Mackie, Iliad 24 and the Judgement of Paris

17
The Classical Quarterly http://journals.cambridge.org/CAQ Additional services for The Classical Quarterly: Email alerts: Click here Subscriptions: Click here Commercial reprints: Click here Terms of use : Click here ILIAD 24 AND THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS C.J. Mackie The Classical Quarterly / Volume 63 / Issue 01 / May 2013, pp 1 16 DOI: 10.1017/S0009838812000754, Published online: 24 April 2013 Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0009838812000754 How to cite this article: C.J. Mackie (2013). ILIAD 24 AND THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS. The Classical Quarterly, 63, pp 116 doi:10.1017/S0009838812000754 Request Permissions : Click here Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/CAQ, IP address: 193.43.103.135 on 21 May 2013

description

Mackie, Iliad 24 and the Judgement of Paris

Transcript of Mackie, Iliad 24 and the Judgement of Paris

  • TheClassicalQuarterlyhttp://journals.cambridge.org/CAQ

    AdditionalservicesforTheClassicalQuarterly:

    Emailalerts:ClickhereSubscriptions:ClickhereCommercialreprints:ClickhereTermsofuse:Clickhere

    ILIAD24ANDTHEJUDGEMENTOFPARIS

    C.J.Mackie

    TheClassicalQuarterly/Volume63/Issue01/May2013,pp116DOI:10.1017/S0009838812000754,Publishedonline:24April2013

    Linktothisarticle:http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0009838812000754

    Howtocitethisarticle:C.J.Mackie(2013).ILIAD24ANDTHEJUDGEMENTOFPARIS.TheClassicalQuarterly,63,pp116doi:10.1017/S0009838812000754

    RequestPermissions:Clickhere

    Downloadedfromhttp://journals.cambridge.org/CAQ,IPaddress:193.43.103.135on21May2013

  • ILIAD 24 AND THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS1

    Despite the importance of the Judgement of Paris in the story of the Trojan War, theIliad has only one explicit reference to it. This occurs, rather out of the blue, in thefinal book of the poem in a dispute among the gods about the treatment of Hectorsbody (24.2530). Achilles keeps dragging the body around behind his chariot, butApollo protects it with his golden aegis (24.1821). Apollo then speaks among thegods and attacks the conduct of Achilles (24.3354), claiming at the end that he offendsthe dumb earth (24.54). Other gods too have their concerns about what is going on, andthey keep trying to get Hermes to snatch the body away (24.234). The three mostpowerful divine enemies of Troy, however, Hera, Poseidon and Athena, will havenone of this.2 They remain as hostile to Troy and Priam and his people as they everwere, and it is in this context that the Judgement of Paris is mentioned:

    , o , , , , .

    (24.2530)

    And this was pleasing to all the others, but never to Heranor to Poseidon, nor to the flashing-eyed maiden,but they remained hostile to sacred Ilios as in the beginning,and to Priam and to his people, because of Alexanders folly,he who insulted the goddesses when they came to his inner courtyardand praised her who provided his grievous lust.

    Since ancient times much ink has been spilt on this passage, not least because it occursso late in the work. The debate about it is described at some length in Nicholas

    1 I am very grateful to CQs anonymous referee for useful comments and criticisms of an earlierdraft of this article.

    2 These are the same three gods who had earlier tried to tie up Zeus and overthrow him (1.393407). Thetis saved him from his fate on that occasion by bringing Briareus up to Olympus. He satdown beside Zeus, whereupon the three plotters thought better of their scheme. This is an obscuremythical episode, which was athetized by Zenodotus, although M.M. Willcock, Mythological para-deigma in the Iliad, in D.L. Cairns (ed.), Oxford Readings in Homers Iliad (Oxford, 2001), 439argues that it is a Homeric invention: Why should Hera, Poseidon and Athene have wished tobind Zeus? It is precisely because these are the three gods who support the Greeks in the Iliad,and who would therefore most wish to prevent Zeus acceding to Thetis request [his italics], thatthey are made the opponents of Zeus in the invented myth. In the present passage in Iliad 24, thehatred of the three gods for Troy is linked specifically to the Judgement of Paris and is also connected,by juxtaposition, with the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (5963), at which the dispute between thegoddesses first arose.

    Classical Quarterly 63.1 116 (2013) Printed in Great Britain 1doi:10.1017/S0009838812000754

  • Richardsons commentary (ad 24.2330),3 and so it need not be rehearsed in full here.The main concerns about the passage, first raised by Aristarchus, are listed byRichardson as follows: (a) it is absurd to speak of all the gods agreeing, and thenexclude three of the most powerful deities; (b) the judgement of Paris is nowhere elsementioned by Homer, whereas it ought to have been referred to more often as an expla-nation of the goddesses hostility; (c) (29) is misused, since it cannot meanjudged; (d) (30) means , whereas what Aphrodite gave toParis was not this but Helen, the most beautiful woman of the time; and the word isin any case Hesiodic (cf. Hes. fr. 132 MW). These are by no means the only objec-tions to the passage, all of which are cited by Richardson. One concern added in thescholia was the fact that Poseidons hatred of Troy arose from his treatment byLaomedon (21.44160), not from the divine beauty contest.

    Some of the defenders of the passage, notably Reinhardt, Griffin, Davies andMacleod, concerned themselves with its relevance in the broader context of the wholepoem.4 Reinhardt argued that the story of the Judgement lies behind it in a fundamentalway, and that there could be no Iliad without it (Ohne Parisurteil keine Ilias, 32). Hisview was that there is no real benefit for the poet in spelling out the spiteful motivationof the two goddesses earlier in the work because it would introduce a folklore elementinto an essentially Olympian struggle. Davies offered a critique of Reinhardt and raisedthe question of why the reference to the Judgement is in the poem at all, if it can simplylie behind it (as it does, happily enough, for the first twenty-three books). He offers aningenious argument to explain the passage that the Judgement is fundamentally con-nected to the main themes that are begun in Book 1: If the first book of the Iliadshowed human quarrels persisting and divine strife easily quelled, the antithesis is lar-gely reversed in the last. On the mortal level Achilles abandons his anger and becomesfinally reconciled with Priam and with humanity. On the divine level the first explicitmention of the Judgement reminds us of grudges and resentments which are notresolved, but linger on relentlessly and inexorably, to issue in the destruction ofTroy (5960). Richardsons own cautious conclusion is that it is probably fair tosay that the passage as a whole should be regarded as part of the original poem, despitesome doubts over 2930 (278).

