Mycenaean Origin of Greek Mythology: Chapter I. How Old is Greek Mythology?

HOW OLD IS GREEK MYTHOLOGY?

The question: How old is Greek mythology? may at first sight seem idle, for Greek mythology is obviously of many different ages. For example, many genealogies and eponymous heroes created for political purposes are late, such inventions having been made through the whole historical age of Greece; yet most of them are earlier than the very late myths like the campaigns of Dionysus, or the great mass of the metamorphoses, especially the catasterisms, which were invented in the Hellenistic age. The great tragic poets reshaped the myths and left their imprint upon them, so that the forms in which the myths are commonly known nowadays often have been given them by tragedy. Similarly, before the tragic poets, the choric lyric poets reshaped them. The cyclical epics also are thought to have exercised a profound influence upon the remodeling of the myths. In Homer we find many well-known myths, often in forms differing, however, from those in which they are related later. Finally, it cannot be doubted that myths existed before Homer.

Our question concerns, however, not the reshaping and remodeling of myths, which often consists only of an imitation of current patterns, but the real creation of myths, especially the creation of the great cycles of myths. From this standpoint, the Hellenistic and many earlier myths may be put to

1 In so far as epical tradition is concerned, the right analogy is not the traditions which have an historical aspect but the Nibelungenlied and the Beowulf and similar epical traditions which I shall characterize later. We know how badly historical connections fared in them, how history was confused and mixed up with fabulous elements. If good historical tradition is to be preserved, an undisturbed life both in regard to settling and to civilization is an absolute condition, but the downfall of the Mycenaean civilization was a most stormy and turbulent age, and its turmoils, which mixed up the Greek tribes and changed their places of settlement, mixed up and confused their traditions, too. The historical aspect of Greek mythology and especially the mythical chronology are products of the systematizing of the myths by the poets of cyclical epics and still more the product of rationalization and historification by the logographers. 2

3 According to his theory, the fundamental fact is the belief of the Tirynthians in their helpful hero. From the Peloponnese, Heracles emigrated to the island of Rhodes and here new adventures were added to those which had been brought from the Peloponnese. Thus the cycle of the twelve adventures was developed and formed on Rhodes.

The most comprehensive and significant example, however, is Professor Bethe's attempt to explain the origin and development of the Trojan cycle. 4 He finds the old kernels of this cycle in the duels between heroes who, according to him, were originally localized on the mainland of Greece. These simple and unconnected myths were brought to Aeolia by the different tribes to which the heroes belonged when these tribes immigrated to northwest Asia Minor shortly before or in the seventh century B.C. The Aeolians brought their Achilles, the Locrians their Aias, the Arcadians Aeneas, and the Troes, who originally were a tribe living in the mother country, the name of the Troes (Trojans), etc. The various myths of the various immigrant tribes met and were fused in Aeolia and were attached to

5 he states briefly that Phthiotians and Magnesians who emigrated from Thessaly to Aeolia brought Achilles with them; that the house of Agamemnon originated at Cyme and in Lesbos, whilst his appearing as king on the mainland of Greece is due to epic poetry; and that Ionians, in whose towns descendants of Glaucus and Sarpedon were rulers, introduced these heroes into the epos. But, and in this he differs essentially from Professor Bethe, who takes the Trojan war to be an invention of the seventh century B.C., he gives voice to the opinion that the historical fact underlying the

7 If this is true, it is extremely remarkable that the Theban myths in Homer and Hesiod differ so markedly from the common version. 8 The unavoidable conclusion would be that the Thebais, supposed to be earlier than Homer, has not been able to impress its version either upon Homer or upon Hesiod. Wild shoots of the myth have lived in spite of epical cultivation.

9 At this point a few hints concerning this important subject must suffice. Homeric arms have given rise to a vast literature, and Nestor's cup is often mentioned; yet the body shield was already superseded by the small shield in late Mycenaean times--the attempts to vindicate it for later periods are proved by archaeology to be futile. Nestor's cup was found in the fourth shaft-grave at Mycenae, one of the earlier group. To this another most remarkable observation is to be added; namely, that these Mycenaean elements appear not only in the earliest and earlier parts of the Homeric poems but in the latest and later parts also. For example, the boars' tusk helmet which we had been unable to understand until aided by the Mycenaean finds is described in one of the very latest parts, the lay of Dolon.

