Levaniouk, Olga. 2011. Eve of the Festival: Making Myth in Odyssey 19. Hellenic Studies Series 46. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_Levaniouk.Eve_of_the_Festival.2011.
Chapter 10. Odysseus and the Boar
πτωχὸν ἀνιηρόν, δαιτῶν ἀπολυμαντῆρα;
this tiresome beggar, a spoiler of feasts? {166|167}
Aelian notes that the young of wild boar are called μολόβρια and that Hipponax refers to the boar as μολοβρίτης. [1] Ancient (and folk) etymologies derive molobros from μολοῦντα πρὸς τὴν βρῶσιν, walking towards food [2] and the etymology fits with Odysseus’ assumed persona of a hungry beggar, who complains of his ever-demanding belly and is accused of gluttony. On the other hand, a different explanation for the term has been proposed by Coughanowr on the basis of modern Greek evidence, which suggests that molobros should mean something like ‘hairless’ or ‘with uneven coat’. [3] According to Coughanowr, μαλάβρα in the dialect of Epirus refers to a kind of disease like ringworm that leads to hair loss, which would also fit Odysseus, who is, of course, made bald by Athena as part of this disguise (Odyssey 13.431). Whatever its meaning, the evidence of Aelian and Hipponax makes it clear that for an ancient audience the term would call to mind pigs, especially in the Odyssey, where, as Stanford points out, calling Odysseus a pig as he is being led by Eumaeus the swineherd makes for a good joke. [4] Moreover, if Coughanowr is on the right track, there may be a further joke when Melanthios predicts that Odysseus will ‘rub his shoulders’ on many doorposts: ὃς πολλῇς φλιῇσι παραστὰς θλίψεται ὤμους (17.221). Pigs have a habit of rubbing against trees, (perhaps to get rid of pests, thus making their coats uneven?), and this fact is noted by Aristotle, who thinks that boars do so to toughen the skin. [5] Odysseus is called a pig and his begging is described in corresponding terms.
“ὢ πόποι, ὡς ὁ μολοβρὸς ἐπιτροχάδην ἀγορεύει,
γρηῒ καμινοῖ ἶσος· ὃν ἂν κακὰ μητισαίμην {167|168}
κόπτων ἀμφοτέρῃσι, χαμαὶ δέ κε πάντας ὀδόντας
γναθμῶν ἐξελάσαιμι συὸς ὣς ληϊβοτείρης.
“Look at that, how glibly this molobros talks,
like an old furnace-woman. I would devise some bad plans for him,
hitting him with both hands, and I would knock all the teeth
from his jaws onto the ground, as if he were a pig that is devouring the crops.”
θήλειαι τοκάδες· τοὶ δ’ ἄρσενες ἐκτὸς ἴαυον,
πολλὸν παυρότεροι· τοὺς γὰρ μινύθεσκον ἔδοντες
ἀντίθεοι μνηστῆρες, ἐπεὶ προΐαλλε συβώτης
αἰεὶ ζατρεφέων σιάλων τὸν ἄριστον ἁπάντων.
the breeding females, while the males slept outside,
many fewer in number. For the godlike suitors diminished their number
by eating them, since the swineherd always sent them
the best of all the well-fed pigs.
When Odysseus arrives at the swineherd’s hut he is naturally treated to more modest fare, namely piglets (khoirea), and Eumaeus remarks that this is what the servants eat, while the grown and fattened male pigs are for the suitors (18.80–81). Eumaeus then goes on to explain to his guest how the suitors carelessly devour Odysseus’ flocks and seem to feel safe doing so, (he presumes they have information ‘from the god’ about Odysseus’ death), and concludes by mentioning that every day he selects the best of the pigs for them:
καί σφι συῶν τὸν ἄριστον ἐῢ κρίνας ἀποπέμπω.
and carefully choose the best of the pigs and send it off to them.
ἀργιόδοντος ὑός, κύδαινε δὲ θυμὸν ἄνακτος.
of the white-toothed pig, and gratified the heart of his master.
