WHO WAS HOMER
The word Homer was NEVER used in Homeric epics. It was not attested in Iliad. It was not used in Ulysses either. The name Homêros , ho, Homer ; first occurs in Hes.Fr.265.1 (dub.), Xenoph.10,11, Hdt.2.53 : homêros was a Cumaean word for tuphlos blind acc. to Ps.-Hdt.Vit.Hom.13, cf. Lyc.422 ; homêreuô was Ion. for hêgoumai guide the blind, acc. to Ephor.IJ. ; but Homaros is a Cretan pr.n., GDIivp.1033.
Since homêros was a Cumaean word it was not Greek. But how could Homeric songs be Greek if the root of the name Homer is not Greek but Etruscan?
homêra , ta, v. homêros. a pledge for the maintenance of unity, a surety, a hostage
homêreia , hê, ( [homêreuô] ) giving of hostages or securities : a security, homêreiôn ekdoseis eis allêlous Pl.Plt.310e ; es homêreian hupolipein ton prosopheilomenon misthon Th.8.45 .
2. the condition of a hostage, ekkleptein ex homêreias D.S.19.75 ; eis ho. dounai Plb.9.11.4 .--In codd. sts. homêria ; also homêrea IG12.116.34 .
homêrês , es,=homêros, c. dat., Nic.Al.70 ; also as v.l. for homartêi ib. 261. (Cf. homares.)
homêr-euô (C), go shares in, xunêisin -euousi genethlais amphibiôn Opp.H.1.421 .
homêr-eô , meet, hômêrêse de moi . . angelos ôkus Od. 16.468 ; expld. by Harp. as = akolouthein in Theopomp.Hist.278, cf. Arist.Fr.76. 2. metaph., accord, agree, phônêi homêreusai (Ion. for -ousai) Hes.Th.39.
Homêreôn , ônos, ho, a month at Ios, IG12(5).15.
homêreô to meet
homêros a pledge for the maintenance of unity, a surety, a hostage
homarteô to meet
homêr-euô (B), v. homêros.
homêr-euô (A), to be or serve as a hostage, Aeschin.3.133, Antiph.117 ; para tini Aeschin.2.81 ; huper tinos Is.7.8 , IG12(7).386.20 (Aegiale, iii B.C.) : metaph., [oinos] pistin anthrôpois kai philian -eueiis the pledge of . . , J. AJ2.5.2 . II. take as a hostage, E.Rh.434 :--Med., give hostages, Aen.Tact.10.23 (the sense in E.Ba.297 is doubtful).
homêr-euma , atos, to, hostage, pledge, Plu.Rom.16(pl.).
homêretais: having an equal right to vote with, of one's mind, like-minded, Hsch. ; cf.
homêritais (sic): homopsêphois, apo tou homou eressein, homognômosin, Phot.
The name Hom-er is a compound of two root words in Old Persian: Root / lemma: sem-2 : one + Root / lemma: er-3 : or- : r- : `to move *stir, animate, fight, struggle, rise; to spring up, be born' = [fight together]:
Root / lemma: er-3 : or- : r- , Meaning: to move *stir, animate, fight, struggle' (see the Indo European Etymological Dictionary).
Old Indian sam-ará- m., sam-áraṇa- n. `fight, struggle, contention', av. ham-arǝna-, Old pers. ham-arana- n. ` hostile encounter, fight, struggle ', av. hamara- m. (and with th- formants hamǝrǝϑa- m.) ` adversary, rival, enemy';
Hence the name homer *`war' in Greek was a translation of Old Persian ham-arana- n. ` hostile encounter, fight, struggle ', hence Homer of Iliad meant `the war of Wilusa' (the capital of Arzawa, a kingdom adjacent to Hittites in Asia Minor).
Hittites were a mountainous Indo European people who expanded their empire by displacing another Indo European people, Aryans of Mitani. The identical Persian name (Greek) Homer = (Avestan) av. hamara- compromises Greek claim that Homer was a person. His name meant war not person in Old Persian.
The war of Wilusa has been extensively covered by the Hittite royal documents. There is no doubt that the poem of Iliad was initially an Arzawa - Mitani creation that was later translated into Greek. The epics were created and translated by various people who fought against Hittites and then against Egypt. The victorious Sea People who poured from the Balkans and Mediterranean Islands to Asia Minor finally destroyed the Hittite empire and invaded Egypt. The Sea People, the people of Atlas were stopped not by Egyptian armies but by natural disasters. Not once Indo Europeans would stop their fighting because of the signs from the gods. Lydians in Asia Minor were so superstitious that they stopped the war with the Medes after an eclipse of the sun.
Latin transcription: homēréō
Greek: ὁμηρέω,
Meaning: only in ὡμήρησε ` met together, coincided, concurred ' (π 468) and im Ptz. f. pl. ὁμηρευ̃σαι (= -ου̃σαι) ` meeting, correspondent, coinciding ' (Hes. Th. 39),
Etymological information: from ὅμηρος (s.d.); cf. ὁμήρης ` (being) united, together ' (Nik. Al. 70), after the σ-stems.
Pages: 2,386
Latin transcription: hómēros
Greek: ὅμηρος
Various forms: pl. also -α
Grammatical information: m.,
Meaning: ` a pledge for the maintenance of unity, a surety, a hostage, guarantor, auspices, patronage; guarantee, security, warranty ' (ion. att.).
Usage:
homêros , ho, pledge, surety, hostage, homêrous lambanein Hdt.6.99 ; ho. paidas labôn Id.1.64 ; ta heôutou tekna dous ho. Id.7.165 , cf. Th.7.83 ; en homêrôn logôi poieumenos Hdt.7.222 ; agesthai homêroi to be carried off as hostages, Id.8.94,9.90 ; toion homêron m' aposulêsas having robbed me of such a hostage, E.Alc.870(anap.) ; echô g' humôn homêrous have hostages for you, Ar.Ach.327, cf. Lys.244 ; of things, tên gên homêron echein Th.1.82 : neut. pl., homêra dous Lys.12.68 , cf. Plb.3.52.5, OGI 751.5 (ii B.C.) ; hôsper . . homêrous echomen tou logou ta paradeigmata Pl. Tht.202e : neut. pl. even of one person, mê pempsatô homêra tôn Aianteiôn mêthena Schwyzer 366.17 (Tolophon) ; hos ên homêra LXX 1 Ma. 1.10 .
