Eleni, oi basilisses, kai oi doules! Akourastes me to adrahti, ton argalio, ftiahnoun me haroumeni porfira violettia nimata, ifasmata, rouha gia to horo sto gamo. Ravoun, plenoun adiakopa. Kapou, san ti Nausika, xekourazondai horeuontas me tin bala, to paihnidi ton Phaiakon. Posa herja prepi na pjanoume, papous, propaous..., mehri na ftasoume ston Omiro? Anarothitithikame pos axiologoume ton Omiro, to mutho? Kai erhete amesos to proto kai grigoro apandisi. Koitaxame to limma gia ton Homero sto OCD (Homer: 718), perigrafei periliptika to homeriko problima, dinei perilipseis ton ypotheseon pou pragmateyontai ta dyo epi, milaei gia tin exairetiki ikanotita tou Homerou na katanoei kai na perigrafei tin anthropini symperifora kai antidraseis, gia tin polyploki domi tou daktylikou exametrou pou xrisimopoiei k.a. Leei episis oti istorikoi blepoun sta epi antikatoptrismous tis koinonias kai ton politikon blepseon ton “Skoteinon Xronon” pou epontai tis mycenaikis katastrofis (teli 13ou), akoma kai tis koinonias tou 8ou aiona p.X. Mono apolithomenes mnimes tis mykenaikis periodou epibionoun sta erga tou. I Iliada topotheteitai gyro sto 750, eno I Odysseia gyro sto 725 p.X. (epoxi tou apoikismou). Kleinei milontas gia ti methomeriki poiisi kai ekei anaferaetai ston Hesiodo, stous Homerikous ymnous kai sta poiimata tou epikou kyklou apo ta opoia sozontai mono perilipseis apodidomenes ston Proklo (pithanos grammatikos tou 2ou ai.). An kai ayta ta poiimata einai ysterotera ton Omerikon, I simasia tous gia mas egkeitai sto oti antiprosopeyoun ta themata tis heroikis poiisis opos itan prin apo ton Omero. “Thus, by a time reversal, the partially known later material can make some claim to priority over the earlier”.
Horis elpida, na exandlisoume to omiriko zitima, toso katatesoume prokatabolika, kai akoma den eidame tipota!:) Kat odon simplironoume tin eikona, to peribalon, ta genetria tou omiriko horeuti.As statoume ligo touto to sumeio, kanondas to proto cekarisma, horeutika, doi bima bros, ena piso...:)An xanakoitazoume to OCD, blepoume oti ayta pou leei isos einai kapos "palaioteres" apopseis, kai isos kapoia pragmata exoun anatheorithei i anatheorountai ... Etsi, gia paradeigma o Mazarakis-Ainian (Omeros kai Arxaiologia 2000) episimainei, stirizomenos stis arxaiologikes martyries, oti synyparxoun stoixeia apo tria istorika stromata: ena proistoriko, kyrios mykinaiko, ena endiameso ton Skoteinon Xronon (11os-9os ai. p.X.) kai ena tou 8ou aiona, tis periodou diladi kata tin opoia ezise o Omeros kai pragmatopoiithike i katagrafi ton proton epon. (Omos edo bazoume pali ena erotimatiko, kathos to diastima pou pithanos ezise o poiitis exei teleytaia dieyrynthei arketa, 900-650p.X.( Anihti erotisi, pou perimeni lisi: Sxetika me tin proti katagrafi ton epon ti xeroume?). O Ainian ypostirizei oti ta omerika keimena symballoun idiaitera stin anasystasi tis eikonas tis koinonias ton mykinaikon, ton skoteinon, i ton ysterogeometrikon xronon, me tin proypothesi oti o ereynitis elegxei poies apo tis anafores tou poiiti anagontai se kathe periodo kai poies einai dimiourgima tis fantasias tou. Mila kai gia methomerikes paremboles(?)oi opoies apoteloun ena allo stroma...
Tethikan ligo biastika ta exis erotimata: Ti einai to 'dromo' tou aido? ([Ekfrasi 'mistirio" o Brouno Snell exetazi sto biblio Anakalipsi tou peumatos. Blepe meta stin enotita mousiki.] Ti kalo mas kani to ambrosia kai nektar, kai apo pou pernoume?:) Pja einai ta musiko-horeutika taumata ton theon? As rotisoume ton Apollona.
Autos, mou makria toxeui, apagagi kritikous pirates kai me to kalo anemo den stamatai mehri den ftasoun sto irero topo pou idrii to nao tou. Oi proti ieris oi nautiki pythanon den xehasane ta tragoudja kai to horo ap to patrida , mehri oi makrini apogoni tous taumazonde auti tin mousiki ikanotita.(Blepe Panagopoulo.) Edo filoxenoun to pjo spoudeo mousiko agona, kai ektelite a 'pythikos nomos'. Lene pos itan mimisi, agona anamesa ton Apollona kai to drako. Ta meri tou targoudiou zondanevoun to mahi, arhizi me ton anihnevsi to pedio pou tha gini sungrousi, stadiaka prohorai... o drakos trizi ta dontja, xepsihai (syrigmos)... Meriki san na idane to prototipo to legomeni 'programatiki' mousiki. An kai den einai fronimo na paromjazoume me Ravel,- 'Apgeuma tou Drakou":)- axizi na skeftoume ligaki auto to 'programa'. Ti ekane enas horeutis an sunodeve tetio mousiki? Ta etrize ta dontja? Stringlize san diabolemeno surigx, hanondas tin psihu tou? Malon ohi, oi ekleti krites den epitrepane tetjes hondrades, alla oi mousiki panda eihane tropous,(kai akoloutos oi horeutes), idietera katalila gia auto ta 'magika' pneusta pou ligizoun eki pou theli o embiros mousikos, fernondas anemo, brohi, anasa, kraugi... Parafrasoume tous omorikous stiuhous:
Kai autoi pou xortasan apo fai kai poto, palikaria, kai gemisan tous kratires me poto kai moirasan se olous afou prota erixan ligo sta potiria, kai oli ti mera exileonan to theo me tragoudi kai xoro(?), tragoudontas oraio ymno kai doxologontas ekeinon pou apo makria toxeyei, akoustikane ap ton Apollo, kai eyxaristiotan i psyxi tou.* Megali tuhi pos sotikan duo umnoi,kai etsi boroume na ipopsiastoume tetjous ihous. Ne men metagenesteri , alla den apokliete pos mesa apo makrohroni paradosi filaxane to iero, megalopnoi ufos, ithos.
Pjon horo didete stin Pallada? Ti simeni Pallada? Ti mas leei to omeriko keimeno gia tous Kouretes? Oi Faiakes pou xoreyoun (betarmones) kata kapoion tropo kai symfona me ton Strabona pou parafrazei ton Skepsio sxetizontai me tous Kouretes-Korybantes (Strabo, Geographica, 10.3.21). O xoros ton Koureton einai polemikos xoros. O "xoros tou Are" mporei na exei sxesi? Ti symbolizei, kathreytizei, antiprosopeyei ? O Kretas Merionis pou ton "xoreyei" me epidexiotita mas paei kapou?.... Apo pjon matheni na horevi o Aris? Pjos eina o aidos tou Odusseia? Ti theorite san pigi sto horo ton akliton? Pjes ousies borousan pithanon na epireazoun tous horeutes? Ti kanoun oi akrobates? Pos dinonde oi horeutes? Pos einai oi enfanisi tous? Ti einai i sfera? Pos pezete? Haraktirise to horo ton Phaikon, tin Nausika, ton Laodama, Polomidi? Ti 'axia' ehei to horo tou Pari? An kai zalistikate, oi erotisis den ehoun teliomo...:)
Pos katarizete, epexergazete to linari? Htipjete, traujete alipita pano sta agathja tou sakandsohirou..:) Etsi katarisoun, eleuteronoun oi ines, etimo san aspro sinnefo sto adrahti, na strivis nima,bafis prfira, kitrina, ifenis oti hriazete. Paromja me ta erotimata, pou akoma 'ahtenista', berdemena perimenoun na vrun ti sosti tesi, morfi, apandisi. Pjos lei: uranos kai gi horeuei?
Ston Omero ouranos kai gi mporei na mplekontai, alla telika emeis anazitontas-psaxnontas ton xoro theloume na xexorisoume to mythiko stoixeio apo tin alitheia? Alla isos na eimaste antimetopoi me perissotera stromata alitheias, kai tote xreiazomaste to xystri.
Aimiliou Miro "I Kathimerini zoi stin epoxi tou Omerou". Ekdoseis Papadima.
Entopisa kai alla biblia, alla dystyxos eixe xalasei to fototypiko... Brika kai ena biblio gia tin yfantiki tis Iridas Tzaxili, "Yfantiki kai yfantres sto Proistoriko Aigaio 2000-1000 p.X. Panepistimiakes ekdoseis Kretes. Tin xereis nomizo. Ta alla tha ta prostheso argotera...
Me pire o Stelios tilefono gia na mou dosei ti bibliografia pou tou esteile o Franklin gia tous betarmones kathos eixe diagrapsei katalathos to diko mou email. Tha milisoume argotera
Euretirio, bibliografia, hronologiko pinaka,topus, pantos kerous-tipous katalogoi-laburintoi? Hriazete to nima tis Ariadni! :)
Graptes martiries:
Omiro
Euripidis
Isiodos
Proklos
Strabon
Skepsios
Strabo, Geographica, 10.3.21
Homerikous ymnous
poiimata tou epikou kyklou
=====
Sunghroni:
OCD (Homer: 718)
Mazarakis-Ainian (Omeros kai Arxaiologia 2000) Brouno Snell , Anakalipsi tou peumatos
=====
Thei, iroes, muthika prosopa:
Amalteia-aiga
Kourites
Dias
Zeus
Athina
Aris
Ifestos
Daidalos
Ariadni
Pinelopi
Odusseas
Eleni
Menelaos
Nausika
Kouretes
Korybantes
Merionis
Laodamas
Polomidis
Paris
Artemi
=======
horeutikes enies, orous:
polemikos horos
gamo
Lynos
trigo
kleutes
aklitous
horos neanidon
anamix
bala
horostasi
bitarmones
=====
daktyliko exametro
metriki
ritmiki
=====
Hronologia:
“Skoteinon Xronon”
mycenaikis katastrofis (teli 13ou)
koinonias tou 8ou aiona p.X.
mykenaikis
Iliada gyro sto 750
Odysseia gyro sto 725 p.X.
epoxi tou apoikismou
Proklo (pithanos grammatikos tou 2ou ai
istorika stromata:
~proistoriko, kyrios mykinaiko,
~endiameso ton Skoteinon Xronon (11os-9os ai. p.X.)
~8ou aiona, periodou kata tin opoia ezise o Omeros kai pragmatopoiithike i katagrafi ton proton epon. (Omos edo bazoume pali ena erotimatiko, kathos to diastima pou pithanos ezise o poiitis exei teleytaia dieyrynthei arketa, 900-650p.X.( Anihti erotisi, pou perimeni lisi: Sxetika me tin proti katagrafi ton epon ti xeroume?).
anasystasi tis eikonas tis koinonias ton
~mykinaikon,
~skoteinon,
~ysterogeometrikon xronon, me tin proypothesi oti o ereynitis elegxei poies apo tis anafores tou poiiti anagontai se kathe periodo kai poies einai dimiourgima tis fantasias tou
methomerikes paremboles(?)