ὡς ἐμοί, ὅττι με τοῖον ἐόντ’ ἀγαθοῖσι γεραίρεις.
as you are to me, since you honor me, such as I am, with good things.
οἷα πάρεστι· θεὸς δὲ τὸ μὲν δώσει, τὸ δ’ ἐάσει,
ὅττι κεν ᾧ θυμῷ ἐθέλῃ· δύναται γὰρ ἅπαντα.
that are here. God will grant one thing, and let another thing fall through,
whatever he wants in his heart: for he can do anything.
By urging him to enjoy what there is, Eumaeus seems to let his guest know that further probing into the reasons for the honor is unwelcome. When he adds that gods can give and take as they wish, he seems both to suggest that nothing is secure, and that much is possible. In any case, the conclusion, namely that everything is doable for the gods, is certainly the kind of commonplace that reverberates with suggestiveness in this setting, for surely one of its implications is that the gods could even bring back Odysseus. In Eumaeus’ hut, Odysseus progresses from eating piglets like servants to receiving the honorific portion at the sacrifice of the best of pigs, a progress {171|172} that represents a step in his gradual return, a move away from the nameless beggar and towards the king that Eumaeus so fondly remembers.
καὶ ξίφος, ἀμφὶ δέ οἱ κυνέην κεφαλῆφιν ἔθηκε
ῥινοῦ ποιητήν· πολέσιν δ’ ἔντοσθεν ἱμᾶσιν
ἐντέτατο στερεῶς· ἔκτοσθε δὲ λευκοὶ ὀδόντες
ἀργιόδοντος ὑὸς θαμέες ἔχον ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα
εὖ καὶ ἐπισταμένως· μέσσῃ δ’ ἐνὶ πῖλος ἀρήρει
τήν ῥά ποτ’ ἐξ Ἐλεῶνος Ἀμύντορος Ὀρμενίδαο
ἐξέλετ’ Αὐτόλυκος πυκινὸν δόμον ἀντιτορήσας,
Σκάνδειαν δ’ ἄρα δῶκε Κυθηρίῳ Ἀμφιδάμαντι·
Ἀμφιδάμας δὲ Μόλῳ δῶκε ξεινήϊον εἶναι,
αὐτὰρ ὃ Μηριόνῃ δῶκεν ᾧ παιδὶ φορῆναι·
δὴ τότ’ Ὀδυσσῆος πύκασεν κάρη ἀμφιτεθεῖσα.
and a sword, and put on his head a helmet
made out of leather. On the inside it was firmly strung
with leather thongs; on the outside white tusks
of a shining-tusked boar were closely set this way and that,
well and skillfully. And in the middle a felt cap was fitted into it.
This helmet Autolykos once stole out of Eleon, from Amyntor, son of Ormenos,
penetrating into his close-built house,
and gave it to Amphidamas of Cythera to take to Skandeia.
And Amphidamas gave it to Molos as a guestgift,
and he in turn gave it to Meriones, his son, to wear.
