Britain and the Odyssey (9 March, 2014, 7 Adar-2, 5774)
Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Victor Berard, James Joyce, Phoenicians, Irishmen, and Jews
3. A Summary of Some Relevant Portions of the Odyssey
4. Identifications. The Phaeacians are Phoenicians.
5. Strabo on the Literary Devices of Homer
6. Strabo on Tartessus
7. Phaeacia and the Phoenician City of Tyre
The works of Homer were very important in the Greek and Roman worlds. The heroes of Homer are referred to frequently in World Literature. There may be some value in acquiring a slight familiarity with the works of Homer.
From our point of view, the Odyssey by Homer is important because it records the Cimmerians in the West of northern Europe from an early date.
Homer also describes the island Phaecia also known as Scheria. We understand the Phaeacians to have been Phoenicians under another name and Scheria to be a Greek rendition of the name Seir meaning Edom.
This was pointed out by Gerardo Croesi, "Six Historia Hebraeum ab Homer", Dordrecht, Netherlands, 1704.
In the Bible Seir was the land conquered by Edom whose inhabitants were either killed or assimilated by the Edomites.
The term Seir became synonymous with Edom.
The island spoken of is that of Britain.
It may that Britain is identified with Edom.
We already know that an island named Erytheia (meaning Edom) was of the coast of of Gades in southwest Spain. This area had been association with Tartessus i.e. Tarshish.
This (though initially founded by others) had become a Phoenician colony and the Phoenicians had an Edomite element.
The same may have applied to area in Britain.
The subject is of interest since it seems (Amos ch.1) that Philistine and Phoenician proxies of the Assyrians had transported by ship Israelite Exiles to the power of Edom located somewhere in the west.
Other Israelites had been exiled overland by the Assyrians to regions on the outskirts of the Assyrian Empire. In these areas they linked up with and become associated as the peoples of Gomer otherwise known as the Cimmerians and Scyths. The Cimmerians moved westward at an early age. Homer records them in the Atlantic Ocean area while others place them in the British Isles.
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2. Victor Berard, James Joyce, Phoenicians, Irishmen, and Jews
Victor Berard (Les Pheniciens et l'Odyssee, 1902-3) said that the Odyssey was originally a Phoenician tale that the Greeks had borrowed and adapted, giving it a Greek overdressing.
"nThe poem is obviously the work of a Hellene, while the 'log' is clearly the record of a Semitic traveller. The poet, Homer, if you will, was a Greek; the seafarer, Ulysses, as we know him, was Phoenician" (trans. Gilbert 82). The Irish author, James Joyce, was influenced by Berard. Joyce himself believed that the Irish were descended from Phoenicians. The hero of his work, Ulysses, is an inhabitant of Dublin but of Jewish descent.
Joyce "felt personal affinities to the Jews, and he felt that in general the Irish and the Jews were similar and their destinies alike."
See:
ii. That Greekenhearted Yude : Hebrew and Greek in Ulysses
http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft5s200743&chunk.id=d0e1660&toc.id&brand=ucpress
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3. A Summary of Some Relevant Portions of the Odyssey
Let us make a closer acquaintance with Homer.
Homer and the West
Adapted mainly from Odyssey
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Odyssey (Greek: Odysseia) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is believed to have been composed near the end of the 700s BCE, somewhere in Ionia, the Greek coastal region of Anatolia (mainland Turkey) though others give it a much later date. At all events new editions and additions were being added much later.
The poem mainly centers on the Greek hero Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman myths) and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach his home in the island of Ithaca (western Greece) after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed he has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors who compete for Penelope's hand in marriage.
Excerpts (with some additions) from a Summary of The Odyssey
Following the war against Troy, Odysseus and his crew set out towards Ithaca the homeland of Odysseus.