Meta tin proti amixania pos na mazeytoun me kapoio noima kai taxi ola ayta ta stoixeia gia to xoro apo ton Omiro, anadyontai ta prota stoixeia. Mi mas apasxolei ayti ti stigmi an einai liga i polla. As symfonisoume tora pos einai arketa gia na xekinisei mia ereyna. Kai giati me ton Omiro? Epeidi einai stin arxi kai sti synexeia ginetai syxna se ayton anafora. Me tin proti matia epibebaionetai pos ta keimena tautohrona lene polla kai liga. Ti kryvetai mesa sto mythiko plaisio gia ti zoi kai to horo? Pandos oso perisotero diabaseis, niotheis pos opou kai an angixeis, o,ti episodio exetaseis, anoigoun 'dromoi', esto san pseudaisthisi, gia ritorika tehnazmata. I Amalteia-aiga dinei trofi, amrosia kai nektar bgainoun apo ta kerata tou, to derma tis ginetai aspida, kai natoi oi Kourites, armatomenoi, me toribodi horo kryboun, prostateboun ton mikro Dia. Kanei kai autos polla thaumata argotera, ap to kefali tou xepida i oplizmeni Athina, stin aiga-aspida tis einai zografismeni i tromeri Medousa. Stin Pallada dinetai protia gia ton polemiko horo.[Endiaferon exigisi, pos efebre ton aulo.*] Uperboli an leme pos sta epomena "ouranos kai gi tha horevoun?"* As afisoume kalytera na mas odigisei o idios o Omiros se gamous kai giortes athanaton kai thniton, se polemo opou 'horevei' o Aris. Sto ergastirio tou Hefaistou, i aspida tou 'kathreutis', kozmohoreutiko mastoreuma, me horostasi san auto pou eftjaxe a Daidalos gia tin Ariadni. Ston omiriko kosmo horevoun oi enaretoi kai oi amartoloi, oi 'atimoi' mnistires pou theloun na 'kleboun tin Pinelopi, xoris na xeroun pos i Moira me ton Odussea tous etoimazei to teleutaio glendi, kai me to nima tou toxou tha ihisei thanatiforos mousiki. Apati-pagida perimenei tous apatilous, o zitianos-kamouflarismenos Odusseus deihnei tin proti parastasi. Apo ekei kai o "asemnos" horos ton akleiton? Opou koitas, englima kai timoria. Pos tha glitoseis? An o ponos pia einai aforitos, i oraia Eleni xerei na parigorei, rihnei sto krasi magika filtra, etsi xehnoun oi kalesmenoi ta basana,tora isiha hairontai evruhoro palati tou Menelaou, thaumazoun epidexia kinisi ton akrobaton. Oh ayti i Eleni, oi basilisses, kai oi doules! Akourastes me to adrahti, ton argalio, ftiahnoun me haroumeni porfira violettia nimata, ifasmata, rouha gia to horo sto gamo. Ravoun, plenoun adiakopa. Kapou, san ti Nausika, xekourazondai horeuontas me tin bala, to paihnidi ton Phaiakon. Posa herja prepi na pjanoume, papous, propaous..., mehri na ftasoume ston Omiro? Anarothitithikame pos axiologoume ton Omiro, to mutho? Kai erhete amesos to proto kai grigoro apandisi. Koitaxame to limma gia ton Homero sto OCD (Homer: 718), perigrafei periliptika to homeriko problima, dinei perilipseis ton ypotheseon pou pragmateyontai ta dyo epi, milaei gia tin exairetiki ikanotita tou Homerou na katanoei kai na perigrafei tin anthropini symperifora kai antidraseis, gia tin polyploki domi tou daktylikou exametrou pou xrisimopoiei k.a. Leei episis oti istorikoi blepoun sta epi antikatoptrismous tis koinonias kai ton politikon blepseon ton “Skoteinon Xronon” pou epontai tis mycenaikis katastrofis (teli 13ou), akoma kai tis koinonias tou 8ou aiona p.X. Mono apolithomenes mnimes tis mykenaikis periodou epibionoun sta erga tou. I Iliada topotheteitai gyro sto 750, eno I Odysseia gyro sto 725 p.X. (epoxi tou apoikismou). Kleinei milontas gia ti methomeriki poiisi kai ekei anaferaetai ston Hesiodo, stous Homerikous ymnous kai sta poiimata tou epikou kyklou apo ta opoia sozontai mono perilipseis apodidomenes ston Proklo (pithanos grammatikos tou 2ou ai.). An kai ayta ta poiimata einai ysterotera ton Oomerikon, I simasia tous gia mas egkeitai sto oti antiprosopeyoun ta themata tis heroikis poiisis opos itan prin apo ton Omero. “Thus, by a time reversal, the partially known later material can make some claim to priority over the earlier”.
Horis elpida, na exanlisoume to omiriko zitima, toso katatesoume prokatabolika, kai akoma den eidame tipota!:) Kat odon simplironoume tin eikona, to peribalon, ta genetria tou omiriko horeuti.As statoume ligo, kanondas to proto cekarisma, horeutika, doi bima bros, ena piso...:)An xanakoitazoume to OCD, blepoume oti ayta pou leei isos einai kapos "palaioteres" apopseis, kai isos kapoia pragmata exoun anatheorithei i anatheorountai ... Etsi, gia paradeigma o Mazarakis-Ainian (Omeros kai Arxaiologia 2000) episimainei, stirizomenos stis arxaiologikes martyries, oti synyparxoun stoixeia apo tria istorika stromata: ena proistoriko, kyrios mykinaiko, ena endiameso ton Skoteinon Xronon (11os-9os ai. p.X.) kai ena tou 8ou aiona, tis periodou diladi kata tin opoia ezise o Omeros kai pragmatopoiithike i katagrafi ton proton epon. (Omos edo bazoume pali ena erotimatiko, kathos to diastima pou pithanos ezise o poiitis exei teleytaia dieyrynthei arketa, 900-650p.X.( Anihti erotisi, pou perimeni lisi: Sxetika me tin proti katagrafi ton epon ti xeroume?). O Ainian ypostirizei oti ta omerika keimena symballoun idiaitera stin anasystasi tis eikonas tis koinonias ton mykinaikon, ton skoteinon, i ton ysterogeometrikon xronon, me tin proypothesi oti o ereynitis elegxei poies apo tis anafores tou poiiti anagontai se kathe periodo kai poies einai dimiourgima tis fantasias tou. Mila kai gia methomerikes paremboles(?)oi opoies apoteloun ena allo stroma...
Tethikan ligo biastika ta exis erotimata: Ti einai to 'dromo' tou aido? ([Ekfrasi 'mistirio" o Brouno Snell exetazi sto biblio Anakalipsi tou peumatos. Blepe meta stin enotita mousiki.] Ti kalo mas kani to ambrosia kai nektar, kai apo pou pernoume?:) Pja einai ta musiko-horeutika taumata ton theon? Pjon horo didete stin Pallada? Ti simeni Pallada? Ti mas leei to omeriko keimeno gia tous Kouretes? Oi Faiakes pou xoreyoun (betarmones) kata kapoion tropo kai symfona me ton Strabona pou parafrazei ton Skepsio sxetizontai me tous Kouretes-Korybantes (Strabo, Geographica, 10.3.21). O xoros ton Koureton einai polemikos xoros. O"xoros tou Are" mporei na exei sxesi? Ti symbolizei, kathreytizei, antiprosopeyei o "xoros tou Are"? O Kretas Merionis pou ton "xoreyei" me epidexiotita mas paei kapou?.... Apo pjon matheni na horevi o Aris? Pjos eina o aidos tou Odusseia? Ti theorite san pigi sto horo ton akliton? Pjes ousies borousan pithanon na epireazoun tous horeutes? Ti kanoun oi akrobates? Pos dinonde oi horeutes? Pos einai oi enfanisi tous? Ti einai i sfera? Pos pezete? Haraktirise to horo ton Phaikon, tin Nausika, ton Laodama, Polomidi? Ti 'axia' ehei to horo tou Pari?
Pos katarizete, epexergazete to linari? Htipjete, traujete alipita pano sta agathja tou sakandsohirou..:) Etsi katarisoun, eleuteronoun oi ines, etimo san aspro sinnefo sto adrahti, na strivis nima,bafis prfira, kitrina, kai ap to nima na ifenis oti hriazete. Paromja me ta erotimata, pou akoma 'ahtenista', berdemena perimenoun na vrun ti sosti tesi, morfi, apandisi. Pjos lei: uranos kai gi horeuei?
Ston Omero ouranos kai gi mporei na mplekontai, alla telika emeis anazitontas-psaxnontas ton xoro theloume na xexorisoume to mythiko stoixeio apo tin alitheia? Alla isos na eimaste antimetopoi me perissotera stromata alitheias, kai tote xreiazomaste to xystri.
Meta tin proti amixania pos na mazeytoun me kapoio noima kai taxi ola ayta ta stoixeia gia to xoro apo ton Homero, anadyontai ta prota stoixeia. Mi mas apasxolei ayti ti stigmi an einai liga i polla. As symfonisoume tora pos einai arketa gia na xekinisei mia ereyna. Kai giati me ton Homero? Epeidi einai stin arxi kai sti synexeia ginetai syxna se ayton anafora. Me tin proti matia epibebaionetai pos ta keimena tautohrona lene polla kai liga. Ti kryvetai mesa sto mythiko plaisio gia ti zoi kai to horo? Pandos oso perisotero diabaseis, niotheis pos opou kai an angixeis, o,ti episodio exetaseis, anoigoun 'dromoi', esto san pseudaisthisi, gia ritorika tehnazmata. I Amalteia-aiga dinei trofi, amrosia* kai nektar* bgainoun apo ta kerata tou, to derma tis ginetai aspida*, kai natoi oi Kourites*, armatomenoi, me toribodi horo kryboun, prostateboun ton mikro Dia. Kanei kai autos polla thaumata argotera, ap to kefali tou xepida i oplizmeni Athina*, stin aiga-aspida tis einai zografismeni i tromeri Medousa. Stin Pallada dinetai protia gia ton polemiko horo*. Uperboli an leme pos sta epomena "ouranos kai gi tha horevoun?"* As afisoume kalytera na mas odigisei o idios o Omiros se gamous* kai giortes* athanaton kai thniton, se polemo opou 'horevei' o Aris*. Sto ergastirio tou Hefaistou, i aspida* tou 'kathreutis', kozmohoreutiko mastoreuma, me horostasi* san auto pou eftjaxe a Daidalos* gia tin Ariadni*. Ston omiriko kosmo horevoun oi enaretoi kai oi amartoloi, oi 'atimoi' mnistires* pou theloun na 'kleboun tin Pinelopi, xoris na xeroun pos i Moira me ton Odussea tous etoimazei to teleutaio glendi, kai me to nima tou toxou tha ihisei thanatiforos mousiki. Apati-pagida perimenei tous apatilous, o zitianos-kamouflarismenos Odusseus deihnei tin proti parastasi, apo ekei kai o "asemnos" horos* ton akleiton*. Opou koitas, englima kai timoria. Pos tha glitoseis? An o ponos pia einai aforitos, i oraia Eleni* xerei na parigorei, rihnei sto krasi magika filtra, etsi xehnoun oi kalesmenoi ta basana, hairontai to horo, tin epidexia kinisi ton akrobaton. Oh ayti i Eleni, oi basilisses, kai oi doules! Akourastes me to adrahti*, ton argalio, ftiahnoun me haroumeni porfira* violettia nimata, ifasmata, rouha* gia to horo sto gamo. Ravoun, plenoun adiakopa. Kapou, san ti Nausika*, xekourazondai horeuontas me tin bala*, to agapimeno paihnidi ton Phaiakon. Posa herja prepi na pjanoume, papous, propaous..., mehri na ftasoume ston Omiro? Anarothitithikame pos axiologoume ton Omiro, to mutho? Kai erhete amesos to proto kai grigoro apandisi. Koitaxame to limma gia ton Homero sto OCD (Homer: 718), perigrafei periliptika to homeriko problima, dinei perilipseis ton ypotheseon pou pragmateyontai ta dyo epi, milaei gia tin exairetiki ikanotita tou Homerou na katanoei kai na perigrafei tin anthropini symperifora kai antidraseis, gia tin polyploki domi tou daktylikou exametrou pou xrisimopoiei k.a. Leei episis oti istorikoi blepoun sta epi antikatoptrismous tis koinonias kai ton politikon blepseon ton “Skoteinon Xronon” pou epontai tis mycenaikis katastrofis (teli 13ou), akoma kai tis koinonias tou 8ou aiona p.X. Mono apolithomenes mnimes tis mykenaikis periodou epibionoun sta erga tou. I Iliada topotheteitai gyro sto 750, eno I Odysseia gyro sto 725 p.X. (epoxi tou apoikismou). Kleinei milontas gia ti methomeriki poiisi kai ekei anaferaetai ston Hesiodo, stous Homerikous ymnous kai sta poiimata tou epikou kyklou apo ta opoia sozontai mono perilipseis apodidomenes ston Proklo (pithanos grammatikos tou 2ou ai.). An kai ayta ta poiimata einai ysterotera ton Homerikon, I simasia tous gia mas egkeitai sto oti antiprosopeyoun ta themata tis heroikis poiisis opos itan prin apo ton Homero. “Thus, by a time reversal, the partially known later material can make some claim to priority over the earlier”.
