Detail from “The Procession of the Trojan Horse in Troy” by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, who died in 1804.
The Making of the Wooden Horse
Miriam Riverlea
Iris: Journal of the Classical Association of Victoria, Vol 20 (2007)
Abstract
In one of the Odyssey’s most self-conscious moments, Odysseus calls for the tale of his most heroic exploit—the fashioning of the wooden horse—to be performed in front of a live audience (Od. 8.492f.). Having once engineered the horse’s physical construction, the hero now facilitates its reconstruction through the medium of song. Demodocus, the blind bard of Scheria, the mythological figure whose character and attributes have helped to shape the shadowy image of Homer himself, complies with Odysseus’ request. It is clear that he knows the material well; it is an established part of his repertoire. This moment serves to reveal the singular and remarkable renown of this myth. Just a few short years after Odysseus, together with the goddess Athena and the craftsman Epeius, masterminded the wooden horse and brought about Troy’s downfall, the tale has travelled even to the remote and isolated community of the Phaeacians (cf. Od. 6.204f.). The story’s rapid and widespread dissemination within the world of Homer’s poem seems to resonate with the status of the myth in the real world, our own world. Just as it is within the Odyssey, the story of the wooden horse has been perpetually told and retold. And just as Demodocus is familiar with the tale, so is almost everyone today.
Odysseus calls on the bard to ‘sing the kovsmo~ of the wooden horse’ (Od. 8.492), literally, to sing its form or order. The term kovsmo~ is endowed with both an architectural and a poetic force. It refers to the physical shape of the construction as well as to the precise order of the narrative. In accordance with this dual meaning, this discussion will address the making of the wooden horse, and its connection with the making of the myth of the wooden horse. I will argue that the physical construction undertaken by Odysseus and his collaborators has a close and revealing relationship with the less tangible process of…. This term is generally understood to mean mythmaking, but additionally, it has the potential to signify the process whereby myth is rendered into poetic form. When Odysseus requests the song of the wooden horse (‘which Epeius made’, Od. 8.493),4 his alliterative wordplay blurs the distinction between the physical and poetic creative processes.
The Making of the Wooden Horse
Miriam Riverlea
Iris: Journal of the Classical Association of Victoria, Vol 20 (2007)
Abstract
In one of the Odyssey
’s most self-conscious moments, Odysseus calls for the tale of his most heroic exploit—the fashioning of the wooden horse—to be performed in front of a live audience (Od. 8.492f.). Having once engineered the horse’s physical construction, the hero now facilitates its reconstruction through the medium of song. Demodocus, the blind bard of Scheria, the mythological figure whose character and attributes have helped to shape the shadowy image of Homer himself, complies with Odysseus’ request. It is clear that he knows the material well; it is an established part of his repertoire. This moment serves to reveal the singular and remarkable renown of this myth. Just a few short years after Odysseus, together with the goddess Athena and the craftsman Epeius, masterminded the wooden horse and brought about Troy’s downfall, the tale has travelled even to the remote and isolated community of the Phaeacians (cf. Od. 6.204f.). The story’s rapid and widespread dissemination within the world of Homer’s poem seems to resonate with the status of the myth in the real world, our own world. Just as it is within the Odyssey, the story of the wooden horse has been perpetually told and retold. And just as Demodocus is familiar with the tale, so is almost everyone today.
Odysseus calls on the bard to ‘sing the kovsmo~ of the wooden horse’ (Od. 8.492), literally, to sing its form or order. The term kovsmo~ is endowed with both an architectural and a poetic force. It refers to the physical shape of the construction as well as to the precise order of the narrative. In accordance with this dual meaning, this discussion will address the making of the wooden horse, and its connection with the making of the myth of the wooden horse. I will argue that the physical construction undertaken by Odysseus and his collaborators has a close and revealing relationship with the less tangible process of…. This term is generally understood to mean mythmaking, but additionally, it has the potential to signify the process whereby myth is rendered into poetic form. When Odysseus requests the song of the wooden horse (‘which Epeius made’, Od. 8.493),4 his alliterative wordplay blurs the distinction between the physical and poetic creative processes.
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