They raid Ismaros in the land of the Cicones. After that he and his twelve ships were driven off course by storms. They visited the lethargic Lotus-Eaters who gave two of his men their fruit which caused them to forget their homecoming, and then were captured by the Cyclops [one-eyed giant] Polyphemus, escaping by blinding him with a wooden stake. While they were escaping, however, Odysseus foolishly told the giant Polyphemus his identity, and Polyphemus told his father, Poseidon the sea-god, that Odysseus had blinded him. Poseidon then curses Odysseus to wander the sea for ten years, during which he would lose all his crew and return home through the aid of others. After their escape, they stayed with Aeolus, the master of the winds and he gave Odysseus a leather bag containing all the winds, except the west wind, a gift that should have ensured a safe return home. However, the greedy sailors foolishly opened the bag while Odysseus slept, thinking it contained gold. All of the winds flew out and the resulting storm drove the ships back the way they had come, just as Ithaca came into sight.
After unsuccessfully pleading with Aeolus to help them again, they re-embarked. They had been lost in the Ocean Stream (Atlantic).
Odysseus encounters the Lastrygonian cannibal from Telepylus in the far north of Europe, the land of the midnight sun, at the back of the North wind where too the Cimmerians are found and whose night at noon supplements their midnight sun in June.
All of Odysseus's ships except his own entered the harbor of the Laestrygonians' Island and were immediately destroyed. He sailed on and visited the witch-goddess Circe on the island of Aiaia in the farthest west, on the boundary between the sea and the river Okeanos which encircled the earth. Circe turned turned half of his men into swine after feeding them cheese and wine. The god Hermes warned Odysseus about Circe and gave Odysseus a drug called moly which gave him resistance to Circe's magic. Circe, surprised by Odysseus' resistance, agreed to change his men back to their human form in exchange for Odysseus' love. They remained with her on the island for one year, while they feasted and drank. Finally, guided by Circe's instructions, Odysseus and his crew crossed the ocean and reached a harbor at the western edge of the world, where Odysseus sacrificed to the dead. Returning to Circe's island, they were advised by her on the remaining stages of the journey. They skirted the land of the Sirens, who sang an enchanting song that normally caused passing sailors to steer toward the rocks, only to hit them and sink. All of the sailors except for Odysseus, who was tied to the mast as he wanted to hear the song, had their ears plugged up with beeswax. They then passed between the six-headed monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, Odysseus losing six men to Scylla, and landed on the island of Thrinacia. Zeus caused a storm which prevented them leaving. While Odysseus was away praying, his men ignored the warnings of Circe and hunted down the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios as their food had run short. The Sun God insisted that Zeus punish the men for this sacrilege. They suffered a shipwreck as they were driven towards Charybdis. All but Odysseus were drowned; he clung to a fig tree above Charybdis.
Odysseus was washed ashore on the island of Ogygia which belonged to Calypso. Plutarch said Ogygia lay 5 days sail west of Britain. This could refer to Ireland even though Ireland is not that far away. He was compelled to remain there as the lover of Calypso until she was ordered by Zeus, via the god Hermes, to release Odysseus. Odysseus builds a raft and is given clothing, food and drink by Calypso. When the sea-god Poseidon finds out that Odysseus has escaped, he wrecks the raft but, helped by a veil given by the sea nymph Ino, Odysseus swims ashore on Scheria, the island of the Phaeacians. Naked and exhausted, he hides in a pile of leaves and falls asleep. The next morning, awakened by the laughter of girls, he sees the young Nausicaa, who has gone to the seashore with her maids to wash clothes after Athena told her in a dream to do so. He appeals to her for help. She encourages him to seek the hospitality of her parents.
The Phaeacians were masters of the sea. Their ships were the swiftest on earth.
The Phaeacians agree to help Odysseus get home. They deliver him at night, while he is fast asleep, to a hidden harbour on Ithaca. The first mortal Odysseus meets on Ithaca is Eumaeus. his swineherd and friend. The father of Eumaeus was Ktesios son of Ormenos, was king of an island called Syria. When he was a young child a Phoenician sailor seduced his nurse, a slave, who agreed to bring the child among other treasures in exchange for their help in her escape. The nurse was killed by the goddess Artemis on the journey by sea, but the sailors continued to Ithaca where Odysseus' father Laertes bought him as a slave.
The Island of Syria was near the island of Ortygia off the coast of Sicily and the inhabitants of Syria lived long and peaceful lives.
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4. Identifications.
