Cultural Analysis

This is my last post containing original material. It's been a long road, typing this blog. I said at the start that the purpose of this blog was to show understanding of the relationship between the cultures of Ancient Greece and Western civilisation and the purpose of this post is to show my understanding. I have analysed characters, the plot and the themes of both the Iliad and Troy, and now it is time to tie together all of the things that I have concluded and link them all into one big cultural analysis.

Greece is where this all began. We talk about Western civilisation today, and the reason it is called Western civilisation is because it started in the "West", or specifically Europe. Even more specifically, it started in Greece. The word 'oriental' that we use to describe Asia actually means "Eastern". So Greece is the origin of both our culture today and the story that I have been talking about. The story of the Trojan War is inherently Greek, but because it was adapted into film 9 years ago, the differences between the two texts can show us the differences in culture. I'd also just like to briefly mention a man named Eric Spivey, who on Yahoo! voice (http://voices.yahoo.com/the-iliad-as-historical-source-5033472.html?cat=37) pointed out quite correctly that the Iliad isn't quite a snapshot of Greece at the time of the Trojan War, but in reality it is showing us the culture of Greece a little way down the track.

  Lets start with the roles of woman in society. The mother and daughters in the household were in charge of running the house and were generally viewed as a convenience or economic unit in society. They were tradeable and made an exceptional prize. We can see this through the portrayal of Briseis as just being a "prize" and being referred to as such for much of the Iliad. Also, we can see this reflected in Helen's abduction too. Paris took Helen because Aphrodite told him he could, effectively. With no regards to women's wishes they were treated like objects.
  Today, women are treated as equals in our society, with virtually no laws that apply to men and not to women or vice versa. This is reflected in the development of Briseis to be a serious character with much sway in the plot as a character, not just a prize.

  Religion is another thing that is quite different between our cultures. Greece's primary religion was that of the Olympic pantheon. Everyone believed in and worshipped the gods, and fate was a major part of Greek lives. Because of this, most, if not all of Greek literature was about the supernatural, about the gods, or at least including the gods in some way. We can see this in the Iliad in the way that the gods are an active force that are active characters as well as just being alluded to.
  Today, many people do not believe in any religion, especially here in New Zealand, with nearly half of the population not saying they belong to a particular religion. So in Troy, the gods do not feature, because many people do not believe in any supernatural forces and the rest don't believe in the Greek gods.

  Something I haven't really analysed is the cultural practices that Greece had, although they have been mentioned. The funerals of Greeks were quite different from the funerals of today, with huge funeral pyres and everyone watching the cremation. Quite significantly different was the practice of putting coins over the deceased's eyes. The dead person was supposed to carry these coins with them to the River Styx and use them to pay the ferryman (Charon) to get across the river to the underworld. Today, most people not believing in this partcular afterlife, this practice doesn't happen.
  Another interesting one to look at is Hiketeia, or supplication. In the Iliad we see multiple scenes of supplication, such as Thetis supplicating Zeus: "So she sat down before him, and clasped his knees with her left hand, while with her right she touched him beneath the chin, and she spoke in prayer to king Zeus, son of Cronos...Yet Thetis, even as she had clasped his knees, so held to him, clinging close, and questioned him again a second time." This is quite comparable to when Priam comes to Achilles in the movie and kneels before him and kisses his hand. This manner of supplication is very formal, very structured. It is tamer in the film, because nowadays we no longer caress people's chins and clasp their knees when we want something, but we do still have little formalities like "please" and "thank you" and tentative respect still applies today. So we might say that one way that Greece influenced our culture was in this way of supplication.
  The ideas of honour and fame are very similar in Ancient Greece as they are today. Today we still want recognition, we still want to be remembered, even if we don't really talk about it that much. Time, Kleos and Arete are still ideas that are valid today. We see them in the Iliad in characters such as Achilles, Ajax (a prime example, as he committed suicide when he didn't get Achilles' armour) and Hector, but now we still have people trying to achieve the very best in a competition to get honour and fame. All professional sports have some aspect of that in them, and that is why we can see these values just as much in Troy as we can in the Iliad: They are equally as important to us as they were to the Greeks.

   One of the main things that I got out of analysing the characters was that Greeks were a bit patriotic, or at least they thought they were the best and would win the war (which they did). The Greeks liked to see their characters do something heroic and liked to see the enemies fall, which is actually just the same today! People usually like and support the good guys.

  One last brief comment: People like eye-candy. In the Iliad there is often-times a description of the flowing hair of someone, or the strong fist. The epiphets are used to title the characters, but also to describe them. In Greece, the people away from the cities possibly didn't see a huge variety of people so they let their imaginations run wild with the characters. More obviously, in Troy there are a number of scenes with naked or near-naked bodies. I think the conclusion that we can draw from this is that no matter where in history you look, there will always be some degree of shallowness in humanity that just loves to see or to imagine someone hot.