Words With Similar Definitions
homêr-euma , atos, to, hostage, pledge, Plu.Rom.16(pl.).
homêr-euô (A), to be or serve as a hostage, Aeschin.3.133, Antiph.117 ; para tini Aeschin.2.81 ; huper tinos Is.7.8 , IG12(7).386.20 (Aegiale, iii B.C.) : metaph., [oinos] pistin anthrôpois kai philian -eueiis the pledge of . . , J. AJ2.5.2 .
II. take as a hostage, E.Rh.434 :--Med., give hostages, Aen.Tact.10.23 (the sense in E.Ba.297 is doubtful).
Derivatives:
therefrom ὁμηρεύω,
also with ἐξ-, συν-, ` serve as hostage, prisoner, accept guaranty, under the pledge,
take as a hostage ' (att. Redner, E. Rh. 434, Antiph. u.a.) with ὁμηρ-εία f. (Pl., Th., Plb. usw.),
-ευμα
Etymological information: Probably eig. with Curtius u.a. " constrained of the being together, the companions, for going along ", common formation of ὁμου̃ and ἀρ- in ἀραρειν usw. m. similar meaning development as in lat. obsēs ( : obsideō) `hostage; pledge, security, warrantor, bailsman, guarantor '. Etw. differently Szemerényi Glotta 33, 363 ff.: the second part to ἐρ- in ἔρχομαι u.a. The original meaning still in ὁμηρέω and ὁμηρέταις ὁμοψήφοις, ὁμογνώμοσιν H.; cf. still ὁμαρτέω and ἁμαρτή. - Whether with it identically ὅμηρος = ὁ τυφλός (Lyk., H.), " because he goes with his leader " (Birt Phil. 87, 376ff.; cf. Kretschmer Glotta 22, 264)? Probably rather appellative use of the poet's name. Attempts about, the names Ο῝μηρος (kret. Ο῝μαρος) are related to the appellative, see besides P.-W. 8, 2199 f. still Birt a. O. and Durante Rend. Acc. Lincei Ser. 8: 12, 94ff.; cf. Schwartz Herm. 75, 1ff.
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Homer, Iliad, Plot Summary
N.B.: Page counts and numbers refer to the Robert Fagles translation (N.Y.: Penguin, 1990).
The Iliad begins perhaps nine years after the Greek armies first laid seige to Troy, seeking revenge for the theft of Menelaos' wife, Helen, by the Trojan prince, Paris. Paris had "won" Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, as a reward for settling a dispute among three goddesses about which was fairest. Hera, Zeus's wife, had promised him rule of Asia, Athena, promised success in war, and Aphrodite, the most beautiful woman, not bothering to tell him the woman was married. Thus, the Trojan War could stand as a parable for Greek men tempted to choose female beauty, thereby risking loss of rule and defeat in battle. Homer gives Aphrodite considerable powers, however, and the Greeks do not escape unharmed.
Hector, Paris' eldest brother, is the protector of Troy, its greatest warrior. On the Greek side, the greatest warrior is Achilles, whose divine mother, Thetis, has warned him that the Fates have determined he will live only as long as Hector does not die. Typically for a Greek hero, Achilles embraces his fate and seeks Hector mercilessly on the battlefield. Paradoxically, his fate means that, until Hector is killed, Achilles is effectively immortal (no mention of the "dipping in the Styx" myth yet). However, the epic begins at a point where Achilles' pride and Agamemnon's arrogant assertion of his greater authority collide, causing the hero to retreat from the battlefield and allowing the Trojans nearly to win.
Book I (21 pp.): Agamemnon refuses Chryses' (priest of Apollo) appeal for return of his daughter Chryseis (female captives in household, as "currency" in war). Chryses prays to Apollo for a plague upon the Greeks. Agamemnon and Achilles quarrel re: who is greater, who has more honor, whose temper is more to blame (aristo values esp. kingship and warrior status). Agamemnon offers to return Chryseis in exchange for Achilles' captive, Bryseis (captured at Eetion on Thebes, Andromache's home). Achilles, ready to kill Agamemnon, yields to Athena's advice (gods vs. mortals).
While Odysseus returns Chryseis and her father sacrifices to Apollo, Achilles prays to immortal mother, Thetis, for revenge- she repeats the prayer to Zeus (religious rite links aristo behaviors to divine processes). Achilles' prayer (91), that Zeus will cause the Trojans to attack the Greek ships before A reenters battle, is the dramatic underpinning of the narrative to Bk. 17. It's counterbalanced by the rule of fate that Achilles must die after killing Hector and before Troy falls. Quarrel spreads to the gods, as Zeus threatens Hera-her son, Hephaestus, urges her to submit to Zeus's will because they cannot face his wrath (family structure, mythic thinking).
Book II (28 pp.): Zeus sends a dream of Nestor to Agamemnon, urging him to attack Troy; Agamemnon tests Greeks by urging them to cut their losses by sailing home; Odysseus, warned by Athena, rallies troops by reasoning with kings and by beating foot- soldiers (gods vs. mortals; military orders; class). In council, Odysseus beats Thersites for railing at Agamemnon and recalls Zeus's oracle of a snake devouring nine sparrows at the altar on the day they arrived in Troy (class structure; gods vs. mortals). Nestor urges Agamemnon to order the army so that members of each phratry (clan) fight beside their relatives (class; family). Catalogue of the ships identifies and describes Greek warriors by homeland, ancestry, and ancestors' previous famous deeds.
Book III (16 pp.): Menelaus sees Paris in the Trojan ranks, but Paris flees and is mocked by brother Hector; Menelaus offers single combat for Helen and the armies array in lines below the city walls (heroism vs. "gifts of Aphrodite"). Asked by Priam, Helen identifies important members of the Greek army with annecdotes (very useful for character identification). Agamemnon performs ritual sacrifice to seal the truce and duel (religion). Menalaus' sword shatters, and when he's on the verge of killing Paris, Aphrodite spirits Paris to Helen's bedroom and both lures and threatens Helen so she will join Paris there (mythic thinking, hero and passions). Agamemnon demands Helen as the duel demanded.
