From Hittite to Homer: The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek EpicThis book provides a groundbreaking reassessment of the prehistory of Homeric epic. It argues that in the Early Iron Age bilingual poets transmitted to the Greeks a set of narrative traditions closely related to the one found at Bronze-Age Hattusa, the Hittite capital. Key drivers for Near Eastern influence on the developing Homeric tradition were the shared practices of supralocal festivals and venerating divinized ancestors, and a shared interest in creating narratives about a legendary past using a few specific storylines: theogonies, genealogies connecting local polities, long-distance travel, destruction of a famous city because it refuses to release captives, and trying to overcome death when confronted with the loss of a dear companion. Professor Bachvarova concludes by providing a fresh explanation of the origins and significance of the Greco-Anatolian legend of Troy, thereby offering a new solution to the long-debated question of the historicity of the Trojan War. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
HurroHittite narrative song at Hattusa 20 | 20 |
written texts and oral traditions 54 | 54 |
The HurroHittite ritual context of Gilgamesh at Hattusa 78 | 78 |
The plot of the Song of Release 111 | 111 |
The place of the Song of Release in its eastern Mediterranean | 132 |
The function and prehistory of the Song of Release 149 | 149 |
from history to myth 166 | 166 |
Cyprus as a source of SyroAnatolian epic in the Early | 301 |
Cultural contact in Late Bronze Age western Anatolia 331 | 331 |
Continuity of memory at Troy and in Anatolia 349 | 349 |
The history of the Homeric tradition 395 | 395 |
The layers of Anatolian influence in the Iliad 418 | 418 |
Contraction and the dactylic hexameter 458 | 458 |
References 465 | 465 |
| 565 | |
theory practice and myth 199 | 199 |
a milieu for cultural contact 219 | 219 |
The context of epic in Late Bronze and Early Iron | 266 |
List of Hittite texts by CTH number 637 | 637 |
Concordance of tablets from Ugarit 649 | 649 |
Other editions - View all
From Hittite to Homer: The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic Mary R. Bachvarova Limited preview - 2016 |
From Hittite to Homer: The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic Mary R. Bachvarova No preview available - 2020 |
From Hittite to Homer: The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic Mary R. Bachvarova No preview available - 2020 |
Common terms and phrases
Aegean Aeolic Ahhiyawa Akkadian Alashiya Aleppo Anatolian ancestor veneration Ancient Apollo archaeological argues Assyrian Atrahasis Babylonian Bachvarova Beckman bilingual Bryce Burkert century Chapter Cilicia connection context cult cultural Cypriot Cyprus dialect discussion dynastic earlier references Early Iron Age east Eastern Ebla elite Enkidu Epic of Gilgamesh epic tradition episode evidence festival Former Gods fragment goddess Greece Greek epic Greek-speakers Haas Hattusa Hattusili hero Hittite version Hoffner Hurrian Hurro-Hittite narrative Huwawa Iliad incantations inscriptions Ionian Ionic Iron Age J. G. Westenholz 1997 kingship Kumarbi Kumarbi cycle language Late Bronze Age legendary López-Ruiz Lycian M. L. West Mediterranean mentioned Mesopotamian Miletus motifs Mycenaean myth Nagy Naram-Sin narrative song north Syria Odyssey oral performed period Phrygian pit rituals poets royal ancestor Sargon scene scribes Singer Song of Release Storm-god story storylines suggests Sumerian tablets Tarhun Teshshub texts trans translit Trojan Troy Ugarit west Semitic Zeus