    Most critical attention, therefore, has been devoted, either to dismissing the passageoutright, after Aristarchus, or to considering its place in the poem as a whole.Surprisingly little work has been done on exploring the passage specifically withinthe context of Book 24, even though there are many other references to the broaderstory of Troy and the Trojan war at the end of the poem. As we will see, the numerousallusions to other parts of the saga are not usually as explicit as our reference to thedivine beauty contest; and some of them are frustratingly elliptical. But they do addup to a considerable interest in the wider narrative of the city and the regions around

    3 N. Richardson, The Iliad: A Commentary. Volume VI: Books 2124 (Cambridge, 1993).4 K. Reinhardt, Das Parisurteil (1938), reprinted in Tradition und Geist (Gttingen, 1960), 1636;

    J. Griffin, Homer on Life and Death (Oxford, 1980), 195 n. 49, who offers a more extensive bibli-ography on the subject; M. Davies, The Judgement of Paris and Iliad 24, JHS 101 (1981), 5662;C.W. Macleod, Homer. Iliad Book XXIV (Cambridge, 1982). For a useful discussion of theReinhardt article, and the issues with which it deals, see the Introduction by Jones in P.V. Jones andG. Wright, Homer: German Scholarship in Translation (Oxford, 1997), 1820. A survey of theJudgement story through time, with particular focus on the Euripidean context, is found in T.C.W.Stinton, Euripides and the Judgement of Paris (London, 1965): for an assessment of the Iliadic refer-ence, see pp. 14.

    C.J . MACKIE2

  • it. Some of the references look back to the earlier life of Troy before the war began, aswith the present passage. And others seem to assume a detailed knowledge of the fall ofTroy, and so take us forward to its imminent doom at the hands of the Greeks. The cen-tral argument to be put in this article, therefore, is that the reference to the Judgement ofParis is part of a wider pattern of allusion to the whole saga of Troy and the Trojan Warin Book 24. The Iliads conclusion has a sustained interest both in revisiting the originsof the conflict, and in anticipating the final destruction of the city.

    I begin, therefore, not with the beginnings of Heras and Athenas hostility to Troy inthe Judgement of Paris, as above, but with an earlier event in mythic history. In responseto the hostile outburst of Apollo at the treatment of Hectors body by Achilles, Heradraws a comparison between Achilles, who is the child of a goddess, and Hector,who is the child of a mortal woman (24.589). This in turn leads to her mention ofthe upbringing of Thetis, and her betrothal and wedding to the warrior Peleus:

    , ,, . , , , , .

    (24.5963)

    But Achilles is the child of a goddess whom I myselfnurtured and brought up, and gave to a husband as his wife,to Peleus, who was dear to the hearts of the immortals.And you were all present at the wedding, you gods, and among them yousat at the feast with your lyre, companion of evils, forever faithless.

    Reference to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis here is particularly important because itwas at this event that the squabble between the three goddesses began. We will have alittle bit more to say about this aspect in a moment. Unlike the reference to theJudgement of Paris (24.2530), which has not been mentioned previously, the betrothaland marriage of Thetis to Peleus have already been spelt out in some detail earlier in thetext. In her plea to Hephaestus for armour for Achilles, Thetis laments the fact that Zeusgave her many woes, and that she had to suffer the bed of a mortal man, who is now inpainful old age (18.42835). She says that she bore a son and afterward sent him to Troywith the ships, from where he will never return to the house of Peleus (18.43541).Book 24 is especially concerned to re-emphasize the shared grief of the parents at theloss of their only son because his doom is so much the closer after the death ofHector. Thetis grieves for his death while he still lives (24.836, 12837); and thegrief of Peleus is visualized by Achilles and Priam when they meet later for the ransomexchange (24.4869, 53442). Thus the reference to Peleus in the speech of Hera(24.601) is in keeping with the prominence of the grieving old man figure in thefinal book.

    The surprising news is that Hera brought up the young Thetis, and has a real good-will towards her. Apollonius (4.7908), and Apollodorus (3.13.5) both mention thisstory, and it may have been included in the Cypria, where we learn that Thetis resistedmarrying Zeus as a favour to Hera.5 But it comes out of the blue as far as the Iliad is

    5 Homer, OCT vol. 5 (Allen), p. 118 fr. II. See too Cat. fr. 210 MW, together with J.R. March, TheCreative Poet (London, 1987), 89. Later sources (Pind. Isthm. 8.2648 and [Aesch.] PV 90727) tellus that Zeus forced Thetis to marry a mortal because she was destined to bear a child who was greater

    ILIAD 24 AND THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS 3

  • concerned, especially after the display of apparent tension between the two goddesses inBook 1 (51767, esp. 5559). At the beginning of the poem Zeus accedes to a requestfrom Thetis to support the Trojans, although he does so with some anxiety about Heraslikely response (1.51821). Hera perceives what has happened at their meeting, andmakes complaint (1.5403, 5529), only to be put in her place by Zeus (1.5617).The earlier part of the Iliad, therefore, does not prepare us for Heras claim in thefinal book that she brought up Thetis. The surrounding narrative of Book 24, however,is a little more helpful. Shortly after making her claim about bringing up Thetis, Herahas the opportunity to act out her goodwill towards her when she arrives on Olympus(24.1012). She greets her warmly there, and places a golden cup in her hand for herto drink. Heras enunciation of her fondness for Thetis (24.5961) thus prepares theway for her actual arrival among the gods, and the warm welcome that she receives(24.1012). It is worth noting that B.K. Braswell dealt with the apparent inconsistencyin the poem as a whole by arguing that Heras nurturing of Thetis is probably a Homericinvention: The poet has invented the detail of Heras raising Thetis to provide anelement of obligation in the relation of the older goddess to the younger we suspectmythological innovation because it is a detail not found elsewhere and is precisely of thekind that would have been invented to suit a passing need, namely to provide a motivein the context.6

