The use of trickery rather than might also plays a role in the poem The Little Iliad.31 A dispute arises between Odysseus and Ajax over who was the best of the Greeks after Achilles. The rivalry erupts into open conflict in the episode called the ‘Hoplon crisis’, a dispute over which of these two heroes will receive the armour of Achilles. The decision is ultimately entrusted to a Trojan prisoner of war who is asked whether Ajax or Odysseus has done his city greater harm. The Trojan chooses Odysseus, i.e. wisdom over force.32 The Little Iliad includes several other ambush episodes: Odysseus ambushes Helenos; Diomedes and Odysseus steal the Palladion from Troy; and the wooden horse is built and filled with warriors who will ambush Troy. The whole poem seems to be a series of ambush themes connected to one another and culminating in the greatest ambush at Troy.
Similarly, much of the fighting in the Odyssey consists of ambushes and raids rather than set-piece battles. Odysseus’ tales in the Odyssey often begin with attacks of this type. The sack of the ‘sacred city of the Cicones’, in Book 9, for example, is reminiscent of the ‘sack of the sacred city of Troy’; only the glory is lacking.33 There is no indication here, as in the Iliad catalogue, that the Cicones were Trojan allies, so the motive appears to be mere plunder. Later in the poem, the marauding suitors are compared to warriors attacking a city.34 Interestingly, the first mention of Achilles in the Odyssey is in Nestor’s recollection of a foray for booty.35
Fictional Ambushes
Odysseus is credited with three ambushes in the Odyssey that are presented in the poem as fictions, but they establish a firm link between the strategy of ambush and the character of Odysseus. Since Odysseus is the source of these tales, he is certainly conscious of them.36 The most interesting of the three occurs in a lie he tells Athena when recounting the revenge he took on the son of Idomeneus:
Ithaca … yes, I seem to have heard of Ithaca,
Even on Crete’s broad island far across the sea,
And now I’ve reached it myself, with all this loot,
But I left behind an equal measure for my children.
I’m a fugitive now, you see. I killed Idomeneus’ son,
Orsilochus, lightning on his legs, a man who beat
All runners alive on that long island – what a racer!
He tried to rob me of all the spoil I’d won at Troy,
The plunder I sent to hell and back to capture, true,
Cleaving my way through wars of men and waves at sea –
And just because I refused to please his father,
Serve under him at Troy. I led my own command.
So now with a friend I lay in wait by the road,
I killed him just loping in from the fields –
With one quick stroke of my bronze spear
In the dead of night, the heaven’s pitch black …
No one could see us, spot me tearing out his life
With a weapon honed for action. Once I’d cut him down
I made for a ship and begged the Phoenician crew for mercy,
Paying those decent hands a hearty share of plunder –
Asked them to take me on and land me down in Pylos,
There or lovely Elis, where Epeans rule in power.
But a heavy gale wind blew them way off-course,
Much against their will –
They’d no desire to cheat me. Driven afar,
We reached this island here at the midnight hour,
Rowing for dear life, we made it into your harbour –
Not a thought of supper, much as we all craved food,
we dropped from the decks and lay down, just like that!
A welcome sleep came over my weary bones at once,
While the crew hoisted up my loot from the holds
And set it down on the sand near where I slept.
They re-embarked, now homeward bound for Sidon,
Their own noble city, leaving me here behind,
Homesick in my heart …37
Odysseus’ enemy in this episode bears a significant name: Orsilochus ‘the one who attacks the ambush’.38 Another striking characteristic of Orsilochus is his epithet: ‘the fleetest runner’.39 Orsilochus is the fastest man in Crete, and the same is true of Achilles among his own people.40 This epithet is used only for Achilles in Homer with the exception of this single instance. Here, at least, it suggests that Orsilochus is a hero of the same type as Achilles, a foremost man (promos aner) and a spearfighter. This passage has the same familiar theme: the lone hero has defeated many challengers and has overcome many attempts to kill him. An ambush is used as a last resort to exact revenge, and he is ambushed on his way home. Unlike the ambush of Tydeus in Iliad 4, or the ambush of Bellerophon in Iliad 6, Orsilochus is overcome by his assailant.41 In this attack there is a reversal of the values normally assigned to ambusher and victim. In this story the sympathy lies with Odysseus (or at least his imaginary persona), not with the ambush victim. This illustrates my point that ambush is not bad in and of itself, but only in how it is used, who uses it or who is narrating the story.42 In line with this, the parallel between this episode and the situation in which Odysseus actually finds himself at the time of the telling must not be missed. In this tale, Odysseus seeks revenge by means of an ambush against stronger opponents who unjustly deprive him of his property. Similarly in the latter part of the Odyssey, Odysseus confronts the challenge of overcoming the superior force of the suitors and regaining control of his possessions.
