Calchas and the prophesies of the Iliad

Despite the addition of a head of Serapis, recut and restored in the 18th century CE, the overall scene of a relief at the J. Paul Getty Museum portrays Calchas, the Argive soothsayer to whom Apollo had given the gift of prophecy. In Homer’s Iliad (II.300-30), the seer foretold that the Trojan War would last for nine years after observing a snake devour a mother sparrow and her eight chicks. The eclectic style of the relief combines the form of a late Classical Attic stele with landscape elements drawn from the Hellenistic repertoire. It was discovered in 1774 at Roma Vecchia in the Villa dei Sette Bassi, which belonged to the senatorial family of C. Bellicus Calpurnius Apolaustus. Such a panel may have decorated a library assembled by a cultured patron well versed in Greek literature. On the underside is a Latinized Greek inscription that reads XEANTHE—likely a version of Xanthe, the former name for Troy.  

It was Calchas who prophesied that in order to gain a favourable wind to deploy the Greek ships mustered in Aulis on their way to Troy, Agamemnon would need to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigeneia, to appease Artemis, whom Agamemnon had offended. Calchas also tells the Greeks that the captive Chryseis must be returned to her father Chryses in order to get Apollo to stop the plague he has sent as a punishment: this triggered the quarrel of the hero Achilles and Agamemnon, the main theme of the Iliad. As kings may do as they please, Calchas finds it necessary to lean on the support of a champion, Achilles, who opposes Agamemnon in assembly. Agamemnon refuses to accept the edict of Apollo that he should give up his prize, but bypasses it by taking Achilles’ prize. There follows "the wrath of Achilles," which is righteous anger on behalf of the divine will. With the help of the gods, Achilles struggles to restore righteousness.

Depictions of Calchas have also been found on 5th century BCE Etruscan mirrors and Calchas along with other characters of the Trojan War were popular subjects of 16th century tapestries.

Relief depicting Calchas observing a serpent attacking a nest of birds, 140-160 CE at the J. Paul Getty Museum. On this relief, a bearded man is seated in right profile on a four-legged stool (diphros) with carved legs and a cushion, and rests his feet on a footstool. With his left hand raised to his check in a contemplative gesture, he supports his left elbow on a gnarled staff held in his right hand. Beneath the chair is a griffin, the symbol of Apollo, god of prophecy. Over his left shoulder he wears a himation that covers his lower body, and sandals. Coiled around the tree in front of him is a snake, which menaces a nest of fledglings and two adult birds perched in the branches. The Pentelic marble head is ancient but does not belong to the original relief; it was recut and restored in the 18th century. The hairstyle and sober expression belong to a divinity, and a hole in the crown for the attachment of a kalathos identifies it as the head of the god Serapis.

Etruscan mirror depicting Calchas in the form of a haruspice, from Vulci, 5th century BCE, at the Vatican Museum courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Waterborough.

The Prophecy of Calchas from a set of tapestries depicting The Story of Troy. late 16th century, from Macao, China, silk and gilt paper, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

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Tiresias, soothsayer extraordinaire

In Greek mythology, Tiresias was a blind prophet of Apollo in Thebes, famous for clairvoyance  and for being transformed into a woman for seven years. Like other oracles, how Tiresias obtained his information varied: sometimes, he would receive visions, other times he would listen for the songs of birds, or ask for a description of visions and pictures appearing within the smoke of burnt offerings or entrails, and so interpret them. Pliny the Elder credits Tiresias with the invention of augury. In his text De Divinatione, Cicero admits several other nations besides the Romans paid attention to the patterns of flying birds as signs from the gods as well.  Tiresias became a common title for soothsayers throughout Greek legendary history.

According to the mythographic compendium Bibliotheke, different stories were told of the cause of Tiresias' blindness, the most direct being that he was simply blinded by the gods for revealing their secrets. An alternative story told by Pherecydes was followed in Callimachus' poem "The Bathing of Pallas". In it, Tiresias was blinded by Athena after he stumbled onto her bathing naked.  His mother, Chariclo, a nymph of Athena, begged Athena to undo her curse, but the goddess could not. Instead, she cleaned his ears, giving him the ability to understand birdsong, thus the gift of augury. In a separate episode, Tiresias was drawn into an argument between Hera and her husband Zeus, on the theme of who has more pleasure in sex: the man, as Hera claimed, or, as Zeus claimed, the woman. As Tiresias had experienced both, Tiresias replied, "Of ten parts a man enjoys one only." Hera instantly struck him blind for his impiety. Zeus could do nothing to stop her or reverse her curse, but in recompense he did give Tiresias the gift of foresight and a lifespan of seven lives.

Tiresias makes a dramatic appearance in the Odyssey, book XI, in which Odysseus calls up the spirits of the dead (the nekyia). "So sentient is Tiresias, even in death," observes Marina Warner "that he comes up to Odysseus and recognizes him and calls him by name before he has drunk the black blood of the sacrifice. Even Odysseus' own mother cannot accomplish this, but must drink deep before her ghost can see her son for himself."  Tiresias tells Odysseus how to get past Scylla and Charybdis. He even gave him advice where he should not eat the cattle of Helios on Thrinacia (advice which Odysseus' men did not follow, which led to them getting killed by Zeus' thunderbolts during a storm).