    Editorial concern about the apparent textual inconsistency in Books 1 and 24 hastended to overshadow the rather more obvious fact that the early part of the finalbook has a considerable interest in the very beginnings of the Trojan saga.Particularly significant is Heras reference to the actual wedding of the pair, thefact that all the gods were present, and that Apollo himself was there with hislyre (24.623). Elsewhere in the Iliad the emphasis is largely on the betrothal andmarriage of the pair as parents of Achilles, rather than the actual wedding. The jux-taposition of the Judgement (24.2530) and the wedding (24.623) seems to be veryimportant. By the time that Zeus responds to the feisty enunciations of Apollo andHera with a firm injunction of his own on how things will proceed (24.6576), wehave had two significant allusions to early stages of the saga of Troy. In the Cypriathese two events are fundamentally connected, because the trouble between the threegoddesses broke out at the wedding.7 Homers knowledge of the story about thestrife at the wedding is never made clear, but the close proximity of the two eventshere in Iliad 24 seems to suggest that he was well acquainted with it. What we cancertainly say is that the first part of the final book has an early interest in the originsof the war in the divine sphere. Paris choice of Aphrodite as the winner of the con-test, on the promise of receiving Helen as his bride, not only begins a new phase in

    than his father, and Peleus was chosen because he was the most righteous (eusebestaton, Isthm. 8.40).March argues (23) that it would seem very likely that it was Pindar himself who created this inno-vation in the legend, because he wished to stress the stature of Achilles, who was to be greatereven than the great hero Peleus, his father. By contrast L. Slatkin, The Power of Thetis (Berkeley,1991), 83 takes the view that a secret power of Thetis lies within her tragic isolation: the centralelement in the structure of Thetiss mythology, common to its representations in both Isthmian 8and Prometheus Bound, is the covertness of her power; it is a secret weapon, a concealed promise,a hidden agenda requiring discovery, revelation. It is precisely this covert, latent aspect of Thetispotential in cosmic relations to which the Iliad draws attention as well, both exploiting and reinforcingit, as allusion.

    6 B.K. Braswell, Mythological innovation in the Iliad, CQ 21 (1971), 1626, at 24; cf. 14.303,where Hera says that she herself has been brought up by Oceanus and Tethys.

    7 Homer, OCT vol. 5, p. 102.1317.

    C.J . MACKIE4

  • the dispute between the goddesses, but also brings his own city into the sights of theGreeks.

    In addition to these references to important events before the war, Book 24 seems toreveal a considerable interest in the background story of Troy itself, especially to the lineof earlier kings before Priam. These are mostly bare allusions, without any attached nar-rative, unlike the references to specific narratives that we have just been considering.More expansive narratives of the earlier kings are told elsewhere in the poem, especiallythe speech of Aeneas to Achilles about the background history of Troy (20.21541).Dardanus, Ilus and Laomedon are the three kings mentioned in Book 24, althoughthere is quite a bit of difference in the character of the references. Collectively, however,they do signify a sustained level of interest in the broader story of Troy and the regionaround it in the final part of the poem.

    In his account of the life of the city, Aeneas tells Achilles of the part played byDardanus, the son of Zeus, as the founder of Dardania on Mount Ida, prior to the estab-lishment of Troy (20.21518). We learn shortly afterwards that Zeus loved Dardanusabove all the children who were born to him from mortal women (20.3035). Thepatronymic is used of two Trojan kings in the Iliad. In Book 11 (166,372) it describes Ilus, the son of Tros and thus the great-grandson of Dardanus(20.2302); and it also describes Priam on six occasions prior to the final book(3.303, 5.159, 7.366, 13.376, 21.34 and 22.352). The genealogical distance betweenDardanus and Priam is a full five generations (DardanusErichthoniusTrosIlusLaomedonPriam, 20.215240), and so the patronymic is very extended in his case.8

    The sustained interest in DardanusPriam in the poem as a whole is even moreemphatic in the final book where the patronymic is used four times at crucial pointsin the narrative (24.171, 354, 629, 631). The first of these is in the vocative in the speechof Iris to Priam where she gives him reassurance and tells him not to be afraid (, , , , 24.171). The second, another vocative, liesin the speech of Idaeus, who catches sight of Hermes as they venture out to Achillescamp. When the herald sees him standing there in the gloom, he verbalizes his anxietyto Priam as son of Dardanus (, , 24.354). The poet clearly has aninterest in associating the two men as the first and the last in the long line of kingsas he embarks on his heroic quest.

    The most significant use of the patronymic in the Iliad, however, is when Achillesand Priam gaze upon one another after the meal that they share:

    , , .

    (24.62932)

    Then indeed Priam, the son of Dardanus, wondered at Achilles,how big he was and how fair; for plainly he seemed like the gods.And Achilles in turn wondered at Priam, the son of Dardanus,gazing on his noble appearance, and listening to his words.

    8 This has caused anxiety in some quarters that the patronymic is too extended and that we shouldbe thinking of another Dardanus (see the discussion of T. Gantz, Early Greek Myth, vol. 2 [Baltimore,1996], 5578). It is important in the Iliad, however, especially Book 24, that the patronymic takes usright back to the beginnings of the city. Dardanides is used throughout Virgils Aeneid to signifyAeneas (singular) and the Trojans (plural).

    ILIAD 24 AND THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS 5

  • As Richardson points out (ad loc.), the repetition of the full patronymic helps providethe reason for the wonder of Achilles as he looks across at him. Dardanus, the originatorof Trojan identity, is evoked twice in quick succession to describe the last king of Troy.It is as if Achilles looks across at the whole history of Troy, from Dardanus in the begin-ning to Priam at the end. There seems to be a conscious interest in extending and broad-ening our sense of the life of the city, from its earliest origins with Dardanus on theridges of Ida (20.218) to the final doom hanging over Priams Troy.

    Book 24 also alludes to two other early kings, Ilus and Laomedon, respectively thegrandfather and father of Priam. The tomb of Ilus, the son of Tros, and brother ofAssaracus and Ganymede (20.2312), is referred to at a crucial moment in the descrip-tion of Priams ransom journey. It is also mentioned earlier in the poem (10.415, 11.166,372), and is one of a number of significant landmarks outside of the city.9 In Book 24 ittakes on an added level of significance because it helps to identify the end of Trojanterritory. When Priam and Idaeus have driven past the great tomb of Ilus, they stoppedthe mules and horses in the river for them to drink; for by this time darkness had fallenupon the earth (24.34951). It is at this point that the herald notices Hermes standingbefore them, and the two old men stand there in fear and confusion. Thus the two earlykings, Ilus and Dardanus, are mentioned in quick succession (24.349 [Ilus], 354[Dardanus]). The tomb of Ilus, the river and the darkness all help to signify the pointin his mission where Priam will need Hermes to provide safe passage. The fact that itis the tomb of Priams grandfather, the eponymous king of Ilios (hence the Iliad), clearlygives the landmark a special cultural significance.