Book IV (18 pp.): Zeus and Hera quarrel over Troy's fate-he defends them and she hates them [Judgment of Paris + Ganymede]; in compromise he ordains that the Trojans will dishonor the truce when Athena urges Pandarus to shoot an arrow at Menalaus; Athena deflects the arrow to hit him in the groin (religion, gods vs. humans, mythic thinking).
Agamemnon and Nestor taunt the Greek captains, urging them to fight; the first extended combat sequences reported (160-3).
Book V (30 pp.): Diomedes' aristeia or "the deeds of Diomedes at his best" (see note p. 625)-- Diomedes inspired by Athena kills a long series of Trojans in graphic serial combat alternating with a few others. Diomedes kills Pandarus and wounds Aeneas, who is saved by Aphrodite; Diomedes wounds Aphrodite though she is a goddess. Diomedes even attacks Apollo who is defending Aeneas. Ares joins the battle helping the Trojans; Athena and Hera join the battle helping the Greeks, and eventually Athena helps Diomedes wound Ares in the groin (mythic thinking; gods vs. humans; dramatically Diomedes replaces Achilles as a semi-divine relentless killer).
Book VI (18 pp.): A seer rallies the Trojans against the Greeks who are on the verge of winning; Hector is sent to Troy with instructions for Hecuba (mother) to pray to Athena for help.
While Hector goes to Troy, a Trojan ally, Glaucus, meets Diomedes-the two exchange names and Glaucus tells Diomedes his lineage from Bellerophon. Diomedes's grandfather had been host to Bellerophon, and Diomedes claims Glaucus as a guest-friend; they exchange armor and agree to seek other enemies in battle (household org.).
In Troy, Hector meets and berates Paris, listens to Helen judge herself doomed by Zeus, and meets wife Andromache and son Astyanax on the walls. She laments loss of her family to war and urges him to fight defensively from the walls. He says he'd be ashamed to adopt such a strategy, life would be unthinkable, even though the city will be lost and she will be a slave in a foreign land. He reaches for his son, who is frightened by his helmet's plume; he takes off the helmet and prays A. will be a better warrior than his father (family org.; mythic thinking; heroic code).
Book VII (16 pp.): Hector, inspired by Apollo and Athena, demands a duel with the Greeks (reverse of Book IV); Ajax (Telemon's son) wins the draw; they fight to a draw at nightfall and exchange gifts in honor of the combat (class and family structure; heroic code behavior).
Both sides pause to bury dead (religion) and Paris is driven to offer return of treasures he stole from Menalaus when making off with Helen; in return, Greeks are to leave (market; family; class). Greeks refuse, but allow burial truce (religion).
Book VIII (19 pp.): Zeus challenges the gods to rebellion and Athena acknowledges the difference between Zeus and the rest as between gods and humans (class; religion); Zeus weighs the fates of both sides and the Achaeans/Greeks nearly lose the day in panic at Zeus 's sign, the thunderclap. After Diomedes almost kills Hector and is driven off by Zeus 's thunder, Agamemnon reminds Zeus of Agamemnon's piety; new omens lead the Greeks to victory until Zeus stirs the Trojans to repulse them. Hera and Athena lament the Greek deaths and Athena conceives it as a battle between herself and Thetis (Achilles' mother) for Zeus 's affections (243: family/household; myth); Hera and Athena try to take arms to support the Greeks, but Zeus sees them and threatens them; they relent and leave Zeus to doom men. Answering their complaint, Zeus restates the pledge to Thetis, no help for the Greeks until the Trojans fight at the Greek ships and Achilles takes up his arms to avenge Patroclus. Trojans camp on the plain surrounding the Greeks (fires/stars simile).
Book IX (24 pp.): Agamemnon counsels retreat; Diomedes, attack; Nestor, a strategy meeting; Nestor wins. Agamemnon admits he was mad to take Achilles' captive, Briseis and offers trophies, horses, seven captive women of Lesbos, Briseis, herself, an oath he never had sex with her, and an offer to marry him to one of Agamemnon's three daughters as a son equal to Orestes (market; family/houseold; class). Phoenix, Ajax, and Odysseus are the ambassadors; Odysseus makes the first speech, recasting Agamemnon's offer to appeal to Achilles' desires for honor and fame that outdo any other warrior's (heroic code; market; class; family). Achilles refuses listing his service vs. Agamemnon's behavior (class; heroic code). Achilles' speech dramatizes his aristo sense of values and his "heroic choice" re: short/honorable or long/honorless life (heroic code; class). Phoenix, one of Achilles' household, refuses the offer of a safe return and urges Agamemnon to remember his past (blood feud with unfaithful father re: mistress) and his role as Achilles's teacher; Phoenix reminds Achilles about the effect of excessive anger at the Hunt of the Calydonian Boar (269-71) that left Meleager desolated (religion; family; myth). Ajax appeals bluntly to the custom of the blood-price paid for wrongful death which prevents feuds like this one. Achilles rejects that, too, reminding them of the pledge never to fight until Trojans burn the Greek ships (family; class; market).
Book X (19 pp.): Agamemnon and Menalaus urge Odysseus and Diomedes to go behind Trojan lines for plunder and strategic information; Hector sends Dolon on a similar mission to the Greeks; Odysseus and Diomedes pray to Athena but Dolon brags (religion); Odysseus and Diomedes capture Dolon, trick him into describing the Trojan encampment, then kill him. Diomedes kills Rhesus and 12 men in their sleep while Odysseus steals Rhesus's stallions (market; heroic code)
Book XI (28 pp.): In Agamemnon's aristeia, he kills younger men, usually known as sons of more famous warriors (e.g., Antenor's sons), one of whom wounds him (simile wound's pain=labor pain). When Hector sees Agamemnon withdraw, he leads a counterattack. Diomedes is wounded by Paris; Odysseus aids Diomedes's escape and is himself wounded; Menalaus and Ajax rescue Odysseus. Achilles sees the wounded coming from the field and sends Patroclus to ask of Nestor what has happened. Nestor recounts his deeds in earlier wars and warns Agamemnon will be a hero alone if Achilles waits too long. The "Cup of Nestor" described (p. 317, see p. 23 re: archeological find).