Horis elpida, na exanlisoume to omiriko zitima, toso katatesoume prokatabolika, kai akoma den eidame tipota!:) Kat odon simplironoume tin eikona, to peribalon, ta genetria tou omiriko horeuti.As statoume ligo, kanondas to proto cekarisma, horeutika, doi bima bros, ena piso...:)An xanakoitazoume to OCD, blepoume oti ayta pou leei isos einai kapos "palaioteres" apopseis, kai isos kapoia pragmata exoun anatheorithei i anatheorountai ... Etsi, gia paradeigma o Mazarakis-Ainian (Omeros kai Arxaiologia 2000) episimainei, stirizomenos stis arxaiologikes martyries, oti synyparxoun stoixeia apo tria istorika stromata: ena proistoriko, kyrios mykinaiko, ena endiameso ton Skoteinon Xronon (11os-9os ai. p.X.) kai ena tou 8ou aiona, tis periodou diladi kata tin opoia ezise o Omeros kai pragmatopoiithike i katagrafi ton proton epon. (Omos edo bazoume pali ena erotimatiko, kathos to diastima pou pithanos ezise o poiitis exei teleytaia dieyrynthei arketa, 900-650p.X.( Anihti erotisi, pou perimeni lisi: Sxetika me tin proti katagrafi ton epon ti xeroume?). O Ainian ypostirizei oti ta omerika keimena symballoun idiaitera stin anasystasi tis eikonas tis koinonias ton mykinaikon, ton skoteinon, i ton ysterogeometrikon xronon, me tin proypothesi oti o ereynitis elegxei poies apo tis anafores tou poiiti anagontai se kathe periodo kai poies einai dimiourgima tis fantasias tou. Mila kai gia methomerikes paremboles(?)oi opoies apoteloun ena allo stroma...
Tethikan ligo biastika ta exis erotimata: Ti einai to 'dromo' tou aido? ([Ekfrasi 'mistirio" o Brouno Snell exetazi sto biblio Anakalipsi tou peumatos. Blepe meta stin enotita mousiki.] Ti kalo mas kani to ambrosia kai nektar, kai apo pou pernoume?:) Pja einai ta musiko-horeutika taumata ton theon? Pjon horo didete stin Pallada? Ti simeni Pallada? Ti mas leei to omeriko keimeno gia tous Kouretes? Oi Faiakes pou xoreyoun (betarmones) kata kapoion tropo kai symfona me ton Strabona pou parafrazei ton Skepsio sxetizontai me tous Kouretes-Korybantes (Strabo, Geographica, 10.3.21). O xoros ton Koureton einai polemikos xoros. O"xoros tou Are" mporei na exei sxesi? Ti symbolizei, kathreytizei, antiprosopeyei o "xoros tou Are"? O Kretas Merionis pou ton "xoreyei" me epidexiotita mas paei kapou?.... Apo pjom matheni na horevi o Aris? Pjos eina o aidos ton Odusseia? Ti theorite san pigi sto horo ton akliton? Pjes ousies borousan pithanon na epireazoun tous horeutes? Ti kanoun oi akrobates? Pos dinonde oi horeutes? Pos einai oi enfanisi tous? Ti einai i sfera? Pos pezete? Haraktirise to horo ton Phaikon, tin Nausika, ton Laodama, Polomidi? Ti 'axia' ehei to horo tou Pari?
Pos katarizete, epexergazete to linari? Htipjete, traujete alipita pano sta agathja tou sakandsohirou..:) Etsi katarisoun, eleuteronoun oi ines, etimo san aspro sinnefo sto adrahti, na strivis nima, kai ap to nima na ifenis oti thes. Paromja me ta erotimata, pou akoma 'ahtenista', berdemena perimenoun na vrun ti sosti tesi, morfi, apandisi. Pjos lei: uranos kai gi horeuei?
Ston Omero ouranos kai gi mporei na mplekontai, alla telika emeis anazitontas-psaxnontas ton xoro theloume na xexorisoume to mythiko stoixeio apo tin alitheia? Alla isos na eimaste antimetopoi me perissotera stromata alitheias, kai tote xreiazomaste to xystri.
Posa herja prepi na pjanoume, papous, propaous..., mehri na ftasoume ston Omiro? Anarothitithikame pos axiologoume ton Omiro, to mutho? Kai erhete amesos to proto kai grigoro apandisi. Koitaxame to limma gia ton Homero sto OCD (Homer: 718), perigrafei periliptika to homeriko problima, dinei perilipseis ton ypotheseon pou pragmateyontai ta dyo epi, milaei gia tin exairetiki ikanotita tou Homerou na katanoei kai na perigrafei tin anthropini symperifora kai antidraseis, gia tin polyploki domi tou daktylikou exametrou pou xrisimopoiei k.a. Leei episis oti istorikoi blepoun sta epi antikatoptrismous tis koinonias kai ton politikon blepseon ton “Skoteinon Xronon” pou epontai tis mycenaikis katastrofis (teli 13ou), akoma kai tis koinonias tou 8ou aiona p.X. Mono apolithomenes mnimes tis mykenaikis periodou epibionoun sta erga tou. I Iliada topotheteitai gyro sto 750, eno I Odysseia gyro sto 725 p.X. (epoxi tou apoikismou). Kleinei milontas gia ti methomeriki poiisi kai ekei anaferaetai ston Hesiodo, stous Homerikous ymnous kai sta poiimata tou epikou kyklou apo ta opoia sozontai mono perilipseis apodidomenes ston Proklo (pithanos grammatikos tou 2ou ai.). An kai ayta ta poiimata einai ysterotera ton Homerikon, I simasia tous gia mas egkeitai sto oti antiprosopeyoun ta themata tis heroikis poiisis opos itan prin apo ton Homero. “Thus, by a time reversal, the partially known later material can make some claim to priority over the earlier”.
Horis elpida, na exanlisoume to omiriko zitima, toso katatesoume prokatabolika, kai akoma den eidame tipota!:) Kat odon simplironoume tin eikona, to peribalon, ta genetria tou omiriko horeuti.As statoume ligo, kanondas to proto cekarisma, horeutika, doi bima bros, ena piso...:)An xanakoitazoume to OCD, blepoume oti ayta pou leei isos einai kapos "palaioteres" apopseis, kai isos kapoia pragmata exoun anatheorithei i anatheorountai ... Etsi, gia paradeigma o Mazarakis-Ainian (Omeros kai Arxaiologia 2000) episimainei, stirizomenos stis arxaiologikes martyries, oti synyparxoun stoixeia apo tria istorika stromata: ena proistoriko, kyrios mykinaiko, ena endiameso ton Skoteinon Xronon (11os-9os ai. p.X.) kai ena tou 8ou aiona, tis periodou diladi kata tin opoia ezise o Omeros kai pragmatopoiithike i katagrafi ton proton epon. (Omos edo bazoume pali ena erotimatiko, kathos to diastima pou pithanos ezise o poiitis exei teleytaia dieyrynthei arketa, 900-650p.X.( Anihti erotisi, pou perimeni lisi: Sxetika me tin proti katagrafi ton epon ti xeroume?). O Ainian ypostirizei oti ta omerika keimena symballoun idiaitera stin anasystasi tis eikonas tis koinonias ton mykinaikon, ton skoteinon, i ton ysterogeometrikon xronon, me tin proypothesi oti o ereynitis elegxei poies apo tis anafores tou poiiti anagontai se kathe periodo kai poies einai dimiourgima tis fantasias tou. Mila kai gia methomerikes paremboles(?)oi opoies apoteloun ena allo stroma...
Tethikan ligo biastika ta exis erotimata: Ti einai to 'dromo' tou aido? ([Ekfrasi 'mistirio" o Brouno Snell exetazi sto biblio Anakalipsi tou peumatos. Blepe meta stin enotita mousiki.] Ti kalo mas kani to ambrosia kai nektar, kai apo pou pernoume?:) Pja einai ta musiko-horeutika taumata ton theon? Pjon horo didete stin Pallada? Ti simeni Pallada? Poi einai oi Kourites? Pjos lei: gi kai ourano horeuei? Apo pjom matheni na horevi o Aris? Pjos eina o aidos ton Odusseia? Ti theorite san pigi sto horo ton akliton? Pjes ousies borousan pithanon na epireazoun tous horeutes? Ti kanoun oi akrobates? Pos dinonde oi horeutes? Pos einai oi enfanisi tous? Ti einai i sfera? Pos pezete? Haraktirise to horo ton Phaikon, tin Nausika, ton Laodama, Polomidi? Ti 'axia' ehei to horo tou Pari?
Pos katarizete, epexergazete to linari? Htipjete, traujete alipita pano sta agathja tou sakandsohirou..:) Etsi katarisoun, eleuteronoun oi ines, etimo san aspro sinnefo sto adrahti, na strivis nima, kai ap to nima na ifenis oti thes. Paromja me ta erotimata, pou akoma 'ahtenista', berdemena perimenoun na vrun ti sosti tesi, morfi, apandisi.
Ston Omero ouranos kai gi mporei na mplekontai, alla telika emeis anazitontas-psaxnontas ton xoro theloume na xexorisoume to mythiko stoixeio apo tin alitheia? Alla isos na eimaste antimetopoi me perissotera stromata alitheias, kai tote xreiazomaste to xystri.
Ti mas leei to omeriko keimeno gia tous Kouretes? Mas leei?
-Oi Faiakes pou xoreyoun (betarmones) kata kapoion tropo kai symfona me ton Strabona pou parafrazei ton Skepsio sxetizontai me tous Kouretes-Korybantes (Strabo, Geographica, 10.3.21).
-O xoros ton Koureton einai polemikos xoros. O"xoros tou Are" mporei na exei sxesi?
Ti symbolizei, kathreytizei, antiprosopeyei o "xoros tou Are"? O Kretas Merionis pou ton "xoreyei" me epidexiotita mas paei kapou?....
Xereis, tora pou xanakoitazo to OCD, blepo oti ayta pou leei isos einai kapos "palaioteres" apopseis, kai isos kapoia pragmata exoun anatheorithei i anatheorountai kai akoma den eidame tipota:). Etsi, gia paradeigma o Mazarakis-Ainian (Omeros kai Arxaiologia 2000) episimainei, stirizomenos stis arxaiologikes martyries, oti synyparxoun stoixeia apo tria istorika stromata: ena proistoriko, kyrios mykinaiko, ena endiameso ton Skoteinon Xronon (11os-9os ai. p.X.) kai ena tou 8ou aiona, tis periodou diladi kata tin opoia ezise o Omeros kai pragmatopoiithike i katagrafi ton proton epon. (Omos edo bazoume pali ena erotimatiko, kathos to diastima pou pithanos ezise o poiitis exei teleytaia dieyrynthei arketa, 900-650p.X. Sxetika me tin proti katagrafi ton epon ti xeroume?). O Ainian ypostirizei oti ta omerika keimena symballoun idiaitera stin anasystasi tis eikonas tis koinonias ton mykinaikon, ton skoteinon, i ton ysterogeometrikon xronon, me tin proypothesi oti o ereynitis elegxei poies apo tis anafores tou poiiti anagontai se kathe periodo kai poies einai dimiourgima tis fantasias tou. Mila kai gia methomerikes paremboles(?)oi opoies apoteloun ena allo stroma...
Ti thes na peis me to "dromo" tou aoidou?
Ston Omero ouranos kai gi mporei na mplekontai, alla telika emeis anazitontas-psaxnontas ton xoro theloume na xexorisoume to mythiko stoixeio apo tin alitheia? Alla isos na eimaste antimetopoi me perissotera stromata alitheias, kai tote xreiazomaste to xystri.
Kai pali ap tin arhi...:) Anarothitithikame pos axiologoume ton Omiro, to mutho? Kai erhete amesos to proto kai grigoro apandisi. Koitaxame to limma gia ton Homero sto OCD (Homer: 718), perigrafei periliptika to homeriko problima, dinei perilipseis ton ypotheseon pou pragmateyontai ta dyo epi, milaei gia tin exairetiki ikanotita tou Homerou na katanoei kai na perigrafei tin anthropini symperifora kai antidraseis, gia tin polyploki domi tou daktylikou exametrou pou xrisimopoiei k.a. Leei episis oti istorikoi blepoun sta epi antikatoptrismous tis koinonias kai ton politikon blepseon ton “Skoteinon Xronon” pou epontai tis mycenaikis katastrofis (teli 13ou), akoma kai tis koinonias tou 8ou aiona p.X. Mono apolithomenes mnimes tis mykenaikis periodou epibionoun sta erga tou. I Iliada topotheteitai gyro sto 750, eno I Odysseia gyro sto 725 p.X. (epoxi tou apoikismou). Kleinei milontas gia ti methomeriki poiisi kai ekei anaferaetai ston Hesiodo, stous Homerikous ymnous kai sta poiimata tou epikou kyklou apo ta opoia sozontai mono perilipseis apodidomenes ston Proklo (pithanos grammatikos tou 2ou ai.). An kai ayta ta poiimata einai ysterotera ton Homerikon, I simasia tous gia mas egkeitai sto oti antiprosopeyoun ta themata tis heroikis poiisis opos itan prin apo ton Homero. “Thus, by a time reversal, the partially known later material can make some claim to priority over the earlier”.
