Theomachy

[endymions_bower]

I thought I'd cross post here something I wrote for a Yahoo group in response to an intriguing question from neowiccan concerning the Platonic reading of the theomachy in book 21 of the Iliad.

The esoteric Platonic interpretation of the Trojan War is that it is the great narrative of the embodiment of souls drawn into the realm of Nature, symbolized by Troy, by beauty, symbolized by Helen. The whole epic, therefore, has to do with the sowing of souls, and the Ideas or Forms generally, in the realm of genesis, that is, the realm of coming-to-be and passing away.

The theomachy in book 21 essentially puts into play the series of divine oppositions that were set up in book 20 (67-74). Here Apollon is opposed to Poseidon, Ares to Athena, the river Xanthos/Skamandros to Hephaistos, Hermes to Leto, and Hera to Artemis.

The way Proclus explains it (In Tim. I 79; In Remp. I 94f), Poseidon and Apollon are opposed as artisans of universal generation, Poseidon of the whole, Apollon of the part.

Poseidon mediates between Zeus, the demiurge of the Idea, and Hades, the demiurge of the Image or eidolon. He is the demiurge of motion, the motion which brings Ideas or Forms to manifestation in nature, the higher intellectual analogue of the soul as Hades is of corporeal nature. Poseidon is associated with three symbols of motion: the restless sea, the dynamism of the horse, and the earthquake.

Apollon belongs to the “elevating” class of “ruling” Gods (anagôgoi and hêgemonikoi respectively). These are the Gods responsible for executing on the hypercosmic plane (the plane corresponding to the emergence of soul from intellect) the intellectual work of the demiurge (Zeus).

Poseidon and Apollon do not actually fight, however, according to Proclus, on account of the closely integrated nature of this work; in this regard, note how, when trying to get Apollo to, in effect, switch sides, Poseidon brings up their joint service on behalf of Laomedon (441-457). Troy is Nature itself, Poseidon having fashioned its encompassing limits (walls), Apollo tending to its 'flocks', that is, its individual inhabitants insofar as they seek guidance (compare Plato's analogy of the statesman as a shepherd in the Statesman).

Hera and Artemis are opposed as lifegivers for souls, Hera of rational life, Artemis of irrational, that is, animal life; in their confrontation, Homer characterizes Artemis according to her epithet potnia therôn, mistress of the animals (470). Artemis is the source of virtue, but it is ‘virginal’, animal virtue (In Crat. 105f), which is not self-conscious or articulate; hence she can only flee at the challenge; needless to say, this does not imply defeat.

Athena and Ares are causes of the opposition or war that pervades being as things strive to express their forms against the forces of entropy, but they are opposed inasmuch as Athena directs intellectual opposition and the divine providence which comes to fruition according to intellect, that is, the providence that resolves itself in a manner straightforwardly accessible to reason and is thus manifestly just. Ares, on the other hand, directs opposition which is blindly mechanical or emotional and that providence which comes to fruition according to brute force or in what we might call a back-handed way. Note how talkative Athena is as she fights, almost composing an indictment.

Hermes and Leto are opposed as presiding over the perfection of souls, Hermes over their gnostic enlightenment, Leto over what Proclus calls “the smooth [leias], spontaneous and voluntary elevation through the vital powers,” (In Tim. I 79.12-3). Hermes, he explains, gives perfection to souls’ knowledge, Leto to their lives. Note that Hermes allows Leto to claim victory without contest (498-501), because the perfection of knowledge freely recognizes the superiority of the perfection of the total way of life (though its own superiority lies in the ability to do so).

The conflict between Hephaistos and Xanthos establishes the conflict of the hot and dry with the cold and moist as formative powers on the corporeal plane.

Aphrodite is alone, because love binds the whole together, but she assists the weaker side, because the nature of her power is to reach further into the plane of generation—after all, that’s how Helen ended up in Troy.

Comments

[neowiccan.livejournal.com]

this is another one for my edward folder!
:) khairete
suz