The Other Way 'Round - Page 4
© Michael Martinez
Quintus is believed to have rewritten the work of Arctinus (who composed "The Coming of Memnon", AKA "Aethiopis", and "The Destruction of Troy", AKA "Iliupersus", around 776 BCE) and Lesches (who composed "Little Iliad" around 700 BCE). Our image of late Homeric Trojan (pseudo) history derives much from "The Fall of Troy", which was Quintus' epic, composed in the Homeric tradition. He is credited as having been so familiar with Homer's work that he came very close to duplicating Homer's style, although there are criticisms levelled against Quintus -- he too often failed to match Homer's details on specific events, or built up toward a Homeric climax which was never realized.
In 1916, while recovering from Trench Fever (contracted in the war in France), Tolkien began writing the first of his own mythological stories. In title, "The Fall of Troy" sounds very much like "The Fall of Gondolin" (the first of Tolkien's mythic compositions). Indeed, like Troy, Gondolin was a city built on a hill-top, whose enemies struck at it through treachery (and despite a prophetic warning of impending disaster). Cassandra warned the Trojans not to accept the gift of the wooden horse from the Greeks, and her people ignored her. Tuor warned Turgon that it was time to leave Gondolin, and Turgon ignored him. And just as Greek warriors emerged from the wooden horse to open the gates to the city, the original Gondolin story included metal dragons who carried Orc soldiers inside them.
"The Fall of Gondolin" is firmly rooted in Greek mythological precedents, from the catalogues of Elvish lords and their houses, to sack of the city itself; and the story thus laid the groundwork for Tolkien's mythology for England. "The Fall of Gondolin" was a shameless retelling of the Trojan myth in an Anglo-Saxon mode (or, what Tolkien felt might pass for one in 1916/7). Like Quintus before him, Tolkien looked back to the Epic Cycle for inspiration. But though Tolkien was not striving to create an epic poem in Homeric style, he was seeking to achieve something Homeric: the creation of an epic cycle for England, just as Homer (and others) had created an epic cycle for Greece. Tolkien wanted to translate Greek mythological achievements into Anglo-Saxon mythological possibilities.
Tolkien loved Greek mythology. It had a profound influence upon him. In fact, Middle-earth undoubtedly owes a great deal more to Greek mythology than shall ever be acknowledged by all the dusty, cobweb-laden artifices of higher scholarship which weigh down the library shelves of Tolkien research. Greek mythology is the uttermost foundation of Middle-earth, because Tolkien saw in Greek mythology that which he could not find in the scraps of Anglo-Saxon literature which he eventually taught about. Without Greek mythology, it is highly unlikely Tolkien would ever have dreamed of an Anglo-Saxon (or modern English) mythology.
Go To Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
The copyright of the article The Other Way 'Round - Page 4 in J.R.R. Tolkien is owned by Michael Martinez. Permission to republish The Other Way 'Round - Page 4 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