Horis elpida, na exanlisoume to omiriko zitima, toso katatesoume prokatabolika, kai akoma den eidame tipota!:) Kat odon simplironoume tin eikona, to peribalon, ta genetria tou omiriko horeuti. Tethikan ligo biastika ta exis erotimata: Ti einai to 'dromo' tou aido? Ti kalo mas kani to ambrosia kai nektar, kai apo pou pernoume?:) Pja einai ta musiko-horeutika taumata ton theon? Pjon horo didete stin Pallada? Ti simeni Pallada? Poi einai oi Kourites? Pjos lei: gi kai ourano horeuei? Apo pjom matheni na horevi o Aris? Pjos einao o aidos ton Odusseia? Ti theorite san pigi sto horo ton akliton? Pjes ousies borousan pithanon na epireazoun tous horeutes? Ti kanoun oi akrobates? Pos dinonde oi horeutes? Pos einai oi enfanisi tous? Ti einai i sfera? Pos pezete? Haraktirise to horo ton Phaikon, tin Nausika, ton Laodama, Polomidi? Ti 'axia' ehei to horo tou Pari?
Pos katarizete, epexergazete to linari? Htipjete, traujete alipita pano sta agathja tou sakandsohirou..:) Etsi katarisoun, eleuteronoun oi ines, etimo san aspro sinnefo sto adrahti, na strivis nima, kai ap to nima na ifenis oti thes. Paromja me ta erotimata, pou akoma 'ahtenista', berdemena perimenoun na vrun ti sosti tesi, morfi, apandisi.
-Pos axiologoume ton Omiro, to mutho? (Blepe kai sum. Stelios!)
-Ti einai to 'dromo' tou aido?
-Ti kalo ,as kani to ambrosia kai nektar, apo pou pernoume?:)
-Pja einai ta musiko-horeutika taumata ton theon?
-Pjon horo didete stin Pallada? Ti simeni Pallada?
-Poi einai oi Kourites?
-Pjos lei: gi kai ourano horeuei?
-Apo pjom matheni na horevi o Aris?
-Pjos einao o aidos ton Odusseia?
-Ti theorite san pigi sto horo ton akliton?
-Pjes ousies borousan pithanon na epireazoun tous horeutes?
-Ti kanoun oi akrobates?
-Pos dinonde oi horeutes? Pos einai oi enfanisi tous?
-Ti einai i sfera? Pos pesete?
-Pos haraktirisis to horo ton Phaikon, tin Nausika. ton Laodama, Polomidi?
-Ti 'axia' ehei to horo tou Pari?
Koitaxa to limma gia ton Homero sto OCD (Homer: 718), perigrafei periliptika to homeriko problima, dinei perilipseis ton ypotheseon pou pragmateyontai ta dyo epi, milaei gia tin exairetiki ikanotita tou Homerou na katanoei kai na perigrafei tin anthropini symperifora kai antidraseis, gia tin polyploki domi tou daktylikou exametrou pou xrisimopoiei k.a. Leei episis oti istorikoi blepoun sta epi antikatoptrismous tis koinonias kai ton politikon blepseon ton “Skoteinon Xronon” pou epontai tis mycenaikis katastrofis (teli 13ou), akoma kai tis koinonias tou 8ou aiona p.X. Mono apolithomenes mnimes tis mykenaikis periodou epibionoun sta erga tou. I Iliada topotheteitai gyro sto 750, eno I Odysseia gyro sto 725 p.X. (epoxi tou apoikismou). Kleinei milontas gia ti methomeriki poiisi kai ekei anaferaetai ston Hesiodo, stous Homerikous ymnous kai sta poiimata tou epikou kyklou apo ta opoia sozontai mono perilipseis apodidomenes ston Proklo (pithanos grammatikos tou 2ou ai.). An kai ayta ta poiimata einai ysterotera ton Homerikon, I simasia tous gia mas egkeitai sto oti antiprosopeyoun ta themata tis heroikis poiisis opos itan prin apo ton Homero. “Thus, by a time reversal, the partially known later material can make some claim to priority over the earlier”.
Meta tin proti amixania pos na mazeytoun me kapoio noima kai taxi ola ayta ta stoixeia gia to xoro apo ton Homero, anadyontai ta prota stoixeia. Mi mas apasxolei ayti ti stigmi an einai liga i polla. As symfonisoume tora pos einai arketa gia na xekinisei mia ereyna. Kai giati me ton Homero? Epeidi einai stin arxi kai sti synexeia ginetai syxna se ayton anafora. Me tin proti matia epibebaionetai pos ta keimena tautohrona lene polla kai liga. Ti kryvetai mesa sto mythiko plaisio gia ti zoi kai to horo? Pandos oso perisotero diabaseis, niotheis pos opou kai an angixeis, o,ti episodio exetaseis, anoigoun 'dromoi', esto san pseudaisthisi, gia ritorika tehnazmata. I Amalteia-aiga dinei trofi, amrosia* kai nektar* bgainoun apo ta kerata tou, to derma tis ginetai aspida*, kai natoi oi Kourites*, armatomenoi, me toribodi horo kryboun, prostateboun ton mikro Dia. Kanei kai autos polla thaumata argotera, ap to kefali tou xepida i oplizmeni Athina*, stin aiga-aspida tis einai zografismeni i tromeri Medousa. Stin Pallada dinetai protia gia ton polemiko horo*. Uperboli an leme pos sta epomena "ouranos kai gi tha horevoun?"* As afisoume kalytera na mas odigisei o idios o Omiros se gamous* kai giortes* athanaton kai thniton, se polemo opou 'horevei' o Aris*. Sto ergastirio tou Hefaistou, i aspida* tou 'kathreutis', kozmohoreutiko mastoreuma, me horostasi* san auto pou eftjaxe a Daidalos* gia tin Ariadni*. Ston omiriko kosmo horevoun oi enaretoi kai oi amartoloi, oi 'atimoi' mnistires* pou theloun na 'kleboun tin Pinelopi, xoris na xeroun pos i Moira me ton Odussea tous etoimazei to teleutaio glendi, kai me to nima tou toxou tha ihisei thanatiforos mousiki. Apati-pagida perimenei tous apatilous, o zitianos-kamouflarismenos Odusseus deihnei tin proti parastasi, apo ekei kai o "asemnos" horos* ton akleiton*. Opou koitas, englima kai timoria. Pos tha glitoseis? An o ponos pia einai aforitos, i oraia Eleni* xerei na parigorei, rihnei sto krasi magika filtra, etsi xehnoun oi kalesmenoi ta basana, hairontai to horo, tin epidexia kinisi ton akrobaton. Oh ayti i Eleni, oi basilisses, kai oi doules! Akourastes me to adrahti*, ton argalio, ftiahnoun me haroumeni porfira* violettia nimata, ifasmata, rouha* gia to horo sto gamo. Ravoun, plenoun adiakopa. Kapou, san ti Nausika*, xekourazondai horeuontas me tin bala*, to agapimeno paihnidi ton Phaiakon.
Giati i bala einai to agapimeno paixnidi ton Phaiakon? Pos xereis oti ta magika botana tis Elenis tous kanoun na xairontai ton xoro? Telika ti krybetai piso apo ton "polemiko xoro tou Are"? Oi akrobates apo pou mas erxontai? Xexases ton xoreyti Pari, pou epaineitai (Afroditi) alla kai epikrinetai gi'ayto (Priamos)... Xexasame kai allous... Posa apo ayta pou mas leei o Homeros ta exei antlisei apo ti zoi? Kai poia zoi, poias koinonias kai poias epoxis? Mipos mas "paramythiazei" tragoudontas enan kosmo plasmatiko? I mporoume na diakrinoume stous mythikous heroes tou kai anthropines adynamies-stoixeia? Telika ti mporoume na mathoume gia to xoro? Poioi xoreyoun, pou, pote kai apo poion to didaxtikan stin alitheia? Oi epaggelmaties (akrobates...) emfanizontai apo tora, yparxoun idi, i i ennoia ayti mas apasxolei argotera? Ti krybetai piso apo tous "akleitous" kai ton zitiano Odyssea kai mporoume arage na empisteytoume tin protasi tou ...? oti edo diakrinoume tous fat-belly dancers, aytous tous xontrokoilarades pou figouraroun asemnes xoreytikes kiniseis sta aggeia tis arxaikis epoxis? O Homeros pantos edo de fainetai na milaei gia xoro, alla polles fores, lene oi eidikoi, entexnos aposiopa pragmata pou ennoountai....
THE KOURETES were nine Kretan Daimones who cared for the infant Zeus. To keep the babe safely hidden from his cannabalistic father they drowned out the god's cries with their frenzied dance of clashing spear and shield.
They were frequently confused with, and were barely distinguishable, from the Phrygian Korybantes.
Parents
(1) THE HEKATERIDES x5 (Catalgoes of Women)
(2) THE DAKTYLOI x5 & THE HEKATERIDES x5 (Strabo 10.3.19-22)
(3) THE DAKTYLOI x5 (Diodorus Siculus 5.65.1)
(4) GAIA (Diodorus Siculus 5.65.1, Dionysiaca 14.23)
(5) born from a shower of rain [upon GAIA?] (Metamorphoses 4.282)
(1) THE YOUNGER DAKTYLOI x90 (Strabo 10.3.22)
(2) ADRASTEIA, IDA (daughters of the Kourete Melisseus) (Apollodorus 1.4-5)
(3) IDA (daughter of the Kourete Korybas) (Diodorus Siculus 4.60.3)
"But of them [the daughters of Hekateros] were born ... and the divine Kouretes, sportive dancers." -Catalogues of Women
“Hymn to the Kouretes. Leaping Kouretes, who with dancing feet and circling measures armed footsteps beat: shoe bosoms Bakkhanalian furies firer, who move in rhythm to the sounding lyre: who traces deaf when lightly leaping tread, arm-bearers, strong defenders, rulers dread: famed deities the guards (of Persephone) preserving rites mysterious and divine: come, and benevolent this hymn attend, and with glad mind the herdsman’s life defend.” –Orphic Hymn 31 to the Curetes
“To the Kouretes, Fumigation from Frankincense. Brass-beating Kouretes, ministers of Ares, who wear his arms the instruments of wars; whose blessed frames, heaven, earth, and sea compose, and from whose breath all animals arose: who dwell in Samothrake’s sacred ground, defending mortals through the sea profound. Deathless Kouretes, by your power alone, the greatest mystic rites to men at first were shown. Who shake old Okeanos thundering to the sky, and stubborn oaks with branches waving high. ‘Tis yours in glittering arms the earth to beat, with lightly leaping, rapid, sounding feet; then every beast the noise terrific flies, and the loud tumult wanders through the skies. The dust your feet excites, with matchless force flies to the clouds amidst their whirling course; and every flower of variegated hue grows in the dancing motion formed by you; immortal Daimones, to your powers consigned, the task to nourish and destroy mankind, when rushing furious with loud tumult dire, overwhelmed, they perish in your dreadful ire; and live replenished with the balmy air, the food of life, committed to your care. When shook by you, the seas with wild uproar, wide-spreading, and profoundly whirling, roar. The concave heavens with echo’s voice resound, when leaves with rustling noise bestrew the ground. Kouretes, Korybantes, ruling kings, whose praise the land of Samothrake sings; great Zeus’ assessors; whose immortal breath sustains the soul, and wafts her back from death; aerial-formed, who in Olympos shine the heavenly Twins [Dioskouroi] all-lucid and divine; blowing, serene, from whom abundance springs, nurses of seasons, fruit-producing kings.” –Orphic Hymn 38 to the Curetes
“To Korybas, Fumigation from Frankincense. The mighty ruler of this earthly ball for ever flowing, to these rites I call; martial and blest, unseen by mortal sight, preventing fears, and pleased with gloomy night: hence fancy’s terrors are by thee allayed, all-various king, who lovest the desert shade. Each of thy brothers killing, blood is thine, twofold Kourete, many-formed, divine. By thee transmuted, Deo’s [Demeter’s] body pure became a Drakon’s savage and obscure: avert they anger, hear me when I pray, and, by fixed date, drive fancy’s fears away.” –Orphic Hymn 39 to Corybas
“The dance in armour was first invented and danced by the Kouretes.” -Greek Lyric II Thaletas Frag 10 (from Scholiast on Pindar)
”Ge (Earth), say the Greeks, was the first to produce man, having won that fine privilege, wishing to be mother not of senseless plants nor of unreasoning beasts but of a civilised, god-loving creature. But it is hard to discover, he says, whether Boiotian Alalkomeneus on the shore of the Kephissian lake was the first of men to appear, or if it was the Idaian Kouretes, divine race, or the Phrygian Korybantes that the sun first saw shooting up tree-like.” –Greek Lyric V Anonymous Fragments 985 (from Hippolytus, Refutation of all the Heresies)
"As for the Kouretes ... some assert that they originated in Krete." -Strabo 10.3.1
"Hesiod says that five daughters were born to Hekateros and the daughter of Phoroneus, 'from whom sprang the mountain-ranging Nymphai, goddesses, and the breed of Satyroi, creatures worthless and unfit for work, and also the Kouretes, sportive gods, dancers [Strabo later says that their fathers were the Daktyloi]." -Strabo 10.3.19
"And they [some writers] suspect that both the Kouretes and the Korybantes were offspring of the Idaian Daktyloi; at any rate, the first hundred men born in Krete were called Idaian Daktyloi, they say, and as offspring of these were born nine Kouretes, and each of these begot ten children who were called Idaian Daktyloi." -Strabo 10.3.22
“Not long after Kherronessos had ruled [the Chersonnese opposite Rhodes], five Kouretes passed over to it from Krete, and these were descendants of [or the same as] those who had received Zeus from his mother Rhea and had nurtured him in the mountains of Ide in Krete, And sailing to the Kherronesos with a notable expedition they expelled the Karians who dwelt there, and settling down in the land divided it into five parts, each of them founding a city which he named after himself …
Triopas, one of the sons of Helios and Rhodos, who was a fugitive because of the murder of his brother Tenages, came to the Kherronesos. And after he had been purified there of the murder by Melisseus the kin [one of the Kouretes], he sailed to Thassalia” –Diodorus Siculus 5.60.2
“The Curetes, sprung from a sharp shower [of rain from Ouranos (Heaven) upon Gaia (Earth)].” –Metamorphoses 4.282
"She [Rhea] put him [the babe Zeus] in the care of both the Kouretes and the Nymphai Adrasteia and Ide, daughters of Melisseus [eldest of the Kouretes]." -Apollodorus 1.4-5
"The war-dance was a soldiers' dance; and this is plainly indicated both by the 'Pyrrhic dance,' and by 'Pyrrikhos,' [one of the Kouretes] who is said to be the founder of this kind of training for young men, as also by the treatises on military affairs." -Strabo 10.3.8
“[Pyrhikhos, Lakedaimon] according to another account Pyrrhikhos was one of the gods called Kouretes.” –Pausanias 3.25.2
"All these [Kouretes] came then from the famous island: Prymneus, and Mimas Waddlefoot, and Akmon the forester, Damneus and Okythoos the shielfman; and with them came flash-helm Melisseus as comrade to Idaios.” –Dionysiaca 13.135
