Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

70 HOMER—POSITION OF FISHERMENSecond, if he lived before such transition—a supposition,which scarcely consists with the presence in PalaeoUthic debrisof copious remains of fish— passages such as Od., XIX. 109-114,which ranks " a sea-given store of fish " a constituent of a wellorderedrealm, and //., XVI. 746, where " This man wouldsatisfy many by searching (or diving) for oysters," are interpolationsby later writers.It is difficult otherwise to reconcile or explain conflictingpassages.How, for instance, can the dictum, that " Fish as afood was in the Poems only used by the very poor or starving,"be made to harmonise with //., XVI. 746, just quoted ? ^ Ifit be confined solely to the Odyssey, a more plausible case maypossibly be presented.Another suggestion, not quite similar, yet not repugnant,is Seymour's. " The Poet represented the life which was familiarto himself and his hearers. Each action, each event might begiven by tradition, or might be the product of the poet'simagination, but the details which show the customs of theage, and which furnish the colours of the picture, are takenfrom the life of the poet's time. His interest is centred in theaction of the story, and the introduction of unusual mannersand standard of hfe would only distract the attention of hishearers."Mackail, perhaps, concludes the whole matter. " TheHomeric world is a world imagined by Homer : it is placed ina time, evidently thought of as far distant, though there areAvesta nor the Rig-Veda is there any mention of fishing, nor in the Aryanperiod were there any common names for fish, and that throughout theHomeric age, which generally knows fishing as an existent occupation, therestill seems to be a recollection of a time when the Greek hero ate fish just aslittle as he rode, wrote, or cooked soup 1^ It is but fair, however, to add that the Scholiast notes this passage asthe only one in the Iliad where fish is mentioned as a food, while Monro makesthe ingenious comment that these oysters, or shell fish, are to be regarded notas luxuries, but as a way of satisfying the hunger of a crew at sea. Of oystersthis is the only mention in the Homeric Poems. As oyster shells andeven unopened oyster shells were found by Dr. Schliemann at Mycenae, theliking for oysters is not likely to have been lost between the Mycenaeanand the Homeric times. The remains of the Homeric (sixth) city at Troyyielded very many cockle shells, but of cockles there seems no mention in thepoems.Numerous representations of fishes are found on Mycenaean and Cretanworks of art.