Reciprocity and gifts in the encounters of Diomedes with Glaucus and Achilles with Priam in the Iliad

Article Authentication required
Subscibe in publisher´s online store Share via email
Reciprocity and gifts in the encounters of Diomedes with Glaucus and Achilles with Priam in the Iliad
Kyriakoy, Poulheria

From the journal Hermes Hermes, Volume 150, June 2022, issue 2

Published by Franz Steiner Verlag

article, 10799 Words
Original language: English
Hermes 2022, pp 131-149
https://doi.org/10.25162/hermes-2022-0009

Abstract Related content References

Abstract

In the Iliad the symbolic value of gifts as tokens of reciprocity is more important than their material value. This is exemplified in the encounters of Diomedes with Glaucus in book 6 and Achilles with Priam in 24. Glaucus readily agrees to offer a much more valuable gift than Diomedes, and the narratorial suggestion that Zeus took away Glaucus’ wits is not shaped as the report of a fact but captures the views or feelings of observers such as members of the audience. Achilles agrees to release the body of Hector in exchange for gifts. As Glaucus and Diomedes seal their pact and renew the ancestral guest-friendship relationship with the exchange of gifts, so Achilles seals his pact with Priam and his earlier one with the dead Patroclus with the acceptance and promise of gifts respectively.

