The Imagined Phoenicians in Homer's Odyssey

荷馬史詩《奧德賽》中想像的腓尼基人

Yuyen Chang

《Tamkang Review》 47卷1期 (2016/12) Pp. 41-62

https://doi.org/10.6184/TKR201612-3

摘要

About 700 BCE, thanks to the frequent contact with the Eastern world an important breakthrough took place in Greek arts and cultures, thereby introducing the Greek Renaissance or the orientalizing revolution. Numerous instances of Phoenician ships and craftsmanship can be readily found in Homer's epics and often come to serve as substantial exemplars for Orientalism. However, the Odyssey belongs to an epic tradition of large-scale heroic poetry and aims to relate a fictive world of the heroic past, although the present of the epics is precisely the period about 750-550 BCE, the time when the new cultural and social trends were in the process of formation. The stories in the Odyssey, at most, provide a virtual reality and a real fiction, which can open a unique window to understand the profound impact brought about through the interaction with Phoenicians. Integral to the question of the imagined Phoenicians is the construction of a symbolic connection with the Other, which is of considerable significance in the configuration of Greek identity. Furthermore, apart from Phoenician alphabets, diverse examples such as purple colors, date palms, and silver bowls indeed exemplify how part of Phoenician culture may well turn out to be instilled into Greek daily life.

關鍵字

Phoenicians ； Odyssey ； Orientalism ； other ； Greekness

並列摘要

西元前八世紀末，西元前七世紀開始，希臘人接觸東方藝術作品，加以吸收模仿，進而開創與建立自己的風格，開啟重要的文藝復興，或稱東方化時期。荷馬史詩《奧德賽》多處提及腓尼基人和他們的精緻手工藝，也成為史家與學者佐證此時期的「東方革命」的典型例子。但是，我們必須思考幾個重要的面向與其隱藏的意義：《奧德賽》並非單純的史實呈現、史詩的社會融合不同時期的文化背景、史詩想像的腓尼基人與腓尼基文化並非限定在一地方。此外，史詩呈現想像的腓尼基文化，看似與希臘文明對立，但卻是希臘人學習與模仿的重要對象之一，看似想像中的他者，卻是希臘主體形成重要的一環。從地理空間觀看，游動的腓尼基人，成為古希臘接觸東方文化的關鍵。從時間縱軸觀察，除了腓尼基字母，還有不少例子都可以看出，部分腓尼基文化漸漸成為希臘日常生活、日用語言和社會結構的一部分。

並列關鍵字

腓尼基人 ； 《奧德賽》 ； 古希臘東方化時期 ； 他者 ； 希臘特質

參考文獻

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