Over the Tradition of the Heroic Age: Exit From the Homeric Ontological Model

The article analyzes the functional content of the tradition of the heroic age, depicted by Homer in “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey”, as well as the perspective of exit from the Homeric ontological model. By specifying the functional content of the tradition of the heroic age, the article describes the components of the Homeric ontological model and problematizes the search for a historical correlate of the tradition of the heroic age. According to the results of the research, the tradition of the heroic age can include the tradition of duel, the tradition of funeral rituals, and the tradition of hospitality. Their functional content is, firstly, the normalization of relations between the elements of the three-time ontological model of the human-divine-natural. The article offers arguments in support of distinguishing two types of exits from the tradition of the heroic age. The first type of exit from the tradition of the heroic age is the events and facts that are intended to denormalize the relationship between a person and the elements of the trinity ontological model, as well as to violate the rules of the tradition of the heroic age. This type of exit can be characterized as a way going beyond of the tradition of the heroic age, and it is represented by the “antiduel,” “antifuneral,” and “antihospitality” studied in this article. The second type of exit from the tradition of the heroic age can be defined as its radical assertion, implemented by means of “redundancy” and therefore not fully agreed with the logic of the tradition. This type of exit can be characterized as a way going over of the tradition of the heroic age, and its example is the duel between Diomedes and Glaukos, which ends in a non-equivalent exchange of armor. The problematization of the historical correlate offered in the article helps to conclude that the poems are the result of poetic overcoming of temporal inaccessibility. In Homer, this overcoming is implemented by filling divine inspiration with the poet’s direct experience, his material culture, and the oral tradition.