In the Iliad Homer speaks of his heroes as men of the past, and addresses his audience as his contemporaries: several times in formulaic language he tells how some hero easily hoists a rock such as no two men could lift, ‘‘as men are now.’’ How far does his poem represent the world of the past, and how far the world in which he and his hearers were living?
To deal with the second question first. Of the poet personally we know nothing, quite probably not even his name, since ‘‘Homer’’ may derive from the later ‘‘Homeridae,’’ professional singers whose name in turn may come from an old word meaning ‘‘meeting-place.’’ Later on, tales of his life and death proliferated. The lack of factual data is surprising, and has been variously accounted for. References and pictorial representations of Iliadic scenes are found from the last part of the eighth century bce, and the general ancient opinion that he came from Ionia, the west coast of modern Turkey, or one of the nearby islands, is supported by internal evidence from the poem. The Greeks had been founding settlements in these areas for centuries, and these were linked by their common language, religion, and festivals. Their farming life is depicted in the similes, and especially on the shield of Achilles, which also shows their social and legal institutions and the position of the local aristocratic landowner, here called the basileus, the word for the leaders of the contingents at Troy.
The society depicted in the Iliad to a large extent matches up with that deduced fTom archaeological and other data for Greek society around 800 bce, though some archaisms are evident. Most men work as farmers, herders, craftsmen, and the primary social unit is the household. Wealth is obtained by booty (cattle-raiding, warfare) or prizes, and consists of manufactured goods, valued not by coinage (not yet invented) but by its equivalent in cattle. The economy is based upon social relationships, and these goods are not for purchasing subsistence, but for giving away, to enhance prestige; laterally for guest-friends and marital alliance, downward for maintaining a following. Chiefs draw sustenance from the land they own, and demand gifts from the lower classes when necessary The system perpetuates a hierarchy and the hereditary elite.
Chieftains jealous of their independence head conglomerations of small households, but there is already a sense of a larger community to which loyalty was due, though not yet the fully-developed polis (city-state). The poet assumes his audience is familiar with assemblies and councils, where issues are publicly discussed even though decisions may not be democratically taken. He also presents them with the picture of a lawcourt, an institution which apparently includes a presiding officer (if that is the meaning of istOr) and a number of‘‘elders,’’ whose decisions may be swayed by a vociferous population (Il. 18.497-508). This seems an advance on entrusting enforcement of justice to a chief or king, and is probably more contemporary with Homer and his audience than is the basic social structure shown in the poem.
World History
