comment on Poseidon, Divine Hypocrite…. A question I had while reading this book was, how is it appropriate that Poseidon, the sea god, just happens to come to the forefront of the action when the battle reaches the seashore and the ships? Why is it appropriate the sea god interferes exactly at this point?
And Christensen’s translation of 39-44 really brings into high relief the extent to which the Elements are at play in these passages: the Trojans are “like a whirlwind” (Hector is also in other places described as such) and “the earthshaker Poseidon who grips the land rose from the deep sea” — a lot of elements in in those lines. On top of this we know that Hector brings fire — so all of the elements are represented in this battle. (Could Homer be a foundation for the belief in four elements? Could the Iliad have influenced Empedocles?)
So the Trojans are fire and air while the Greeks are land and water? (And yet the rivers are on the side of the Trojans and Hephaistos who brings fire is on the side of the Greeks.)
Meanwhile, ships seem a sort of intermediary between sea and sky (Zeus?) like horses do between humans and land.
A stab at unpacking the analogy of horses and ships: wind is to ships as horses are to chariots but winds are controlled by Zeus while horses are controlled by men. (Something inapt there. Oh well.)
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