From Hittite to Homer

by Mary R. Bachvarova

This book provides a groundbreaking reassessment of the prehistory of Homeric epic. It argues that in the Early Iron Age bilingual poets transmitted to the Greeks a set of narrative traditions closely related to the one found at Bronze-Age Hattusa, the Hittite capital. Key drivers for Near Eastern influence on the developing Homeric tradition were the shared practices of supralocal festivals and venerating divinized ancestors, and a shared interest in creating narratives about a legendary past using a few specific theogonies, genealogies connecting local polities, long-distance travel, destruction of a famous city because it refuses to release captives, and trying to overcome death when confronted with the loss of a dear companion. Professor Bachvarova concludes by providing a fresh explanation of the origins and significance of the Greco-Anatolian legend of Troy, thereby offering a new solution to the long-debated question of the historicity of the Trojan War.

Genres: History, Greece, Ancient History, Mythology

690 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2015

Reviews

[Martin Riexinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

In her par-force tour through the Bronze and Early Iron Age in the Eastern Mediterranean, the author demonstrates how elements of Mesopotamian myth were transferred to Mycenaean Greeks and their successors via the Hittite Empire and latter via Cyprus. Moreover in the so called dark ages and in the Archaic period there were intensive contacts between Greeks and the people of Western Anatolia whose languages were related to Hittite. With reference to latter observations in the Balkan's shea argues that the existence of bards fluent in both Green an Lycian etc. is quite likely. Therefore she assumes that there were both Anatolian and Greek versions of the Troy myth, and to make matetrs even more complicated even different Greek (Aeolian and Ionian) versions of the stories of Troy. In the latter case we have the advantage that some deviations from the Homeric epic are documented. The epics reflect moreover a common tradition of worship of royal ancestors among both Greeks and Anatolians*: Troy emerged as as commemorative site approximately a century after its fall.
The Homeric epics as we know them are the result of the triumph of the Ionian versions of history of others, which however, have left their traces even in these texts. The Greek contribution consists of Indo-European myths and in particular the hexameter which can be traced back to a common Greek-Aryan tradition.

The author argues primarily on the basis of Ancient Greek texts and the mostly fragmentary songs in Hittite and Hattic on cuneiform tablets from Hattusha. But she refers as well to a large degree to Archaeological research, both with regard to finds that confirm elements depicted in the sources (burials, offerings) and with regard to the depiction of myths and combat scenes in reliefs and murals in Greek as well as in Anatolian sites.

* Including the Phrygians who - although linguistically closer to the Greeks - absorbed much of the culture of the Anatolian peoples and understood themselves as their successors.

[Jesse Morrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the past 30 years we have learned that Classical Greece wasn't some sort of autochthonous miracle of the Axial Age.

In fact, Classical Greece and its predecessors - Archaic and Mycennean - were well within the framework of the eastern Mediterranean system and its large empires. Recent scholarship has shown that "Homer" is affected by Mesopotamian myth. Bachvarova attempts to explain how these myths got from Babylon et al to Ionia. Through rigorous interpretation of both text and archaeology, she builds a map through the conduit of Hittite Anatolia whose bilingual bards would have passed the stories of the Near East to Ionia and Euboea.

This is a must read for any interested in the foundations of Classical Greece; it offers a snippet into the cultural, economic and political exchanges that were at best ignored as recently as the 90s.

[صفاء · Rating 3 out of 5]

ما دفعني لقراءة هذا الكتاب هو أنشودة التحرير التي تتحدث عن حضارة إيبلا الموجودة في شمال سوريا - إدلب وخصوصا في مدينة سراقب والأنشودة تتحدث عن مطالبة إله الشمس تيشوب بتحرير شعب إينكيكليش الذي تم استعبداه من طرف أغنياء وحكام امبراطورية إيبلا فرفضوا تحريرهم وبالتالي تعرضت المدينة للتدمير وهكذا اختفت حضارة إيبلا
ومدينة سراقب تعرفت عليها خلال الثورة السورية وكيف ناضلت هذه المدينة حتى سقوطها وسيطرة ميليشيات النظام المجرم عليها

[R. Muzaffer]

I have to admit this was a very hard read for me. I think you need more than what I had to actually benefit to the fullest extent. I still learned a lot and hope to visit excerpts from it as I continue to read on my countries' history.

[Ryan Schaller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an academic book clearly aimed at other academics. I've read quite a bit in the area but still felt lost at times. The author assumes the reader is going to be familiar with another of Near Eastern texts and historical figures, and to some extent, the reader should already be familiar with the work of Walter Burkert and M.L. West on the near eastern influence on Greek epic. If you're not already familiar with these ideas, they should probably be reviewed before tackling this book. I have copies of Trevor Bryce's work on the Hittites, but for some reason, I chose to read this first. In hindsight, I really should have acquired that background knowledge first.

The central premise of the book is that Near Eastern elements and episodes were introduced into Greek epic through religious and other festivals where bi-lingual poets would have adapted stories from one language and culture to work in the language of a second community. Bachvarova sees this happening both on the Syrian/Anatolian border of the Hittite world, on Cyprus, and then in the western edges of Anatolia. It's an ambitious hypothesis that is argued forcibly, but frankly, I don't think I have the intelligence or background necessary to evaluate whether the argument is successful.

This is well written, but I probably would not recommend this for a non-academic reader unless this is a specific area in which you have quite a bit of knowledge already.