But then it was put on the head of Odysseus and protected it. {172|173}
Although the helmet belongs to Meriones, he never actually wears it. Odysseus, on the other hand, is linked to the helmet doubly, not only because he wears it into ambush, but also because the helmet comes to Meriones through Odysseus’ own grandfather, Autolykos, who acquires it by theft. This “coincidence” was noted and commented upon by a scholiast, who found it pleasant that the helmet came back by such a complex route to Autolykos’ grandson. [9] It is curious that Odysseus’ connection with the boar repeatedly intersects with his maternal grandfather, both in the Iliad and in the Odyssey. In neither case does Autolykos himself hunt, and it has been argued that the helmet in the Iliad even symbolizes Odysseus’ “Autolycan heritage,” his darker side, and his proclivity towards guile, in short his excellent suitability for a secret nocturnal mission such as he performs in the Doloneia. This may well be true, but I think there is more to the helmet. As was mentioned above, costumes have a special significance in the Doloneia, and are described both in great detail and in rare language. Diomedes’ costume, for example, includes a very strange helmet, the subject of a memorable alliterative phrase, ἄφαλόν τε καὶ ἄλλοφον, ‘without horn or crest’ (10.258). The helmet is said to be called καταῖτυξ (10.258), a Homeric hapax of unclear meaning that stumped the scholiasts. From the way it is explained in the Iliad (10.257–259) it is clear that kataitux was not a widely known word, and needed glossing. All of this suggests that the Iliad here touches upon subjects of some antiquity, and this impression is strengthened by the appearance of the boar tusk helmet, certainly a bronze-age object. [10] This helmet also receives a very detailed description, so that it draws a lot of attention to itself. Moreover, the costumes of the Doloneia have some of the properties of masks, as has long been recognized. [11] If Dolon’s wolf skin hints at playing the wolf, and if Diomedes’ lion skin similarly links the hero to the animal, then Odysseus is here identified with the boar. This is striking enough, since Odysseus does not always cut such a brave figure in the Iliad, while the boar is depicted as the most ferocious of the wild beasts. In fact, it has been suggested that, in contrast to Dolon and Diomedes’ outfits, Odysseus’ is to be interpreted as a disguise, in the sense that Odysseus is precisely not a boar and {173|174} that a fox or a wolf might be a better match for him. [12] The helmet, according to this argument, belies and dissembles Odysseus’ true character. I think that, on the contrary, the boar tusk helmet is indeed emblematic of Odysseus in the way the lion’s hide is emblematic of Diomedes, and the wolf pelt of Dolon. Odysseus may not always behave with the greatest nobility in the Iliad, but he does have boar-like qualities, including the animal’s uncompromising aggression, a subject to which I will come back shortly. The fact that Autolykos is associated with the boar hunt in the Odyssey and with the boar tusk helmet in the Doloneia suggests that being boar-like is not incompatible with having Autolycan qualities, and that the two aspects of Odysseus’ personality might indeed be connected. In fact, one of the distinctive qualities of the boar which is illustrated in Odyssey 19 is its habit of hiding in a lair and then bursting out of it, right upon the hunters, a quality well suited for a master of ambush such as Odysseus. There is even a lexical link between the word of the boar’s lair used in Book 19 (λόχμη, 19.441) and the word for ambush, λόχος, both derived from the root of λέχεται, ‘to lie down’. [13]
σεύωνται, ὃ δέ τ’ εἶσι βαθείης ἐκ ξυλόχοιο
θήγων λευκὸν ὀδόντα μετὰ γναμπτῇσι γένυσσιν,
ἀμφὶ δέ τ’ ἀΐσσονται, ὑπαὶ δέ τε κόμπος ὀδόντων
γίγνεται, οἳ δὲ μένουσιν ἄφαρ δεινόν περ ἐόντα,
ὥς ῥα τότ’ ἀμφ’ Ὀδυσῆα Διῒ φίλον ἐσσεύοντο
Τρῶες·
rush around a boar, who comes out of a deep thicket
whetting the white tusks in his curved jaws,
and they dart around him, and the gnashing of his teeth is audible,
but they stand firm and await him, though he is terrible,
so at that time Trojans rushed around Odysseus dear to Zeus.
ἀλλ’ ἔμεν’ ὡς ὅτε τις σῦς οὔρεσιν ἀλκὶ πεποιθώς,
ὅς τε μένει κολοσυρτὸν ἐπερχόμενον πολὺν ἀνδρῶν
χώρῳ ἐν οἰοπόλῳ, φρίσσει δέ τε νῶτον ὕπερθεν·
ὀφθαλμὼ δ’ ἄρα οἱ πυρὶ λάμπετον· αὐτὰρ ὀδόντας
θήγει, ἀλέξασθαι μεμαὼς κύνας ἠδὲ καὶ ἄνδρας·
ὣς μένεν Ἰδομενεὺς δουρικλυτός, οὐδ’ ὑπεχώρει.
but he stood firm, like some boar in the mountains, sure in his own valor, {175|176}
who stands up to a large gang of men advancing upon him,
in a deserted place, and bristles his back.
And his eyes blaze with fire, and he whets
his tusks, keen to fight off dogs and men.
