Pride in the Name of Love - Hubris and the Greek Hero

"Sing, Goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus,

that accursed anger. which brought the Greeks endless sufferings

and sent the might souls of many warriors to Hades"

Homer, The Iliad Book 1- Translated by E.V Rieu 

The greatest sulk of all time, also happens to be one of the greatest stories of all time. Filled with heroes, beautiful women, gods at war, epic battles and one man's hubris. Hubris is the Ancient Greek concept of excessive pride, a pride that eventually brings shame upon it's perpetrator. 

The shame of hubris isn't just the prerogative of Achilles however. It is something that several heroes of Greek myth and legend suffer during their adventures. They rise to the top, only to be brought low by their hubris, more often than not at the hand of the gods. 

Briseis is taken from AchillesCup from the British Museum

The tale of  Achilles in the Iliad is often the most commonly used example of hubris in a Greek hero. After Agamemnon returns his own prize of a woman to her father, a priest of Apollo to prevent a plague, Agamemnon commands that Achilles battle prize of a woman named Briseis be given to him as a replacement.

Achilles robbed of his honour and prize, freely awarded him by the Greeks, refuses to fight again until Agamemnon apologises. The Trojan forces soon take the iniative and the Greeks are pushed right back to their ships. Still Achilles will not fight. In fact is is not until his beloved, Patroculus is killed, taking Achilles places in the line, that he rejoins the fight.

Achilles stubbornness and refusal of earlier reparations from Agamemnon directly leads to the death of his beloved Patroculus. But other heroes suffer from this same issue of overwhelming pride, that equally has a sting in its tale, literally in the case of Orion the Hunter. It is interesting that the theme of the perils of excessive pride shows up so often in Greek myth. Clearly it was a fault that Greeks, in their striving for both physical and mental perfection, believed should be avoided and it was such an important lesson that it shows up in their myths again and again. 

THESEUS

Theseus is many things during his famous adventures. Hero, fighter, lover. He had killed the dreaded Minotaur with the aid of the kings daughter, the lovely Ariadne and had promised to marry her in return. However on his journey home, ungrateful Theseus, no doubt puffed up on his own success and forgetting he owed it all to Ariadne, left her behind on a beach. 

Praying to the gods for revenge, Dionysus heard her and after falling in love with her and marrying the girl, he granted her revenge. The sailors were made to forget to change the sails of the ship, black and white sails had been provided to give a visible sign of success to the King Aegeus. Seeing the black sail which marked failure, he threw himself into what is now the Aegean sea and drowned. 

"Aegeus, who therefore, in despair, threw himself down from the rock and was dashed to pieces"

Plutarch Life of Theseus Chapter 22

So the hubris of Theseus, in forgetting he owed his victory to Ariadne, was repaid by a god in the death of his father. 

Bellerophon and Pegasus from the British Museum

BELLEROPHON

Bellerophon is your typical Greek hero, entwined in warring factions of family, death at every turn and danger around every corner. Sent to the King of Lycia with a note that the bearer of the note should be killed, he was tasked with murdering the Chimaera, a fire breathing monster, with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and a serpent's tail. Aided by the goddess Athena, who lent him the winged horse Pegasus, Bellerophon slew the terrifying monster. 

However, eventually becoming too proud of his achievements, Bellerophon tried to fly Pegasus to Olympus. As mortals were only allowed on Olympus under invitation of a God, Zeus punished proud Bellerophon. Sending a fly to bite at Pegasus, the hero was thrown from his back and landed in a thorn bush. Blinded, lame and severely chastised by the gods for his pride, Bellerophon lived the rest of life homeless and alone.

ORION

Constellation of Orion

Orion, son of Poseidon and that great constellation in the sky, angered many of the gods in the heavens during his life, especially when abandoning the goddess Eos who loved him, to hunt with Artemis. He soon angered Mother Earth by boasting he could kill all the animals and monsters in the world, her children. She sent a giant scorpion to chase him and after he failed to kill it, he jumped into the sea and swam towards Eos for her protection. 

On the island of Delos, where Orion was headed, Artemis and Apollo waited. Apollo, knowing full well what he was doing, challenged Artemis to hit the small shape bobbing in the sea. Accepting the challenge she fired true and killed Orion. After being forbidden to bring him back to life, Artemis raised Orion to the sky, where he is eternally chased by his Scorpion across the stars. 

All these heroes have the same under lying message to their myth and legend. Their pride, their hubris, is eventually punished by the gods and it gives us an insight into Greek views of what a hero and Greek should be, strong but never ungrateful in the case of Thesues. Brave like Bellerophon but not impudent. Powerful but not boastful like Orion. A hero was a hero and a Greek was a Greek but they should always be careful of hubris. 