Book XII (15 pp.): After forecast of Troy's eventual destruction, Greek losses are explained as consequence of their failure to sacrifice (religion). Hector leads the chariots to the Greek camp's wall and heeds Polydamus advice to dismount before the wall's ditch (theme, see P. in XIII, p. 364-5). Simple shield description for Sarpedon (335)--compare with Shield of Achilles for extended thematic expansion of familiar poetic topic (483-7). The Trojans cross the wall around the Greek ships behind Hector at exactly half-way through the epic (XXII/XXIV).
Book XIII (27 pp.): In the fighting at the ships, Poseidon inspires the greater and lesser Ajaxes (343-4)-good example of god going into one, perceived as strength. They urge resistance and predict the end of the Agamemnon/ Achilles feud (345). Idomeneus to Meriones on the signs of cowardice vs. signs of heroism (350-1: important semiotics of heroic code; compare with poetic "lovers' symptoms." Why Zeus allows the Trojans to triumph?: more glory for Thetis' son, Achilles when he returns to battle (352). Idomeneus' shield like Sarpedon's (vs. Achilles) (354). Menelaus taunts Trojans with violation of host/guest rights, and blames them for excess battle lust (ambiguous heroic code: see Idomeneus 350- 1). Paris appears and Hector mocks him (366). Argives said to fine those who refuse to join the army against Troy (363: politics, social org.). Polydamas to Hector on limits (364-5: compare Menelaus) and ref. to Achilles' eventual return.
Book XIV (17 pp.): Because her beloved Greeks are in danger, Hera borrows Aphrodite's magically seductive girdle to lure Zeus. After their lovemaking he falls asleep and Hera goes to help the Greeks (with Poseidon's aid).
Book XV (24 pp.): Zeus wakes up, discovers the deception, sends Hermes to get Poseidon out of the battle and sends Apollo to rouse Hector to attack the ships again.
Book XVI (29 pp.): Patroclus sees the Trojan threat and offers to wear Achilles' armor into battle against them. He nearly drives the Trojans into Troy, but is stunned by a blow from Apollo's hand and killed by Hector. Hector takes Achilles' armor from Patroclus's body and continues to wear it until Book XXII when the sight of it further inflames Achilles just before he kills Hector.
Book XVII (24 pp.): The fight for Patroclus' body allows Menalaus to demonstrate his aristeia, and when Menalaus is forced by wounds to withdraw, Telemonian Ajax takes his place.
Book XVIII (20 pp.): Achilles learns of Patroclus's death, and prays to his mother for fresh armor. Thetis persuades Hephaestus to forge a set of divine armor for him, including a shield whose decorations are a sort of second Creation which illustrates all aspects of mortal life on Earth (as the poet and audience understood it- omissions may be readily used for discussion).
Book XIX (14 pp.): Achilles joins the Greeks and is so eager for battle he will not eat. In his blood-fury he hears his own horses prophesy his death. The captured slave Briseis laments Patroclus' death (!), even though Achilles killed her husband and three brothers, because he swore he'd make her Achilles' bride.
Book XX (16 pp.): After a council meeting, Zeus orders the gods to take the field on both sides to make sure Achilles' nearly superhuman strength and energy do not undo fate itself. Specifically, they must insure that he does not take the city after killing Hector.
Book XXI (20 pp.): Achilles' victims have less and less chance against him. One, Lycaon, requests mercy and ransom, and Achilles urges him to accept death as a just end since Patroclus, and even Achilles himself, will die. Achilles' violent slaughter of fleeing Trojans drives them into the rivers Scmander and Xanthus. When the rivers themselves, insulted by his violence, rise up and try to kill Achilles, Hephaestus comes to save him with fire.
Book XXII (17 pp.): The surviving Trojans retreat to the city, but Hector remains outside the Scaean Gate because he anticipates only shame and no escape if he does not stand his ground against Achilles. Hector's loses nerve and flees three times around Troy before Athena tricks him into turning to face Achilles. Hector, dying, begs Achilles not to defile his body, but Achilles refuses. As Achilles drags Hector's body around Troy at the back of his chariot, Andromache comes to the walls and laments his death.
Book XXIII (28 pp.): Overcome with grief and rage, Achilles occupies his time defiling Hector's body and leaves Patroclus unburied until Patroclus appears in a dream, reminds him of how he came to live in Achilles's household as a thereupon (accidental killing of playmate), and urges him to hold proper rites. On Patroclus's funeral pyre Achilles offers (in order) sheep, honey and oil, 4 stallions, 2 of Patroclus's 9 pet dogs, and 12 Trojan captives (Book 21.521). In the funeral games for Patroclus, Achilles offers prizes for competitions in chariot racing, boxing, wrestling, running, dueling with lances, the shotput, archery, and the spear throw. Prizes often involve slave women measured with other objects in relative value, and contests turn on competitors' strategies which reveal the poet's idea of wise, prudent, acceptable, and noble behavior (and their opposites).
Book XXIV (26 pp.): Apollo and Hera debate the characters of Hector and Achilles, Hera arguing that Achilles was the greater man. Zeus sends Iris to tell Thetis she must require Achilles to release Hector's body to Priam for ransom, and send Iris to Priam to urge him to seek Achilles in the Greek camp. In Troy, Hecuba and Priam angrily lament Hector's death. Hermes comes to guide Priam safely through the Greek lines. Priam appeals to Achilles as a father to release his son, and Achilles accepts the appeal. Achilles seems to have regained wisdom and self-control, taking precautions not to tempt others to violence. When Priam brings Hector's body to Troy, first Cassandra (the seer), then Andromache, Hecuba, and Helen lament his death and their own futures after Troy inevitably falls. They burn Hector's body, and bury his bones in a barrow outside the walls of Troy.
The strange outcome of the survey is that throughout recorded Greek history is the word hómēros 'pledge' was never used by Homer himself. Instead Homer uses an older Greek verb enguaô 'to give or hand over as a pledge'. The word hómēros 'pledge' was relatively a late literally word introduced by professional Greek writers. Therefore the word hómēros 'pledge' is not part of the Homeric tradition. It is a Persian neologism in Greek - a translation for the concept of 'pledge' related to Old pers. ham-arana- n. ` hostile encounter, fight, struggle ', av. hamara- m. (and with th- formants hamǝrǝϑa- m.) ` adversary, rival, enemy'.