"The chief and leader of the dancing Korybantes [the Kouretes not the Korybantes] was Pyrrhikhos and shake-a-shield Idaios; and with them came Knossian Kyrbas, and armed his motley troops, their namefellow.” –Dionysiaca 14.23
"The Koureites hid the holy babe of the goddess [Rhea] in a cave without the knowledge of crooked-witted Kronos, when blessed Rhea stole him and won great honour from the immortals." -Greek Lyric IV Corinna Frag 654
“O secret chamber the Kouretes knew! O holy cavern in the Kretan glade where Zeus was cradled, where for our delight the triple-crested Korybantes drew tight the round drum-skin, till its wild beat made rapturous rhythm to the breathing sweetness of Phrygian flutes! Then divine Rhea found the drum could give her Bacchic airs completeness.” –Euripides Bacchae 120
"Rhea, when she was heavy with Zeus, went off to Krete and gave birth to him there in a cave on Mount Dikte. She put him in the care of both the Kouretes and the Nymphai Adrasteia and Ide, daughters of Melisseus [eldest of the Kouretes]. These Nymphai nursed the baby with the milk of Amaltheia, while the armed Kouretes stood guard over him in the cave, banging their spears against their shields to prevent Kronos from hearing the infant’s voice." -Apollodorus 1.4-5
“When the Nymphe [Neda], carrying thee, O Father Zeus [from Arkadia where he was born to hand over to his protectors and nurses in Krete], toward Knosos … But thee, O Zeus, the companions of Kyrbantes [Kouretes] took to their arms, even the Diktaian Meliai, and Adrasteia [Nemesis] laid thee to rest in a cradle of gold, and thou didst suck the rich teat of the she-goat Amaltheia, and thereto eat the sweet honey-comb ... And lustily round thee danced the Kouretes a war-dance, beating their armour, that Kronos might hear with his ears the din of the shield, but not thine infant noise..” -Callimachus, Hymn I to Zeus 42
"Kouretes, young men who executed movements in armour, accompanied by dancing, as they set forth the mythical story of the birth of Zeus; in this they introduced Kronos as accustomed to swallow his children immediately after their birth, and Rhea as trying to keep her travail secret and, when the child was born, to get it out of the way and save its life by every means in her power; and to accomplish this it is said that she took as helpers the Kouretes, who, by surrounding the goddess with tambourines and similar noisy instruments and with war-dance and uproar, were supposed to strike terror into Kronos and without his knowledge to steal his child away; and that, according to tradition, Zeus was actually reared by them with the same diligence; consequently the Kouretes, either because, being young, that is 'youths,' they performed this service, or because they 'reared' Zeus 'in his youth' (for both explanations are given), were accorded this appellation." -Strabo 10.3.11
"In the Kretan accounts the Kouretes are called 'rearers of Zeus,' and 'protectors of Zeus,' having been summoned from Phrygia to Krete by Rhea. Some say that, of the nine Telkhines who lived in Rhodes, those who accompanied Rhea to Krete and 'reared' Zeus 'in his youth' were named Kouretes." -Strabo 10.3.19
“The Messenians have their share in the story: for they too say that the god [the infant Zeus] was brought up among them and that his nurses were Ithome and Neda ... These Nymphai are said to have bathed Zeus here, after he was stolen by the Kouretes owing to the danger that threatened from his father, and it is said that it [the fountain Klepsydra on Mt Ithome in Messenia] has its name from the Kouretes’ theft.” –Pausanias 4.33.1
“As for the Olympiakos Games, the most learned antiquarians of Elis say that Kronos was the first king of heaven, and that in his honour a temple was built in Olympia by the man of that age, who were named the Golden Race. When Zeus was born, Rhea entrusted the guardianship of her son to the Daktyloi of Ida, who are the same as those called Kouretes [Pausanias here confuses the Kouretes with their fathers the Daktyloi]. They came from Kretan Ida – Herakles, Paionaios, Epimedes, Iasios and Idas.” –Pausanias 5.7.6-10
"In the days when he ruled the Titanes in Olympos and Zeus was still a child, tended in the Kretan cave by the Kouretes of Ida." -Argonautica 2.1231-1241
“In olden days he [Zeus] played as a child in fragrant Dikton, near the hill of Ida, they set him in a cave and nurtured him for the space of a year, what time the Diktaioi Kouretes were deceiving Kronos.” –Phaenomena 27
“After the Daktyloi Idaioi [who lived in Krete], according to accounts we have, there were nine Kouretes. Some writers of myths relate that these gods were born of the Earth, but according to others, they were descended from the Daktyloi Idaioi. Their home they made in mountainous places which were thickly wooded and full of ravines, and which, in a word, provided a natural shelter and coverage, since it had not yet been discovered how to build houses. And since these Kouretes excelled in wisdom they discovered many things which are of use to men generally; so, for instance, they were the first to gather sheep into flocks, to domesticate the several other kinds of animals which men fatten, and to discover the making of honey [one of them was named Melisseus or Honey-Man]. In the same manner they introduced the art of shooting with the bow and the ways of hunting animals, and they showed mankind how to live and associate together in a common life, and they were the originators of concord and, so to speak, of orderly behaviour. The Kouretes also invented swords and helmets and the war-dance, by means of which they raised a great alarum and deceived Kronos. And we are told that, when Rhea, the mother of Zeus, entrusted him to them unbeknown to Kronos his father, they took him under their care and saw to his nurture …
The myth the Kretans relate runs like this: when the Kouretes were young men, the Titanes, as they are called, were still living. These Titanes had their dwelling in the land about Knosos.” –Diodorus Siculus 5.65.1
“When she [Rhea] had given birth to Zeus, concealed him in Ide, as it is called, and, without the knowledge of Kronos, entrusted the rearing of him to the Kouretes of Mt Ide. The Kouretes bore him off to a certain cave where they gave him over to the Nymphai [Ida & Adrasteia], with the command that they should minister to his every need And the Nymphai nurtured the child on a mixture of honey and milk and gave him upbringing at the udder of the goat which was named Amaltheia.
And many evidences of the birth and upbringing of this god remain to this day on the island. For instance, when he was being carried away, while still an infant, by the Kouretes, they say that the umbilical cord (omphalos) fell from him near the river known as Triton, and that this spot has been made sacred and has been called Omphalos after that incident, while in like manner the plain about it is known as Omphaleion. And on Mount Ide, where the god was nurtured, bot the cave in which he spent his days has been made sacred to him, and the meadows about it, which lie upon the ridges of the mountain, have in like manner been consecrated to him. But he most astonishing of all that which the myth relates has to do with the bees, and we should not omit to mention it: The god, they say, wishing to preserve an immortal memorial of his close association with the bees [from with the Kourete Melisseus harvested honey to feed him], changed the colour of them, making it like copper with the gleam of gold, and since the region lay at a very great altitude, where fierce winds blew about it and heavy snows fell, he made the bees insensible to such things and unaffected by them, since they must range over the most wintry stretches.” –Diodorus Siculus 5.70.1
“After Opis [Rhea] had borne Jove [Zeus] by Saturn [Kronos], Juno [Hera] asked her to give him to her, since Saturn and cast Orcus [Haides] under Tartarus, and Neptunus [Poseidon] under the sea, because he knew that his son would rob him of the kingdom. When he had asked Opis for what she had borne, in order to devour it, Opis showed him a stone wrapped up like a baby; Saturnus devoured it. When he realized what he had done, he started to hunt for Jove throughout the earth. Juno, however, took Jove to the island of Crete, and Amalthea, the child’s nurse, hung him in a cradle from a tree, so that he could be found neither in heaven nor on earth nor in the sea. And lest the cries of the baby be heard, she summoned youths and gave them small brazen shields and spears, and bade them go around the tree making a noise. In Greek they are called Curetes; others call them Corybantes; these in Italy, however are called Lares.” –Hyginus Fabulae 139
“Why the Great Goddess [Rhea-Kybele] loves incessant din? ... [When] Jove [Zeus] was born [to Rhea]: a stone, concealed in cloth, settled in the god’s [Kronos'] gullet; so the father was fated to be tricked. For a long time steep Ida booms its clanging noise so the wordless infant may wail safely. Shields or empty helmets are pounded with sticks, the Curetes’ or Corybantes’ task. The truth hid. The ancient event’s copied today: her acolytes shake brass and rumbling hides. They hammer cymbals, not helmets, and drums, not shields; the flute makes Phrygian tunes as before.” –Ovid Fasti 4.207
“The Berecyntian mother [Rhea], while she bids the Curetes leap in excited dance around the infant Thunderer [Zeus]’; their cymbals clash in emulous frenzy, but [Mount] Ide resounds with his loud wailings.” –Thebaid 4.782
“The Kouretes were the nurses of the infant Zeus, the mighty son of Kronos, what time Rhea concealed his birth and carried away the newly-born child from Kronos, his sire implacable, and placed him in the vales of Krete. And when the son of Ouranos beheld the lusty young child he transformed the first glorious guardians of Zeus and in vengeance made the Kouretes wild beasts. And since by the devising of the god Kronos exchanged their human shape and put upon them the form of Lions, thenceforth by the boon of Zeus they greatly lord it over the wild beasts which dwell upon the hills, and under the yoke they draw the terrible swift car of Rhea who lightens the pangs of birth.” –Cynegetica 3.7
“[The Kouretes] had surrounded Zeus a newborn babe in the cavern which fostered his breeding, and danced about him shield in hand, the deceivers, raising wild songs which echoed among the rocks and maddened the air – the noise of the clanging brass resounded in the ears of Kronos high among the clouds, and concealed the infancy of Kronion with drummings.” –Dionysiaca 14.30
"The pyrrhic dance[of the Kouretes] raised a noise in the ears of Kronos, and clanged sword on shield on Mount Ida, and rang out a valiant din to deceive the enemy, as he screened the stealthy nurture of growing Zeus ... [The Kourete Akmon] holding Korybantic shield, which had often held in its hollow baby Zeus asleep among the mountains: yes, a little cave once was the home of Zeus, where the sacred goat [Amaltheia] played the nurse to him with her milky udder for a makeshift, and cleverly let him suck the strange milk, when the noise of shaken shields resounded beaten on the back with tumbling steel to hide the little child with their clanging. Their help allowed Rheia to wrap up that stone of deceit, and gave it to Kronos for a meal in place of Kronides [Zeus].” –Dionysiaca 28.252
“The cave in the rock of Dikte with its flashing helmets, ask the Korybantes [Kouretes] too, where little Zeus used to play, when he sucked the nourishing pap of goat Amaltheia and grew strong in spirit, but never drank Rheia’s milk.” –Dionysiaca 46.14
"On the same coast [of Ephesos, Asia Minor], ... is also Ortygia ... here is the mythical scene of the birth [Leto gave birth to Apollon here] ... Above the grove lies Mt. Solmissos, where, it is said, the Kouretes stationed themselves, and with the din of their arms frightened Hera out of her wits when she was jealously spying on Leto, and when they helped Leto to conceal from Hera the birth of her children." -Strabo 14.1.20
"Minos’s son Glaukos, while he was still a to the chased a mouse and landed in a vat of honey, where he died. When he failed to appear, Minos launched a vast search for him, and sought divinations concerning his whereabouts. The Kouretes told Minos that he owned a tri-colored cow in his herds, and that the man who could most accurately describe the cows colour would also give him back his son alive." -Apollodorus 3.18
“Now Hera left the shieldbeswingled cave of the Diktaian rock [in Krete where the Kouretes danced with swinging shields and lances].” –Dionysiaca 8.178
“The goddess [Rhea] took care of him [the baby Dionysos; and while he was yet a boy, she set him to drive a car drawn by ravening lions. Within that godwelcoming courtyard, the tripping Korybantes [Kouretes] would surround Dionysos with their childcherishing dance, and clash their swords, and strike their shields with rebounding steel in alternate movements, to conceal the growing boyhood of Dionysos; and as the boy listened to the fostering noise of the shields he grew up under the care of the Korybantes [Kouretes] like his father [Zeus].” –Dionysiaca 9.160
“At once Rheia Allmother sent out her messenger to gather the host [of armies for the war of Dionysos against the Indians], Pyrrhikhos [one of the Kouretes, his name is the title of the Greek dance in armour], the dancer before her loverattle timbrel, to proclaim the warfare of Lyaios under arms. Pyrrhikhos, gathering a varied army for Dionysos, scoured all the settlements of the eternal word; all the races of Europe and the nations of the Asiatic land he brought to rendezvous in the land of the livedainty Lydians.” –Dionysiaca 13.35