The lesson of hubris is one that Greek myth and legend taught the world so well, that two thousand years later, when the King James Bible was published in 1611, there the same message was. 

"Pride goeth before a fall"

King James Bible Proverbs 16:18

Hubris, that accursed anger, which brought the Greek's endless suffering. 

Thanks for Reading

James 

There and Back Again - A Greek Heroes Tale

If it takes you ten years to cross the Aegean and Ionian Seas to get home, it's time to apologise to the god you annoyed or hire a new navigator. Odysseus among his many adventures, killed the son of Poseidon the Cyclops Polyphemus resulting in his decade of travels, before returning to his island Ithica, re-taking his throne and in true Greek style killing his rivals.

"We are Achaeans on our way back from Troy - driven astray by contrary winds across a vast expanse of sea"

Homer The Odyssey Book 9

The tales of the Odyssey are famous. Who hasn't heard at least of the aforementioned adventure in the cave of Polphemus, the blinding of the Cyclops and the daring escape by hiding among the sheep? However, the idea of a hero leaving his city to fight and win glory before returning home in triumph is a common one. Tthe myths of Theseus and Jason for example, allude to the under lying political structure of the Greek Polis.

A Simple Map of Odysseus Possible Voyage

The word Polis can be applied to a few different situations, from the actual citizens of a city, the literal physical stones of the city, or to mean the state itself. The most famous Poleis of Ancient Greece are Sparta and Athens, two cities with very differing ideologies, often displayed as the war between totalitarian military might in the form of Sparta and Democratic power in the body of Athens.

"Tyranny is monarchy ruling in the interest of the monarch, oligarchy government in the interest of the rich, democracy government in the interest of the poor"

Aristotle Politics Book 3 1279b

Cup Showing the Adventures of Theseus from the British Museum

People in ancient Greece were identified by their Polis. To be a citizen of the Athenian democratic polis was a mark of distinction, the right to vote on your cities future. In the Spartan polis, you were raised from a young age to love your city. If you were male you were a soldier and the city fed you, clothed you and gave you shelter.

This is a romantic view of two ancient polis. In Athens if you were anything other than an adult male than things were probably very much the same for you regardless of who was making the decisions. Equally however you dress up the political structure of Sparta as a military ideal of ancient warriors, they were only able to achieve it thanks to the thousands of helots (slaves) from the surrounding polis of Messenia which they subjugated.

Love of your polis was ingrained and it shows up in the myths of the Greeks in a subtle way, heroes leave their cities, go out on their adventure and return to their polis the hero. Two myths give a good example of this, the tales of Theseus and Jason.

The legend of Theseus is well known. After the death of his son in Athens, King Minos of Crete demanded that fourteen Athenian children be sent to Crete to feed to his Minotaur, the terrifying monster who was,

"A mingled form and hybrid birth of monstrous shape,

Two different natures, man and bull, were joined in him"

Quoting Euripides - Plutarch Life of Theseus Chapter 15

Being a hero, Theseus volunteered and went to Crete, entered the great labyrinth and killed the Minotaur with the aid of Minos' daughter Ariadne, who had fallen in love with the hero. Triumphant Theseus sets sail for home ready for adulation.

The Hero Persues in the Sky

Equally Jason (and his famous Argonauts) set sail on a quest to win the Golden Fleece from Colchis to reclaim his crown, which was stolen from him by his uncle. Never expected to return, Jason and his Argonauts engaged in numerous adventures with many heroes of ancient Greek myth. Jason returned home to prove his heroic worth and reclaim his throne.

Both these stories end in hubristic tragedy as all good Greek myths do. However the underlying theme of them is the same as many other Greek myths. The hero leaves their polis, quests and returns to triumphant acclaim. Theseus, Jason, Perseus, Heracles and our poor lost Odysseus as he wonders the Mediterranean trying to get home, all help illustrate the view of the citizens of the polis.

You can imagine the stories of Theseus being told in Athens to show how once the hero of their city outwitted and beat another city. The myths of Ancient Greece as well as being told in books, movies or written across the night sky in our constellations, tell us a great deal about how the people of the ancient polies of Greece saw themselves, they were the citizens of their city. Being a part of your polis, fighting for it, winning glory and prestige in the name of your poleis was the most important thing they could do. They were the polis.


Thanks for Reading
James

Romulus 2.0?