The word Homer was introduced into the Greek language very late in Greek, during or after the Greek Persian Wars. Consequently the Greeks translated the Homeric epics from Persian sources. Although the Greeks called Wilusa Troy, Troad from Dardanians.
AN OLDER VERSION OF ILIAD
The war at Troy was significant to Illyrians because it was the story of their heroic Dardanian ancestors. Throughout ages before the translation into Greek, Illyrian bards had been lamenting the fall of Ilios. Consequently numerous ballads about the Trojan War were scattered across Asia Minor and the Balkans.
The Illyrian variants of the Trojan War have been lost. The Homeric saga is a mere translation of an early oral heritage created immediately after the war. Progressively those poems were collected and translated in the same way Christians would shape their own Holy Book, the Bible later. As events of the story were embellished, names substituted with Greek appellations, the story gained a mythical flavor. Without Homer's wonderful poems, the story of Troy might have remained an Illyrian legend; instead it endured major alterations and was supplanted by the Greek triumph. However, Iliad bears the subliminal admiration for Trojans and pays homage to the defenders of the city. The so-called Homer's neutrality is actually a compromise of Illyrian and Hellenic versions of Iliad. Similar Illyrian epics were sung all over the Mediterranean so the official Homeric adaptation could not exaggerate the Greek magnificence.
The majority of Olympian gods not only side with the embattled citizens of Wilusa but they even fight for Trojans against Achaeans. If Iliad is the allegoric account of an unjust war, the epic of Agamemnon, his horrendous death back home was interpreted as a punishment for the destruction of Wilusa. A similar fate would follow almost all Greek heroes who participated in the Trojan war. Their tragic death, their immense suffering was part of a bigger picture. The woes of Ulysses at the sea, the disappearance of all his wartime friends at the claws of gruesome monsters could not have been written by the Greeks either.
Illyrian bards used In Ulysses the epithet 'the divine Pelasgians'. This name ubiquitously used in Ulysses was a constant reminder of the real authors of the first and second epic. It was attributed to the pre-Greek population in the Balkans. Never had a singer of a conquering army praised the enemy and scolded the victors. Homer's neutrality not only didn't make sense with Greek prejudice against any barbaric values but it was also an affront to Greek instinct. No other Greek writer would ever follow the path of neutrality.
The exception of Homer was justified by his literary status. Homer was not a writer but a translator of two poems: one the old Iliad, the other rather new Ulysses written at least 150 years after Iliad. Extensive research has shown that Iliad and Ulysses are different in matter and style, definitely written by two different authors. Many Roman writers would make the same mistake, translate Greek tragedies and comedies, change the names and claim the texts as their own creation.
Semitic tribes that invaded the land of Sumerians would make history by including the Sumerian flood stories in their myth of creation. The accidental discovery of mud bricks in Uruk, Sumer (today Iraq) disqualified all biblical stories of Akkadian and Hebraic authorship.
A lot of literary creations were stripped of their Roman origin after similar Greek works of art were discovered later. But it is impossible to strip the Greeks in a similar fashion unless older versions of Iliad have been found by archeologists.
However, in the ancient world the copping of another's literary work was not considered plagiarism. Eventually the unauthorized modification of Iliad was better than nothing. Lost civilizations, destroyed cities, burnt libraries, monotheistic dogmas, religious scourge, plagues, fanatics, worn down papyruses, all contributed in the oblivion of ancient memories.
Both Greeks and Illyrians fought bitterly not only during the Trojan War but centuries afterwards for the authorship of Homeric songs. So intense was their competition that finally Greeks called themselves arbitrarily Helens. Illyrians have probably named themselves after their ancient city, Wilusa. Romans would follow suit by claiming a Trojan descent through the lineage of Aeneas. Virgil's Aeneid was an embellished official story, a kind of mythological propaganda. Homeric songs were no different in purpose and style.
The Greeks who historically had never acknowledged the appropriation of other gods, myths and ideas from other cultures (mainly Egyptian, Phoenician) proved to be the pirates of the greatest ancient oral tradition.
Etymological evidence shows that the name of Ulysses is an Italic-Etruscan reading of Wilussa, Wilussya capital of Arzawa or Greek Ilios. Ulysses is the conqueror of Wilussa. Therefore his name is of Hittite origin (translated into Etruscan). The epic of Wilusa is not 'the Anger of Achilles' but the 'victory of the hateful Ulysses'. Actually both poems have been dedicated to Ulysses. The first epic described the sharpness of Ulysses, his ingenious idea of building the wooden horse. The second epic was created after the invasion of the Hittite Empire by the Sea People.
Terrible earthquakes destroyed Mediterranean civilizations when the volcanoes erupted abruptly. Italic people believed that earthquakes were caused by angry giants sleeping inside the mountain caves. The single eye of Cyclops was the eye of the volcano. The rocks that the giants threw were the vent in the earth's crust through which molten rock was ejected.
Primitive Italic, Hittite, Illyrian people had no scientific explanation for the volcanoes. Allegedly the conqueror of Wilusa blinded the Cyclops, the son of Poseidon which caused the anger of the sea god who prevented Ulysses from returning home.
The common phonetic shift -d- > -l- of Italic-Illyrian languages proves that Hattussa was also read as Wilussa. That is why Troy had two names. Hittite called the disputed territory as Hattussa (Wilussa) while the Sea People from Dardania called it Darda > Troas.
Probable etymology of Illyria:
Root / lemma: ai̯os- : `metal (copper; iron)' derived from Root / lemma: eis-1 : `to move rapidly, *weapon, iron' as Aɫas(ja), the old name of Cyprus : Hittite PN Wilusa (gr. reading Ilios) [phonetic mutation of the old laryngeal he- > a-, i-]: gall. Isarno- PN, ven. FlN 'Iσάρας, later Īsarcus, nhd. Eisack (Tirol); urir. PN I(s)aros, air. Īär, balkanillyr. iser, messap. isareti (Krahe IF. 46, 184 f.); kelt. FlN Isarā, nhd. Isar, Iser, frz. Isère; *Isiā, frz. Oise; *Isurā, engl. Ure, usw. (Pokorny Urillyrier 114 f., 161); nhd. FlN Ill, Illach, Iller, lett. FlN Isline, Islīcis, wruss. Isɫa, alb. VN Illyrii.