“The Euboian battalions were ruled by shield-bearing Korybantes [Nonnos is referring to six of the Kouretes], guardians of Dionysos in his growing days: who in the Phrygian gulf beside mountain-ranging Rheia surrounded Bakkhos still a child with their drumskins. They found him once, a horned baby, covered with a cloak the colour of purple wine, lying among the rocks where Ino had left him in charge of Mystis the mother Korymbos. All these came then from the famous island: Prymneus, and Mimas Waddlefoot, and Akmon the forester, Damneus and Okythoos the shielfman; and with them came flash-helm Melisseus as comrade to Idaios, whom ther father Sokos under the insane goad of impiety had once cast out of the brinegirt country along with Kombe the mother of seven [Korybantes]. They escaped and passed to Knossian soil, and again went on their travels from Krete to Phrygia, and from Phrygia to Athens; where they remained as foreign settlers and hearthguests until Kekrops destroyed Sokos with avenging blade of justice; then leaving the land of brineflooded Marathon turned their steps homewards to the sacred soil of the Abantes, the earthborn stock of the ancient Kouretes, whose life is the tune of pipes, whose life is goodly noise of beaten swords, whose heart is set upon rhythmic circling of the feet and the shield-wise dancing. To the army came also warrior sons of the Abantes [the men of Euboia] … Seven captains armed this host, but all of one temper for war: with blazing altar they propitiated the tenants of the Zodiac path, committing their campaign to the planets of equal number.” –Dionysiaca 13.135
“From Krete came [when Rheia summoned gods to join Dionysos in his war against the Indians] grim warriors to join them, the Idaian Daktyloi [Nonnos is referring to the other three Kouretes & not the Daktyloi], dwellers on a rocky crag, earthborn Korybantes, a generation which grew up for Rheia selfmade out of the ground in the olden time. These had surrounded Zeus a newborn babe in the cavern which fostered his breeding, and danced about him shield in hand, the deceivers, raising wild songs which echoed among the rocks and maddened the air – the noise of the clanging brass resounded in the ears of Kronos high among the clouds, and concealed the infancy of Kronion with drummings. The chief and leader of the dancing Korybantes [the Kouretes not the Korybantes] was Pyrrhikhos and shake-a-shield Idaios; and with them came Knossian Kyrbas, and armed his motley troops, their namefellow.” –Dionysiaca 14.23
“At the mouth of the Astakid lake many a son of India was cut up by the steel of the Kouretes. The warriors surrounded the battalions of the foe with blow for blow, and imitated the rhythms of the armour-dance in the wheeling movements of their feet. Leneus broke off a crested peak from a mountain, and lifting this in his hairy hand, he cast the jagged mass among the enemy.” –Dionysiaca 14.386
“The dancers of battle, the Diktaian Korybantes [the Kouretes], joined in the battle [with Dionysos against the Indians].
Damneus fought and pursued the enemy tribes. On the plain the warcry sounded. Prymneus succoured the excited Bakkhai women, like a fair wind which blows astern and saves the mariner riding with the gales; full welcome he came to the army, as Polydeukes brings calm to buffeted ships when he puts to sleep the heavy billows of the galebreeding sea.
Okythoos with light quick step scared away the warriors. Many he slew with speedy fate, bringing down one with spear in stand-up fight, one with a shot at a distant view, cutting down another with horrid knife; another still running onwards and flying like to the breezes the furious pursuer caught, plying his knees and feet quick as the wind – as good a runner as Iphiklos, who used to skim the untrodden calm touching only the surface with the soles of his feet, and passed over a cornfield without bending the tops of the ears with his travelling footsteps. Okythoos was like him windfoot.
Mimas was in the thick of the fray, making a dance of battle with woven paces and frightening the host, swinging a capering sword, the dancer-at-arms skipping in dead earnest with knowling leaps; as once the pyrrhic dance raised a noise in the ears of Kronos, and clanged sword on shield on Mount Ida, and rang out a valiant din to deceive the enemy, as he screened the stealthy nurture of growing Zeus. So mailclad Mimas brandished his spear in air in mimicry of the dance-at-arms, as he cut down the heads of his foes, an iron harvest of battle; so he offered the firstfruits of the enemy to witnessing Bakkhos with Indianslaying axe and doublebiting sword; so he poured his libation of blood and gore to Dionysos, instead of the sacrifice of cattle and the wonted drinkoffering of wine.
Beside Okythoos, Akmon with brilliant helmet moved his restless circling feet in knowing leaps. He fought unshakeable like the hammer-beaten anvil of his name, holding Korybantic shield, which had often held in its hollow baby Zeus asleep among the mountains: yes, a little cave once was the home of Zeus, where the sacred goat [Amaltheia] played the nurse to him with her milky udder for a makeshift, and cleverly let him suck the strange milk, when the noise of shaken shields resounded beaten on the back with tumbling steel to hide the little child with their clanging. Their help allowed Rheia to wrap up that stone of deceit, and gave it to Kronos for a meal in place of Kronides [Zeus].
Sharpsighted Idaios entered the revels of war, that dance of battle turning his intricate steps, incessantly shaken with the mad passion for Indian carnage.
Melisseus also scared all the dusky host with boldness unshaken. True to his name, he imitated the bee up in arms with her terrible sting. Morrheus hurled a hurtling stone against he quick Kourete who faces him, but he missed Melisseus, he missed him – for it is not seemly that a Korybante should be killed with a millstone.
So the dancers of cruel war fought all together as one. Round the car of Deriades they gathered in a ring of shields, beating their armour, and surrounded the tower in rhythmic battle and shieldbearing dance. And the noise mounted through the air to the palace of Zeus, and the fairfooted Horai trembled at the turmoil of both armies.” –Dionysiaca 28.275
“The Diktaian Korybantes joined battle [in Dionysos’ war against the Indians], shaking the plumes of their highcrested helmets, rushing madly into the fray. Their naked swords rang on their beaten shields in emulation, along with resounding leaps; they imitated the rhythm of the dance-at-arms with quick circling movements of their feet, a revel in the battlefield. The Indian nation was ravaged by the steel of those mountaineer herdsmen, the Kouretes. Many a man fell headlong into the dust when the heard the bellow of the heavy-thumping oxhides.” –Dionysiaca 29.215
"Hera asked the Kouretes to kidnap the child [Epaphos], which they did. When Zeus found this out, he slew the Kouretes, while Io set out to find their baby." -Apollodorus 2.5-9
THE DANCE OF THE KOURETES & THEIR CONNECTION WITH THE KORYBANTES & DAKTYLOI
"The Kabeiroi ... just as the Kyrbantes and Korybantes, and likewise the Kouretes and the Idaean Daktyloi, are identified with them." -Strabo 7 Fr 50
"Those accounts which, although they are called 'Kouretan History' and 'History of the Kouetes,' just as if they were the history of those Kouretes [a tribe of the same name] who lived in Aitolia and Akarnania, not only are different from that history, but are more like the accounts of the Satyroi, Silenoi, Bakkhai, and Tityroi; for the Kouretes, like these, are called Daimones or ministers of gods by those who have handed down to us the Kretan and the Phrygian traditions, which are interwoven with certain sacred rites, some mystical, the others connected in part with the rearing of the child Zeus in Krete and in part with the orgies in honor of the Mother of the Gods [Rhea] which are celebrated in Phrygia and in the region of the Trojan Ida. But the variation in these accounts is so small that, whereas some represent the Korybantes, the Kabeiroi, the Idaian Daktyloi, and the Telkhines as identical with the Kouretes, others represent them as all kinsmen of one another and differentiate only certain small matters in which they differ in respect to one another; but, roughly speaking and in general, they represent them, one and all, as a kind of inspired people and as subject to Bakkhic frenzy, and, in the guise of ministers, as inspiring terror at the celebration of the sacred rites by means of war-dances, accompanied by uproar and noise and cymbals and drums and arms, and also by flute and outcry; and consequently these rites are in a way regarded as having a common relationship, I mean these and those of the Samothrakians and those in Lemnos and in several other places, because the divine ministers are called the same. However, every investigation of this kind pertains to theology, and is not foreign to the speculation of the philosopher." -Strabo 10.3.7
"But I must now investigate how it comes about that so many names have been used of one and the same thing [the Daimones called Kouretes, Korybantes & Kabeiroi], and the theological element contained in their history. Now this is common both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, to perform their sacred rites in connection with the relaxation of a festival, these rites being performed sometimes with religious frenzy, sometimes without it; sometimes with music, sometimes not; and sometimes in secret, sometimes openly. And it is in accordance with the dictates of nature that this should be so, for, in the first place, the relaxation draws the mind away from human occupations and turns the real mind towards that which is divine; and, secondly, the religious frenzy seems to afford a kind of divine inspiration and to be very like that of the soothsayer; and, thirdly, the secrecy with which the sacred rites are concealed induces reverence for the divine, since it imitates the nature of the divine, which is to avoid being perceived by our human senses; and, fourthly, music, which includes dancing as well as rhythm and melody, at the same time, by the delight it affords and by its artistic beauty, brings us in touch with the divine, and this for the following reason; for although it has been well said that human beings then act most like the gods when they are doing good to others, yet one might better say, when they are happy; and such happiness consists of rejoicing, celebrating festivals, pursuing philosophy, and engaging in music." -Strabo 10.3.9
"In Krete, not only these rites [the orgiastic and Bakkhic], but in particular those sacred to Zeus, were performed along with orgiastic worship and with the kind of ministers who were in the service of Dionysos, I mean the Satyroi. These ministers they called Kouretes, young men who executed movements in armour, accompanied by dancing, as they set forth the mythical story of the birth of Zeus; in this they introduced Kronos as accustomed to swallow his children immediately after their birth, and Rhea as trying to keep her travail secret and, when the child was born, to get it out of the way and save its life by every means in her power; and to accomplish this it is said that she took as helpers the Kouretes, who, by surrounding the goddess with tambourines and similar noisy instruments and with war-dance and uproar, were supposed to strike terror into Kronos and without his knowledge to steal his child away; and that, according to tradition, Zeus was actually reared by them with the same diligence; consequently the Kouretes, either because, being young, that is 'youths,' they performed this service, or because they 'reared' Zeus 'in his youth' (for both explanations are given), were accorded this appellation, as if they were Satyroi, so to speak, in the service of Zeus. Such, then, were the Greeks in the matter of orgiastic worship." -Strabo 10.3.11
"The Greeks use the same name Kouretes for the ministers of the goddess [Phrygian Rhea]], not taking the name, however, from the same mythical story, but regarding them as a different set of Kouretes, helpers as it were, analogous to the Satyroi; and the same they also call Korybantes." -Strabo 10.3.12
"In the following verses he [Pindar] connects the Kretan usages [Kouretes] also with the Phrygian [Korybantes]: 'O thou hiding-bower of the Kouretes, and sacred haunts of Krete that gave birth to Zeus, where for me the triple-crested Korybantes in their caverns invented this hide-stretched circlet, and blent its Bakkhic revelry with the high-pitched, sweet-sounding breath of Phrygian flutes, and in Rhea's hands placed its resounding noise, to accompany the shouts of the Bakkhai, and from Mother Rhea frenzied Satyroi obtained it and joined it to the choral dances of the Trieterides, in whom Dionysus takes delight." -Strabo 10.3.13
"Further, one might also find, in addition to these facts concerning these Daimones and their various names, that they were called, not only ministers of gods, but also gods themselves. For instance, Hesiod says that five daughters were born to Hekateros and the daughter of Phoroneus, 'from whom sprang the mountain-ranging Nymphai, goddesses, and the breed of Satyroi, creatures worthless and unfit for work, and also the Kouretes, sportive gods, dancers.'