So Idomeneus famed for his spear held his ground, and did not give way.
κάπρος χαυλιόδων φρονέει [δὲ] θυμῷ μαχέσασθαι
ἀνδράσι θηρευτῇς, θήγει δέ τε λευκὸν ὀδόντα
δοχμωθείς, ἀφρὸς δὲ περὶ στόμα μαστιχόωντι
λείβεται, ὄσσε δέ οἱ πυρὶ λαμπετόωντι ἔικτον,
ὀρθὰς δ’ ἐν λοφιῇ φρίσσει τρίχας ἀμφί τε δειρήν·
τῷ ἴκελος Διὸς υἱὸς ἀφ’ ἱππείου θόρε δίφρου.
a large-tusked boar plots in his heart to fight
against hunters and whets his white tusks,
turning sideways, and foam flows about his mouth
as he gnashes his teeth, and his eyes are like blazing fire,
and he lifts his bristling hair along his spine and neck,
looking like this creature the son of Zeus jumped off his horse-drawn chariot. {176|177}
τὴν μὲν ἄρ’ οὔτ’ ἀνέμων διάη μένος ὑγρὸν ἀέντων,
οὔτε μιν ἠέλιος φαέθων ἀκτῖσιν ἔβαλλεν,
οὔτ’ ὄμβρος περάασκε διαμπερές· ὣς ἄρα πυκνὴ
ἦεν, ἀτὰρ φύλλων ἐνέην χύσις ἤλιθα πολλή.
The power of wet-blowing winds could not blow through it,
nor the shining sun strike it with its rays,
nor yet did the rain penetrate it, so solid it was,
and there was a great pile of fallen leaves on it.
On Skheria, Odysseus similarly lies under a cover of bushes and leaves so dense that he is completely protected from the elements, and he too is awakened by a sound (of Nausikaa and her friends playing ball). The boar emerges suddenly, close by Odysseus, while on Skheria Odysseus has to walk a bit to reach the maidens, but he still startles and terrifies them. The closest verbal echo is in the description of the shelter itself:
ἐξ ὁμόθεν πεφυῶτας· ὁ μὲν φυλίης, ὁ δ’ ἐλαίης.
τοὺς μὲν ἄρ’ οὔτ’ ἀνέμων διάη μένος ὑγρὸν ἀέντων,
οὔτε ποτ’ ἠέλιος φαέθων ἀκτῖσιν ἔβαλλεν,
οὔτ’ ὄμβρος περάασκε διαμπερές· ὣς ἄρα πυκνοὶ
ἀλλήλοισιν ἔφυν ἐπαμοιβαδίς· οὓς ὑπ’ Ὀδυσσεὺς
δύσετ’. ἄφαρ δ’ εὐνὴν ἐπαμήσατο χερσὶ φίλῃσιν
εὐρεῖαν· φύλλων γὰρ ἔην χύσις ἤλιθα πολλή.
that grew from the same spot, one of phylie and one of olive.
The power of wet-blowing winds could not blow through them,
nor the shining sun strike them with its rays,
nor yet did the rain penetrate them, so close together did they grow,
intertwining one with the other. Odysseus entered
under them and with his hands heaped up a wide
bed for himself, for there was a great pile of fallen leaves there. {179|180}
ὁππότ’ ἂν ἡβήσας μητρώϊον ἐς μέγα δῶμα
ἔλθῃ Παρνησόνδ’, ὅθι πού μοι κτήματ’ ἔασι,
τῶν οἱ ἐγὼ δώσω καί μιν χαίροντ’ ἀποπέμψω.
he reaches the pinnacle of youth and comes into his mother’s great paternal house,
and to Parnassus, where I have my possessions,
from these I will give him a gift and send him back rejoicing.
