In honor of #Armistice100 : the first time the poppy is connected with a fallen soldier appears in a beautiful simile in Homer's Iliad Bk VIII.
Teucer's arrow pierces the chest of Priam's son, Gorgythion, then his helmeted head bows like a poppy weight down by its seeds & rain.
Teucer's arrow pierces the chest of Priam's son, Gorgythion, then his helmeted head bows like a poppy weight down by its seeds & rain.
The above Homer's Iliad passage comes from Robert Fagles 1990 lyrical translation [1]
The poppy μήκων (mḗkōn) capsule [kodeia] was associated w/ the goddess of harvest/fertility Demeter because the poppy flowers at harvest time. It also alludes to the poppy's pain-relieving properties assuaging Demeter's intense grief in search of her lost daughter, Persephone.
The English word codeine derives from the Ancient Greek κώδεια kṓdeia, "poppy head" due to its analgesic properties [1]
This detail from a black-figure neck amphora depicts Ajax carrying the dead body of Achilles based on the lost post-Homeric epic "Aithiopis", attributed to the poet Arctinus of Miletus ca. 8th c. BC. The Exekias painter ca. 550 BC at Antikensammlungen, Munich.
As the archetypal Western war epic, Homer's Iliad shadow loomed large on "The Great War" young soldiers concept of heroism & glory. Achilles' semi-divine name embodied that idealized warrior, yet WWI "Unknown Soldier" embodied the pitiless anonymity of death on a horrendous scale
WW1 Dardanelles Campaign/ ANZAC Australians. An Australian soldier carries a wounded comrade to safety 1915-16 [1]
Human condition & War: The above Greek amphora depicts two warriors [Ajax carrying the dead Achilles] during the Trojan War, almost three thousand yrs later two Australian soldiers are captured in a photo, one carrying another on the same land of ancient Ilion [2]
Finishing this thread w/ the poem "Achilles in the Trench" by the English poet Patrick Shaw Stewart who wrote it before Gallipoli, later died in France-powerfully captures timelessness of the Classics & man's fallibility/ agony of war-read by Tom O'Bedlam:
In those final lines Shaw-Stewart alludes to Homer's Iliad Bk 18: Achilles having learned of Patroclus' death let loose a terrifying battle cry, he showed himself to the Trojans standing at the Greek trench, then a divine-induced blaze of flames shot from Achilles' head:
The Foreshadowing of a Poet's Death: In the poem, Shaw-Stewart wishes Achilles' ancient battle cry to protect him from Gallipoli's hellish fiery shells, he does but for a time only as Achilles couldn't change his fate. The poet later dies in December 30, 1917, Cambrai, France.[1]
