And so, I’m reading Books 1-8 of Homer's Iliad and aside from constant slaughter, certain images continue to reappear throughout the text. At first it’s horses. Okay, that’s lovely – my favorite animal growing up as a child. And then it’s lions. Okay, I’m a big cat lover too; always thought it would be nifty to have a domesticated lion in my home one day. And as I’m trekking along in the reading, I’m overwhelmed by long black ships in Book Two, a self-proclaimed “whore” in Book Three, and more slaughter in . . . well, all of the books. Needless to say, the horse and lion imagery stands out as something interesting. And I begin to piece the puzzle together.
I remember as a young girl watching The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with a slew of other young and eager minds at my babysitter's abode. And although I grasped that Jesus, or God, or whomever was actually the lion in the story, the symbolism never dawned on me. However, with age comes growth (hopefully) and I seem to have discovered a link. Typically, the lion takes on a pseudonym. Aka: "King of the Jungle". Alright, we have "King". God in turn becomes associated with the lion in that aspect. God is King. Great. Got it. The lion also represents power. And we've all seen it on Discovery -- a lion with the mass of a small oil rig takes down an unsuspecting zebra. In the Christian Bible, we learn that God is all powerful and can smite anyone he so chooses. Okay. I get that too. And it would make sense that the Greeks would use such a powerful image. (And just a side note, this image should be understood as HUGE foreshadowing -- if you didn't already know the Trojans are taken down by the Greeks...after all, a riderless horse should be easy for a lion to take down). And now the Trojans. Their image? A horse of course. You have Prince Hector, breaker of horses. Hell, the land of Troy is known as the land of stallions. And although horses are powerful, fast, and elegantly beautiful, they are really nothing compared to lions. Horses are herbivorous. Lions, carnivorous. And although lions may be captured and caged, they are not much for being domesticated. Horses are meant to be broken. They're meant to serve mankind. Hello...yet another hint toward the outcome of the Trojan War. The Greeks will also use the horse symbol against their own will -- to penetrate their own walls. Another form of breaking.
And as I continue to read (although I already know the outcome of the war) I am continuously saddened. It feels like reading "Romeo and Juliet" all over again -- you know the couple dies in the end but all the while, you hope that somehow, magically, the text will change and everything will turn out happy and frilly. But frankly, that's just not the way life works. There is no Hollywood ending. There is no cheating. And whether I like it or not (or anyone else for that matter) the Trojans will lose. And had I not known they would lose before reading, I should be able to at least pick up on the animal imagery and what side each corresponds to. And with death surrounding the text, I grasped onto hopefully happy imagery. Horses. Lions. ...Only to be saddened again by it all.
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