    Ilus son, Laomedon, is actually the subject of more attention in the narrative of theIliad than his father, not that we learn very much about him either (the main referencesare 5.269 and 64054, 6.23, 7.4523, 20.2367, 21.44160).10 Laomedon was the per-fidious king who refused to pay Poseidon and Apollo for their work at Troy. He com-pounded his folly by refusing to pay Heracles for his labours at Troy in killing themonster which the gods sent to be a plague on the city. Heracles duly raised a smallforce and sacked Laomedons Troy (5.63842). Laomedon himself is not explicitlymentioned in Book 24, but he is the subject of an oblique allusion as the reason forPoseidons hostility to Troy (at 24.26). A little earlier in the poem (21.44160),Poseidon says that he finds it hard to understand Apollos continued support for theTrojan cause: Dont you remember all the evils that we two, alone of all the gods, suf-fered at Ilios? (21.4423). He then proceeds to list all the bad treatment that theyendured at the hands of the king. As we have seen, the reference to Poseidons hatredfor Troy (24.26) is wedged uncomfortably between Heras hostility for the city (24.25)and that of Athena (24.26). The two goddesses are motivated by Paris choice ofAphrodite as victor in the Judgement, whereas Poseidon is still driven byLaomedons offensive conduct. The oblique reference to Laomedon also has the effectof reminding us that Troy was sacked a generation ago, as the gods gather for the finaldestruction of the place.11

    9 On the tomb of Ilus, see Griffin (n. 4), 224.10 See M.J. Alden, Homer Beside Himself: Para-narratives in the Iliad (Oxford, 2000), 24 and

    15764.11 On the Laomedon story and its role in the Iliad, see M. Lang, Reverberation and mythology in

    the Iliad, in C.A. Rubino and C.W. Shelmerdine (edd.), Approaches to Homer (Austin, 1982), 14064.For a comparison of the sack of Laomedons city and Priams in the two heroic generations, see C.J.Mackie, Rivers of Fire: Symbolic Themes in Homers Iliad (Washington, DC, 2008).

    C.J . MACKIE6

  • Within Book 24, therefore, we have references to three earlier kings of Troy. Thesehave the effect of complementing the account of Aeneas in Book 20 (21541).Dardanus, the founder of Dardania on Mount Ida, he who established the line ofkings, is mentioned four times through the patronymic (24.171, 354, 629, 631; cf.20.21519, 3035). His great-grandson Ilus is alluded to through the significant markerof his tomb (24.349; cf. 20.2326). And his son Laomedon, the father of Priam, isalluded to, but not named, as the reason for Poseidons hostility to Troy (24.26; cf.20.2369, 21.44160). There is a sense that as he ventures out to Achilles camp,Priam carries with him not just the whole weight of his people but also the whole historyand identity of his regal line.

    Another important reference to the pre-Trojan War period, this time during the earlierkingship of Priam himself, is Helens allusion to her journey with Paris to Troy (24.7646).In her lament for the dead Hector the final speech in the Iliad Helen offers some detailabout their passage from Sparta to Troy: he (Paris) who brought me here to Troy. Wouldthat I had died before then. For this is now the twentieth year since I departed from thereand have been gone from my native land (24.7646). This is the tenth year of the TrojanWar (2.134, 295, 3289), and so a period of twenty years since Helens departure is pro-blematic, to say the least. Twenty years may simply be Homers way of saying a very longtime (Richardson), or 10 + years (Macleod).12 If that is the case then the reference pre-sumably helps us to account for the time spent gathering the Greek forces together andactually getting them to Troy. The Greek poets and mythmakers do favour ten-year blocksin their myths, and Richardson (ad 24.7657) points to other references to twenty as a kindof standard figure in Homer.

    The passage, however, is made more problematic by the fact that a series of storieswas told in Cyclic epic explaining a delay in the Greek arrival at Troy after Helensdeparture with Paris. These included the military campaign against Telephus inMysia, accounts of Achilles on Scyros and the winds at Aulis. Proclus gives us abrief account of some of the stories in his summary of the Cypria, but it is unclearwhether Homer knew them.13 My own view is that there is more to what Helen saysin the present passage than a vague statement of a long time. It does seem to be signifi-cant that the extraordinary reference to the period of twenty years falls within this bookrather than earlier in the poem. The wedding of Peleus and Thetis (24.623) and theallusion to the Judgement of Paris at the beginning of the final book (24.2530) clearlycomplement Helens reference to her journey from Sparta at the end of the same book,not least because the earlier mythical events lead directly to the later one. This mythicalcoupling is a characteristic of Book 24, as we have already seen with Heras referenceto the childhood and wedding of Thetis (24.5961), and the warm greeting that shegives her when she reaches Olympus (24.1012).14 Helen is a figure of great importanceat the end of the Iliad, both as the woman over whom the war is fought, and as the finalspeaker in the poem, one who reflects on the origins and course of the conflict.

    Two other figures referred to in the final book from earlier in the war are Troilus andMestor, the sons of Priam (24.2578), neither of whom is mentioned elsewhere inHomer. When he is preparing for his ransom mission Priam castigates his survivingsons, and compares them unfavourably to those who have died Mestor, Troilus and

    12 Macleod, ad 7656; Richardson, ad 24.7657.13 Homer, OCT vol. 5, p. 104.124.14 Cf. 24.10710 in which Zeus describes the between the gods. This complements the main

    description of the argument between Apollo and Hera earlier in the book.

    ILIAD 24 AND THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS 7

  • Hector (24.25364). We learn nothing about the first two figures, other than the fact thatthey are dead, and that they are now much revered by their father. Mestor does notappear again in any early accounts of the war for Troy, but Apollodorus tells us thathe was killed by Achilles as part of the raid on Aeneas cattle on Mount Ida. Aeneasescaped, but Achilles killed the cowherds and also killed Mestor, the son of Priam,and proceeded to drive away the cattle (Apollod. Epit. 3.32; cf. Il. 20.903, 18894).Proclus tells us that the Cypria contained a narrative of the raid on Aeneas cattle,but he makes no mention of Mestor.15 The death of Troilus at Achilles hands, however,was contained in the Cypria, and surviving vases also indicate that it was a populartheme in early Greek art.16 As we have just seen with the reference to Helens journeyto Troy, it is unclear what stories Homer is thinking of when he mentions Mestor andTroilus in the final book. But again it does seem to be significant that the close of thepoem consciously reflects upon them as part of a wider interest in the earlier stages ofthe war.