On the 16th January the Senate of Rome met to put the very last nail into the coffin of the Republic, a dessicated corpse that they had slowly been burying for nearly half a century. Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian left the meeting reborn. He was Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus, the title marking the pinnacle of a year where title and power had been heaped upon him and he stood as the unequivocal ruler of an empire stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the desert plains of the middle east.

But why the name "Augustus". It is commonly translated to mean the "illustrious one". But this wasn't Octavian's first choice. In fact we are told in Cassius Dio that,

"Caesar was exceedingly desirous of being called Romulus"

Cassius Dio Book 53

Blacas Cameo from the British Museum

after the founder of the great city and republic he had just risen to control, the second great founder of the city of Rome. So why aren't we talking of the great first "Emperor, Gaius Julius Caesar Romulus"? How did Augustus slay Romulus to become the iconic and revered leader of Ancient Rome?

The legend of the two brothers, Romulus and Remus; how they quarrelled over the name of the city they were to found, the viewing of the vultures (that Suetonius mentions in his Life of Augustus Book 95) or Remus mocking Romulus by leaping the diminutive walls of his city (as reported by Livy) is well known. 

"Two and twenty years after the first establishment of the Olympic games, Romulus the son of Mars, after avenging the wrongs of his grandfather, founded the city of Rome on the Palentine"

Valleius Paterculus Book 1 Chapter 8

With the city founded Romulus passed away and ascended to heaven, founding a dynasty of seven kings. The final king Tarquinus Superbus was so tyrannical that his reign put an end to their ever being a man raised up as "king of the Romans" ever again, when he was overthrown and exiled. To the end of Roman power the rulers were never named king. They were Princeps, the "first man" or Imperator the "commander".

The reason for this is arguably due to what happened on the 16th January 27BC. Fearful of being percieved of aiming at kingship, look at what happened to his adoptive father Julius Caesar, he took instead the title Augustus 

"signifying that he was more than human; for all the most precious and sacred objects are termed Augustus"

Cassius Dio Book 53 Chapter 16

So, from the 17th January 27BC till today, 2042 years later we don't talk of Caesar Divi Fiilus Romulus, but of someone more than a mere king. Someone able to rule an Empire stretching the length and width of Europe. Someone August...

Thanks for Reading

James

Theban Warfare - A Hoplite's First Hand Account

You can feel a bead of sweat rolling down your right cheek underneath the stifling helmet on your head, and it's not just from the heat. You wish you could remove the constricting helmet. Feel the cool breeze on your face. But you must not appear weak before your Boeotian allies. 

Before you stands something from a legend. A silent wall of military might, red cloaks stirring slightly in the breeze. Zeus be damned, how can you stop these men? You sat by the fire as a child listening to the stories of Leonidas and his 300 (1). They may as well be stood in front of you right now for the difference it is going to make. 

Your hoplon feels heavy in your hand. Your spear weak and ineffective. You're outnumbered. Soon those Spartan devils will walk right over you and you'll be maggot food. Who cares if your general has a "plan". Leuctra will be where you will die (2). You can just feel it. Damn Epaminondas. Damn Thebes and her democracy. Damn that Spartan king and his plans to re-establish his control over Greece. Your going to die here. 

You shift your weight from left to right. Your hoplon only shields half your body. The other half covers the man next you. How did you end up in the front row of the phalanx? You don't know the man to your right. How can you trust him to keep the right side of your body covered with his shield. A Spartan spear is going to rip through the gap and eviscerate your stomach. 

You stand in the centre of your line, the staggered line of your phalanxes before and behind you (3). To your left you can see the Sacred Band forming up under Pelopidas's command. Fools! How can this plan work? King Cleombrotus has formed his Spartans up opposite you. Damn them, why must they be so damned silent. Your left wing is weighted. Your far left phalanx is fifty rows deep. The Spartans a mere twelve. Maybe this plan will work? 

The left phalanx sets off, directly for the Spartans right wing. A ragged cheer echoes along the line, the Theban cavalry has driven back the Spartan cavalry. It's time for your phalanx to move forwards. Your mouth feels dry. This first step the hardest you've ever made. You look around amazed to find that you are already walking. You focus on the Spartans directly in front of you, but off to your left you just catch the sight of the Sacred Band crashing into the Spartan line (4). 

It looks like the Spartan King Cleombrotus, might have worked out Epaminondas's plan but the Sacred Band has put pay to that. The weight of your fifty line phalanx is driving back the Spartan right wing. You just catch the sound of someone crying of the death of the Spartan king. By Athena, is this plan working?

You have no time to find out. You are focused on the man in front of you. You grip your shield tight. Feel the reassuring weight of your spear in your hand and the man by your side. Tonight you will remove your helmet, wipe the bead of sweat from your cheek and offer glory to the gods. But first you have to follow the example of the Speckled Band, and go crashing forwards......