The Phaeacians are Phoenicians.
While searching for information about the Phaeacians we came across the following answer to a Yahoo Question:
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In The Odyssey, why do the Phaeacians have a temple for Poseidon?
Katie Smith answered 3 years ago
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=A0LEVxN32xhTclkAWMlXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzcG5lM2hrBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1ZJUDA1MF8x?qid=20110101002507AAc2CmD
Well, think about who the Phoenicians are and who Poseidon is. The Phoenicians are sailors, and sailors sail on the sea. Poseidon is god of the sea. So, it makes sense that the Phoenicians have a temple to the god who rules over the domains that is most important to them. Phaecians and Phoenicians are the same by the way.
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Brit-Am Comment:
We do not know what Katie Smith based her answer on above but it corresponds with our own impressions.
The Phaecians, like the Phoenicians, are masters of the Seas.
The Phoenicians had bases in Tyre or Sidon or other of the Phoenician cities but in the Odyssey they are characterized more as wanderers of the seas, traders and marauders.
The Phaeacians are like the Phoenicians but they are characterized more by their home area, the Kingdom of Phaeacia.
The name of Phaeacia in Greek, Phaiakes, is not that different from the name for Phoenicia, Phoinike.
A literary device of Homer (or rather the whole school of story-tellers whom Homer represented) is to invent names based on existing terms that reflect an extension of the term used.
This has been discussed by the Roman Geographer Strabo.
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5. Strabo on the Literary Devices of Homer
Strabo analyses the term Tartarus used by Homer as a synonym for Hades meaning the Underworld or Place of the Dead.
Strabo says that Homer invented the term Tartarus deriving if from Tartessos otherwise known as Tarshish. Tartessos was in southwest Spain at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea and the entrance to the Atlantic Ocean. It was consdiered the edge of the world. Homer wanted to associate Hades with that region so he named it Tatarus which sounds similar!
Strabo opines:
# Tartessus was known by hearsay as "farthermost in the west," where, as the poet himself says, falls into Oceanus [the Atlantic Ocean in nthe west where the sun goes down] "the sun's bright light, drawing black night over earth, the grain-giver." Now, that night is a thing of evil omen and associated with Hades, is obvious; also that Hades is associated with Tartarus. Accordingly, one might reasonably suppose that Homer, because he heard about Tartessus, named the farthermost of the nether-regions Tartarus after Tartessis, with a slight alteration of letters; and that he also added a mythical element, thus conserving the creative quality of poetry.. #
Similarly Homer named the Phaeacians indicating by the similarity of name that they were a kind of Phoenician.
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6. Strabo on Tartessus
Strabo (3.2.11-12) describes the Spain of his time.
He mentions Turdulia in southwest-southern Spain which was formerly known as Tartesuss. This was fed by the Baetis River where silver was found. It met up with the city of Gades (also known as Gadir) and island of Erytheia whose name means "Red" or in Hebrew "Edom".
We identify Tartessus with Tarshish of the Bible. The concept of Tarshish seems to have extended not only to southwest Spain but also to Britain. Tartessus was associated with the Atlantic Ocean. The Rabbinical source, "Sefer Ha-Aruch HaShalem," says that in Talmudic Literature Tarshish was synonymous with the Atlantic Ocean.
Strabo says, "Hades is associated with Tartarus".
Hades is the Place of the Dead.
