sententiae antiquae Profile picture
Sep 4, 2020 7 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Homer provides few universal rights for human beings, but one that emerges in the Iliad is the expectation of proper burial, lamentation, and memorial.

The γέρας…θανόντων (Geras thanontôn).

Literally, something like the "honor prize of the dead"

#ALoserCausedAPlague
γέρας (geras) is charged in the Iliad. The whole conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles starts when Agamemnon deprives Achilles of Briseis, his γέρας (geras), which is a token of the honor (timê) he has in his community.

#ALoserCausedAPlague
But as Achilles finds out, physical tokens are essentially meaningless when you're going to die anyway.

He insists "let us mourn Patroklos, for that is the geras of the dead" (Πάτροκλον κλαίωμεν· ὃ γὰρ γέρας ἐστὶ θανόντων) at the beginning of book 23.

#ALoserCausedAPlague
Earlier, when Zeus flirts with the idea of saving Sarpedon, Hera tells him that's not right and instead to send him home "where his cousins and relatives will bury him / with a mound and a stele. for this is the geras of the dead"

#ALoserCausedAPlague
ἔνθά ἑ ταρχύσουσι κασίγνητοί τε ἔται τε
τύμβῳ τε στήλῃ τε· τὸ γὰρ γέρας ἐστὶ θανόντων.

The Iliad ends with Zeus and Apollo arguing for a proper burial of Hektor despite Hera's and Achilles' wishes. I mean, the rites of burial are a big deal.

#ALoserCausedAPlague
They are central to Greek poetry and tragedy, best known perhaps in Sophocles' Antigone where even the asshole Creon is willing to offer proper rites to the nephew who died for the city.

#ALoserCausedAPlague
So properly honoring the dead--especially those who have died for you--is (1) primal and ancient and (2) a bare minimum threshold for civilization.

not doing so brings plague and pollution on your state.

#ALoserCausedAPlague

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More from @sentantiq

Apr 25, 2023
Ok, one more thread on Achilles and Odysseus and how we should read Homer then I promise I will chill

The reason I am profoundly unchill about this is the confusion of rich epic narrative for simple paradigmatic propaganda
Homeric poetry is like a philosophical dialogue, a tragedy, or a piece of visual art: it invites audiences to explore its narrative through their experiences, and to compare their experiences to epic
No one reads, hears, or experiences the epic at any given time and no one comes away with the same conclusions—we bring our experiences and expectations closer together through conversation
Read 21 tweets
Apr 24, 2023
A little more: Odysseus is not a "hero" or anti-hero. Those terms are anachronistic

He is a "man" (andra) at the beginning of the epic, apoem thematically part of exploring the END of the race of heroes

Audiences are supposed to think about how he fucked up his life
At the beginning of the poem, the narrator says he tried super hard to rescue his men, but failed, "because they died thanks to their own recklessnesss" (gr. σφῇσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν)
25 lines later, Zeus complains

“Mortals! They are always blaming the gods and saying that evil comes from us when they themselves suffer pain beyond their lot because of their own recklessness.”
Read 6 tweets
Feb 16, 2023
I wrote up a little bit about the Duals. Its a draft part of a chapter in a book about how Homeric language functions like a biological organism

sententiaeantiquae.com/2023/02/16/epi…
To summarize the problem, in a passage in book 9 of the Iliad dual forms--nominal and verbal forms meant for two people--are used for more than two people in overlap with plural forms.
Read 19 tweets
Jun 24, 2022
It is easy to dunk on absurd theories that make Achilles a culture warrior representing some kind of prelapsarian ubermensch. Let me tell you why that’s dangerous.
1.Jocular, attacking dismissals let those desperate hatemongers feel persecuted and feeds their sense of righteous outsider position
2.It implies in a damaging way that there is a correct and singular interpretation of an ancient poem (or really any work of art)
Read 15 tweets
Aug 29, 2021
Joining @FlintDibble and @rogueclassicist and others in a call for @AntigoneJournal to drop their problematic platforming of eugenicist.

Antigone can do great work and the journal is doing a disservice to its other authors by standing behind a bad decision
All of us who move into this new, fast digital space make mistakes trying to respond and adapt. I have have RT'd some bad stuff, said stupid things, and thought better of earlier stances.
A good journal should have a public editorial board and a clear statement on where their funding comes from.

They should also consider their constituents.
Read 6 tweets
Aug 29, 2021
#AcademicTwitter #ClassicsTwitter

Let's normalize sharing our work when people ask for it and asking scholars for their work.

Friends, if there's an article out there you want to read and you don't have access, just reach out!
1. Academic publishing is a cartel. Sometimes it is benevolent and helpful, but mostly it gatekeeps

2. Most academics are FLOORED when people ask because that means that 11 people will now have read articles we spent years on
3. Many of us can't post all our work publicly without getting in trouble, but we can share if someone sends an email

4. Not all academics are free to publish open access: some departments and institutions still expect certain journals for tenure and promotion
Read 4 tweets

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