AN OLDER VERSION OF ODYSSEUS
(1.68) Odysseus so odious -an effort to translate a pun on Odysseus' name, which means "he who gives or receives pain."
(9.361) my glorious name -in Greek, m'onoma kluton or "my famous name."
(9.364) Noman = Outis = "no man" or "no one" in Greek. When the other Cyclopes say, "Is some man is rustling your flocks" and "If no man is hurting you" (9.404, 9.409), they use another Greek form of the negative, mê tis, which means "no one" or "no man." This word sounds very much like another Greek word -mêtis- which means "cunning intelligence," and which forms part of Odysseus's usual epithet polymêtis, or "much cunning intelligence." Odysseus himself exacerbates the pun at 9.411-12, which might be more literally translated as: "my heart within laughed / at how my name and faultless cunning [mêtis] had fooled him."
(9.402) Polyphemus -In Greek, "much telling" or "much fame"-in other words, a braggart –however, his name might be linked to the complaint of his relatives who came to rescue him but were stunned by gibberish talk of Polyphemus mumbling the name of Ulysses. Note that we learn the Cyclops' name only now, and that Odysseus, too, both hides his own name and talks a lot about his fame.
(19.199) My name is Aethon which means, "red," or "ruddy." Another form, aithomenos, means "burning, to kindle, set alight." Dimock suggests that in this passage Odysseus' fiery lies melt and dissolve Penelope to tears (see lines 19.219-225).
Clearly Odysseus emplyed many names in Iliad but -the hateful one- survived as his main appellation.
(19.440-48) Odysseus' name is related to the Greek verb odussomai, which usually means "to be angry at," "to hate," or "to be grieved." However, as George Dimock points out, in Homer's Odyssey the verb usually means "to cause pain" or "to bear a grudge against." Thus, Odysseus' name means "he who causes pain or makes others angry." Hence when he names Odysseus, Autolycus associates that name with his own tricky behavior: "odious, yes, / Hateful to many for the pain I have caused" (19.445-46). In addition, the verb associated with Odysseus' name can also mean "to suffer or receive pain." Lombardo translates this meaning (ôdinô, ôdusato) as "odious to" (1.68, 5.341, 5.425) and "hit him hard" (19.303). (In what ways does Odysseus cause pain, and in what ways is he grieving or long-suffering? Should a hero cause pain?) See the introduction, "The Man of Pain" (xvii-xxvii).
In addition, the theme of the name is immensely complicated by the meanings of the pseudonym that Odysseus uses to trick the Cyclops. Odysseus is a "no man" or "nobody" (ou tis), an "any man" (mê tis) who is also famous for being extremely clever (mêtis). Could a hero A NOBODY? Instead a hero must make his name glorious and famous by doing great deeds. If he dies unknown, as could have happened to the archetypal anonymous Elpenor, his name and fame die with him. Yet Odysseus did not become –the one who caused pain- in order to be celebrated by poets and future generations.
(24.313-15) Alybas . . . Apheidas . . . Polypemon -These names that Odysseus tries tto pawn off on his father are translated by Robert Fagles as "Roamer-Town," "Unsparing" and "old King Pain" respectively. According to Georg Autenrieth, Polypemon means "A great possessor or sufferer."
(24.315) Eperitus, Odysseus' last pseudonym, is translated by Fagles as "Man of Strife." George Dimock says the name sounds similar to peiretizon, "to put to the test" (328), precisely what Odysseus is doing to his father. (See lines 24.225 and 24.245-47.) However, Eperitus seems closest to eperetos, "at the oar," or "furnished with oars."
The name of ODYSSEUS otherwise ULYSSES [common Italic-Illyrian -d- > -l- phonetic mutation] derived from Greek odyssesthai "to hate". But odyssesthai "to hate" has no derivatives in Greek therefore it is a loanword. This makes the name ODYSSEUS a loanword from Hittite into Greek: Hittite ḫatuki- ` dreadful, terrible, horrible, awful, tremendous, redoubtable, formidable '. If ODYSSEUS was one of the greatest Greek Heroes why would he be called 'the hateful'?
'Odysseus (Ulixes/Ulysses) was the son of Laertes and Anticlea (the daughter of Autolycus, who was the son of Hermes), the husband of Penelope (usually thought of as inordinately faithful) and father of Telemachus. Odysseus was also king of Ithaca, a favorite of Athena, and one of the few Greeks to return home safely from Troy and the Trojan War - even if it took a while.
Odysseus fought for ten years in the Trojan War before coming up with the idea of the wooden horse -- just one example of why "wily" or "crafty" is attached to his name.'
Odysseus got the name 'the hateful' because he incurred the wrath of Poseidon for blinding Poseidon's Cyclops son Polyphemus. In retaliation, it took Odysseus another decade before he could arrive home, to Ithaca barely in time to drive out Penelope's suitors.
Greek odyssesthai "to hate" derived from
But the Hittite ḫatuki- ` dreadful, terrible, horrible, awful, tremendous, redoubtable, formidable ' is identical with the name of Hittite capital Hattussa. So Hattusili, the king of Hattussa was called ḫatuki- ` dreadful, terrible' in the indigenous language of Hurrians. The name Hattussa has been attributed to the second Hittite King Hattusili I who conquered the plain south of Hattusa, all the way to the outskirts of modern-day Aleppo in Assyria. But the Assyrian Hittie War took place around 1650 BC - under the first Hittite King Labarna to the reign of Hattusili I and then - 1590 BC Mursili I. The alleged Achaean Trojan War took place several centuries later. Therefore the very name Hattussa was the cognate of Hurrian language. Hurrians were the indigenous non-Indo European people conquered by Hittites. Hittites borrowed a lot of Hurrian gods, Hurrian names and their Hittite language absorbed the bulk of Hurrian vocabulary. Relatively new Indo European cultures like Greek and Latin borrowed the Hurrian words through Hittite texts.
