scenes follow: the ploughing of a field with a drink of mellow wine for the ploughman;
the harvest on the king’s estate with a feast for the labourers; the grape-picking by
young men and women to the accompaniment of music, song and dancing; the
herding of cattle with the intrusion of a lion who carries off a bellowing bull; and lastly
the grazing ground for sheep. The final picture is of young men and women dancing
tomusic and delighting a crowd of onlookers.
Though many of the scenes are idyllic, the overall representation is not idealized
in the sense that men are represented as better than they are. Even in the first city at
peace, a homicide has been committed. In the second city, the soldiers engage in
battle, fight and drag off their dead like real living men (Iliad17, 539). It is apparent
that what the poet admires most is the realism of the picture and the ability of the god
to bring it all to life. The city at war has a representational beauty, justifying Homer’s
description of both cities as beautiful (17, 491).
There are several touches that testify to the craftsmanship of the god. In the city
at war the gods are larger than life and wrought in gold. In the picture of the ploughing
the unploughed field is made of gold; behind the plough the colour of the soil is black
as in réal life, a marvel to behold (18, 549). The vineyard is gold, the grapes are black,
the ditches are blue and the fences tin. The cows are of gold and tin. The poet
appreciates the divine craftsmanship whereby the god makes the most of his various
materials to ensure that vital details stand out in relief.
The culmination of the celebration of the artist comes in the final picture on the
shield (18, 590–606), the dancing on a beautiful dance floor likened to the famous
one built at Cnossus by Daedalus, the legendary Cretan artist and craftsman.
Hephaestus began the shield with a joyful celebration of weddings with music,
singing and dancing. He ends with a picture that celebrates youth and movement
in the delight of the dance. The movement of the dancers is compared to the wheel
of a potter. The immediate point of comparison is speed but the figure also
suggests the perfect symmetry of the circle that results in a finished work of art. A
great crowd gathers, delighting in the spectacle of the dance, and the bard sings to
the accompaniment of the lyre. In the midst of the dancers acrobats perform in time
to the music. In the whole scene the dominant impression is one of joyous
celebration of physical energy. But the dance is organized energy so that the picture
also celebrates the power of art apparent in the underlying pattern of the dance, the
mention of Daedalus, the image of the potter’s wheel, and the presence of the bard
and his music. Though it does not obtrude (they are not dancing a minuet) there is
a formality and order underlying the energy and spontaneity of the dance, so that
this final picture on the shield is a fitting climax encapsulating the essence of
Homeric art.
EARLY GREECE: HOMER AND HESIOD 29