    In the following chart, therefore, we may observe the series of allusions in Book 24to earlier people and past events, together with the main references to these same eventsfrom earlier in the text:

    References to past people and events in the story of Troy in Iliad 24Person/event Book 24 Earlier books of the Iliad

    1. Dardanus 24.171, 354, 629, 631 20.21519, 30352. Ilus 24.349 10.415, 11.166, 372, 20.23263. Laomedon 24.256 (not named,

    oblique allusion)5.269, 64054, 6.23, 7.4523,20.2367, 21.44260

    4. Childhood andwedding of Thetis

    24.5961, 5347 18.42835 (the betrothal andmarriage to Peleus)

    5. Judgement of Paris 24.2530 No other reference6. Helens twentyyears away fromSparta

    24.7646 No other reference (cf. 3.4651,4426, 6.2902, 13.6259,22.11118)

    7. Deaths of Mestorand Troilus

    24.2578 No other reference

    In addition to this sustained interest in earlier stages of the war for Troy, the final bookof the Iliad is characterized by its anticipation of significant events to come. The Iliad isquite different from the Odyssey in this regard, in the light of its fundamental concernwith what is about to happen after the close of the poem itself.17 The two principalevents foreshadowed are the death of Achilles and the fall of Troy. The fates of thesetwo are rather skilfully linked together throughout the poem. Achilles and the Trojansare both protected by divine workmanship Achilles by the armour of Hephaestus(18.368617 etc.), and the people of Troy by the walls of Poseidon (21.4417; andApollo, 7.44653). Notwithstanding this divine goodwill, the invulnerability ofAchilles and the Trojans is imperfect, and the final part of the Iliad emphatically

    15 Homer, OCT vol. 5, p. 105.1012.16 Homer, OCT vol. 5, p. 105.12; K. Schefold,Myth and Legend in Early Greek Art (London, 1966),

    44, 61, 87; Gantz (n. 8), 597603; LIMC 8.2, s.v. Troilus, 116 (= pp. 6971).17 For the future in the Odyssey, see 11.12137, 23.26884.

    C.J . MACKIE8

  • anticipates the doom that they face.18 Both will fall to acts of divinely inspired treachery,Achilles to an arrow in the heel (Apollo/Paris), and Troy to the Wooden Horse, althoughthe Iliad offers us next to nothing on these two episodes.19

    After the death of Patroclus is announced to him, and he sets a determined course onrevenge, Achilles is told by Thetis that he is destined to die shortly after the death ofHector (18.956; cf. 19.4089, 22.35760). Book 24 reiterates this fate in an emphaticway. When Iris goes into the sea to rouse Thetis to Olympus to meet with Zeus, she isalready grieving for her son who was to perish in deep-soiled Troy, far from his home-land (24.856).20 And when she comes to urge him to accept the ransom, she is explicitthat death and mighty fate stand right beside him (24.1312). The funeral and crema-tion of Hector at the end of the poem have the effect of anticipating both the associateddoom of Achilles, and the fall of the city which Hector had defended so resolutely whenhe was alive.

    Indeed, the fall of Troy is anticipated throughout the Iliad, even before the death ofHector (for some of the main references to the destruction of the city, see 4.1635,6.4479, 20.31317, 21.3746, 22.5971, 24.2446, 3805, 551, 72545).21 By thetime that Andromache begins her lament at the funeral of Hector, she is already foresha-dowing the likely fates of individual Trojans after the citys fall (24.72545, on whichsee below). The principal device, however, by which Troy is taken the ruse of theWooden Horse is not described in the Iliad. Other early epics took a great dealmore interest in this story. It was told in Cyclic epic, in the Little Iliad and in theIliou Persis, and there are also three references to it in the Odyssey (4.26689,8.499520, 11.52332).22 One assumes that the poet of the Iliad knew the story ofthe Horse well enough, but chose to omit it from his narrative. In some ways it is a sur-prising omission, given the Iliads interest in the imminent fall of Troy. But it has beenwell documented by many scholars just how severe the Iliad can be in its treatment ofmyth.23 The Wooden Horse is an Odyssean triumph, but it does nothing for Achilles andhis brand of heroism.

    This article has argued, however, that the final book of the Iliad displays a consider-able interest in some of the main stories in the saga of Troy the Judgement of Paris, thewedding of Peleus and Thetis and the voyage of Helen to the Troad; and that it alludesthroughout to some of the earlier kings. It would not be totally surprising, therefore, tofind some kind of hint about the role of the Horse in the citys destruction; and a sep-arate argument for such a foreshadowing has recently been put.24 G.F. Franko argues

    18 On imperfect invulnerability, see J. Burgess, Achilles heel: the death of Achilles in ancientmyth, ClAnt 14 (1995), 21743. See now Burgesss book, The Death and Afterlife of Achilles(Baltimore, 2009), esp. 913.

    19 The best evidence for the manner of Achilles death in the Iliad is 21.2778, where he says thathe will be killed by the swift shafts ( , 278) of Apollo.

    20 Line 86 was rejected by Aristarchus, although with no compelling reasons; see Richardsonsnote, ad loc. The Neoanalysts argue that the mourning of Thetis here in Book 24, and in two otherplaces in Homer (Il. 18.3571 and Od. 24.4762), presupposes an actual death of Achilles in thelost corpus of ancient epic. I myself have no problem with such a view, although it must remainspeculation.

    21 On the various references to the fall of Troy in the Iliad, see W. Kullmann, Die Quellen der Ilias(Wiesbaden, 1960), 3439. More generally, see M.J. Anderson, The Fall of Troy in Early GreekPoetry and Art (Oxford, 1997).

    22 Homer, OCT vol. 5, p. 107.214 (Little Iliad); p. 107.2730 (Iliou Persis).23 Especially J. Griffin, The Epic Cycle and the uniqueness of Homer, JHS 97 (1977), 3953.24 G.F. Franko, The Trojan Horse at the close of the Iliad, CJ 101 (2005/6), 1213.

    ILIAD 24 AND THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS 9

  • that there are three references to the Horse in the subtext of the last two books at theend of the funeral games for Patroclus (23.68991) and at the very end of the poem(24.7789, 24.804). His argument clearly has some considerable relevance to themain thrust of this article, and so a brief summary of its main points is needed.

    In the first of the passages mentioned, a Greek called Epeius suddenly appears in theboxing contest at Patroclus funeral. He proceeds to knock out his opponent Euryaluswhen he is off his guard (23.68991). Franko argues that the sudden reference toEpeius here anticipates his later role as the builder of the Wooden Horse, as set outin the Little Iliad (see above, n. 22). Indeed, he claims that even the manner of his vic-tory in the contest, where he catches his opponent off guard, further anticipates thedefeat of Troy by means of the Horse: Epeios attacks when his opponent has letdown his guard, not unlike the unwary Trojans (122). The second reference isPriams command to his people to bring wood into the city without any fear of a cun-ning ambush on the part of the Argives ( , 24.779). Franko argues thatHomer invites us to connect these lines with more than just Odysseus, for Priamsinjunction to haul lumber into the city without fear identifies for the audience thevery material of the city-sacking pukinon lochon and indicates that the Trojans them-selves will incautiously bring this ambush inside their walls. From Priams utterancethe fate of Troy is sealed (1223). Third is the final word of the poem (,breaker of horses, 24.804) which, Franko argues, leaves the audience with the ironicforeshadowing of the inability of the Trojans without Hector to master that most fatalhorse (123).

