Achilles on the Mount of Olives: The Savior’s Agony in the Homeric Centos

Ο Αχιλλέας στο Όρος των Ελαιών: Η αγωνία του Σωτήρος στον Ομηρικό Κέντο 1443–1616

https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/77/article/942863

https://www.academia.edu/125859885/ACHILLES_ON_THE_MOUNT_OF_OLIVES_THE_SAVIORS_AGONY_IN_THE_HOMERIC_CENTOS_1443_1616

Anna Lefteratou. 2023. “Achilles on the Mount of Olives: The Savior’s Agony in the Homeric Centos 1443–1616,” Phoenix 77 (3-4), pp. 350-373.

Επισκόπηση AI

Achilles on the Mount of Olives: The Savior’s Agony in the Homeric Centos 1443–1616 is an academic article by Anna Lefteratou published in Phoenix (2023) that examines how Empress Eudocia’s fifth-century Homeric Centos reconfigures Jesus' Agony in Gethsemane through classical epic poetry. [1, 2]

Key Themes and Analysis

Heroic Reinterpretation: The text translates the agony of Jesus from passive distress into an active, athletic, and martial agon (a contest or perseverance), helping to sidestep contemporary theological concerns like docetism and theopaschism. [1]

Achillean and Odyssean Foils: It utilizes Achilles as a model for divine indignation and a tragic hero seeking kleos (glory) from the Father, while employing Odyssean elements to represent human suffering and the physical flesh. [1]

Divine Unity: Figures like Helios, Ares, and Agamemnon are recontextualized to demonstrate the unified will of the Father and the Son, framing Christ's passion as a definitive triumph over death. [1]

τοὺς δὲ ἰδὼν ἐλέησε Κρόνου πάϊς ἀγκυλομήτεω,  (Hom. Il. 16. 431)

ἐγένετο δὲ ὁ ἱδρὼς αὐτοῦ ὡσεὶ θρόμβοι αἵματος καταβαίνοντες ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν. (Lk 22: 44)

καὶ θέλει ἐξαλείψει ὁ Θεὸς πᾶν δάκρυον ἀπὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν, καὶ ὁ θάνατος δὲν θέλει ὑπάρχει πλέον, οὔτε πένθος οὔτε κραυγή οὔτε πόνος δὲν θέλουσιν ὑπάρχει πλέον· διότι τὰ πρῶτα παρῆλθον (Rev. 21:4)

GRAECO-ROMAN GODS, though capable of pitying mankind — Zeus’ grief for Sarpedon's pending death is the chief example do not weep. In the Homeric heroic universe, on the other hand, the more valiant the hero is, the more he tends to cry. As an ancient scholiast said, "heroes are prone to tears" (έτοιμον το ηρωικόν προς δάκρυα, Schol. Il. 1.349b).2 In the Christian universe this configuration changes: God, at least in the person of Christ, is not only responsible for drying humanity's tears, as in the Revelation passage above, but he is also capable of feeling and expressing human grief, as in the Lucan passage. It was these two different perceptions of divine emotion that Christian classicizing verse attempted to reconcile. The Christianization of epic poetry prompted a creative reappraisal of the Christian weeping Savior and resulted in a deep transformation of the classical tropes, a process seen most clearly in the trans-formation and appropriation of the epic notion of Ideas. This article is about the reconfiguration of the Iliadic heroic code in a fifth-century biblical hexametric poem, the Homerocentones attributed to the Empress Eudocia (401-460 c.E.).3 The analysis focuses on the epic heroes' anti-climactic moments, namely their despair when their glory and renown is thwarted, by inviting a comparison of .. {..}

1 Hom. Il.16.431: 'and watching them [Patroclus and Sarpedon dueling], the son of devious-devising Cronus was pitiful” {τοὺς δὲ ἰδὼν ἐλέησε Κρόνου πάϊς ἀγκυλομήτεω}[ Κι όπως τους είδε, τους σπλαχνίστηκε βαθιά του ο γιος του Κρόνου]; Lk 22:44: "and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground; {And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground}[ και γενομενος εν αγωνια εκτενεστερον προσηυχετο εγενετο δε ο ιδρως αυτου ωσει θρομβοι αιματος καταβαινοντες επι την γην] Rev. 21:4: "be will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more.” { 4καὶ θέλει ἐξαλείψει ὁ Θεὸς πᾶν δάκρυον ἀπὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν, καὶ ὁ θάνατος δὲν θέλει ὑπάρχει πλέον, οὔτε πένθος οὔτε κραυγή οὔτε πόνος δὲν θέλουσιν ὑπάρχει πλέον· διότι τὰ πρῶτα παρῆλθον.} [«Θα σκουπίσει κάθε δάκρυ από τα μάτια τους· και θάνατος δεν θα υπάρχει πια ούτε πένθος ούτε κραυγή ούτε πόνος θα υπάρχουν πια· γιατί τα παλιά πέρασαν».—Αποκάλυψη 21:4, Η Αποκάλυψη του Ιωάννη, Μεταγραφή Γιώργος Σεφέρης.]Translations of the New Testament are from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition; translations of Homer from Lattimore 2011; other translations, unless otherwise stated, are my own.

