Dialogue 12 Handout

{Before you read the notes for this dialogue, I suggest that you revisit Introduction 3, "The Epic Hero," ¤¤80-104}

The key word for this time is hōra 'season, seasonality, the right time, the perfect time', which as we have seen is a basic concept related to the concept of the goddess Hēra, the immortal exponent of seasonality, and to the concept of the human hērōs 'hero' (plural hērōes), the mortal exponent of seasonality.

There is a supplementary key word: pothos 'longing, yearning, desire'; in Butler's translation, it is 'mourning'

The first passage this time comes from the Heroikos ('On Heroes') by Philostratus (who flourished in the early 3rd century CE). For historical background, I cite the introduction by Berenson and Aitken to their edition of Philostratus On Heroes, available on the Heroes website in "Texts" under "Flavius Philostratus." To understand the application of this background to the readings of epic and tragedy in the course, it would be advantageous to read my "Prologue" to the work. The short version of that prologue is embedded in the introduction to the student edition, where this prologue is renamed as "Preliminaries," together with the introduction by Casey Dué; these "Preliminaries" are available on the Heroes website in "Texts" under "Flavius Philostratus." The long version of the "Prologue" can be found as the essay "Sign of the Hero" - also on the Heroes site.

This dialogue, the Heroikos ('On Heroes') by Philostratus, is about the cult hero Protesilaos, who is also a character in the Homeric Iliad. The death of Protesilaos is described in Iliad II 698ff.

- poikilē : 'varied,' i.e never the same: the beauty and dynamism of variation.

Phoenician: What connection is there between you and Protesilaos, if you mean the man from Thessaly?

Vinedresser: I do mean that man, the husband of Laodameia, for he delights in hearing this epithet.

Vinedresser: He himself does not speak about his own experiences, stranger, except, of course, that he died at Troy because of Helen, but came to life again [anabiōsis] in Phthia because he loved Laodameia.

Phoenician: And yet he is said to have died after he came to life again and to have persuaded his wife to follow him.

Vinedresser: He himself also says these things. But how he returned afterwards too, he does not tell me even though I've wanted to find out for a long time. He is hiding, he says, some secret [aporrhēton] of the Fates. His fellow soldiers also, who were there in Troy, still appear [phainontai] on the plain, warlike in posture and shaking the crests of their helmets.

Phoenician: By Athena, vinedresser, I don't believe [pisteuein] it, although I wish these things were so. But if you are not attending to the plants, nor irrigating them, tell me now about these matters and what you know about Protesilaos. Indeed, you would please the heroes if I should go away believing [pisteuein].

Vinedresser: Stranger, the plants no longer need watering at midday, since it is already late autumn and the season [hōra] itself waters them. Therefore, I have leisure to relate everything in detail. Since these matters are sacred to the gods and so important, may they not escape the notice of cultivated people! It is also better for us to sit down in the beauty of this place.

Vinedresser: Let us enter the vineyard, Phoenician. For you may even discover in it something to give cheer [euphrosunē] to you.

Phoenician: Let us enter, for I suppose a pleasant scent [breath] comes from the plants.

Vinedresser: What do you mean? Pleasant? It is divine! The blossoms of the uncultivated trees are fragrant, as are the fruits of those cultivated. If you ever come upon a cultivated plant with fragrant blossoms, pluck rather the leaves, since the sweet scent comes from them.

Phoenician: How diverse [poikilē] is the beauty [hōra] of your property, and how lush have the clusters of grapes grown! How well-arranged are all the trees, and how divine is the fragrance of the place! Indeed, I think that the walkways [dromoi] which you have left untilled are pleasing, but, vinedresser, you seem to me to live luxuriously since you use so much uncultivated land.

Vinedresser: The walkways [dromoi] are sacred, stranger, for the hero exercises [gumnazetai] on them.

- The epic micro-narrative of Protesilaos, matching the epic macro-narrative of Achilles.

- What they have in common is the pothos they inspire in the hearts of those who belong to their communities. These communities feel a longing for their cult-hero.

