FOOTNOTES:
[451] It has been held that the Aeolic settlements in the Troad itself date only from the seventh century (cf. Meyer, Geschichte des Alterthums, II pp. 203, 463 f.), and there is some evidence that movements of this kind were in operation about that time. But the excavations at Troy brought to light the fact that the district had been occupied, in times long subsequent to the destruction of the fortress, by a semi-barbarous people, apparently from the region of the Danube. The evidence at our disposal seems to indicate that there were Greek settlements in existence before this time, but that they were temporarily overthrown by the barbarians (cf. Brückner, Troja und Ilion, p. 567 ff.). At all events it is clear that the Homeric poets were familiar with the district.
[452] For a full account of this story see Mawer, Ragnar Lothbrók and his sons (published in the Saga-Book of the Viking Club, Jan. 1909).
[453] Cf. Βαιάκη. πόλις τῆς Χαονίας. Ἑκαταῖος. κ.τ.λ. (Steph. Byz., s.v.) From this notice we gather that at the beginning of the fifth century (or earlier) the Greeks knew of a city or state called Baiace in Chaonia, i.e. opposite the island of Corfu, which was usually identified with Scheria in ancient times. It has been remarked by several scholars that the name Βαιάκη is obviously independent of Homeric poetry. We may infer also (i) that it was derived from a non-Greek source and (ii) that if Βαιακ- and Φαιηκ- are identical the latter name must have become known to the Greeks in very early times. It is not impossible that in the Heroic Age the Greeks may have been familiar with more than the name of this people; but there is no evidence, so far as I am aware, for the existence of a prehistoric civilisation on the Albanian coast—such as we find depicted in Od. VI-VIII. Until such evidence is forthcoming probability is in favour of the view that the picture drawn of the Phaeacian community in the Odyssey is derived from a different region—most likely from the Aegean.
[454] Possibly Θερσίτης is another example of this type. It seems to me more probable however that it is a nickname, similar to Ἶρος (Od. XVIII 6 f.). It has been well connected with Θηρίτας, a Laconian name for Ares or Enyalios (cf. Usener, S.-B. d. Akad. zu Wien, CXXXVII, p. 53). But I cannot see any justification for the hypothesis (ib., p. 57) that the practices described by Pausanias (III 14. 8 f.; XIX 7 f.; XX 2. 8) represent a contest between Enyalios and Achilles, or for connecting them in any way with the story of the killing of Thersites by Achilles in the Aithiopis. Achilles was worshipped elsewhere in connection with athletic practices (cf. Pausanias, VI 23. 3; also the Δρόμος Ἀχιλλέως mentioned by Arrian, Peripl. 21. 1), probably for the same reason that worship was paid to famous athletes of the past (cf. Pindar, Isth. VII 37, 59 ff.).
[455] Curiously enough the most suspicious names are those of the two chief characters, Εὐρύμαχος son of Πόλυβος, and Ἀντίνοος son of Εὐπείθης.
[456] Under the head of fiction I think we may probably include many national names and names derived from cities, rivers, etc. It has been remarked above (p. [268], note) that these names occur chiefly among the Trojans and their allies, e.g. Τρώς (son of Alastor), Δάρδανος (son of Bias), Μύγδων, Ἀσκάνιος, Δρύοψ, Δόλοψ, Τεύθρας, Πήδαιος, Ἴμβριος, Ἰδαῖος, Σκαμάνδριος, Θηβαῖος, Θυμβραῖος. I do not mean of course to suggest that all such names are necessarily fictitious. The type doubtless was ancient, but it possessed obvious facilities for the formation of names for fictitious characters of foreign nationality.
[457] This point seems to me to be of fundamental importance; but it is apparently not always recognised. Prof. Meyer (Geschichte des Alterthums, II p. 207) holds, rightly as I think, that there is no valid reason for doubting that Troy actually was destroyed by a king of Mycenae. Yet elsewhere (ib., p. 186 f., etc.) he regards Agamemnon himself as a Spartan deity and most of the other chief Achaean heroes as mythical or fictitious or at least unconnected originally with the story of Troy. According to my view the interest in heroic poetry, Greek as well as Teutonic, Welsh or Servian, was from the beginning essentially bound up with individual characters, e.g. not with a (nameless) king of Mycenae—which is comparatively seldom mentioned (cf. p. [274])—but with King Agamemnon. It is true that under certain conditions one name occasionally does displace another in heroic stories; but we have seen no reason for believing that the conditions favourable to such changes ever prevailed in the history of Greek heroic poetry. Neither the name Ἀγαμέμνων nor the later inferences to Ζεύς Ἀγαμέμνων seem to me to afford any valid ground for doubting that Agamemnon was the king of Mycenae originally concerned in the story.
[458] Note should be taken also of the fact that the peculiar type of nomenclature which we find among the Phaeacians (cf. p. [299]) is not confined to the list of athletes but spread over the whole of this section of the poem. It is quite possible of course that the few exceptional names, such as Ἀλκίνοος, may be derived from tradition or from an earlier poet.