10 is vain, for it is inconceivable that an Ionian minstrel of the seventh century B.C. should have happened on the idea of ascribing such a position to the town and the king of Mycenae, which at that time was in fact a rotten borough. Nor has Agamemnon any real existence except in the Trojan cycle, although the contrary often is asserted. 11 Attempts to deny these facts can only lead us into error and to the erection of frail hypotheses. Here we ought also to speak of the really kingly power of Agamemnon, but as this is not so evident I shall recur to it in a later place.

In regard to these elements in Homer, derived from widely differing times and civilizations, scholars have divided themselves into two parties engaging in a tug of war. One party tries to put as much as possible in a time as late as possible; namely, into

12 but in vain. Professor Drerup gave a survey of various popular epics 13 but seems to have been forgotten, perhaps because these materials were not utilized by him in their true bearing upon Greek epics. English works are one-sided, and that is true not only of Professor Andrew

14 but also of Professor Chadwick's important book, in which he institutes a detailed comparison between Greek and Teutonic epics. 15 It is self-evident that a comparison ought to be instituted on the largest possible basis, and that everything which is accidental and not essential ought to be discarded. 16

It is impossible here to give an account of the numerous instances of popular epics. I simply enumerate them. We have, in the first place, Teutonic epics in their branches: old German, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian epics. Their offshoots are, at least in part, Finnish-Esthonian, Russian, and even old French epics (bylinas and chansons de geste). In Serbia popular epics are still living; in Asia we find epics among several tribes, the Kara-Kirgizes and the Abakan Tartars in Siberia and the Atchinese on Sumatra. The historical incidents underlying Greek mediaeval epics (Digenis Akritas) are too little known. From a comparative study of these epics the following statements may be deduced. Epics do not originate in collective popular poetry but are the creation of a heroic age, a fact which Professor Wundt stated and Professor Chadwick developed at length. They originate in an aristocratic or even feudal society, praising the deeds of living men and describing contemporary events, but mythical traits and folk-tale elements

minstrels, and we may surmise with certainty that it was not otherwise in the pre-Homeric age. The fact that the stock expressions often are philologically very old-fashioned and that their meaning was no longer understood by the minstrels themselves proves a great antiquity in the epical technique and in the epics themselves. If this high degree of antiquity of epical tradition is considered earnestly, a natural explanation ensues of the fact that Homer contains elements which differ in age by more than half a millenium, in fact by nearly a whole millenium. This long lapse of time is not amazing though it may seem so; Russian epics vegetated nearly a millenium, preserving reminiscences of the empire of Kieff and the age of the Vikings.

To this view that the origins of Greek epics must be carried back into the Mycenaean age a serious objection may be made. For the Mycenaean civilization is essentially Minoan, and it is an acknowledged fact that the Minoan civilization

18 A similar process took place elsewhere, but the result was in reality new epics, and such a process would of course invalidate the above reasoning concerning the preservation of old elements through the epical technique.

Like epics, mythology, too, would consequently originate among the Minoan people. But this seems to be disproved through the fact that almost all mythical names are clearly Greek; those which are certainly Minoan are extremely few. One would of course expect a considerable number of Minoan mythical names if the epos descended from the Minoans. In spite of the great authority of the scholar I have mentioned, I am firmly convinced that the Mycenaeans were immigrated Greeks who took over the Minoan civilization. It would take too long to set forth my reasons and I refer the reader to previous writings in which I have dwelt upon this question. 19 This view is prevailing nowadays. Younger archaeologists are prone to throw back the commencement of the Greek immigration

It can be demonstrated that numerous other myths and cycles of myths go back into the Mycenaean age. I begin by referring to an acute philological observation which proves that a number of mythical heroes must go back to an age much earlier than that of Homer. Professor Kretschmer drew attention to the fundamental difference between two series of heroic names. 21 The names of the older series have the ending -eus and are generally abbreviated forms; the names of the sons of these mythical personages are on the contrary chiefly common compound names; e.g., Peleus, Achilleus, as compared with Neoptolemus; Odysseus--Telemachus; Atreus--Agamemnon, Menelaus; Tydeus--Diomedes; Neleus--Nestor; Oeneus--Meleager, etc. The names of the older series are often difficult to explain etymologically; those of the younger series are clear and explicable. It is evident that the heroes whose names belong to the series ending in -eus go back to earlier times than the heroes with common names, and to this philological fact corresponds the mythological fact that the latter are said to be sons and descendants of the former. But the latter are quite current in Homeric poetry; their ancestors must consequently go back to much earlier, pre-Homeric times. That this time is the Mycenaean