[695] And those that held Phylake and the flowery meadows of Pyrasos, sanctuary of Demeter; Iton, the mother of sheep; Antron upon the sea, and Pteleon that lies upon the grass lands. Of these brave Protesilaos had been chief while he was yet alive, but he was now lying under the earth.

[700] He had left a wife behind him in Phylake to tear her cheeks in sorrow, and his house was only half finished, for he was slain by a Dardanian warrior while leaping foremost of the Achaeans upon the soil of Troy. Still, though his people mourned [had pothos for] their chieftain, they were not without a leader, for Podarkes, of the lineage of Ares, marshaled them;

[705] he was son of Iphiklos, rich in sheep, who was the son of Phylakos, and he was own brother to Protesilaos, only younger, Protesilaos being at once the elder and the more valiant. So the people were not without a leader, though they mourned [had pothos for] him whom they had lost.

As we see from this passage, the people of Protesilaos are said to have a 'desire' [pothos] for him (Iliad II 703, 709). As I argue in the Prologue to Philostratus On Heroes, what we see here is an indirect reference by Homeric poetry to the hero cult of Protesilaos. Notice that Protesilaos is called 'beautiful' or 'handsome' in the Philostratus passage, and that he is 'desired' in the Homeric passage. The cult hero Protesilaos is estheticized and even eroticized. The hero cult of Protesilaos is mentioned prominently in Herodotus Scroll IX. Much more needs to be said about that Herodotean passage in the dialogue to come. That passage illustrates the negative powers of the cult hero, activated against the opponents of dikē, vs. the positive powers activated in favor of the supporters of dikē.

The 'perfect time' for the epiphany of Protesilaos is the hōra. To repeat, hōra 'season, seasonality, the right time, the perfect time' is a basic concept related to the concept of the goddess Hēra, the immortal exponent of seasonality, and to the concept of the human hērōs 'hero' (plural hērōes), the mortal exponent of seasonality.

In Modern Greek, oréos / oréa (from ancient Greek hōra) means 'beautiful'. The preoccupation with the sensuous charisma and beauty of the cult hero is made explicit here. This idea of beauty is generated by the idea of the hōra 'seasonality' of the hero.

Of course, the hero becomes seasonal only in death, at which point he/she becomes olbios in the sense of 'blessed'; by metonymy, the hero's worshippers become olbioi in the sense of 'prosperous' by virtue of being connected to the hero's local earth. We saw that in the last dialogue, when we considered the stylized sēma of Odysseus.

Let us consider again the description of Protesilaos as 'beautiful'. The attraction is eroticized in the Heroikos. Such eroticizing corresponds to the use of the word pothos 'desire, yearning', as in the Iliadic passage about Protesilaos.

To work the land, geōrgia, was considered a sacred activity; compare the title of Virgil's classic poem on working the land, Georgics.

The reticence of the keeper of the hero's sacred grounds is an allusion to the mysteries inherent in the hero cult of Protesilaos. To know such mysteries, one would have to be initiated into the cult.

A second death, followed by a second resurrection, are typical elements in the myths associated with hero cults.

There can be gradations of initiation into the mysteries. It is implied that the degree of the "vinedresser's" initiation is not as high as that of other devotees.

When heroes from the heroic past appear in the world of the present, what they are doing is making epiphanies.

Notice that the man who worships the hero 'believes in' the hero, as it were. Here we see a non-Christian analogue to the Christian idea of pisteuein 'believe' (as in the Apostles' Creed: 'I believe in God').

For the hero, initiation into the state of being olbios is a matter of telos, that is, a coming-full-circle. For the hero, telos is death. (Compare the last word of Christ in Christian traditions: tetelestai, which means 'the telos has arrived' (this expression is usually translated as 'it is consummated'). Then the hero becomes seasonal.

For the worshipper of the hero, induction into the mysteries of the hero is a matter of telos, that is, an initiation. For the worshipper, telos is a re-enactment of death.

