A Typology of Mediation in Homer
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The tale of Iliad 1 proceeds along a linear course punctuated by crises at which alternative paths come into sight; choices are made, as if at crossroads, and then the narrative continues along the path ostensibly determined by those choices. What more specifically structures its progress is a rhythm of Crisis, Mediation, and Response, in which the latter event rarely marks a true narrative closure, but instead only opens out on further crises, paths that fork and fork again. A priest's appeal for restitution of his daughter is rejected by a king, and plague ensues. The mediation of a prophet leads on the one hand to approval and the propitiation of offended deity, but on the other to strife between warrior and king. An elder's attempt to mediate their conflict (in which the successful intercession of a goddess is itself embedded) fails to win acceptance, and the warrior withdraws from society. His crisis triggers a second divine intervention in the form of an appeal to the highest god, whose acquiescence on the one hand subordinates all the subsequent narrative to the guidance of a Plan, at the same time as it generates conflict with yet another deity. The book closes with successful mediation of their strife, with everything ostensibly right in heaven, though impending disaster among mortals.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.