Entre lions et loups : à propos des comparaisons homériques

Between Lions and Wolves : About Homeric Similes. Studying the Homeric similes that deal with lions, wolves or boars, we seek to demonstrate their variety and their great poetic quality, and how distant they are from the generally admitted stereotypes. Great predators serve most often as models for victorious warriors, but in the detail of the similes, their desire to lacerate and to tear to pieces their prey remains suspended in the narrative, only seldom reaching the point of devouring of their victims. In books XVII and XVIII of the Iliad, several similes show heroes defending Patroclus’ corpse as animal mothers or lions defending their young or arriving too late to do so. Comparisons as a whole, and particularly the similes of Achilles as a lion in books XVIII and XX, allow a paradoxical conclusion : the strength and wealth of the lion go without saying, but the narrator shows its interiority (its θυμός ) ; similarly Odysseus and Diomedes, depicted as two boars, receive the qualification of de μέγα φρονέοντε. The animals whom we suppose to be images of the most absolute savagery are endowed with a “ magnanimous heart”. They are anthropomorphised. Instead of heroes becoming savage beings as we were anticipating, we witness a kind of heroisation of wild animals.L’étude des comparaisons homériques à des lions, des loups ou des sangliers cherche à montrer leur variété et leur qualité poétique, loin des stéréotypes généralement admis. Certes, les grands fauves servent le plus souvent de modèles pour les guerriers vainqueurs, mais dans le détail des comparaisons, leur désir de déchirer ou déchiqueter leur proie reste suspendu dans le récit, n’allant que rarement jusqu’à la dévoration. Dans les chants XVII et XVIII de l’Iliade, plusieurs comparaisons montrent les héros dans la défense du corps de Patrocle commeLétoublon Françoise. Entre lions et loups : à propos des comparaisons homériques. In: Gaia : revue interdisciplinaire sur la Grèce Archaïque, numéro 19, 2016. pp. 127-150