    This is very much an argument from silence, and the evidence put forward is hardlycompelling, especially in isolation from the broader context of Book 24. None the less,the mere appearance of Epeius at this point in the Iliad does seem to be important inview of his role in the Odyssey as the builder of the Horse (8.4923, 11.523). The argu-ment may also have more weight when one bears in mind the sustained interest in thebroader saga at the end of the Iliad. We will see in a moment, moreover, that referencesto Astyanax and Cassandra in Book 24 seem to evoke their individual fates in the fall ofTroy. These latent references to the Wooden Horse if that is what they are would bein keeping with this broader pattern of allusion. It is probably best to say that it wouldbe foolish to deny the possibility that the story of the Horse lies within the subtext of thenarrative in the final book, in the manner of Frankos argument.

    The possible fate of the boy Astyanax is enunciated twice by Andromache in thefinal books of the poem. The first of these comes shortly after Hectors death whenshe is revived after falling down in grief at the sight of his body being dragged byAchilles horses to the ships (22.487507). And the second is uttered as part of hergoos at her husbands funeral (24.72545). Initially, her concern is with howAstyanax will be treated within the aristocratic world of Trojan society now that hehas no father. She foresees a rather brutal fall from the regal luxury he enjoyed whenhis father was still alive. He is imagined bowing to all and pleading for the basic necessi-ties of life, and getting beaten out of the banquet by another boy whose father still lives. Ifthis is not bleak enough, she then has an even darker vision at the very end of the poemwhere she looks to his fate after the fall of the city. She envisages him following her intoslavery, and having to labour at unpleasant tasks for an unkind master (24.7324). Thenshe imagines him being killed in the fall of the city:

    , ,

    C .J . MACKIE10

  • , ,

    (24.7347)

    or else one of the Achaeanswill seize you by the arm and hurl you from the wall, a miserable death,someone angered perhaps because Hector slew his brother,or his father, or his son

    The manner of Astyanaxs death, being thrown from the walls of the city by the con-quering Greeks, is the traditional end for the boy, one which is found in the Cyclicpoems and in later sources (the most renowned extant version is Euripides TrojanWomen, 7215, 11335). There is, however, some variability in the tradition. In theLittle Iliad Neoptolemus throws him from the walls, grabbing him by the foot (notby the arm, as in Il. 24.735).25 In this version it seems that his murder is perpetratedby Neoptolemus himself in a personal desire to kill the son of Hector (not by a com-bined decision of all the Greeks, as in Euripides). In the Iliou Persis Proclus tells usonly that the boy is killed by Odysseus.26 Presumably his fate was to be thrown fromthe walls, but that is not actually stated. Aristarchus thought that the tradition ofAstyanaxs death came from the Iliadic passage. Nor is Richardson convinced thatHomer is familiar with the tradition of the boys death: that a child should be thrownfrom the walls in vengeance would, one imagines, not be so uncommon in a sack (cf. bT735, Eust. 1373.43), and need not reflect a precisely formed tradition.27 Macleod took adifferent view that the story must have been known to Homer: it is very unlikely that heshould have invented ad hoc this form of death for the child.28 In view of the consistentpattern of allusion in the final book, it does seem to me most likely, pace Aristarchusand Richardson, that Homer is quite familiar with the story of Astyanaxs death fromthe walls of Troy and duly refers to it.

    One might follow the same approach in the case of the prophetic figure of Cassandra,who is given a brief speaking role in the final book (24.7046). Cassandra has beenmentioned previously in the Iliad at 13.36582 as the object of Othryoneus maritalsuit. He had come from Cabesus to fight at Troy, and had said that he would drivethe Greeks from Trojan land in return for the hand of Cassandra, the most beautifulof Priams daughters (13.365; cf. 13.37682). Priam agrees to these terms, butOthryoneus is killed beforehand by Idomeneus (13.3702). In the final bookCassandra is like golden Aphrodite, and has gone up on to Pergamus (24.699700).From there she catches sight of her father, standing on his chariot, and with him the her-ald Idaeus, the crier of the city, driving the wagon. She sees Hectors body on the mulewagon, utters a funereal cry (, 703) and then calls out for all the people to comeand look on Hector, who was a great joy ( ) to the city and all its people(24.7046). They all duly gather by the gates to greet Priam bringing home the deadman (24.7079).

    This rather haunting passage treats Cassandra much more emphatically than earlier inthe poem where she makes no actual appearance. Again, we can identify Book 24s

    25 Homer, OCT vol. 5, p. 135 fr. 19.35.26 Homer, OCT vol. 5, p. 108.8.27 Richardson, ad 24.7349.28 Macleod, ad 7348. See too Anderson (n. 21), 556 and J.S. Burgess, The Tradition of the

    Trojan War in Homer and the Epic Cycle (Baltimore, 2001), 667, both of whom consider theiconographical evidence for the death of Astyanax.

    ILIAD 24 AND THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS 11

  • interest in the broader tradition of the myth of Troy, beyond the narrower focus of actionearlier in the poem. The usual questions raise themselves, however, about whether or notHomer knew other stories about Cassandra. These include later narratives of herprophetic capabilities, her rape at Athenas altar by Locrian Ajax and her murder byClytemnestra. The last of these at least is found in Book 11 of the Odyssey (4213)in which the shade of Agamemnon tells Odysseus that Clytemnestra killed the girl.

    Prophetic vision, on the other hand, which is a distinguishing characteristic ofCassandra in myth, is pushed to the margins of the Iliad; and it has been convincinglyargued that this helps to distinguish it from the works of the Epic Cycle.29 The treatmentof Cassandra in the present passage seems only to hint at some power in the art of pro-phecy.30 Richardson is cautious about springing to any conclusion, but his best sense ofit on this occasion is that her prophetic powers do lie behind the text: We cannot tellwhether the poet really does have in mind her prophetic gifts, or whether her role asannouncer of sad news may have helped to foster the later tradition of her as prophetessof doom. As often, however, one is inclined to think that the poet knows more than hetells us, and to read the scene in the light of what we ourselves know from later tra-dition. We might add that Cassandras presence specifically on Pergamus, the citadelat Troy (24.700), the site of Apollos temple (4.5078, 5.4456, 460, 7.21), seems alsoto support the notion of an implicit allusion to her prophetic powers.