A second example of an ambush comes from an earlier tale told to Eumaeus in Book 14.43 Odysseus describes how in his youth he excelled at warfare, and he emphasises his special expertise at the ambush. He associates himself once again with this tactic. As in the Orsilochus episode, the ambush is linked to the theme of powerful adversaries who deprive Odysseus of what is rightfully his.44 Upon his return to Ithaca, Odysseus, posing as a stranger, tells Eumaeus, his former swineherd, about an ambush he led when the two of them were fighting together at Troy.45 As the ‘stranger’ tells it, he made the mistake of leaving camp without his cloak. Later, when the weather turned cold, he would have frozen to death on that ambush had Odysseus not come up with a trick or stratagem: he sent Thoas back to the ships with a message, and when the latter threw off his woollen cloak, Odysseus passed it to his shivering friend. Within the framing narrative – Odysseus in disguise entertained by Eumaeus – this story of the old days at Troy wins Odysseus another cloak to protect him on this cold night. Thus Odysseus’ tale of an ambush is itself a trap, a sort of verbal ambush, meant to test Eumaeus’ character and the strength of his allegiance to his missing lord.46
The presentation of these ambushes set by Odysseus contrast sharply with the interpretation given this strategy in the Tydeus, Bellerophon or Diomedes episodes (see chapter 1). The fourth book of the Odyssey seems to be built on themes of ambush. There are the two stories about Odysseus involving ambushes, but the visit with Menelaus also includes the story of his ambush of Proteus,47 from whom he learns of Aegisthus’ ambush of Agamemnon. The book then ends with the suitors’ plan to ambush Telemachus.48
The Odyssey develops the same positive view of the ambush evident in Idomeneus’ speech, or on the shield of Achilles, where one is employed to defend a city from a besieging army.49 Menelaus’ ambush of Proteus is also represented in this same positive light.50 Edwards, in his study of Achilles in the Odyssey, sees the contrast in the two poems’ respective views of the ambush as a reflection of the contrast between Achilles and Odysseus as types within the epic tradition. He believes the difference between the two warriors reflects a profound difference in the ethical values of the poems.51 According to Edwards, figures of strength/power are portrayed as villains in the Odyssey. He also believes the Iliad regards cunning and trickery as a last resort for those whose strength is unequal to open confrontation. As argued above, this polarisation should be questioned. Why should it only be used as a last resort? Ambush can certainly be the last resort of people who need a force multiplie
r, but it can also be used by people who need to achieve a military goal where force would be inappropriate and, in the end, less effective. We need not postulate an ethical difference. There are different types of military techniques appropriate at different times. Odysseus is a lone fighter placed in a situation where ambushes were appropriate. In the same way that Odysseus’ strength is not hidden in the Odyssey, the wisdom of Nestor as a counsellor is certainly prized in the Iliad. Edwards feels that these qualities are marginalised in their positive aspect in the respective poems, but this can simply be a matter of focus; different qualities are being valued because the situation has changed. In the Odyssey’s ethical universe those who seek to prevail through force are posed as the disruptors of justice and the social order; those who resist and overcome them must rely upon their cunning to do so since they have no other means.