Hittites actually called themselves people of Nesa (an abbreviation of Kanesh ) as their ancestors originated from the region called Kanesh by Egyptians, Canaan called by Phoenicians, the Holy Land in the Bible. Hittites called their language, Nesili, the language of Nesa.
The name Kanesh was obviously an Egyptian distortion of Hittite King appellation Hattusili I, 'the conqueror of Hattussa, the land of Hurrians'. Egyptians could not distinguish the old Indo European laryngeals; hence to Egyptians the Hittite laryngeal H- seemed like K-.
Indo Europeans had long noses and produced strange nasal sounds to Egyptians who read Hattusa as Hantusa, abbreviated Kanesh. A latter Hittite king who ruled in 1590 BC? Was called Hantili I, clearly an abbreviation of the honorable name Hattusili. During the line of succession the name Hattusili, otherwise Hantili were used several times. Illyrians would follow the Hittite tradition in the Balkans, repeating the name of kings to other successors of the same blood line [Bardylis I, Bardylis II].
Actually the first recorded Illyrian king was called Hylli (Greek Hyllus) - possibly an abbreviated form of Hattusili. In Greek language the formant -roi is used to form adjecttives, or attribute nouns. Hence Illyroi were the people of Ilios, (Hittite Wilusa, Willussya). The founder of Troy in Greek mythology was called Ilus, Ilios, a Greek reading of Illyrian king Hyllus.
So Albanians have preserved the old laryngeal H1-. Hittite people (also Illyrians) spoke a language that was profoundly affected by Semitic languages. They used the so called laryngeals that were present in Illyrian and Greek but disappeared in younger Indo European languages. The ending -ili = god (from Enlil in Sumer) is ubiquitous in Hittite and Illyrian king lists. But it is absent among the names of Greek kings or any other Indo European people king list. In Greek -ll- < -li- phonetic mutation proves that the name of the first Illyrian king was Hyli-us, where -us a typical Greek ending.
Illyrians otherwise Albanians (mountain people) had a tendency to abbreviate long Indo European words, so Hillussya became Illyria, Hattusili became Hylli. Illyrians later Slavic languages used a prothetic V-, W- for the lost laryngeal H1-, consequently Hillussa was pronounced as Wilussa in Illyrian dialects. Hittite Empire was divided into two parts similarly to other great empires. The second Rome of the divided Hittite Empire was called Hillussa after Hattussa, common Illyrian -d- > -l- phonetic mutation.
Hittite Kings
Old Kingdom
1650 BC -? Labarna
Hattusili I
? – 1590 BC Mursili I
1590 BC – ? Hantili I
Zidanta I
Ammuna
Huzziya I
Telipinu
? – 1525 BC Alluwamna
Hantili II (?)
Zidanta II (?)
Huzziya II (?)
New Kingdom
1386 BC – 1381 BC Tudhaliya I
1410 BC – 1386 BC Arnuwanda I
1385 BC – 1381 BC Tudhaliya II
1381 BC – 1358 BC Hattusili II
1358 BC – 1323 BC Suppiluliuma I
1323 BC – 1322 BC Arnuwanda II
1322 BC – 1285 BC Mursili II
1285 BC – 1273 BC Muwatalli
1273 BC – 1266 BC Mursili III
1266 BC – 1236 BC Hattusili III
1236 BC – 1220 BC Tudhaliya III
1220 BC – 1218 BC Arnuwanda III
1218 BC – 1200 BC Suppiluliuma II
The Illyrian King List
Hyllus whose death was recorded in 1225 B.C. [Trojan Ilus, Ilios, Hittite, Wilusa, Hattusili, Hantili]
Bardylis - Usurper and founder of this dynasty. Reigned 385 to 358 BC.
Grabus - Attested in 356 BC.
Pleuratus - Testified in 344 BC.
Kleitus - Son of Bardylis. Attested in 335 BC.
Glaukias - Ruler of the Taulanti and then Illyrian king from 317 to 303 BC.
Bardylis II - Attested in 295 to 290 BC he was the son of Kleitus.
Monunius - Attested in 280 BC.
Mytilius- Attested about 270 BC.
Pleuratus - Founder of this dynasty. Attested in 260 BC (?).
Agron - Son of Pleuratus. Reigned from 250 to 230 BC.
Pinnes - Reigned from 230 to 217 BC.
Skerdilaidas - Reigned from 212 to 206 BC.
Pleuratus - Son of Skerdilaidas. Reigned from 205 to 180 BC.
Gentius - Son of Pleuratus. Ruled from 180 to 168 BC.
The name Kanesh (homeland of Hittites) is identical with the treaty of Kadesh signed between Egyptians and Hittites. The sudden increase of the first Indo European people called Hittite people is not a mystery. Hittites owed their rapid expansion to the monopoly of trade routes and metal sources. It is assumed that Hittites and their kin Illyrians were the first people to have discovered how to work iron. Producing superiorly lethal weapons Hittites dared to wage war against neighboring Assyrians, Hurrians and Egyptians, especially when Hittites began to extend their control to Mesopotamia. They signed the earliest surviving treaty in history, with the Egyptians. This document, known as the Kanesh, Kadesh (or Qadesh) treaty, was signed somewhere between 1286 BC and 300 BC, after endless and unsuccessful fights against Egyptian forces commanded by Rameses II.
It was the Egyptians who distorted the name Hattussa into Kanesh, Kadesh as they distorted the other Indo European names, the Sea People Sherden (Sardinia), Weshesh (Wilusa) etc.
The evidence shows it was Hurrians who initially called Hattusili I, 'the hateful one' after he destroyed the Hurrian cities and temples. The conquests of Hattusili sparked the inspiration of Indo European bards, creating large epics for the founder of their empire. Neighboring Mycenae translators copied Hittite poems and translated them into pre-Greek texts. Finally invading Dorian tribes invaded Mycenae, destroyed its flourishing civilization but continued the translation of Mycenae texts into the newly formed Greek dialects.