[459] Cf. Robert, Studien zur Ilias, p. 406 ff.; Bethe, N. Jahrb., XIII p. 1 ff.; Cauer, Grundfragen2 p. 197 ff.
[460] It is to be remembered that as a patronymic Τελαμώνιος is an Aeolic formation. The rareness of forms of this type renders it highly improbable that a nickname thus formed should have been misinterpreted as a patronymic. As a nickname too should we not rather have expected Τελαμωνεύς?
[461] Two passages mention Λοκροί in connection with the other Aias; three mention Ἰθάκη or Κεφαλλῆνες in connection with Odysseus. Σπάρτη and Λακεδαίμων are mentioned in connection with Menelaos only in the Catalogue. References to Eurybates and Helen are of course not included here. The only leading Achaean heroes whose home or nationality is frequently mentioned are Achilles, Nestor and Idomeneus.
[462] For folk-tales cf. p. [258] ff. The same conditions are probably favourable both to transference and invention. The latter faculty is perhaps first displayed in lists of supernatural beings, such as those of the Nereids in Il. XVIII 39 ff. and Theog. 242 ff. (which differ a good deal). We may compare the list of dwarfs given in Völuspá.
[463] We need not discuss the identification of the Adrestos and Amphios of Il. II 830 with the famous Adrastos and Amphiaraos of the Theban story (cf. Usener, S.-B. der Akad. zu Wien, 1898, p. 37 ff.). The strangest feature in this 'discovery' is the fascination which, in spite of its obvious untenability, it seems to have exercised on subsequent writers.
[464] The evidence of the grave-mound in Lycia, cited by Prof. Murray (Rise of the Greek Epic, p. 191, note), can hardly be taken seriously. Indeed Prof. Murray himself seems to consider Sarpedon's Lycian connections at least as illusory as his connection with Troy.
[465] Diomedes no doubt figured in the story of the second attack upon Thebes. It has been suggested that this hero was also originally identical with the Bistonian Diomedes, who fed his mares with human flesh and was killed by Heracles. The value of this identification depends largely upon the question whether the Doloneia formed an original part of the story of the Iliad. That is a view which would probably gain the assent of few scholars—even of those who believe that the Doloneia is not much later than the rest of the Iliad in its final form. The other arguments are of little consequence. Diomedes displays a propensity for capturing chariots—a feature which perhaps gave rise to the adventure with Rhesos; but the same remark is true of Antilochos. He fights also with the 'Thracian' god Ares, as well as with Aphrodite. But it is clear that the feud with these deities really belongs to Athene, Diomedes' hereditary guardian. In later stories, relating to the east of Italy, there may have been a confusion between the two heroes; and it is scarcely impossible that here and there Diomedes of Argos took over a cult belonging to his namesake. If so we shall have to suppose that the Bistonian Diomedes was originally an Illyrian rather than a Thracian hero.
[466] The most highly developed use of fiction occurs probably when the poets are dealing with unknown regions or peoples, as in the story of Odysseus (cf. p. [297] f.). But I am not aware that there is any evidence for the existence of poems on wholly fictitious subjects.
[467] On this subject see Note VII.
[468] Cf. J. Grimm, Teutonic Mythology4 (Engl. Transl.), p. 936 f.
[469] Cf. W. Grimm, Deutsche Heldensage, p. 40 (and passim); J. Grimm, op. cit., p. 1183.
[470] Prof. Meyer (Gesch. d. Alt.2, I p. 680 ff.) has pointed out that, while Thucydides seems to have regarded Minos as a Greek, Herodotus apparently held a different view. Such is certainly the natural inference to be drawn from the language of the two historians, though the evidence is perhaps not quite conclusive in either case. But Herodotus, at all events in VII 171, clearly derived his information from the people of Praisos—a community which cannot have been wholly Greek even in his time. Their account seems to have been due to an attempt to reconcile Greek and native traditions, Homeric influence being shown by the sentence τρίτῃ δὲ γενεῇ μετὰ Μίνωα τελευτήσαντα γενέσθαι τὰ Τρωϊκά, κ.τ.λ. We may compare the Egyptian story of Helen (cf. p. [266]). In the Homeric poems themselves Idomeneus is descended from Minos, and no hint is given that either of them was regarded as non-Greek. The same remark appears to be true of Greek tradition elsewhere.
[471] Cf. Petrie, History of Egypt, III 197 ff.; Breasted, Ancient Records (Egypt), IV 274 ff. Prof. Breasted believes that this document is Wenamon's authentic report of his expedition.
[472] In the course of an adventurous journey the envoy was intercepted by some ships of the Zakar (Tchakaray), a people mentioned among the Aegean confederates who fought against Rameses III (cf. p. [188] ff.). These Zakar brought him before the prince of Byblos and demanded that he should be arrested. Prof. Petrie speaks of them as Cretan 'pirates,' but neither their own behaviour nor that of the prince seems to me to be reconcilable with such a view. According to Prof. Breasted's reconstruction of the story—where the papyrus is defective—the envoy had himself been guilty of lawless conduct previously. Incidentally it appears from the story that a considerable amount of traffic was being carried on at this time both in Egyptian and Syrian ships.
[473] Herhor is mentioned in the story, but not as king.