Odysseus, seated between Eurylochos and Perimedes, consulting the shade of Tiresias; to left Eurylochos wearing pilos and chlamys. Side A from a Lucanian red-figured calyx-krater, ca. 380 BCE courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Closeup of Odysseus, seated between Eurylochos and Perimedes, consulting the shade of Tiresias; to left Eurylochos wearing pilos and chlamys. Side A from a Lucanian red-figured calyx-krater, ca. 380 BCE courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Marie-Lan Nguyen

Silver, two-handled cup with relief decoration depicting Tiresias and Odysseus on one side and a group of philosophers (here) on the other, Roman 25 BCE-100 CE, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Encircling this two-handled drinking cup is a scene from Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey. The Greek hero Odysseus has traveled to the Underworld to consult the ghost of the blind seer Teiresias—the only one who can tell him how to return home to Ithaca. Odysseus, shown brandishing his sword, has just sacrificed a ram to summon the spirits of the dead. Teiresias and another figure are shown sitting on rocks. The other side of the cup depicts a group of men in conversation—seven figures, all older men wearing cloaks, who may be identified as philosophers. The handles are decorated with foliate patterns on the tops of their shafts above the rim, and at their attachment plates to the body of the cup. The foot is decorated with a sharp fillet near the top, and with a beaded band and ovolo atop the footplate.

Roman domestic silver of fine quality often displayed images referring to Greek myth and literature. Cups decorated with narrative subjects inspired discussion at refined dinner parties, where guests could identify the scenes and admire their host's taste. Heavy, silver drinking cups with repoussé decoration were very popular in the first century A.D. Such vessels were formed from an outer case decorated with the relief and a plain inner liner soldered together. The feet and handles were made separately and soldered on. 

Silver, two-handled cup with relief decoration depicting Tiresias and Odysseus (here) on one side and a group of philosophers on the other, Roman 25 BCE-100 CE, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

 

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Review: Altar of Blood Empire IX by Anthony Riches

A historical resource article by Mary Harrsch © 2017

In the ninth and final installment (at least for now) of Anthony Riches' Empire series dubbed "Altar of Blood", we find the young centurion Marcus Valerius Aquila accompanying Tribune Rutilius Scaurus and about three dozen hand-picked men from the Tungrian cohorts back to Germania where they have been charged with kidnapping the seer of the fiercesome Bructeri tribe. The sinister imperial chamberlain, Marcus Aurelius Cleander, has not revealed the reason for this clandestine action across the Renus (Rhine) into such dangerous territory but Scaurus and his men are not given any choice in the matter.

The Bructeri are one of the six tribes who attacked Publius Quintilius Varus and massacred the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth legions at the battle of the Teutoburg Forest at the beginning of the first century. Six years after the famous disaster, Lucius Stertinius, a general serving under Germanicus, swept through the Bructeri territory between the Amisia and Luppia rivers, destroying everything in their path and recovering the eagle of Legio XIX.

The Bructeri next appear in history during the Batavi revolt of 69-70 CE. Their tribal seer during that period was named Veleda. It is said she foretold the Batavi success in that uprising and was considered the tribe's spiritual leader.

Germanic Warrior courtesy of military artist Johnny Shumate

Of course, that was all more than a century before our novel's time period but it made the existence of a revered tribal seer quite believable and certainly explained the bad blood between the Romans and the Bructeri.

To make an almost impossible situation worse, Germania Inferior is now governed by Tribune Scaurus' arch nemesis, Clodius Albinus. Albinus is actually a historical figure who served the emperor Commodus in both Gallia Belgica and, later, Britain.  But when a false rumor claimed Commodus was dead (before he actually was), Albinus denounced Commodus before his soldiers in Britain, calling Commodus a tyrant, and maintained that it would be useful to the Roman Empire to restore to the Senate its ancient dignity and power. Although this declaration pleased the Senate it understandably riled Commodus who sent Junius Severus to relieve Albinus of his command. But, the relief order was not received until Commodus and even his successor, Pertinax, were murdered in 193 CE, a year that was to become known as the Year of the Five Emperors.

In our story, though, Albinus is still just a duplicitous schemer who is trying to thwart Tribune Scaurus in his mission or at least claim the captive seer and credit for the mission's success. Tribune Scaurus is going to have to use every bit of cunning he possesses to escape a determined Bructeri war band and prevent his men from being sacrificed on an "Altar of Blood" - that of either the Bructeri's bloodthirsty war god Wodanaz or an unscrupulous Roman's ambition.

One of my favorite characters was captured by the Bructeri in this novel and I spent a good deal of time worrying about his ultimate fate. I certainly didn't want to visualize him spread-eagled on a bloody altar with a wild-eyed shaman hovering over him with a wickedly-sharpened knife! As you can tell, over the course of nine novels I have closely identified with such finely crafted characters and felt a member of their select group.  I will definitely miss them although I suspect Riches is not yet done with them all as the seer claims Rutilius Scaurus will play a key role in the Year of the Five Emperors!

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