2 Schol. ad Il. 1.349b, gives as parallels Od. 8.523 and Il. 11.15. For example, Hom. Il. 1.349: "[But Achilles] weeping went and sat in sorrow apart from his companions (δακρύσας ἑτάρων ἄφαρ ἕζετο νόσφι λιασθείς,)”. See also for heroes crying on the seashore Schol. Ad Il. 1.350c; Monsacre 1984: 137-142 on tears. For an introduction to Christian poetry, see Agosti 2012; Pollmann 2017; Miguelez Cavern and McGill 2018; and Hadlittoffi and Lefteratou 2020, with further literature.

3 The first recension of Homeric censor (hereafter HC I) in Schembra 2007 [https://www.academia.edu/43258828/Homerocentones] is attributed to the Empress Eudocia. See also Lefteratou 2023: 96-102 [ 2023. The Homeric Centos: Homer and the Bible Interwoven. Oxford.]. This is similar but not identical to the Iviron manuscript {Ιερά Μονή Ιβήρων Αγίου Όρους} presented by Usher (1998) as originally Eudocian { Usher, M. D. 1998. Homeric Stitchings: The Homeric Centos of the Empress Eudocia. Lanham. }. 

3 Η πρώτη αναγέννηση της ομηρικής επιμελείας (στο εξής HC I) στο Schembra 2007 αποδίδεται στην αυτοκράτειρα Ευδοκία. Βλέπε και Λευτεράτου 2023: 96-102. Αυτό είναι παρόμοιο αλλά όχι πανομοιότυπο με το χειρόγραφο Iviron που παρουσιάστηκε από τον Usher (1998) ως αρχικά Eudocian.

two divine and mortal beings, Jesus and Achilles. More precisely, it explores what had long been thought of as the highlight of heroic emotion, allegedly commensurable to one’s bravery, tears.

After presenting briefly Eudocia and her Cento, the analysis centers on the centonic revision of Jesus’ Agony in Gethsemane, one of the most disturbing Gospel passages that showcases the ultimate moment of weakness of the God-Man. In what follows, I will explore the exegetical attitudes to the passage in late antiquity in order to demonstrate the Christological challenges to which any interpretation of this passage would give rise. Subsequently I will provide a close reading of the centonic recasting of the Agony and study how Homeric lines and concepts of heroism impact the crafting of the cento’s Jesus in the light of ancient Homeric scholarship. A final section will consider the extent to which Homeric language contributes towards two phenomena: first, the reconsideration of epic heroism through the Christian lens, and secondly, the exegesis of Jesus’ grief through the mediation of Homeric language.

Before embarking on the recasting of Jesus in the guise of Achilles, it is worth considering some innovative characteristics of late antique classicizing Christian poetics in its dialogue with classical poetry. Cento poetry is an audacious literary experiment of late antiquity, the period that witnessed a heightened interest in classicizing hexametric poetry, both mythological and Christian.4 Two of its most celebrated Christian female poets, Proba in the West (died ca 350s) and Eudocia in the East, reassembled the story of the Gospels with lines taken verbatim from Virgil and Homer respectively, recasting the story of Redemption in epic language and style. Centonic Christian heroes are molded on the pattern of classical heroes. This tendency is found throughout Christian writings but is most conspicuous in the case of cento compositions precisely because of their verbatim reuse of Homeric and Virgilian lines, which invites a closer identification of biblical and classical epic heroes.5

The Christian modification of the heroic epic code is fascinating, as nothing could seem more alien to the valiant and proud epic hero than the Son of Man who self-willingly sacrifices himself for the sake of mankind.6 Achilles, a hero characterized by his excessive emotions, provides a useful case study to explore how Christians appropriated his famous heroism and reconfigured his irascible side. In the Iliad, as the ancient scholiast noted, bravery, pride, and anger {..}

4For the Christianization of classical poetry, see, for example, Agosti 2001, 2009, and 2011; Pollmann 2017.

5For Greek mythology in Christian contexts, see Rahner 1963 and the contributions in Leppin 2015. For cento poetics, see, for example, Baˇzil 2009; for Proba, see McGill 2007 and Schottenius-Cullhed 2016; for Eudocia, Whitby 2007 and Lefteratou 2023. For a Christian reuse of Achilles, see Goldhill 2021 on the poet Cometas in the Palatine Anthology. For general introductions to Eudocia, see now Sowers 2020; Sandnes 2022; and Lefteratou 2023.

6Early Christian art tends to portray Jesus not as suffering but as a nude all-conquering hero; see Harley-McGowan 2003.