22 and a detailed discussion will be the chief content of my subsequent lectures; here I dwell only on the question of principles. We know that mythology was the guide which led to the discovery of the Mycenaean and Minoan sites; it conducted Mr. Schliemann to Troy and Mycenae and Sir Arthur Evans to Cnossus. In these cases myths served as a heuristic means and the success of the investigations thus induced proved a connection between mythological centers and Mycenaean centers. My proof is nothing but a consequent application of this principle, a thorough-going comparison of the cities to which mythological cycles are attached with the cities where finds from the Mycenaean age have been made. If the correlation is constant; i.e., if we find that the cities to which the mythological cycles are attached were the centers of the Mycenaean

23 That is true, for every year new

In regard to mythology, certain points ought to be emphasized. We have noted that myths were remodeled in late and even in very late times. The science of mythography sets forth the development of the myths as far as it can be traced with the aid of literary and monumental evidence. As mythographic research is concerned with the historical period of the development of the myths, we have here only to accept its results, when it proves that certain forms of myths are developed or added in historical times. Far-reaching deductions concerning the development of the myths have often been connected with the reconstructions of lost epics or of those preserved only in fragments, but these reconstructions are very hypothetical and conflicting and must be regarded with a certain diffidence. The

25 The second instance is a gold ring from a find near Tiryns, the engravings on which represent a ship and two couples, each consisting of a man and a woman. The scene is called the abduction of Helen, but this interpretation has never been taken in earnest; it is quite arbitrary; the scene may as well be a scene of salutation or of congée. It belongs probably to the scenes of daily life which sometimes occur in Mycenaean art. 26 I prefer to pass over the famous treasure from Thisbe in silence. 27

In the light of these facts one must needs reason as follows: the Minoan art, which had no mythical but only cultual representations, was taken over wholly and without change by the Mycenaeans. It is practically certain that Minoan artists worked for the Mycenaean sires; as mythical representations were absent from their art, Mycenaean myths were not depicted although they were related. Even elsewhere Mycenaean characteristics were ousted by Minoan art and appear only rarely and hesitatingly. It seems, however, somewhat astonishing that the

28 The representation is very similar to that of the well-known metope from Selinus, and if it had belonged to classical times everybody would have immediately recognized Europa on the back of the bull. I am unable to see why we should not accept this identification, even if the object is Mycenaean.

Among the same finds there are also another glass plaque and fragments of two others which represent a big standing lion and before it a man. 29 From the back of the lion a head seems to grow up; the lion's tail is very long. The plaques are in a bad state of preservation so that details are uncertain, but it

30 A third representation referring to a Greek myth is that of two centaurs, each with a dagger in his hand, on a steatite gem found by Dr. Blegen in a Late Mycenaean tomb during his excavations at the Argive Heraeum. 31 Here I wish only to stress the fact that Mycenaean representations of Greek myths actually have come to light. If it is proved that the myths of Europa, of Bellerophon, and of the Centaurs go back into the Mycenaean age, the view will be still more justified that the great mythical cycles also which are attached to the Mycenaean centers go back into the Mycenaean age.

Footnotes

4:1 See my article "Ueber die Glaubwürdigkeit der Volksüberlieferung bes. in Bezug auf die alte Geschichte" in the Italian periodical Scientia, 1930, pp. 319 et seq.

4:2 The lectures of one of my predecessors in the Sather professorship, Professor Myres, came into my hands through the kindness of the author after my lectures had already been written down. Professor Myres thinks that heroic genealogy makes up a fairly reliable chronological scheme. My different standpoint I hope to justify in the following pages. I have tried to take justly into account the circumstances of time, of popular tradition, and of the transmission of epic poetry.

6:3 P. Friedländer, "Herakles," Philologische Untersuchungen, H. XIX (1907).