And the author of Phoronis speaks of the Kouretes as 'flute-players' and 'Phrygians'; and others as 'earth-born' and 'wearing brazen shields.' Some call the Korybantes, and not the Kouretes, 'Phrygians,' but the Kouretes 'Kretes,' and say that the Kretes were the first people to don brazen armour in Euboia, and that on this account they were also called 'Khalkidians'; still others say that the Korybantes, who came from Baktriana (some say from among the Kolkhians), were given as armed ministers to Rhea by the Titanes. But in the Kretan accounts the Kouretes are called 'rearers of Zeus,' and 'protectors of Zeus,' having been summoned from Phrygia to Krete by Rhea. Some say that, of the nine Telkhines who lived in Rhodes, those who accompanied Rhea to Krete and 'reared' Zeus 'in his youth' were named Kouretes." -Strabo 10.3.19
"Some, however, believe that the Kouretes were the same as the Korybantes and were ministers of Hekate." -Strabo 10.3.20
"The Skepsian says that it is probable that the Kouretes and the Korybantes were the same, being those who had been accepted as young men, or 'youths,' for the war-dance in connection with the holy rites of the Mother of the Gods [Rhea]." -Strabo 10.3.21
"The lawgiver [Rhadamanthys?]commanded the boys to attend the Troops ... he commanded that from boyhood they should grow up accustomed to arms and toils, so as to scorn heat, cold, marches over rugged and steep roads, and blows received in gymnasiums or regular battles; and that they should practise, not only archery, but also the war-dance, which was invented and made known by the Kouretes at first, and later, also, by the man who arranged the dance that was named after him, I mean the Pyrrhikhos dance, so that not even their sports were without a share in activities that were useful for warfare." -Strabo 10.4.16
“They [the Argonauts] seized shields and spears, and dispersed them [arrow shooting birds] by the noise, after the manner of the Curetes.” –Hyginus Fabulae 20
“She [Demeter hiding away Persephone] heard the music of the helmeted Kretan troop resounding in Dikte, as they danced about with the tumbling steel thundering heavy upon their oxhide shields.” –Dionysiaca 6.120
“The Messenians [at Messene, Messenia] have a … hall of the Kouretes, where they make burnt offerings of every kind of living creature, thrusting into the flames not only cattle and goats, but finally birds as well.” –Pausanias 4.31.9
“From Akakesion [in Arkadia] it is four stades to the sanctuary of Depoine ... The story of the Kouretes is represented under the images [in the sanctuary], and that of the Korybantes (a different race from the Kouretes), carved in relief upon the base, I know, but pass them by." -Pausanias 8.37.1
Sources:
Hesiod, Catalogues of Women - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC
The Orphic Hymns - Greek Hymns C? BC
Greek Lyric II Thaletas, Fragments - Greek Lyric BC
Greek Lyric IV Corinna, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th BC
Greek Lyric V, Anonymous Fragments - Greek Lyric BC
Euripides, Bacchae - Greek Tragedy C5th BC
Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd BC
Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st BC - C1st AD
Pausanias, Guide to Greece - Greek Geography C2nd AD
Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd BC
Callimachus, Hymns - Greek C3rd BC
Aratus, Phaenomena - Greek C3rd BC
Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st BC
Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd AD
Ovid, Fasti - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD
Statius, Thebaid - Latin Epic C1st AD
Oppian, Cynegetica – Greek Poetry C3rd AD
Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th AD
Other references not currently quoted here: Dionysius of Halicarnassus 1.23.5 & 2.70.3; Statius Thebaid 2.274; Virgil Georgics 4.151
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@@@@00.03.17, Ceccarelli, La pirrica nell' antichita\ greco romana
Paola Ceccarelli, La pirrica nell' antichita\ greco romana: Studi sulla danza armata. Pisa and Rome: Istituti Editoriali e Poligrafici Internazionali, 1998. Pp. 274; 24 b/w pls. ISBN 88-8147-140-X.
Reviewed by Eva Stehle
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
es39@umail.umd.edu
word count: 2940
This is a very impressive book. Paola Ceccarelli (hereafter C.) has examined an enormous amount of evidence spanning a large geographical and chronological range in her quest to uncover the cultural meanings of the pyrrhic dance. C. finds initiation ritual for young men the key to its original character but traces variations and mutations. So rich and thorough is this work that summary is difficult, but I will begin with an outline. In commenting on her approach I will indicate my disagreement with her attempt to find a context in institutionalized initiations, but I will end by highlighting both an alternative thesis that she puts forward in her discussion of myth and the overriding value of the book.
Dance, according to Greek thought, was educational and civilizing, as C. reminds us in her Introduction. Armed dances are attested early and continue throughout antiquity, but the names and types were legion. "Pyrrhiche" was (or became) both the name of a specific kind of dance and a general name for armed dance, which makes it difficult to isolate the distinctive character of the pyrrhiche proper. In an effort to do so, C. gives a geographical survey of the evidence in chapters 2-6. Chapters 7-9 then consider the pyrrhiche conceptually in terms of the meters associated with it, the mythic figures and themes that can be linked with it, and its genre and evolution over time. C. also includes a table of iconographic features on Attic vases, a catalog of iconographic documents with discussion, a chronology of ancient terminology, an index of passages cited, and a subject index.
C. begins the geographical survey with Athens. At Athens the pyrrhiche was associated specially with Athena, for she was said to have invented it after her victory over the Giants or the Gorgon. At the Panathenaia, choruses of boys, of youths, and of men competed in separate pyrrhic contests. C. believes that these contests predate the Kleisthenic tribes, for there is no indication that the contest pitted the ten tribes against one another. In investigating other possible Attic contexts C. constructs a tenuous argument for connecting the pyrrhiche with the Athenian Apatouria. The Suda lists two dramatists under the name of Phrynichos. The first, son of Polyphradmon, must be the famous tragedian who produced the Fall of Miletos. The second Phrynichos, son of Melanthas, is otherwise unknown, and there are reasons to think that his entry refers to the first Phrynichos. Aelian, meanwhile, preserves the item that Phrynichos was elected general because one of his tragedies contained bellicose songs appropriate for pyrrhic dancers. Thus we have a dramatist known for pyrrhic songs who (C. suggests) acquired the nickname "son of Melanthas." C. sees in the nickname a hint of the subject of one of his pyrrhic songs: the duel of Xanthos and Melanthos on the border between Boiotia and Attica, which Melanthos, the Athenian hero, won by a trick. From Hellanikos on this story is given as the aition of the Apatouria. C. deduces that because the aition of the Apatouria was represented in a pyrrhiche, the pyrrhiche was associated with the Apatouria, the festival at which fathers registered their sons in the phratry. On this basis C. proposes her overall thesis that the pyrrhiche was originally connected with initiation into adulthood (something Angelo Brelich had suggested in connection with the Panathenaia).
C. next discusses Attic vases illustrated with armed dances, of which she provides good (if not large) photographs. Male dancers are identified wherever possible as ephebes, partly because the scene often shows a stool holding a piece of folded cloth, which C. interprets as the chlamys (ephebic cloak). Female pyrrhic dancers are depicted as dancing at symposia and occasionally in marriage contexts; the former may jokingly recall men's valor to themselves (or reflect actual symposium entertainment) while the latter perhaps portray a girl at the threshold of marriage. A fascinating if enigmatic pyxis in Naples shows a woman dancing in armor before an altar and a statue of Artemis in a temple. Satyrs dancing assimilate the pyrrhic to the realm of Dionysus, while Amazons suggest Artemis. Dionysus and Artemis: these gods reveal the arc of significations over which pyrrhiche extends.
On the borders of Attica are signs of the pyrrhiche. An inscription from Halai Araphenides thanks a Philoxenos for sponsoring a chorus of pyrrhicists at an unnamed festival; C. suggests the Tauropolia for Artemis Tauropolis (a goddess who has been linked to initiations of young men), since the honor is to be announced at that festival. Close to Attica, the pyrrhiche was offered to Artemis Amarysia, recipient of an important cult in Euboia, and (by the first century BCE) to Artemis in Megara. Tracing the affinity of Artemis for the pyrrhiche is one of C.'s achievements.
In Lakonia no early evidence exists for the pyrrhiche under that name, although armed dances were practiced. The Cretan armed dance associated with the Kouretes (called "prylis" in a few sources) was different in origin -- circular, danced with swords rather than spears and meant to induce fertility -- but was later identified with the pyrrhiche. In the Hymn to the Kouros C. finds initiatory (as well as fertility) themes, including the leap (a pyrrhic movement) that the "Great Kouros" is called on to make. An inscription from Itanos requiring oath-taking of all the citizenry perhaps provides a context for initiatory performance.
In Asia Minor there is more evidence, but it is mainly Hellenistic and later. By then the variety of dances called pyrrhic had increased greatly. At Kos it was a circle-dance, like the dithyramb, at Rhodes apparently a military dance. At Aphrodisias it appears in a list of musical and theatrical events, while at Tripoli there is evidence of a professional pyrrhicist. C. does an excellent job of extracting information like this, and much more, from inscriptions. At Ephesos we find Artemis again: Kallimachos (Hymn. Art. 237-47) says that the Amazons founded the cult of Artemis and danced the prylis; perhaps this was the aition for a girls' dance.
Finally, the West. Armed dances were popular in Etruria, but seem to mix native elements with Greek. At Rome the Salii performed an armed dance from early on, which Greek authors linked to Greek dances. An important indication of the appearance of the pyrrhiche in imperial times comes from Dionysios of Halikarnassos (Ant. Rom. 7.71-2), who compares it to a Roman procession inaugurated after the victory at Lake Regillus, of which he quotes a description from Fabius Pictor. In that procession choruses of men, youths, and boys dance with spears; a leader sets the dance movements, quick and bellicose, and the chorus follows. But then other dancers follow these, dancing the sikinnis (an undignified Dionysiac dance) and mocking the pyrrhic dancers. Here we see the ambiguous, Dionysiac aspect of the pyrrhiche.
A brief chapter on onomastics shows that no conclusions can be drawn from the distribution of names like Pyrrhichos.
At this point C. switches from a geographical inquiry to a thematic one. The first topic (Ch. 7) is music, including a technical discussion of meter. If the pyrrhiche utilized an anapestic meter, it was faster, with more resolutions, than the marching anapests of tragedy. Lines from Spartan military songs in anapests are known and may be the closest thing we have to pyrrhic songs.
Massive Chapter 8 takes up the "mythic complex." Saying that she will seek the "potentialities" of the pyrrhiche, not always fully actualized, C. begins with "duels at the frontier" and Nestor's tale in Iliad 7.132-57 of fighting Ereuthalion ("Red"); in another version of this tale Nestor makes a great leap after victory. Accepting from H. Mu+hlestein the idea that Nestor was originally the hero of the Ionian Apatouria, C. conjectures that the Peisistratids (who claimed kinship with Neleus) established the Neleid Melanthos at Athens in conjunction with the Apatouria.[[1]] This is the Pylian-Messenian then Ionic-Attic tradition.
