{"id":58266,"date":"2019-06-26T07:50:09","date_gmt":"2019-06-26T04:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=58266"},"modified":"2023-01-18T19:40:07","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T17:40:07","slug":"david-othryoneus-and-odysseus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/david-othryoneus-and-odysseus\/","title":{"rendered":"David, Othryoneus and Odysseus"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[834,876,522],"acf":{"old_id":"58266","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":56490,"related_cahpter":"250","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The tales of David are part of Israel\u2019s epic literature, on a par with Homeric epic","content":"

I had the great honor and privilege of studying for five years (1975\u20121980) with Cyrus H. Gordon at New York University, under whose tutelage I received my Ph.D.\u00a0 Gordon (1908\u20122001) had the broadest horizons of any scholar of the Bible in the modern era; his expertise spanned all of the ancient Near East (Egypt, Ugarit, Mesopotamia, etc.) as well as the eastern Mediterranean (especially Homer).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gordon\u2019s most lasting contribution is the interrelationship between the world of the Bible and the world of Homer. Today\u2019s chapter, 1 Samuel 18, provides a stellar example of such.<\/span><\/p>\n

Several times in Homer\u2019s epics we read that a princess is to be won not by gifts nor by a great bridal price, but rather by an act of valor which the suitor must perform.\u00a0 Thus, for example, Neleus, king of Pylos, states that he will give his daughter Pero only to the man who would drive the cattle of Iphicles (brother of Heracles) from his realm (Odyssey 11.287-290).<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps better known is the tragic story of Othryoneus, who sought to marry Cassandra, daughter of Priam, king of Troy. Homer writes, \u201cHe brought no gifts of wooing, but promised a mighty deed, that he would drive out the Achaeans from the land of Troy. To him the old man Priam promised that he would give her, and he bowed his head thereto, and Othryoneus fought, trusting in his promise\u201d (Iliad 13.366-370). Alas, noble Othryoneus was killed by Idomeneus, so that he never was able to marry the princess, but the point remains.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ever wily Odysseus himself plays on this motif.\u00a0 At the home of his friend Eumaios the swineherd, Odysseus, disguised as a commoner, makes up an elaborate story in which he states, \u201cBut I took unto me a wife from a house that had wide possessions, winning her by my valor; for I was no weakling, nor a coward in fight\u201d (Odyssey 14.211-212).<\/span><\/p>\n

All of this serves as the background to how David married Michal, daughter of Saul.\u00a0 Actually, the story is more complicated, because at first Saul promised his older daughter Merab to David, if he would fight the Philistines, but he then gave Merab to another man (1 Sam 18:17-19). Furthermore, for Saul the entire affair was a ruse, because he hoped that David, who had grown in popularity, would be killed in battle by the Philistines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When such did not occur, Saul offered his younger daughter Michal to David, if he would kill one hundred Philistines, the proof of which would be David\u2019s bringing one hundred foreskins to Saul (since the Philistines alone were uncircumcised amongst the peoples of the region).\u00a0 To show his prowess, however, David actually killed two hundred Philistines and brought two hundred foreskins to Saul: imagine the scene!<\/span><\/p>\n

The main point here is that the tales of David are part of Israel\u2019s epic literature, on par with Homeric epic, but the motif is not known from elsewhere in the ancient Near East.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: red-figure vase, Vulci, c. 490-480 BCE, Boston Museum of Fine Arts<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":58267,"id":58267,"title":"isam18-homer","filename":"isam18-homer.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam18-homer.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/david-othryoneus-and-odysseus\/isam18-homer\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam18-homer","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":58266,"date":"2019-06-26 04:49:51","modified":"2019-06-26 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