6:4 E. Bethe, Homer, I-III (1914-27; Vol. II, ed. 2, with only slight additions, 1929).

7:5 U. v. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, "Die griechische Heldensage, II," Sitzungsberichte der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1925, p. 241.

8:6 Below pp. 148 et seq.

9:7 U. v. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Die Ilias and Homer (1916), p. 339.

9:8 Il. xxiii, v. 676 et seq.; Hesiod, Erga, v. 161 et seq.

12:9 H. L. Lorimer, "Defensive Armour in Homer," Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, XV (1928), pp. 89 et seq.; and "Homer's Use of the Past," Journal of Hellenic Studies, XLIX (1929), pp. 145 et seq.

13:10 Bethe, loc. cit.; cp. below p. 45.

13:11 Vide below, pp. 46 et seq.

15:12 R. v. Pöhlmann, "Zur geschichtlichen Beurteilung Homers," Sybel's historische Zeitschrift, LXXIII (1894), pp. 385 et seq.; reprinted in his "Gesammelte Abhandlungen," Aus Altertum und Gegenwart, I., pp. 56 et seq. What he says, p. 59, is true to this day: "Es ist ein wesentlicher Mangel der modernen Homer-Forschung, dass sie dieses gerade für die geschichtliche Seite der homerischen Frage so überaus wichtige Material bei weitem noch nicht in dem Umfang herangezogen und verwertet hat, in welchem es uns jetzt vorliegt."

15:13 E. Drerup, "Homerische Poetik," I., Das Homerproblem in der Gegenwart (1921), pp. 27 et seq. Cp. the brief survey by John Meier, Werden und Leben des Volksepos (1909).

16:14 A. Lang, Homer and his Age (1906), pp. 297 et seq.

16:15 H. M. Chadwick, The Heroic Age (1912).

16:16 I hope to be able to give a fuller exposition of this subject in a forthcoming book with the title Homer and Mycenae, the basis of which is a series of lectures delivered in the University of London in 1929.

19:17 W. Radloff, "Die Sprachen der nördlichen Türkstämme," V, Der Dialekt der Kara-Kirgizen (1885), p. xvi.

21:18 A. J. Evans, Journal of Hellenic Studies, XXXII (1912), pp. 387 et seq.

21:19 In my Minoan-Mycenaean Religion, pp. 11 et seq.

26:20 G. Dumézil, Légendes sur les Nartes (1930).

26:21 P. Kretschmer, in the periodical Glotta, X (1920), pp. 305 et seq.

27:22 See my article, "Der mykenische Ursprung der griechischen Mythologie," Ἀντίδωρον, Festschrift für J. Wackernagel (1924), pp. 137, et seq. and my History of Greek Religion, pp. 38 et seq.

28:23 A good but very summary review of the prehistoric sites and find-places is given by Dr. Fimmen in his book, Die kretisch-mykenische Kultur (1921). The second edition (1924) is merely a reprint with very slight additions. In particular, a better map is needed than the rather poor one which has been added; moreover, the Mycenaean sites ought 29:24 Cp. below pp. 128 and 182.

32:25 British School at Athens, Annual, IX, p. 58, fig. 36; the latest treatment by S. Marinatos, Μινωικὴ καὶ Ὁμηρικὴ Σκύλλα in Δελτίον ἀρχαιολογικόν, X, pp. 51 et seq.

32:26 See e.g. my Minoan-Mycenaean Religion, p. 44, n. 3.

32:27 A. J. Evans, "The Ring of Nestor, etc.", Journal of Hellenic Studies, XL (1925), pp. 1 et seq. The genuineness of this most amazing find is vigorously contested; I have given some objections in my Minoan-Mycenaean Religion, pp. 304 et seq.

33:28 A. W. Persson, Kungagraven i Dendra (1928), p. 123; cp. below p. 38, n. 6.

33:29 Loc. cit., p. 125.

34:30 Below pp. 53 et seq.

34:31 Dr. Blegen has kindly shown me a design of this gem, which will be published in his forthcoming work, Prosymna, and has given me his permission to mention it.

Mycenaean Origin of Greek Mythology: Chapter I. How Old is Greek Mythology?

HOW OLD IS GREEK MYTHOLOGY?

Footnotes

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