Egyptians had been terrified by the waves of the Sea People spreading all over the Mediterranean. They called the tall European people, the sons of Atlas which again is the abbreviation of Hattusili. Egypt would have been destroyed completely if it weren't for a wave of earthquakes and volcanoes that sank some small islands into the sea and rocked Sicily, Sardinia and Cyprus. European settlements across Mediterranean were badly damaged. Millions of people died because of earthquakes and the empire of Atlas (Hattusili) fell to pieces.
European people interpreted the catastrophic events as the signs of angry one-eyed Cyclops - smiths (volcanoes) who threw stones and ash from their cave deep into the mountain. The king god of Hittites, Hattussa (Odysseus in Greek) had sparked the wrath of the sea god - Poseidon. After those terrible earthquakes in the Italian Peninsula and the Balkans the invasion of Egypt was immediately stopped. Egypt was spared by the superstitious belief that the gods were against the invasion of the Sea People. Hittites fought simultaneously several wars, one of them with Achaeans. Egyptian priests told the Greeks who came very late in the Balkans about the Achaean people that were displaced by Dorian tribes. Greeks were ignorant of the early battles of Atlas people (people whose king was a mountain god, Hattusili).
Latin transcription: odús(s)asthai
Greek: ὀδύσ(σ)ασθαι
Various forms: Aor. (ep. seit Il.), Perf. Pass. ὀδώδυσται (ε 423), Aor. Pass. ὀδυσθη̃ναι H.
Grammatical information: v.
Meaning: ` be angry, rumble, hate '.
Derivatives: No derivatives.
Etymological information: To Aor. ὀδύσ(σ)ασθαι (z.B. ὀδύσαντο Z 138, ὀδυσ-σάμενος τ 407) probably belongs with metr. extension οὑδύεται ἐρίζει H., a formation as ἠπύω (s. d.), ἱδρύω, μεθύω u.a. (s. Schwyzer 727). If it didn't derive after other analogical verbs in -ύω, it must go back to ὀδύομαι (wherefore ὀδυ-σ-θη̃ναι usw. m. sekund. σ) in a noun *ὀδ-υ-ς, that to a verb for `hate' in lat. ōdī with ŏd-ium, arm. ateam has been extended with further inclusion of a germ. Adj. for ` dreadful, horrible, terrible, abominable, detestable, cruel, horrible, harsh ', ags. atol, awno. atall, and, even more uncertainly, Hittite. ḫatuki- ` dreadful, terrible, horrible, awful, tremendous, redoubtable, formidable ', s. Bq with older Lit., also WP. 1, 174 f., W.-Hofmann s. ōdī, Friedrich Wb. s. v. (cf. Zu ἀτύζω). - unlikely analysis from ὀδυσ- by Schulze Q. 341.
Pages: 2,351
Latin transcription: Odusseús
Greek: 'Οδυσσεύς,
Various forms: ep. also 'Οδυσεύς (metr. abbreviation?; cf. to 'Αχιλλεύς). Mehrere secondary forms with λ (cf. Schwyzer 209 u. 333 m. Lit., Heubeck Praegraeca 24ff.): 'Ολυσ(σ)εύς, 'Ολυτ(τ)εύς, 'Ολισεύς u.a. (Vaseninschr.), Οὑλιξεύς (Hdn. Gr.), lat, Ulixēs; the δ-Form is backed by the only epic-liter.
Grammatical information: m.
Meaning: son of Laertes and of Antikleia, king of island of Ithaka (part Il.).
Derivatives: therefrom 'Οδυσήϊος (σ 353). 'Οδύσσεια f. ` the Odyssey ' (Hdt., Pl. u.a.) with 'Οδυσσειακός ` belonging to the odyssey ' (Hdn. Gr., Sch.), τὰ 'Οδύσσεια `Odysseus- play' (Magn. Mae. IIIa); 'Ολισ-σει̃δαι pl. m. N. (φράτρα) in Thebe and Argos (Inschr.).
Etymological information: Already of the ep. bards (z.B. τ 407 ff.) folk etymology linked with ὀδύσσομαι (Linde Glotta 13, 223, Risch Eumusia [Festschr. Howald 1947] 82 f., Stanford ClassPhil. 47, 209 ff.).
New explicators have sought the origin of the name partly in Western Greece or in the mainland generally, partly in Asia Minor. For western, at first Illyrian Epirotian origin Helbig Herm. 11, 281 (considerations by Kretschmer Einl. 280ff. with Ed. Meyer), Krahe IF 49, 143, v. Windekens Herm. 86, 121 ff. (with Lit.);
for European origin Bosshardt 138 f. (also to the phonetical); for Asia Minor origin Hrozný Arch. Or. 1, 338, Gemser Arch. f. Orientforsch. 3, 183 (from Babylonian Hittite Ul(l)uš?; furthermore Kretschmer Glotta 18, 215), Kretschmer Glotta 28, 253 u. 278 (Odysseus as Anatolian Hero to proto Hittite Λύξης, lyd. Λίξος). Quite doubtful attempts to combine linguistically the name 'Οδυσσεύς with the name of his motherly grandfather Αὑτόλυκος, of Bolling AmJPh 27, 65 ff., Lang. 29, 293 f. and of v. Windekens a. O. (with quite divergent arguments). Repudiated combinations of Theander Eranos 15, 137 ff., Carnoy Muséon 44, 319ff., Focke Saeculum 2, 589f.
Pages: 2,351-352
Despite the effort to make Odysseus to look younger than Iliad, the evidence of Sumerian mythology shows that the insult of Odysseus to Poseidon is nothing else but the repetition of the Adapa's myth. Adapa insulted the gods and brought the curse of death on earth. Hebrews transformed the myth of Adapa into the myth of Adam who insulted the Jewish gods = plural Elohim. As usual Greeks tried to manipulate the ignorant readers after translating Sumerian myths into Greek. Since Homer was an inhabitant of an Etruscan city the myth he translated from Etruscan was earlier translated from Phoenician to Etruscan. Obviously Greeks were the last people in the ancient world to discover the myth of Adapa. Greek translators tried to make Iliad look older than Odysseus and they succeeded doing that partly because Greek translators were very skillful at adapting other myths and make them seem original. But when the mud bricks with the ancient Sumerian script were discovered in Iraq the deception became clear. The importance of Odysseus is extraordinary. Its archaic traits prove that Greek Homer was a translator - also a deceiver in other terms.