Amanda Rivera, Boston University
This paper explores the use of sapling and orchard imagery in Greek epic. Authors, such as Homer, Apollonius, and Quintus, use these images to represent the rearing of children in familial networks. Homeric scholars have argued that the cultivation and ownership of orchards signifies patriarchal inheritance for characters like Odysseus (Brockliss 2019). The connection, however, between this orchard imagery and that of rearing children like saplings has yet to be studied. This paper shows how Greek epic writers combine these images to comment upon the idealized way to raise a child. Through this study, the orchard emerges as a vital symbol for understanding familial networks in Greek epic tradition.
Homer uses sapling imagery to depict the nurture of both Achilles (Il. 18.54-60; 435-441) and Telemachus (Od. 14.175-82). For Achilles, the pairing of orchard and sapling imagery signifies a strong parental presence and a stable familial network. Homer’s description of Telemachus as a sapling without an orchard, however, represents the absence of a suitable caregiver and an environment unconducive to proper growth. The change in Homer’s use of orchard imagery supports arguments for Telemachus’ stunted growth even after Odysseus’ return (Allan 2010). This study offers further evidence for how Telemachus’ disrupted upbringing affects his maturation.
In the Argonautica, Apollonius borrows Homer’s orchard and sapling imagery to indicate damaged familial ties. Rather than focusing on the rearing of his children, Aeetes transfers his attention to the inhuman sown men, who live and die in his unsuccessful surrogate orchard (Ar. 3.1396-1404). The transference of tree-related imagery to non-human characters is a staple of Apollonius (Kaufmann 2016). However, his inversion of Homer’s imagery highlights Aeetes’ failure as a parental figure, seen in the disruption of his familial network as Medea destroys his patriarchal inheritance by murdering her brother and stealing the golden fleece.
By contrast, within the Posthomerica, Quintus modifies Homer’s imagery to expand the boundaries of familial networks. In depicting Achilles, Quintus uses imagery that echoes the Homeric original (Il. 18.54-60; 435-441), similarly comparing Achilles’ upbringing to a sapling (Quint. Smyrn. 7.642-51). Here, Phoenix tells Neoptolemus how he was a surrogate father to Achilles (James 2004: 285; 311), and how he and Achilles were of “one blood” and “one mind” (ἑνὸς αἵματός…/ὁμοφροσύνης, Quint. Smyrn. 7.650-1). As with Homer’s description of Telemachus (Od. 14.175-82), Quintus’ portrayal of Achilles lacks an orchard. Unlike Telemachus, however, Achilles’ maturation remained undisturbed regardless of parental care received by a non-relative. Quintus, therefore, expands the definition of a family to include non-blood relatives.
Scholars such as Foley, Nelis, and James have discussed at length the reception of Homer in later epic on a general scale. This paper argues for a more nuanced look at the reception of natural imagery, specifically saplings and orchards, across three authors of Greek epic. Ultimately, later epic authors modify Homeric imagery to reflect the state of familial ties within their texts.