Edzard Visser on Formal Typology of the Ship Catalog in the Illiad

Reading Notes

E. Visser begins by giving a general account of what distinguishes the epic from other forms of narration and pointing to the dual nature of superlative and simplification.

Motive und Wirkursachen für den Ablauf der Ereignisse werden in diesen Erzählungen oft genug übernatürlich gedeutet. Das Geschehen erhält dadurch Dimensionen, die menschliche Massstäbe bei weitem überschreiten; oral poetry hat generell eine Tendenz zum Superlativen, damit aber auch zur Simplifikation. [p.29]

In epic narratives, the motives and causes for the sequence of events are often enough interpreted in a supernatural way. Thus, the action acquires dimensions that transcend the human scales significantly; oral poetry has a general tendency toward the superlative, but therefore also toward simplification. [p.29]  

 The superlative is hardly the interesting aspect here, however.

Die Tendenz zur Übersteigerung^FN10 ist in diesem Zusammenhang jedoch von geringerer Bedeutung; wichtiger ist die Frage nach der Simplifizierung von Handlungsstrukturen und Motiven. [p.29]

The tendency to exaggerate^FN10 is in this context of lesser importance; the more important question is the one of simplification of structures of action and motivation. [p.29] 

which Visser expands upon in footnote #10

Es ist damit [i.e. der Tendenz zur Übersteigerung, RCK] ... die generelle Tendenz [gemeint, RCK], der gesamten Darstellung die Aura eines einmaligen, weltbewegenden Ereignisses zu geben ([e.g.] durch numerische Superlative, durch Zuschreibung fast übermenschlicher körperlicher Kräfte, nicht nur beim Haupthelden, sondern bei allen am Geschehen beteiligten)." [Fn 10, p.29] 

[The tendency toward exaggeration, RCK] means ... the general tendency to give the entire presentation an aura of the unique, world-moving events ([e.g.] through numeric superlatives, the attribution of almost superhuman bodily powers, not only with the main heroes, but with all involved in the action. [Fn 10, p.29]

The simplifications primarily benefit the audience and their identification with the narration.

Solche motivischen Simplifizierungen -- die für das Publikum den Vorteil bieten, ein festumrissenes Bild der Welt zu entwerfen und zugleich Identifikationsmöglichkeiten mit der Welt zu eröffnen - ...." [p.29]

Such motivational simplification -- which has the advantage of drawing a well structured conceptualization of the world that also opens possibilities of identification with that world -- .... [p.29] 

This is esp. interesting  in the context of the Illiad, which exhibits a generally rationalizing tendency, especially with respect to main motivations, "... allgemein rationalisierende ... Tendenz in der Darstellung der Handlungsmotive" [p.29].

Into this context, Visser then turns toward the question of how to deal with the catalog of ships in the Illiad. Poetically, the abundance of names eliminates any semblance of fiction [p.29]. There are not only personal names, but also geographical names and descriptions, that is, a plethora of geographical relations [p.30].

Man hat bei den Beschreibungen von Troia und seiner näheren Umgebung den Eindruck, der Illiasdichter wisse sehr genau, wo er sein Troia sieht. [p.30]

One gets the impression that, when describing Troy and its whereabouts, the poet of the Iliad knows exactly where they sees their Troy. [p.30]

By itself, the ship catalog--29 cohorts, 1186 ships, 178 geographical names in just 91 verses--gives all the impressions of coming out of administration or bureaucratic contexts

[Die Schiffsliste] wirkt wie ein Auszug aus einem von einer Verwaltungsbehörde entworfenen geographischen Kataster. [p.30]

[The catalog of ships] comes across as an excerpt of a land register drawn up by an administrative office. [p.30]

The effect of verisimilitude is according.

Diese Liste, seit der Antike als Schiffskatalog (neon katalogos) bezeichnet, erscheint auf Grund der Menge von Namen, hinter denen ausschliesslich real existierende Grössen stehen (Ortschaft, Landschaft oder Stamm) -- und so wurden sie von den Rezipienten mit Sicherheit auch aufgefasst -- als ein besonders veristisches Element in der Darstellung des Krieges um Troia. [p.30]

This list, called the catalog of ships (neon katalogos) since Antiquity, because of the mass of names, which refer exclusively to truly existing entities (villages, landscapes, tribes) -- and that is how the names were interpreted by the recipients for sure -- comes across as an especially trustworthy element in the depiction of the Troyan War. [p.30] 

The question of the authenticity of the homeric ship catalog cannot be adequately dealt with the theory that a Mycenian list slipped in accidentally; the Homeric verse structure is simply too complicated to make such an accident plausible [p.30f].

Erschwerend kommt noch hinzu, dass eine improvisierte Wiedergabe dieser enormen Namensmenge auf so engem Raum eigentlich unvorstellbar war .... [p.31]

As a complicating factor, it was impossible to imagine an improvised recital of this enormous mass of names in such a small space .... [p.31] 

Visser [p.31] proposes to contribute to the debate by looking at several philological problems

• a comparison between the catalog and the remainder of the epic with an eye toward linguistic and stylistic clues
• an inquiry into the poetic organizational principles of the poet
• [p.32] an inquiry into the aspects of improvised recital
• an inquiry into the poetic intention for including the catalog of ships

Visser points to the principle of typical formulation ("Typizität der Gestaltung", [p.32]) as underpinning oral poetry, which means that the same contents is transformed poetically either in very similar or even identical form. 

Stylistically, the catalog is not unique in the Iliad, there are many other catalogs revolving around warriors, either in terms of casualties, who participated or even troop inspection rosters [p.32], of which the enumeration of Troian warriors killed during Patroklos' rally against Troy (PI, 415-419) is an especially good example [p.34]. The use of such lists is in general well attested for the Mycenian palace literature, especially the administrative Linear B tables found at Knossos and Pylos [p.33].

After identifying two basic structural types--called A and B--within the ship catalog that have clear linguistic properties [p.3??], Visser points out that the structural type is too inflexible for poetic purposes to assume that the Poet of the Illiad had created the types themselves [p.39]. Furthermore, Visser proposes to interpret "ship" in this context as referring to a unit of combat transported.

... der Begriff "Schiff" im Schiffskatalog nicht als Terminus für ein maritimes Transportfahrzeug gebraucht wurde, sondern als Ausdruck für kampfbereite Truppenmengen. [p.39]

... the notion "ship" in the catalog of ship is not a term for a maritime transport vessel, but an expression for a battle-ready amount of troops. [p.39]

In terms of speculations about the origin of the catalog, Visser proposes a Mycenian-led alliance [p.42], pointing to the fact that the context of origin of the Illiad itself is Asia Minor, which was where the scattered remnants of the Mycenian culture took refuge after the Sea Peoples' destruction [p.40f]. The remembrance of that alliance and its participants is thus commemorated in this list.

Visser reminds us that in contrast the Greek mainland epics focused on justifying the conquest of the territory by the North West Greek and the Dorian tribes [p.42], especially in the traditions of Hercules and his descendants, the Heraklids (see Fn 36).

Colophon

From: Edzard Visser, Formale Typologie im Schiffskatalog der Illiad, p.25-55 in: Hildegard L.C. Tristram, Neue Methoden in der Epenforschung -- New Methods in the Research of Epic [sic], ScriptOralia 107, Tübingen (G. Narr), 1998; Sigl. OeNB 1,567.381-B Neu.
Purple translations from German to English are my own.