The trip to Parnassus to meet his grandfather and name-giver, be received into maternal family, and carry away the promised gifts is therefore closely bound up with Odysseus’ identity. [22] The fact that Odysseus hunts with his mother’s brothers is significant, because in many societies, including those of Ancient Greece and other Indo-European cultures, the mother’s father and her brothers have a special connection to their sister’s or daughter’s sons, and play {180|181} a large role in their education. The role of mother’s brothers as educators and helpers is attested both in myth, (Daidalos and Talos, Achilles and Menesthios, Adrastos and Hippomedon, Priam and Eurypylos, Creon and Amphitryon, etc.), and in historical record: Pindar mentions boys competing alongside their maternal uncles, and several of his laudandi follow in the footsteps of their maternal uncles by winning in the same events. [23] In his study of the importance of the maternal uncle and grandfather in Greece, Bremmer concludes his analysis of multiple examples of this phenomenon by suggesting that, “MoBr [mother’s brother] had an active role in his SiSo [sister’s son] education” and that “for the young nephew the MoBr functions as the model par excellence for imitation.” [24] He further notes that when maternal uncles hunted with their nephews, their supervision of the hunt “most likely had an initiatory significance, as probably also in other cases where a SiSo accompanied this MoBr into war.” [25] The most famous example of such a hunt in the company of maternal uncles is also the most famous boar hunt of Greek myth, the hunt for the Calydonian boar. Like Odysseus, Meleager is accompanied not just by uncles, but specifically by his mother’s brothers, and this detail is central to the myth and present from its earliest attestation. A conflict with these uncles and the (accidental or deliberate) killing of some of them is the turning point of the myth and the reason for Meleager’s own death. It has been suggested that while Odysseus’ hunt represents a successful passage from boyhood to manhood, Meleager’s represents a failed one, though not all versions of the latter myth fit this interpretation with equal ease. [26] Nevertheless, while it may be simplistic to see the Calydonian hunt as nothing but a failed initiation, it certainly has features of a rite of passage. Boar-hunts in general seem to play a special role in male upbringing, and Pausanias (3.14.10) even describes ritualized boar-fights staged by Spartan ephebes, with each boar representing a group of youths. On fifth-century vases the Calydonian hunters are beardless youths dressed only in the chlamys, a typical way of depicting ephebes. As Barringer remarks, “Contemporary views may have understood the youthful hunters in the Calydonian boar hunt depictions as ephebes or pre-adults {181|182} engaged in a hunt that exalts them to manhood.” [27] Certainly Odysseus’ hunt on Parnassus does just that: it exalts him to manhood.
Atys concludes his list of concerns with his anxiety about the opinion of his young wife. This seems to be a particular worry of his, since he saves it for the end and then repeats it twice. In so doing he touches upon yet another connotation of the boar hunt, its connection not only to manhood but more specifically to sexual virility. This connotation is not always active and visible, but it is both noticeable and naturally connected to the hunt’s manhood-affirming power.
λευκῷ λευκὸν ὀδόντι τυπείς, καὶ Κύπριν ἀνιῇ
λεπτὸν ἀποψύχων· τὸ δέ οἱ μέλαν εἴβεται αἷμα
χιονέας κατὰ σαρκός, ὑπ’ ὀφρύσι δ’ ὄμματα ναρκῇ,
καὶ τὸ ῥόδον φεύγει τῶ χείλεος· ἀμφὶ δὲ τήνῳ
θνᾴσκει καὶ τὸ φίλημα, τὸ μήποτε Κύπρις ἀποίσει.
in his white thigh by a white tusk, and he brings pain to Cypris,
softly ceasing to breathe. And his black blood drips
over his snow-white skin, and beneath his brows his eyes grow dim {183|184}
and the rose color flees from his lips, and about him
dies also his kiss, which Cypris will never have.
Other examples include the murder of Tlepolemus during a boar hunt in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses. Tlepolemus’ killer, Thrasylus, proceeds to propose to his victims’ widow, which suggests that sexual rivalry is the motive. Thrasylus throws Tlepolemus’ body in the boar’s way to be mangled as if the boar really did kill him, and then spears his dead opponent on the right thigh to imitate a typical boar-tusk wound. [32] In the context of rivalry over a woman, both the boar hunt in general and the location of the wound in particular are suggestive. Ovid seems to be playing with similar themes in his description of Ancaeus’ death in the Calydonian boar hunt. Atalanta wounds the boar with an arrow, and the male hunters are ashamed that a woman was the first to draw blood. Shouting that male weapons are superior to the female ones, Ancaeus lifts his axe and at this moment the boar stabs him with both tusks in the groin. [33]
γουνὸς ὕπερ, πολλὸν δὲ διήφυσε σαρκὸς ὀδόντι.
above the knee, and gashed much of his flesh with his tusk.