1: Leonidas and the 300 are the famous heroes of history who held the pass of Thermopylae against the invasion of the Persian Emperor Xerxes. A legendary story that would be known and told all over Greece and recorded in Herodotus Histories.

Helmet from the British Museum

2: The Battle of Leuctra happened in 371BC between Thebes and Sparta. Invading Boeotia to assert their waning authority, Sparta stole a march on Thebes, before being confronted near the town of Leuctra. Plutarch Life of Pelopidas Chapter 23.

Map of the Battle of Leuctra

3: The way a hoplite held their shields (named hoplon in Greek) covering the left hand side of the body led to a general drift to the right when marching forwards. Standard hoplite tactics was to make your right wing the strongest and try and turn the oppositions weaker left wing. Epaminondas reinforced his left wing, sending it straight at the Spartans strong right wing. He then staggered the remaining phalanxes backwards so that his own weaker right wing never came into contact with the weaker Spartan left wing. The whole battle was fought and won on the Theban's left wing, Xenophon, Hellenica Book 6 Chapter 4

Hoplite Warfare

4: The Sacred Band was a hand picked troop of one hundred and fifty pairs of male lovers. They were "three hundred chosen men, to whom the city furnished exercise and maintenance" Plutarch Life of Pelopidas Chapter 18.

Thanks for Reading

James

Money...Money...Money!!! Electioneering in Ancient Rome

"Mother, to day thou shalt see thy son either Pontifex Maximus or an exile"

Plutarch Life of Caesar Chapter 7

When discussing the Cursus Honorum, there was one important factor that we missed out (that Julius Caesar as per usual understood). Sometimes, you've got to spend money to make money. In Caesar's case, borrowing large amounts of money to promote himself in the election for Pontifex Maximus.

Plutarch in his Life of Caesar, Chapter 7 writes of the death of the former Ponitfex Maximus, Metellus, and how Ceasar presented himself to the people for the prestigious role as the head priest of Roman religion. Catulus, who was also running for the position was worried by Ceasar's appearance in the election and tried to stop him, by offering him "large sums of money". Caesar declined and in response borrowed even more money to continue in the election.

Roman Coins found in Wales 2008

In this one passage from Plutarch's Life of Caesar, we see illustrated two very different examples of how you might use money to sway an election in your favour. 

Firstly Catulus' tactic of simply buying off the opposition. You're a rich man of Rome, but your opponent is an up and comer popular with the people. By simply making a "donation" to the young man to hold off on their political plans for awhile, you win an election and the honour that goes with it and you gain a potential ally for the future in the young man, all with a smooth election and no fuss. 

No doubt what Catulus was hoping for when he offered Caesar "large sums of money". Were it for a position less august than that of Rome's chief priest, the always cash strapped Caesar might of accepted. But, becoming Pontifex Maximus is a once in a life time opportunity, literally as the position was held for life, so sometimes you have to take the gamble and go deeper into debt. 

The name Caesar is possibly one of the famous in history. German Kaisers and Russian Tsars both took their name for kings from this one family, not to mention the later Roman empire using it as a title for a junior emperor. Even directly after his death, Ceasar's heir Octavian was highlighting the links between himself and his now adopted father, as seen on the coin from the British Museum below. But at the time of his election Caesar house was in the subura of the Esquiline Hills and Caesar was heavily in debt. 

"We are told, accordingly,that before he entered upon any public office he was thirteen hundred talents in debt"

Plutarch Life of Caesar Chapter 5

However, Caesar understood the risk and the gamble he was taking in his policy of borrowing money against his own future greatness. The reason that Caesar told his mother that she would see him as either Pontifex Maximus or an exile, is that this was the make or break moment of his gamble. We know that through his earlier political career he spent vast sums on the Appian Way, during his aedileship he threw a games with wild beasts and stage plays, decorated the forum and held a gladiatorial show that resulted in a law being passed limiting their number being kept in the city, Suetonius Life Of Julius Caesar Chapter 9.

If Caesar had lost the election for Pontifex Maximus it would be time for him to met his creditors, be unable to pay and live a shameful life in exile, probably on what is now the modern day French Riviera. But Caesar's money and gamble paid off. Whether through bribing the electorate, either out right or through inadvertent means, it was money that started Caesar off on his career. 