- The xenos [ = stranger treated as a guest] receives instruction about the sacred nature of the space he has come to.

- kolōnos: A prominent rock in a local landscape. Archaeologists sometimes refer to it as a 'tumulus.' By metonymy, kolōnos can mean the whole landscape which includes the rock.

In Dialogue 11, we saw that Achilles and Odysseus, as cult heroes, are each marked by an individualized sēma. As we will see later, this visual marking is relevant to the use of an important word in the work of Philostratus:

C) Philostratus On Heroes 9.1-3. Listen to such stories now, my guest. Protesilaos does not lie buried at Troy but here on the Chersonesus. This large kolōnos here on the left no doubt contains him. The nymphs created these elms around the kolōnos, and they made, I suppose, the following decree concerning these trees: "Those branches turned toward Ilion will blossom early and will then immediately shed their leaves and perish before their season (this was indeed the misfortune of Protesilaos), but a tree on the other side will live and prosper." All the trees that were not set round the grave, such as these in the grove, have strength in all their branches and flourish according to their particular nature.

As we will see in a later dialogue, the kolōnos is a prominent natural landmark that can be imagined as the sēma of the cult hero.

- Achilles inside his sēma on the Hellespont. His sēma, which is a kolōnos, matches that of Protesilaos on the other side of the Hellespont.

This kolōnos, guest-stranger, which you see standing at the brow of the promontory [aktē], was built [ageirein ('pile stones together')] by the Achaeans who came together at the time when he [= Achilles] was mixed together with Patroklos for their joint burial, having provided for himself [= Achilles] and for that one [= Patroklos] the most beautiful of funeral rites. And this is the origin of the custom of singing his name in praise when people celebrate the bonds of love between friends. Of all mortals who ever existed, he [= Achilles] was buried in the most spectacular way, what with all the gifts that Greece bestowed upon him. No longer could the Greeks consider it a beautiful thing to grow their hair long, once Achilles was gone.[1] Whatever gold or other possession each of them had brought to Troy or had taken away from the division of spoils [= spoils taken at Troy] was now collected and piled up on top of the funeral pyre, right then and there. The same thing happened also later when Neoptolemos came to Troy. He [= Achilles] received another round of glorious gifts from his son and from the Achaeans who were trying to show their gratitude [kharis] to him. Even as they were getting ready to sail away from Troy, they would keep throwing themselves on top of the place of burial and believe that they were embracing Achilles.[2]

- Elsewhere in the Heroikos, in a passage describing an ancient yearly custom observed by Thessalians who sailed to Troy and performed sacrifice at the tomb of Achilles, the word kolōnos refers, once again, to the tomb of Achilles, and in this context it is used in collocation with another revealing word, sēma 'tomb' (53.11).

So what we see here is the offering of garlands of blossoms for the dead Achilles:

The Thessalian sacrificial offerings [enagismata] that came regularly to Achilles from Thessaly were decreed for the Thessalians by the oracle at Dodona. Evidently the oracle ordered the Thessalians to sail to Troy each year to sacrifice [thuein] to Achilles and to slaughter some sacrificial victims as to a god, while slaughtering other victims as for the dead. From the very beginnings, the following was the procedure: a ship sailed from Thessaly to Troy with black sails raised, bringing twice seven sacred ambassadors [theōroi], one white bull and one black bull, both tame to the touch, and wood from Mount Pelion, so that they would need nothing from the city [= New Ilion].[3] They also brought fire from Thessaly as well as water drawn from the river Sperkheios for libations. As a consequence (of these practices), the Thessalians were the first to institute the custom of using unwilting garlands [stephanoi] for the funerary rituals [kēdos plural] (in honor of Achilles), in order that, even if the wind delayed the ship, they would not wear garlands [stephanoi] that were wilted or past their season [hōra]. And evidently they found it necessary to put into the harbor at night and, before touching land, to sing from the ship a hymn [humnos] to Thetis, which is composed of these words:

When they approached the tomb [sēma] after the hymn [humnos], a shield was banged upon as in battle, and together with rhythmic coordination they cried alala while calling upon Achilles. When they had garlanded [stephanožn] the summit of the tumulus [kolōnos] and dug sacrificial pits on it, they slaughtered the black bull as to one who is dead. They also called upon Patroklos to come to the feast, so as to gratify [= make kharis for] Achilles. After they slit the victim's throat and made this sacrifice [enagizein], they evidently proceeded to go down to the ship, and, after sacrificing [thuein] the other bull on the beach again to Achilles and having begun the offering by taking from the basket and by partaking of the entrails for that sacrifice [thusia] (for they sacrificed [thuein] this sacrifice [thusia] as to a god), they sailed away toward dawn, taking the sacrificed animal so as not to feast in the enemy's country.[4]

F1. To make direct mental contact with a hero, the worshipper has to be initiated into the mysteries of the hero's cult:

F) Pausanias (2nd century CE) describes an initiation into the mysteries of a hero cult (9.39.5ff):[5]

When a man has made up his mind to descend to the oracle of Trophonios, he first lodges in a certain building [oikēma] for an appointed number of days, this being sacred to the Good Daimōn and to Good Fortune. While he lodges there, among other regulations for purity he abstains from hot baths, bathing only in the river Hercyna. Meat he has in plenty from the sacrifices, for he who descends sacrifices to Trophonios himself and to the children of Trophonios, to Apollo also and to Kronos, to Zeus with the epithet King [Basileus], to Hera Charioteer [Hēniokhos], and to Demeter whom they name with the epithet Europa and say was the wetnurse of Trophonios. [9.35.6] At each sacrifice a diviner [mantis] is present, who looks into the entrails of the sacrificial victim, and after an inspection prophesies to the person descending whether Trophonios will give him a kind [eumenēs] and gracious reception. The entrails of the other victims do not declare the mind of Trophonios so much as a ram, which each inquirer sacrifices over a pit [bothros] on the night he descends, calling upon Agamedes.[6] Even though the previous sacrifices have appeared propitious, no account is taken of them unless the entrails of this ram indicate the same; but if they agree, then the inquirer descends in good hope. The procedure of the descent is this. [9.39.7] First, during the night he is taken to the river Hercyna by two boys of the citizens about thirteen years old, named Hermae,[7] who after taking him there anoint him with oil and wash him. It is these who wash the descender, and do all the other necessary services as his attendant boys. After this he is taken by the priests, not at once to the oracle, but to fountains of water very near to each other. [9.39.8] Here he must drink water called the water of Forgetfulness [Lēthē], that he may forget all that he has been thinking of hitherto, and afterwards he drinks of another water, the water of Memory [Mnēmosunē], which causes him to remember what he sees after his descent. After looking at the image [agalma] which they say was made by Daedalus (it is not shown by the priests save to such as are going to visit Trophonios), having seen it, worshipped it and prayed, he proceeds to the oracle, dressed in a linen tunic, with ribbons girding it, and wearing the boots of the native locale.[8] [9.39.9] The oracle is on the mountain, beyond the grove. Round it is a circular basement of white marble, the circumference of which is about that of the smallest threshing floor, while its height is just short of two cubits. On the basement stand spikes, which, like the cross-bars holding them together, are of bronze, while through them has been made a double door. Within the enclosure is a chasm [khasma] in the earth, not natural, but artificially constructed after the most accurate masonry. [9.39.10] The shape of this structure is like that of a bread-oven. Its breadth across the middle one might conjecture to be about four cubits, and its depth also could not be estimated to extend to more than eight cubits. They have made no way of descent to the bottom, but when a man comes to Trophonios, they bring him a narrow, light ladder. After going down he finds a hole between the floor and the structure. Its breadth appeared to be two spans, and its height one span. [9.39.11] The descender lies with his back on the ground, holding barley-cakes [mazai] kneaded with honey, thrusts his feet into the hole and himself follows, trying hard to get his knees into the hole. After his knees the rest of his body is at once swiftly drawn in, just as the largest and most rapid river will catch a man in its eddy and carry him under. After this those who have entered the shrine learn the future, not in one and the same way in all cases, but by sight sometimes and at other times by hearing. The return upwards is by the same mouth, the feet darting out first. [9.39.12] They say that no one who has made the descent has been killed, save only one of the bodyguards of Demetrius. But they declare that he performed none of the usual rites in the sanctuary, and that he descended, not to consult the god[9] but in the hope of stealing gold and silver from the shrine. It is said that the body of this man appeared in a different place, and was not cast out at the sacred mouth. Other tales are told about the man, but I have given the one most worthy of consideration. [9.39.13] After his ascent from Trophonios the inquirer is again taken in hand by the priests, who set him upon a chair called the Throne of Memory [Mnēmosunē], which stands not far from the shrine, and they ask of him, when seated there, all he has seen or learned. After gaining this information they then entrust him to his relatives. These lift him, paralyzed with terror and unconscious both of himself and of his surroundings, and carry him to the building [oikēma] where he lodged before with Good Fortune and the Good Daimōn. Afterwards, however, he will recover all his faculties, and the power to laugh will return to him. [9.39.14] What I write is not hearsay; I have myself inquired of Trophonios and seen other inquirers.