This positive attitude toward the ambush in Homer is evident also in two ambushes set by Heracles. Pindar recounts how he ambushes and slays the Moliones, the two brothers Eurytus and Cteatus, as they return home. He has had a struggle with their uncle, Augeas, who has refused to pay him for cleaning his stables.52 Heracles was sent to steal the cattle of Geryon, a triple-bodied monster who ruled the island of Erytheia, and attacked him from an ambush as well.53 Heracles’ ambushes suggest other similarities between himself and Odysseus: the hardships imposed upon them by a divine antagonist, their wanderings or their enjoyment of physical pleasure – the feast, bath, sex. The use of the ambush by Heracles attests to its heroic quality.54
Other stories that show an ambush pattern include Demodocus’ song, which tells of how Hephaestus ensnares Ares and Aphrodite. The tale of how Hephaestus overcame these gods exhibits the motifs and structure of an ambush as does Helen’s account of Odysseus in disguise at Troy. The pattern is a close parallel to Odysseus’ situation in the latter half of the poem.55 The narrative resembles both Book 10 of the Iliad and Book 22 of the Odyssey.56
The Return as an Ambush
Edwards believes that the repeated association of this narrative pattern of ambush with Odysseus was very important within the Odyssey, but it was also a narrative feature of the epic tradition generally. The mode of engaging one’s foe represented by these episodes clearly belongs to the stratagem of trickery and ambush. For an audience familiar with the conventions of epic poetry and Odysseus’ association with the ambush, and who understood that ambush was an important aspect of warfare, Book 22 of the Odyssey would have been perceived as an ambush.
Book 22, in which Odysseus kills all the suitors, has been given the title Mnesterophonia, ‘The Return’. Edwards argues convincingly that the entire Mnesterophonia is organised by a narrative pattern of the ambush.57 Although the episode is narrated in Book 22, evidence for it being an ambush can already be seen in earlier books. The story of Agamemnon’s return and death as it is presented in the Odyssey shows many correspondences to the return of Odysseus. Both return from their victories in Troy to a dangerous situation at home. In the Odyssey, ambushes are the special tactic of Aegisthus’ twenty men who waited for Agamemnon to come back from the war in which they did not fight, and of the suitors – twenty of whom lie in wait for Telemachus day and night.58 The suitors in Ithaca are paralleled by Aegisthus in Argos.
The ambush that the suitors set for Telemachus is mentioned no less than eight times in references scattered between Books 4 and 17. The suitors’ plot against Telemachus is an attempt to prevent the power vacuum created by Odysseus’ absence from being filled.59 Leocritus predicts how the suitors would meet Odysseus should he return to reassert his lordship over his property. Foremost in his mind is that Odysseus would try to drive the suitors out of the house. Following the failed attempt to ambush Telemachus on his return from the Peloponnesus, Antinous fears that Telemachus will have the same intention when he returns from the countryside to his hall. Antinous argues that Telemachus will be able to turn the Ithacans against the suitors by revealing their attempt to murder him, and so succeed in driving them out. He suggests that they slay Telemachus before he can reach home, and divide his property among themselves.60
Following upon their first attempt at an ambush, Antinous proposes killing Telemachus in the fields or on his journey home, both locales associated with the ambush.61 Thematically, the passage parallels the tale of the Pallantids’ attempt to ambush Theseus when he arrives to assert his claim as heir to Aegeus. The inference that Antinous suggests an ambush here is supported by a later passage in which Telemachus refers to the possibility of the suitors secretly slaying him and dividing his property.62 In view of the identity of Telemachus and Odysseus as lords of Odysseus’ property, this episode ties in with the warning of Agamemnon, and the threat of Leocritus to strengthen the expectation that the suitors will try to ambush Odysseus if he returns.63
The ambushes set for Agamemnon and Telemachus serve as tokens of what Odysseus will confront when he at last reaches his home. The suitors will surely try to kill him, and the implication is that their strategy will be the ambush. The possibility of this ambush is acknowledged obliquely in a speech of Athena’s. On the eve of his revenge, Odysseus confesses his fear about facing so many foes by himself. Athena rebukes him for having doubts, and boasts that, even if he were surrounded by fifty ambushes, with her help he would still emerge victorious.64 Athena thus selects the theme of the ambush to reassure Odysseus.65