"By these means he put the people in such a humour that every man of them was seeking out new offices and new honours with which to requite him"

Plutarch Life of Caesar Chapter 5

Thanks for Reading

James

  

The Cursus Honorum Part 2 - Moving Up to the Big Job

You start each day with a queue of faithful men lined up at your door to pay homage to yourself. They are your clients, you their patron. Loyal followers that you can call upon in the next election, to cheer your name and vote you into your next public office. In return you'll use your wealth to help them however you can. This is the reward for your many years in public office, and working your way through the Cursus Honorum, recognition as a great man of the Roman Republic.

Roman Procession on the Ara Pacis

Having served your time as a Praetor, and hopefully as a Propraetor in one of the provinces of Rome's burgeoning Mediterranean empire, now is the time to adjust your toga, check you look particularly heroic in the mirror and call your clients to the streets, for its time to run for the pinnacle of your career, the Consulship.

Consul

The Consulship is the highest level of the Cursus Honorum, with an age requirement of 42 years old. With it comes power over the military, control of the Senate, oversight over the judiciary and the most important powers of all; "the veto" literally the ability to say "I Forbid" to any law attempting to be passed, and that of "Imperium" roughly "command" over Rome and her provinces.

There are only two consuls elected each year, alternating who held the power of Imperium each month to prevent anyone getting to ambitious. Two men out of all the members of the Senate (the number of members of the Senate varies back and forth from around 300 to 600 over time) so this really is an honour. Also, to guarantee that your glory will never be forgotten, your name will be given to the year. The most famous example of this, is from Caesar's consulship in 59BC, when after so thoroughly dominating his consular colleague, events were said to have taken place,

"In Caesar's year, not Bibulus', an act took place of late;

For naught do I remember done in Bibulus' consulate"

Suetonius Life of Julius Caesar Chapter 20

Like most of the powers in the Cursus Honorum, the areas that the Consul operated in were divided into military aspects and public affairs, holding supreme authority over the affairs of government within Rome and as the Chief Commander of the Legions once outside it.

The civil responsibilities of the Consul can be succinctly described. You are the chief officer of the Republic with one aim, to keep the republic strong and secure. All other offices of the Republic, the many offices of the Cursus Honorum that you have already held, are now under your control and need the appropriate guidance.

You have the right to convene the Senate and the assemblies and are in charge of sorting and arranging the elections and the passing of laws. Finally, as Consul you are escorted by twelve lictors, each carrying the fasces, a bundle of rods containing an axe. The fasces and lictor bodyguards are a symbol of your power over life and death of a citizen and a visual symbol of your power to all.

Lictors Bearing the Fasces

Your other key role is the military aspect and is that of chief commander of the Roman legions. On a campaign against an enemy of Rome, a Consul had complete authority and could act in the best way he saw fit. However upon your return, as with your earlier job roles, you could be prosecuted in the law courts if you have overly abused your power.

Having completed your single year (the consulship was held for a single year to prevent any abuse of power) as one of the two top men of the Roman republic, it is time to move on to administrating a province.

Proconsul

Upon finishing your term, the Senate will assign you a province to control, granting you Imperium over that area. Flexing your muscles inside another proconsuls province was illegal and serious bad form. Equally you had to stay in your province until your successor arrived, unless you had special dispensation from the senate.

Pompey held a particularly impressive and immense proconsular imperium power, when put in charge of ridding the pirates that plagued the Mediterranean seas.

"For the law gave him dominion over the seas this side of the pillars of Hercules, over all the mainland to the distance of four hundred furlongs from the sea"

Plutarch Life of Pompey Chapter 25

This is a very rare example of an extreme giving of power to deal with an extreme problem, but a normal proconsul held undisputed power in his province during his term. Of course there was always the option to conquer outwards and bring more glory to yourself and the Roman people, a lá Julius Caesar and his campaigns throughout Gaul.

"and for those achievements, upon receipt of Caesar's despatches, a fifteen days' thanksgiving was decreed, an honour that had previously fallen to no man".

Julius Caesar The Gallic War Chapter 35

Having reached the top of the ladder and having heaped glory upon yourself, your families name and your ancestors, you have reached the pinnacle of your life. Now you can choose to retire from public life to one of decadent luxury, perhaps like Lucullus and his famous fish ponds. Or you can continue to be a force to be reckoned with in the world of Roman politics. Famous figures like Cicero, Pompey and Cato all remained as voices within the Senate, whether for reminding people of their great deeds, the hope to acquire more prestige, or for expunging traditional moral values to anyone who would listen.

So you've done it, take to the streets, here your name of everyone's lips,

"Remember when he throw those games that had three hundred pairs of gladiators?" or maybe "There goes the proconsul that defeated those howling barbarians!" or perhaps, most hopefully they will just chant your name.


Thanks for Reading
James