    It may be overstating the matter to say that Cassandra links the events of Book 24 tolater ones (in the way that she helps to connect the Agamemnon to the Libation Bearersof Aeschylus; see Aesch. Ag. 12805), but there is certainly a hint of that function. Hercameo role obviously takes place in the context of the doom hanging over Troy in Iliad24, and this seems to anticipate her own miserable fate as the rape victim of LocrianAjax. The rape at the altar is referred to in Proclus summary of the Iliou Persis,where we learn that he forcibly dragged her away as she held on to the wooden statueof Athena.31 Ajax in turn managed to escape from the angry Greeks by taking refuge atAthenas altar, only to be killed by Athena herself on the journey home. Cassandraspresence on the citadel, the site also of Athenas temple (6.88, with Kirks note, and6.297), seems to anticipate her terrible fate there, apparently described in graphic detailin the Iliou Persis (and in Virgils Aeneid, 2.4026). Thus the brief allusions to bothAstyanax and Cassandra in the final book seem to foreshadow the horrors of infanticideand rape in the broader story of the fall of Troy. These episodes were clearly fleshed outin the Epic Cycle, but they also seem to have been known well enough to Homer in thefinal book of the Iliad.

    Finally, two other brief allusions in Book 24 to later episodes in the saga of Troy arealso worth noting, although these provide us with minimal detail, and are rather weakerexamples of the broad pattern of references that we have been considering. The first is ashort reference to the sending of treasure abroad to protect the wealth of Troy; and thesecond is an anticipation of the journey to Greece of the Trojan women. The former isalluded to by Hermes when he meets Priam on his ransom mission: are you sending outthese numerous beautiful treasures to foreign people where they may remain safe for

    29 Griffin (n. 23). For Cassandras prophetic power in the Cycle, see Homer, OCT vol. 5, p. 103.2(Cypria).

    30 Similar sorts of questions could be asked about the figure of Helenus in Book 6, although hisprophetic role is rather more fleshed out (cf. 6.76 and 7.4454, with Kirks note in the Cambridgecommentary to 6.73101).

    31 Homer, OCT vol. 5, p. 108.26.

    C.J . MACKIE12

  • you, or are you already fleeing sacred Ilios in fear? (24.3814). This particular refer-ence seems to anticipate the story of Polydorus, as told in Euripides Hecuba, who issent to the Thracian king Polymestor with gold, in case Troy should fall. When Troydoes fall Polymestor kills the boy and keeps the gold, only to meet his match in thefigure of Polydorus mother Hecuba. Unlike most of the episodes that we have beenconsidering in this article, however, there is no reference to this story in the EpicCycle, and it may be that the whole narrative was a Euripidean innovation built onthis reference (and presumably the reference to Polydorus as the youngest son ofPriam, 20.40710). Indeed Richardson points out that to take Troys treasures abroadfor possible safe-keeping, becomes the opening motif of Euripides Hecuba, wherePriam sends his son Poludoros with the gold of Troy to Polumestor of Thrace beforethe citys fall (Hec. 112; cf. bT). The other reference is to the fate of the Trojanwomen, including Andromache herself, which she utters in her lament at Hectors fun-eral: for you (Hector) have perished, you who watched over (the city) and protected itand supported its noble wives and little children. And these will soon be riding in thehollow ships, and I with them (24.72932). The allocation of the women as prizesto the Greek princes becomes an important subject matter in later literature, most nota-bly Euripides Trojan Women. Andromache is usually the prize of Achilles sonNeoptolemus, and in Virgils Aeneid Aeneas meets up with her in Greece during hissearch for a new home (3.30047).32

    Some of the key references to future events in the saga of Troy at the close of theIliad can therefore be set out as follows:

    References to future events and people in the story of Troy in Iliad 23 and 24Person/event Books 23 and 24 Earlier books of the Iliad

    1. Death of Achilles 24.856, 12832 1.41318, 9.41016, 18.94111,19.40817, 22.35660

    2. Wooden Horse?(oblique references)

    23.68991, 24.7789, 804

    No reference

    3. Fall of Troy 24.2446, 3805,551, 72545

    Especially 4.1635, 6.4479,20.31317, 21.3746, 22.5971

    4. Death of Astyanaxat Troy

    24.7348 No other reference

    5. Cassandra 24.697706 13.365826. Sending of Trojantreasures to Thrace(Polydorus)

    24.3812 No other reference

    7. Journey to Greece ofthe Trojan Women

    24.7313 Cf. 6.45065

    Before concluding, I will add some observations about the importance of topographicalreferences in the broad mythological sweep that we have been exploring in this article.One of the characteristics of Book 24 is its interest in the immediate area outside of thecity walls, and the regions beyond. As far as place names are concerned, other than Troyitself, reference is made to the following: Samos and Imbros (24.78), Thrace (24.234),Mysia (24.278), the Hellespont (24.346), Lesbos, Phrygia and the Hellespont (24.5445),

    32 Homer, OCT vol. 5, p. 108.9 (Iliou Persis) and pp. 1345 fr. 19 (Little Iliad).

    ILIAD 24 AND THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS 13

  • and Samos, Imbros and Lemnos (24.753). There are also a number of references to fea-tures of the broader landscape outside the city where no place name is given (24.1213,dawn shining over the sea and the beaches; 24.96, Iris going into the sea; 24.202, Priamsrenown among strangers and among those he rules; 24.695, dawn spreading over all theearth). It is important to note that the final book of the Iliad has both a broad temporalfocus, before and after the wrath of Achilles, and a wide geographical interest in theregion beyond the city.

    The main landmark mentioned in this context is Mount Ida, which takes on someconsiderable significance at the end of the Iliad.33 Hecuba urges Priam, before hegoes out on his mission, to pour a libation to father Zeus (24.28791) and thenmake a prayer to the son of Cronos, the dark-misted, the god of Ida, who looksdown on all the land of Troy (24.2901). Priam proceeds to do just that: FatherZeus, you who rule from Ida, most glorious, greatest (24.308). The mountain alsoplays a key role as the source of wood for the two cremations that take place, thoseof Patroclus (23.11028, esp. 11724) and Hector. In the final book the Trojans are con-fined within the walls of the city and rather fearful of trying to gather the appropriatesupply from Ida (Priam to Achilles, 24.6623). Achilles guarantee of holding backthe Greeks (24.66970) gives them the opportunity to gather their wood from the moun-tain ( , 24.663), which they then do for nine days (24.784). The restoration ofthe proper processes of funerary ritual, therefore, which is a keynote of Iliad 24, isallowed to take place through the generous act of Achilles (24.6568, 66970), andthe gathering of the wood on Ida is an important part of this renewal. The significanceof Mount Ida even comes through in the name of Priams herald, Idaeus, who accom-panies the king on his dangerous mission (24.325, 470). The fondness of the Trojans fortheir mountain, and their origins there before the establishment of the city (in the time ofDardanus [20.21519, as above]) seem to be carried in the name of Priams old attend-ant.34 The king is and the herald is Idaeus, both of which allude to the ori-gins of the city on Mount Ida.