Strabo tells us:
Strabo's Geography
Book III, Chapter 2
11. Not very far from Castalo is also the mountain in which the Baetis is said to rise; it is called "Silver Mountain" on account of the silver-mines that are in it. According to Polybius, however, both this river and the Anas, though distant from each other as much as nine hundred stadia, rise in Celtiberia; for, as a result of their growth in power, the Celtiberians caused the whole neighbouring country to have the same name as their own. The ancients seem to have called the Baetis River "Tartessus"; and to have called Gades and the adjoining islands "Erytheia"; and this is supposed to be the reason why Stesichorus spoke as he did about the neat-herd of Geryon, namely, that he was born "about opposite famous Erytheia, beside the unlimited, silver-rooted springs of the river Tartessus, in a cavern of a cliff." Since the river had two mouths, a city was planted on the intervening territory in former times, it is said, a city which was called "Tartessus," after the name of the river; and the country, which is now occupied by Turdulians, was called "Tartessis." Further, Eratosthenes says that the country adjoining Calpe is called "Tartessis," and that Erytheia is called "Blest Isle." Eratosthenes is contradicted by Artemidorus, who says that this is another false statement of Eratosthenes, like his statement that the distance from Gades to the Sacred Cape is a five days' sail (although it is not more than one thousand seven hundred stadia), and his statement that the tides come to an end at the Sacred Cape (although the tides take place round the whole circuit of the inhabited world), and his statement that the northerly parts of Iberia afford an easier passage to Celtica than if you sail thither by the ocean; and, in fact, every other statement which he had made in reliance upon Pytheas, on account of the latter's false pretensions.
12. The poet, man of many voices, so to speak, and of wide information, affords us grounds for the argument that even these regions were not unheard of by him, if one were only willing to argue scientifically from both statements that are made about these regions, not only from the worse, but also from the better and more truthful. Worse, namely, the statement that Tartessus was known by hearsay as "farthermost in the west," where, as the poet himself says, falls into Oceanus "the sun's bright light, drawing black night over earth, the grain-giver." Now, that night is a thing of evil omen and associated with Hades, is obvious; also that Hades is associated with Tartarus. Accordingly, one might reasonably suppose that Homer, because he heard about Tartessus, named the farthermost of the nether-regions Tartarus after Tartessis, with a slight alteration of letters; and that he also added a mythical element, thus conserving the creative quality of poetry. Just as the poet, because he knew that the Cimmerians had taken their abode in northern and gloomy regions about the Bosporus, settled them in the neighbourhood of Hades, though perhaps he did it also in accordance with a certain common hatred of the Ionians for this tribe (indeed, it was in the time of Homer, or shortly before his time, they say, that that Cimmerian invasion which reached as far as Aeolis and Ionia took place).... one might get a hint from the mythical invention of Tartarus that Homer had in mind the regions about Tartessus.
Elsewhere Strabo relates:
For Homer says also, 'Now after the ship had left the river-stream of Oceanus',and, 'In the island of Ogygia, where is the navel of the sea',where the daughter of Atlas lives; and again, regarding the Phaiakians, 'Far apart we live in the wash of the waves, the farthermost of men, and no other mortals are conversant with us'. All these clearly suggest that he composed them to take place in the Atlantic Ocean."
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7. Phaeacia and the Phoenician City of Tyre
We found an interesting opinion equating Phaeacia with the Phoenician City of Tyre:
Quote:
Atlantis Checklist 3. Atlantis
http://www.lost-civilizations.net/atlantis-checklist-3-page-3.html
Ship-like Phaeacia closely evokes the primordial Tyre of Ezequiel (ch. 26-28) which was likened to a ship by the prophet. Ezekiel's "Tyre" later became "a place to spread fishing nets upon" after it was turned into stone and sunk underseas. Ezequiel describes this primordial Tyre as a "renowned city, inhabited by a seafaring nation of merchants, strong in the middle of the seas". The great prophet also places this famous city among the other "islands of the Outer Ocean" rather than in Mediterranean Basin. End Quote.
Our own study of Ezekiel chapters 26, 27, and 28
http://www.britam.org/Ezekiel26to30.html
did not show that a place other than Tyre of the coast of Phoenicia in Lebanon was being spoken of. We did broach the possibility that a Prototypical Prophecy possibly applicable to the distant future was being presented alongside the description of the contemporary situation.
Another Prophet, however, Isaiah (chapter 23) did speak of Tyre being evacuated and of its rulers attempting to re-locate their power base in the west, in the region of Tarshish.
http://britam.org/origintwo.html
http://www.britam.org/isaiah/Isaiah21to25.html
Taking the descriptions of Tyre given by Ezekiel followed by that of Isaiah on Tyre and Tarshish we do find a composite picture of great interest.
Remembering that Tyre was the principal Phoenician city and the proposed identity of the Phaeakians with Phoenicians the secrets of history open up before us.