More recently, C. Dué and Mary Ebbott, in their book Iliad 10 and the Poetics of Ambush, have reinforced the idea that the theme of ambush overlaps with that of the journey and the winner of the ambush gets to return home. There are examples of this theme in both the Iliad and the Odyssey. Menelaus has to ambush Proteus in order to realise his homecoming. In the ambush of Tydeus by fifty Thebans he releases only one to return home,66 and in the failed attempt to ambush Bellerophon the ambushers never return home.67 In the last chapter we saw that certain scholars called the Doloneia ‘Odyssean’. This is not because the word is late or non-Iliadic or even non-Homeric, but because it shares the same themes as the Odyssey, including both ambush, journeys, especially journeys home and those over a sea.68
The Value of Ambush
Very often ambushes are set by the villains who attack a lone figure with superior numbers, and thus the ambush is made out to be cowardly and an act of desperation. This is not, however, the only type of ambush that appears in the epics. By far, the largest group of ambushes in the Odyssey are those set by Odysseus himself. Not only does Odysseus set more ambushes than anyone else, but he also plans and carries through the one that tops them all. The foreshadowing of Odysseus’ return, by means of the ambushes set for Agamemnon and Telemachus, sets the stage for a conflict of guile between Odysseus and his foes. For when it comes to ambushes, Odysseus is pre-eminent.69
The ambushes are indeed central to the theme of the Odyssey, but they are neither good nor bad, but rather useful. They can lead to glory or to doom, but that depends on the circumstances. The ambushes set for Agamemnon and Telemachus, for example, are posed as potential models for the course of Odysseus’ return home (nostos). Through this paradigm, the Odyssey invests its hero with the ethos of the foremost men, such figures as Tydeus, Bellerophon and Diomedes, but also threatens him with the bad fate of Agamemnon. When it comes to ambushes, the Odyssey shows both possibilities. Odysseus can be both its perpetrator and its potential victim. In the grand finale of the poem, Odysseus anticipates the suitors’ ambush with an ambush of his own.
Some have suggested that the Iliad and the Odyssey have separate perspectives on ambush, and that this reflects the essential differences between the ethical systems dominating the two poems.70 On the contrary, the Iliad and the Odyssey agree upon the heroic quality of the ambush generally and upon its form and characteristic features as a narrative pattern. Yet each poem maintains its own perspective on this tactic. Whereas Edwards believes there was a sharp contrast between the ethical systems of the two poems, I suggest that tactics devolve from the situation and
a hero may be either the perpetrator or the victim.
Ambush is central to the thematic development of the Odyssey. It serves as a structuring device, drawing together into an integrated whole such diverse characters, times and places as the return of Agamemnon and Menelaus, the journey of Telemachus, Odysseus’ victory at Troy and the danger presented by the suitors at Ithaca. The effect of this series of ambushes is cumulative, exceeding the importance of any individual example.71 An audience for whom the ambush was a familiar and important concept, and who was familiar with the narrative conventions of epic poetry, would have perceived the role of this theme in the poem.
The Odyssey does not conflict with the Iliad, but elaborates on it. Both poems can bestow glory for excellence in battle, but they can also value cunning and bravery in an ambush. The Odyssey shows the importance of giving hospitality to strangers (xenia), and combat for the purpose of revenge. Odysseus already has a claim to glory when he leaves Troy since, according to Quintus of Smyrna, he proposed the ultimate strategy of the wooden horse. His additional and final glory will be his revenge against the suitors who are trying to ambush him.72
Spying missions and ambushes take on the same overall structure of a journey. If spies, such as Dolon, do not return, they cannot share the critical information they have gathered. If warriors die in an ambush, they do not return home, their loved ones do not know where they are and they may not be able to recover the body for proper burial. The contrary is also true. Spies who are successful bring back the important intelligence, live to see their families again and are buried with appropriate honours. The failure of an ambush, even in very compressed versions of ambush narratives, is expressed in terms of a failed return home.73
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