G1. In making mental contact with a cult hero, the worshipper expects to get in touch with a mind that knows everything.

G2. We will see that heroes are "psychic" about the heroic past: in other words, when worshippers in the present make contact with the consciousness of the heroes of the past, those heroes will know everything about the world of heroes, not only about their own world in the past. They thus surpass the power of poets in knowing about the world of heroes:

G) Philostratus On Heroes 7.4-6 At any rate, among those who critically examine Homer's poems, who will you say reads [anagignōskein] and has insight [di-hor‰n] into them as Protesilaos does? Indeed, my guest, before Priam and Troy there was no epic recitation [rhapsōidia], nor had anyone sung of events that had not yet taken place. There was poetry about prophetic matters and about Herakles, son of Alkmēnē, recently arranged but not yet developed fully, but Homer had not yet sung. Some say that it was when Troy was captured, others say it was a few or even eight generations later that he applied himself to poetic composition. Nevertheless, Protesilaos knows everything of Homer and sings of many Trojan events that took place after his own lifetime, and also of many Hellenic and Median events.

[1] The wording connotes an aetiology, as if the death of Achilles were the single reason that explains why Achaeans no longer wore their hair long.

[2] Translation adapted from Berenson and Aitken 2001.153.

[3] The ritually dramatized hostility between the Thessalians and the city of New Ilion seems to be a reflex of an old Thessalian connection with Sigeion as the rival city that represented the interests of Athens in the era of the Peisistratidai. As allies of Athens, the Thessalians would have been welcome as visitors to the sacred sites in the part of the Troad controlled by Sigeion in that era. In a later era, however, after Sigeion had been destroyed by New Ilion, the Thessalians would have become personae non gratae at the sacred sites taken over by New Ilion.

[4] Translation adapted from Berenson and Aitken 2001.157, 159.

[5] The oracle of the cult hero Trophonios is mentioned already in Herodotus (1. 46), over 600 years earlier: he reports that Croesus had consulted the oracle of Trophonios, as well as the oracle of the cult hero Amphiaraos.

[6] Pausanias' earlier description of the myth of Trophonios (9.37.5ff): "The earth opened up and swallowed Trophonios at the point in the grove at Lebadeia where is what is called the pit [bothros] of Agamedes, and next to it is a stele." Agamedes was the brother of Trophonios. In the corresponding myth, Agamedes died when the two brothers were buried alive, while Trophonios escaped; later, he experiences the mystical process of "engulfment."

[8] Note that the groundedness of the local hero cult is reinforced by the idea of local footwear.

[9] Note that Pausanias considers the hero in the afterlife to be a theos 'god'.

Dialogue 12 Handout

title: "Longing for a hero"