Author information

Poulheria Kyriakoy

Keywords

Iliad | Glaucus | Diomedes | Achilles | gifts | reciprocity

Related content

References

  • 1. Alden, M. 1996. “Genealogy as paradigm: the example of Bellerophon” Hermes 124, 257–63.
  • 2. Alden, M. 2000. Homer beside himself: para-narratives in the Iliad. Oxford.
  • 3. Allen-Hornblower, E. 2016. From agent to spectator. Berlin.
  • 4. Andersen, Ø. 1978. Die Diomedesgestalt in der Ilias. Oslo.
  • 5. Avery, H. 1998. “Achilles’ third father” Hermes 126, 389–97.
  • 6. Bakker, E. 1997. Poetry in speech. Ithaca.
  • 7. Brügger, C. 2009. Homers Ilias. Gesamtkommentar. Herausgegeben von A. Bierl und J. Latacz. Band VIII Vierunzwanzingster Gesang (Ω). Fasz. 2 Kommentar. Berlin.
  • 8. Calder, W. 1984. “Gold for bronze: Iliad 6, 232–36” in K. Rigsby et al. (ed.), Studies presented to Sterling Dow on his eightieth birthday, Durham, NC, 31–35.
  • 9. Craig, J. 1967. “Χρύσεα χαλκείων” CR 17, 243–45.
  • 10. Crotty, K. 1994. The poetics of supplication. Ithaca.
  • 11. Donlan, W. 1981–82. “Reciprocities in Homer” CW 75, 137–75.
  • 12. Donlan, W. 1989. “The unequal exchange between Glaucus and Diomedes in light of the Homeric gift-economy” Phoenix 43, 1–15.
  • 13. Edmunds, S. 1990. Homeric nêpios. New York.
  • 14. Erbse, H. 1961. “Betrachtungen über das 5. Buch der Ilias” RhM 104, 156–89.
  • 15. Fenik, B. 1968. Typical battle scenes in the Iliad. Wiesbaden.
  • 16. Fornaro, S. 1992. Glauco e Diomede. Lettura di Iliade VI 119–236. Venosa.
  • 17. Gill, C. 1996. Personality in Greek epic, tragedy, and philosophy. Oxford.
  • 18. Gill, C. / Postlethwaite, N. / Seaford, R. (eds.) 1998. Reciprocity in Ancient Greece. Oxford.
  • 19. Giordano, M. 1999. La supplica. Naples.
  • 20. Gottesman, A. 2008. “The pragmatics of Homeric kertomia” CQ 58, 1–12.
  • 21. Gregory, J. 2019. Cheiron’s way. Oxford.
  • 22. Grethlein, J. 2006. Das Geschichtsbild der Ilias. Göttingen.
  • 23. Griffin, J. 1980. Homer on life and death. Oxford.
  • 24. Harries, B. 1993. “‘Strange meeting’: Diomedes and Glaucus in Iliad 6” G&R 40, 133–46.
  • 25. Heath, J. 2005. The talking Greeks. Cambridge.
  • 26. Herman, G. 1987. Ritualised friendship and the Greek city. Cambridge.
  • 27. Holoka, J. 1983. “‘Looking darkly’ (ΥΠΟΔΡΑ ΙΔΩΝ): reflections on status and decorum in Homer” TAPhA 113, 1–16.
  • 28. de Jong, I. 2005. “Convention versus realism in the Homeric epics” Mnemosyne 58, 1–22.
  • 29. Kirk, G. 1990. The Iliad: A commentary. Volume II Books 5–8. Cambridge.
  • 30. Krieter-Spiro, M. 2018. Homer’s Iliad. The Basel commentary. Edited by A. Bierl and J. Latacz. Book XIV. Transl. B. W. Millis and S. Strack. Boston.
  • 31. Kyriakou, P. 2006. A commentary on Euripides’ Iphigenia in Tauris. Berlin.
  • 32. Kyriakou, P. 2007. “Epidoxon kydos: crown victory and its rewards” C&M 58, 119–58.
  • 33. Lang, M. 1995. “War story into wrath story” in J. Carter and S. Morris (eds.), The ages of Homer. A tribute to Emily Townsend Vermeule, Austin, 149–62.
  • 34. Lateiner, D. 1995. Sardonic smile. Ann Arbor.
  • 35. MacLeod, C. 1982. Homer Iliad Book XXIV. Cambridge.
  • 36. Maftei, M. 1976. Antike Diskussionen über die Episode von Glaukos und Diomedes im VI. Buch der Ilias. Meisenheim am Glan.
  • 37. Martin, R. 1989. The language of heroes. Ithaca.
  • 38. Minchin, E. 1986. “The interpretation of a theme in oral epic: Iliad 24.559–70” G&R 33, 11–19.
  • 39. Naiden, F. 2006. Ancient supplication. Oxford.
  • 40. Parker, R. 1983. Miasma. Oxford.
  • 41. Parks, W. 1990. Verbal dueling in heroic narrative. Princeton.
  • 42. Pedrick, V. 1982. “Supplication in the Iliad and the Odyssey” TAPhA 112, 125–40.
  • 43. Perry, B. 1937. “The early Greek capacity for viewing things separately” TAPhA 68, 403–27.
  • 44. Postlethwaite, N. 1998. “Akhilleus and Agamemnon: generalized reciprocity” in Gill, Postlethwaite und Seaford, 93–101.
  • 45. Pratt, L. 2009. “Diomedes, the fatherless hero of the Iliad” in S. Hübner and D. Ratzan (eds.), Growing up fatherless in Antiquity, Cambridge, 141–61.
  • 46. Pritchett, W. 1991. The Greek state at war. Bd. 5. Berkeley.
  • 47. Richardson, S. 1990. The Homeric narrator. Nashville.
  • 48. Richardson, S. 1993. The Iliad: A commentary. Volume IV Books 21–24. Cambridge
  • 49. Rinon, Y. 2008. “A tragic pattern in the Iliad” HSCPh 104, 45–91.
  • 50. Rothe, C. 1910. Die Ilias als Dichtung. Paderborn.
  • 51. Sahlins, M. 1968. Tribesmen. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.
  • 52. Sahlins, M. 1974. Stone age economics. London.
  • 53. Sarischoulis, E. 2008. Schicksal, Götter und Handlungsfreiheit in den Epen Homers. Stuttgart.
  • 54. Scheid-Tissinier, E. 1994. Les usages du don chez Homère. Nancy.
  • 55. Schmitt, A. 1990. Selbständigkeit und Abhängigkeit menschlichen Handelns bei Homer. Mainz.
  • 56. Schmitz, C. 2001. “‘Denn auch Niobe …’ – Die Bedeutung der Niobe-Erzählung in Achills Rede (Ω 599–620)” Hermes 129, 145–57.
  • 57. Schnapp-Courbeillon, A. 1982. “Le lion et le loup: Diomédie et Dolonie dans l’Iliade” QS 15, 45–77.
  • 58. Scodel, R. 1992. “The wits of Glaucus” TAPhA 122, 73–84.
  • 59. Scodel, R. 2008. Epic facework. Swansea.
  • 60. Scott, M. 1979. “Pity and pathos in Homer” AClass 22, 1–14.
  • 61. Stoevesandt, M. 2004. Feinde-Gegner-Opfer. Basel.
  • 62. Stoevesandt, M. 2008. Homers Ilias. Gesamtkommentar. Herausgegeben von A. Bierl und J. Latacz. Band IV Sechster Gesang (Ζ). Fasz. 2 Kommentar. Berlin.
  • 63. Strasburger, G. 1954. Die kleinen Kämpfer der Ilias. Diss. Frankfurt.
  • 64. Taplin, O. 1992. Homeric soundings. Oxford.
  • 65. Traill, D. 1989. “Gold armor for bronze and Homer’s use of compensatory ΤΙΜΗ” CP 84, 301–5.
  • 66. Walcot, P. 1969. “Χρύσεα χαλκείων: a further comment” CR 19, 12–13.
  • 67. van Wees, H. 1992. Status warriors. Amsterdam.
  • 68. Willcock, M. 1992. “Nervous hesitation in the Iliad” in J. Pinsent and H. Hurt, Homer 1987, Liverpool, 65–73.
  • 69. Wilson, D. 2002. Ransom, revenge, and heroic identity in the Iliad. Cambridge.
  • 70. Yamagata, N. 1994. Homeric morality. Leiden.
  • 71. Zanker, G. 1994. The heart of Achilles. Ann Arbor.
  • 72. Zanker, G. 1998. “Beyond reciprocity: The Akhilleus-Priam scene in Iliad 24” in Gill, Postlethwaite and Seaford, 73–92.