    It does seem appropriate, therefore, given Idas status as a sacred space in the life ofthe Trojans, that the war has its origins there. It is a place where the noble youth of Troyspend time as herdsmen and shepherds (11.1046, 20.903 and 18894).35 Paris spenttime as a herdsman on the mountain in his youth, and it was here that the Judgement ofParis took place.36 Proclus tells us that in the Cypria Hermes conducted the three god-desses to Ida upon the instructions of Zeus. It is significant in this context that the solereference to the Judgement of Paris in Iliad 24, with which we began this article, alludes

    33 This is not to suggest that Ida is not important earlier in the poem. Worth noting in this context isIl. 13.19 (Zeus on Ida) and 14.153353, the Dios apat, which takes place on the peak of the moun-tain. Indeed it may be said that Ida is prominent in numerous ways throughout the poem, not least asthe source of all the main rivers which are really the life source of the city (12.1933).

    34 It is probably worth comparing the way that names like Scamandrius (5.49 = son of Strophius;6.402 = Astyanax) and Simoeisius (4.488) convey the Trojan affection for their rivers (which, as ithappens, have their source on Mount Ida, 12.1922). Satnius too is named after a river (14.4425).There are actually two Trojans called Idaeus in the Iliad, our herald (in Books 3, 7 and 24) and anotherTrojan (5.11, 20).

    35 In the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, Anchises is tending cattle on Mount Ida, which is where hissexual encounter with Aphrodite takes place (535, 6880). Aeneas is thus conceived on the moun-tain, the place where he gathers the Trojan refugees when he leaves the city (Homer, OCT vol. 5,p.107.246). There is a suggestion in the hymn (7680) that Anchises may have been with othernoble youths before Aphrodite appears, although we never learn who was meant to be with him.

    36 Homer, OCT vol. 5, p. 102.1617; cf. p. 120 fr. V.5.

    C.J . MACKIE14

  • to the location where the beauty contest took place. The goddesses are referred to ascoming to his (24.29), his inner courtyard for cattle (Macleod, ad loc).The reference to the setting of the Judgement of Paris on Mount Ida, not only takesus back to where it all started, but it also fits into the general emphasis on the mountainin the psyche and identity of the Trojans. It is the first important allusion to Ida amongmany in the final book of the poem.

    To conclude. This article has explored the single reference to the Judgement of Pariswithin its context in the final book of the Iliad. It has argued that the passage isaccompanied by many other such allusions, some looking back to the period beforethe wrath of Achilles, and some looking forward to particular narratives after the funeralof Hector. The evidence is by no means compelling in every case, but there does appearto be a consistent pattern of allusion to the broader story of Troy, and the region beyond,in Iliad 24. It is Homers way of closing his epic. The reference to the Judgement, there-fore, should not really be read in isolation from its immediate context, any more thanshould Helens reflection on her twenty years away from Sparta, or Andromachesanxiety about the death of her son, or Cassandras sudden appearance on Pergamus.They are all part of the same coherent creative process, not random allusions to othermythical episodes.

    There are, of course, implications in all of this for the relationship between the Iliad,and what we know about the Epic Cycle, not least because so many of the episodes thatwe have considered seem to have been included in the Cycle. This article has certainlymade no claims about Homeric sources, or speculated on what might lie behind theIliad, preferring to make its case at the level of myth, rather than possible poetic or tex-tual relationships. Much of the debate surrounding Neoanalysis has been focussed onthe relationship between the Iliad and the Aethiopis (or the so-called Memnonis),which, according to Proclus, contained narrative patterns that bear resemblance to theIliad. These included a sequence of battlefield deaths Antilochus is killed byMemnon, the Aethiopian king, then Memnon by Achilles, and then Achilles himselfby Apollo and Paris.37 The Aethiopis, as it happens, is not mentioned in this article,but the Cypria is significant in the first part of it, and the Little Iliad and Iliou Persisin the second. There is no convincing case to be made that the Cypria stands behindthe Iliad in view of the late date for the poem, and the fact that it seems to be a kindof mythological introduction to the Iliad itself.38 But it is important to distinguishbetween the Cypria as a text and the mythical narratives which it described.39

    Whereas the poem is almost certainly post-Iliadic, many of the episodes within it aretraditional and go right back into the pre-Homeric world. This article has argued thatHomers rather austere way of keeping some narratives to the margins of the Iliad,

    37 For a survey and critique of Neoanalysis in the context of the Iliad and Aethiopis, including theforerunners to Kakridis, Schadewaldt, Pestalozzi and Kullmann, see M.L. West, Iliad and Aethiopis,CQ 53 (2003), 114; and for a response to West, W. Allan, Arms and the man: Euphorbus, Hector,and the death of Patroclus, CQ 55 (2005), 116.

    38 M.L. West, Greek Epic Fragments (Cambridge, MA, 2003), 13 views the Cypria, on linguisticand other grounds, as not earlier than the second half of the sixth century: the Cypria must have beencomposed after the Iliad had become well established as a classic. The poet of the Odyssey shows agood acquaintance with the material contained in the Little Iliad and Iliou Persis, the former of whichWest (p. 16) dates to the third quarter of the seventh century.

    39 For the view that the poems exploit audience knowledge of particular stories, including thoseoutside of their own narrative field, see R. Scodel, Pseudo-intimacy and the prior knowledge ofthe Homeric audience, Arethusa 30 (1997), 20119, and ead., Listening to Homer: Tradition,Narrative and Audience (Ann Arbor, 2002), esp. 441, 479, 624, 92, 97154.

    ILIAD 24 AND THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS 15

  • what Dowden calls a policy of exclusion, is accompanied by a policy of allusion.40Some traditional narratives are kept out of the poem, only to be alluded to in the barestof ways. The Judgement of Paris is an example of this, but not the only one.41 The endof the Iliad reveals this characteristic rather clearly in its interest in the saga of Troy as awhole, from the wedding of Peleus and Thetis right up to the fall of the city.

    La Trobe University C.J. [email protected]

    40 K. Dowden, Homers sense of text, JHS 116 (1996), 4761, at 52.41 I tend to think of the centaur Chiron as a good example of this characteristic from earlier in the

    poem. He is essentially taken out of the Iliad in favour of Phoenix, but is also named at some keymoments (4.21719, 11.82932, 16.1414 [=19.38891]); see C.J. Mackie, Achilles teachers:Chiron and Phoenix in the Iliad, G&R 44 (1997), 110. For a contrary view, that Chirons associationwith Achilles and Peleus is post-Homeric, see March (n. 5), 256.

    C.J . MACKIE16