But the pyrrhiche was also tied to Achilles and Neoptolemos. Invention of the pyrrhiche was often attributed to Neoptolemos (with a pun on his other name, Pyrrhos). Achilles doing a pyrrhiche around Patroklos' pyre or Neoptolemos "leaping" from the wooden horse or doing a victory dance after killing Eurypylos represent transition (back) to battle or to adulthood. Neoptolemos at Delphi can be linked to the pyrrhiche via an image in Euripides' Andromache and a Delphic ritual described in Heliodoros' Aithiopika. C. traces many other mythic links among these figures and fire, "red," leaping, transitional moments, and other young men in myth. Violence and excess may lead to death, that is, failed initiation. As Homeric epic prevailed and Neoptolemos became the hero of Delphi, this "Trojan tradition" and the name "pyrrhiche" supervened on earlier versions of the initiatory armed dance (perhaps the prylis) over territory stretching from Euboia through Lakonia. Artemis, recipient of the pyrrhiche, is connected with the Trojan cycle via Iphigeneia. Prylis and pyrrhiche could be linked to funerals as well; they symbolize return to life.
The pyrrhiche is often linked in later writers to Dionysus as inventor or to the sikinnis. C. gives two explanations, generic and historical: the sikinnis is the inverse of the pyrrhiche, permitting adults to return to the abandon of childhood; or the Dionysiac pyrrhiche is traceable to Alexander's expedition to India.
In the conclusion to the chapter C. mentions the problem that the pyrrhiche is described not as a dance of transition but as a triumphal dance, which she interprets as a mark of warrior integration. She then remarks (217), "The totality of narratives examined inspires one to think that the dance itself in its duration represented the moment of alterity, of liminality, but also that it symbolized the cohesion of the group of participants . . . with respect to the spectators, and that the conclusion [of the dance] marked the integration - or reintegration - of the group of dancers into the collective." I will return to this. To the dominant meaning of reaffirming a collectivity of warriors a community may add themes such as renewal of nature, as the dance of the Kouretes does. The pyrriche, in sum, has the "predisposition" to transmit a thematic complex deeply linked with the schema of rites of passage (separation, liminality, reintegration), but its specific sense derives from the occasion. There is no pyrrhiche per se.
In Chapter 9 C. considers the genre and evolution of the pyrrhiche, including its relationship with Dionysiac dance and tragedy. As a choreographic style it could be incorporated into dithyramb. Over time, the pyrrhiche lost its ritual meaning in many places and became entertainment, even pantomime.
The Conclusion offers a reprise of C's main points. She scrupulously acknowledges that the connection between the pyrrhiche and rites of transition must have faded, for it cannot be found at the institutional level in the fifth century or later, but she believes that the evidence shows traces of an earlier stage in which the pyrrhiche was executed by a young warrior at a moment of initiation or at a funeral. C. thus follows a strong continental tradition in taking age-class initiation of the young as her frame of reference -- a tradition established for the Greek world by Henri Jeanmaire, taken up by Angelo Brelich, and followed more recently by Claude Calame and Pierre Brule/, among others.[[2]] These scholars assume that, like other pre-urban cultures, early Greek culture must have had rituals for moving young men and women to adult status, and they look for such rituals, or their traces, in Greek religious practice and myth. The model can be combined with structuralism, as C. does to some extent, for the liminality and inversion associated with the period of initiation can be detected by its being coded as a series of oppositions (visual, linguistic, culinary, sartorial, etc.) to standard practices or values.
There is, however, another school of thought that is sceptical of using initiation as an a priori framework. Simon Price, for instance, remarks in his recent book on Greek religion, "Initiation rituals or 'rites de passage' are held to underlie many if not all myths . . . . As a matter of fact classical Greece had very few initiation rituals and so the theory hypothesised that, while rituals had been lost or transformed, myths continued to be told in the classical and later periods. Compulsive detection of initiation rituals can be rather arbitrary and in the end casts little light on Greece of historic periods."[[3]] According to this approach, which I share, the (earlier) existence of a relevant initiation ritual is something one must demonstrate before interpreting myths or gestures as a reflection of it; not all pre-urban cultures practiced initiation.[[4]] Greek myth reveals concern with the transition of the young to warrior status, certainly, but such concern exists whether ritualized or not. Indeed, myth may substitute for ritual in expressing a culture's anxiety and interest in the process.
C. does not discuss the category "initiation ritual" but relies on earlier scholars' interpretations of various festivals like the Apatouria as initiatory. She therefore gives the sceptic no new reason to accept the one-time presence of age-class initiation throughout Greece, necessary to her thesis. On the contrary, it seems to me that her effort to identify initiatory practices sometimes leads her to distortions. In discussing Athens, for instance, C. must weight evidence inappropriately, slighting the Panathenaia compared to the Apatouria, even though there is no real evidence for the pyrrhiche at the latter. Moreover, I have a different impression of the nature of these festivals. In a recent study of the Attic phratries Steven Lambert points out that the only connection ever drawn between the Apatouria and the myth of Xanthos and Melanthos is the punning false etymology of Apatouria from apate (deception). He thinks the connection is a scholar's invention, perhaps Hellanikos'. If so, ephebic ideology was not germane to the festival. The Apatouria, in any event, was a festival of kinship that linked generations and involved children of various ages.[[5]] Similarly, the Panathenaic pyrrhiche was danced by boys and adult men as well as youths. In both cases C. describes the festivals as concentrated on a single moment of discontinuity (change of status for youths), whereas the festivals seem to me to celebrate a continuum of involvement for male citizens from boyhood on.
Yet in spite of my resistance to claims that age-class initiation explains ritual or myth, I find C.'s discussion enormously valuable in ways that transcend this issue, for two reasons. First, she organizes a huge amount of evidence very skillfully and pursues many issues of interest; beyond those I have mentioned she discusses, e.g., pyrrhic and tragedy, Polybios on dance in Arcadia, maenads, the iconography of dance in Asia Minor. One of the best features of the book is that C. always provides the actual evidence for her conclusions and often discusses other possible interpretations. She has remarkable command of scholarship on a wide range of problems; for Americans the book is a goldmine of information on recent European scholarship on all these topics.
Second, in chapter 8 C. broadens her thesis; as the sentence quoted above reveals she switches to a psychological view of the pyrrhiche. When C. describes the dance itself as the state of alterity and its conclusion as reintegration in the community she turns from age-class initiation to the idea of transition from one state of mind to another: the pyrrhiche as inducing or miming the warrior's shift into and out of intense battle-focus, "furious" yet coordinated with his fellow-soldiers. At this level the idea of transition is productive because it includes all dancers. It allows us to see dance and myth as complementary (as C. implies), for the dance represents successful negotiation of the transitions while myth warns of possible failures. In myth the outcome wavers between destructive violence and victory. C.'s discussion of Neoptolemos captures the problem of the "new warrior" -- his emotional intensity and potential isolation and the need to integrate him into a military structure. In the dance the discipline of the rapid, weapon-brandishing choral dance controls the fervid psychological state that it also evokes. The pyrrhiche can thus "educate" especially young men in controlled and coordinated aggressiveness.
The psychological interpretation may explain the connection of Artemis with the pyrrhiche, for she oversees the wild and bounds it off from human culture. It accounts for the affinity of Dionysus and the pyrrhiche. Likewise, C.'s demonstration of the evolution of the dance in the Hellenistic period provides another way to glimpse the changed relationship of citizens to war.
C.'s book is dense; her argument is complicated and sometimes difficult to follow since she takes on so much. I have presented only some of her conclusions and those in brutally condensed form. It is nonetheless an engrossing book to read and very rewarding for anyone interested in Greek cultural performances and their mythic projections.
NOTES
[[1]] H. Mu+hlestein, Homerische Namenstudien, Frankfurt, 1987, 66-71.
[[2]] H. Jeanmaire, Couroi et Coure\tes. Essai sur l'e/ducation spartiate
et sur les rites d'adolescence dans l'antiquite/ helle/nique, Lille, 1939; A. Brelich, Paides e Parthenoi, Rome, 1969; C. Calame, Les choeurs de jeunes filles en Gre\ce archai+que, Rome, 1977; P. Brule/, La fille d'Athe\nes. La religion des filles a\ Athe\nes a\ l'e/poque classique, Paris, 1987.
[[3]] S. Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks, Cambridge, 1999, 17.
[[4]] See F. W. Young, Initiation Ceremonies: A Cross-Cultural Study of
Status Dramatization, Indianapolis, 1965, on initiation, esp. 14-15 on the absence of such rituals in some societies. I thank Donna Kerner for this reference.
[[5]] S. D. Lambert, The Phratries of Attica, 2nd ed., Ann Arbor, 1998,
144-52 on the myth, esp. 151-2 on the importance of kinship and the weakness of the connection between the ephebia and the Apatouria in the pre-Hellenistic period; 160-63 for children's participation.
Sansone questions aspects of my interpretation of the pyrrhic or weapon dance, especially in an Athenian context. A well-known fourth-c. inscription attests that the pyrrhic was a choral competition for boys, adolescents, and men in the Great Panathenaia. Lysias shows that sponsoring a pyrrhic chorus was a form of public liturgy. I postulate that, in addition, the pyrrhic was a qualification rite for ephebes on the grounds that ephebes, like choral dancers, were grouped in lochoi or bands under the direction of a lochagos (cf. choroi, choregos). (Sansone's objection that, if the pyrrhic was a qualification rite for ephebes, why was there competitive weapon dancing for boys and men as well at the Panathenaic Games, does not make sense to me: one does not exclude the others.)
Aristotle, in a passage in the Constitution of the Athenians on the qualifications, responsibilities, and privileges of the ephebeia states that during their service ephebes were given their weapons and instructed by a paidotribes in the handling of the spear, shield, and javelin, the weapons that figure in Plato's description of the pyrrhic. It is possible to infer from the hiring of the trainer that various gymnastic rites, including the pyrrhic, served as a coming-out rite that qualified the ephebes for full military service. The possibility that ephebes in lochoi performed a qualification dance proving agility in the manipulation of weapons can be strengthened by aitiological myths for the pyrrhic. These pertain to divinities and heroes, and the actual birth of and handing over of weapons accompanied by a dance motif, as well as the idea of emerging from a covert place (lochos: ambush/womb). An example from theogonic myth is Zeus (Hes., Th., 174-87, cf. pp. 152- 155). An example from iconography is Athena's "leaping" birth from the head of Zeus (151-52). (Sansone is right to recall that this choreographic interpretation is an hypothesis, not a generally accepted fact.)
These and other examples involving emerging from a lochos led me to postulate that by the fourth century the pyrrhic was a coming-out rite in which the ephebe was awarded his armor after a year's training and required to show to an Athenian audience how the weapons should be manipulated through paramilitary exercises, including the pyrrhic (pp. 163-64). Some would see this as a far leap, but it is not implausible, and someone has to take it if we are to make any progress in understanding the fragmentary evidence for dance and associated phenomena in ancient Greece.
Other types of evidence do not fare any better. For example, Lonsdale states as though it were a fact (164) that the Panathenaic amphoras represent Athena as dancing the pyrrhic. This is, rather, a hypothesis, which not everyone is prepared to accept; see most recently J. Neils, Goddess and Polis (Princeton 1992) 197 n. 43. In the same way, it is asserted (71) that the words TE/RYIS and TROFH/ are etymologically related. They are not. We are told (240-41) that the athletic contests described in Iliad 23 serve a function similar to that of the death dances of the Lugbara of Uganda. But what can that tell us about the function of Greek dances, particularly when, as we have seen, dances are not mentioned in Iliad 23?
The Pyrrhic Dance -- most likely named for Achilles' son Pyrrhus ('Fiery Red') who later became Neoptolemus ('New War') -- was a series of stylized defensive and offensive movements performed to the accompaniment of a flute. (The flute was used in other military settings as well, such as to accompany hymns or paeans (songs of praise) before battle or to help keep hoplites in order during an advance.)
Similar techniques exist in contemporary martial arts. For example, those who've trained in karate will be familiar with "kata," a series of increasingly complex formal movements that have to be learned for the student to rise in rank.
Training such as this is thought to increase reaction time and of course the repertory of moves available to a fighter.
Notice that the warrior here once again carries the basic hoplite equipment of helmet, shield, spear, and greaves, and notice too the phallic position of his spear.
It's likely that the Pyrrhic Dance would have been presented at festivals, such as the Spartan Gymnopaedia, or Festival of the Naked Youths, sacred to Apollo, which included choral dancing.
veii
The Greeks were not alone in having this sort of exercise. These terra cotta figures, performing a similar sort of dance and dating from the 5th century BCE, are from a tribe called the Veii, an Italic people eventually absorbed by Rome.
And Tacitus speaks of a naked war dance among Teutonic tribal youth in the 1st century AD.
As in the first painting in The Warrior Bond, "Achilles and Patroclus," which has the appearance of a Japanese woodcut, it's interesting to see here an ancient Greek variant on a present-day east Asian martial art, another example of cultural convergence among warrior societies.