Odysseus’ thighs, moreover, receive some attention in the part of the poem leading up the boar hunt. As he girds himself for the fight with Iros, a preview of what is in store for the suitors, Odysseus bares his body and reveals muscles unexpected in an aged beggar. First on the list are his thighs:
ζώσατο μὲν ῥάκεσιν περὶ μήδεα, φαῖνε δὲ μηροὺς
καλούς τε μεγάλους τε, φάνεν δέ οἱ εὐρέες ὦμοι.
girded himself with rags around his genitals and showed his thighs,
splendid and great, and his wide shoulders became visible.
Further, just a few verses later, the suitors comment precisely on the strength of his thighs:
οἵην ἐκ ῥακέων ὁ γέρων ἐπιγουνίδα φαίνει.
to judge by the thigh muscle the old man reveals from under his rags.”
The overarching context both for this comment and for the boar hunt is Odysseus’ opposition to a crowd of young men who are both visibly lusting after his wife and enjoying sex with his maids. Similar concerns can be detected even in the battle between the two beggars. Threatening Iros with all manner of retribution if he loses, Antinoos concludes with a threat that they will send him to king Ekhetos, who will cut off his sexual organs and feed them to the dogs (Odyssey 18.87). With Iros being symbolically a representative of the suitors in this fight with Odysseus, Antinoos is understandably annoyed at the beggar’s evident fear and the strong possibility of his loss. The implications of Iros’ disgrace bode ill for his own self. Conversely, the threat to his manhood, which Odysseus once had to face on Parnassus, is present again. In his confrontation with the suitors, Odysseus’ manliness is being tested, and a flashback to the boar hunt is one of the ways in which it is reaffirmed.
νῆος ἀρηϊφίλου
ἔστιν ἀδμήτα θυγάτρων,
σοὶ φυὰν ἀλιγκία;
Τάν κεν λιπαρὰν <ἐ>θέλων θείμαν ἄκοι-
τιν.
dear to Ares,
an unwed daughter,
similar to you in appearance?
Her I would gladly make my radiant wife.
The idea of marriage is thus introduced into the poem, and not only the marriage of Herakles and Deianeira, but of the marriage that should have been Meleager’s lot. The last words spoken by Meleager, and the last devoted to his myth in the ode, once again seem to cut both ways, with Meleager himself brought to mind by the description of his sister, as yet ignorant of Aphrodite:
ἐν δώμασι Δαϊάνει-
ραν, νῆϊν ἔτι χρυσέας
Κύπριδος θελξιμβρότου.
Dianeira at home,
as yet inexperienced of golden
Aphrodite, enchanter of mortals.
I agree with this, but think that the process of reacquisition of his wife and kingdom has already began in the first part of the interview. Within the digression, the boar hunt completes Odysseus’ transition to adulthood and points to the next step, which is marriage. Within the dialogue, the boar hunt recaps and re-affirms the themes that have been in the background of the dialogue so far, themes having to do with growing up. Because manhood, virility, and access to women are associated with hunting the boar, the hunt also points to the resumption of marriage between Penelope and Odysseus. And just as within the hunting digression marriage is the logical next step, it is also thus outside the digression, within the dialogue. In effect, Odysseus has made a claim that he is ready to regain his wife, and the flashback to the boar hunt re-affirms this claim. When Penelope resumes the conversation, she moves at once to the question of her marriage, so that the hunt not only continues the themes of the first conversation, but ushers in those of the second. Penelope may have her doubts or fears, but the flashback to the boar hunt predicts that Odysseus will re-assert his manhood with the unmitigated violence of his animal double. {189|}
Footnotes