CHAPTER TWO
4.14 Avian power (Hawks and Eagles)
Another strong contender in the representation of both attacking force and political power is the Hawk. The oldest written Greek fable is the tale of the Hawk and the Nightingale (Hes. Op.
202‒212), ‘...in which the weak suffer at the whim of the stronger, and rebellion by the weak is futile and only brings more pain and the potential for destruction’.119 One thing to note here is that this fable presents a number of interpretive problems, especially through the ambiguity of the personae in the fable.
116 Van Waarden (1987), 121 and 108.
117 http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/pebble.asp?relid=7645 (Accessed: 27 August 2013).
118 Huffman (2000), 14. He also argues that Mapungubwe was Southern Africa’s first state, judging from the perspective of territory and social complexity, 22.
119 Clayton (2008), 180; also Rothwell (1995), 235. Steiner (2012) Also supports that this Hesiodic fable is the oldest attested ainos in Greek literature, 3.
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The major problem is understanding how the symbolism of the fable operates: for example whether Hesiod is the nightingale, with the kings being represented by the hawk, or whether the nightingale represents Perses while the eagle represents Zeus.120 The reason for this difficulty is that the fable does not provide a sketch of the situation.121 Van Dijk grapples with the two levels of meaning given above, and reasons that the hawk represents Zeus, while the nightingale represents Perses. He bases his conclusion on the several connections that exist between the hawk and the gods, which do exist.122
In Hesiod’s fable, the hawk is clearly in a position of power as he is called ὠκυπέτης ἴρηξ, τανυσίπτερος ὄρνις, ‘the swift-flying hawk, the long-winged bird’ (Hes. Op.
212). Steiner thinks that ‘The crisis imagined in this framing narrative then turns out to be as much aesthetic as political.’ This means that the fable represents a crisis of authority which must be well-presented on the poetic plane and on the political one as well.123 The Hawks are the Basilees in the eyes of the politically weakened Hesiod, with himself as the nightingale, but there is still a chance that the hawk is Zeus, with Perses being the nightingale.
This fable has also been explained along the lines of the poet versus the State, where the poet is the nightingale, and the State is the hawk. Lonsdale thinks that this fable has ominous undertones because of Hesiod’s predisposition to treat birds in the context of prophecy, as can be inferred at
120 Lefkowitz (2014), 8.
121 Lefkowitz (2014), 8; also van Dijk (1997), 128.
122 van Dijk (1997), 133.
123 Steiner (2012), 3.
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the end of the Works and Days (l.828).124 Comparison of the Hesiodic hawk with its Homeric counterparts helps Lonsdale to arrive at this conclusion that the bird has ominous connotations,
‘... and there is no reason to think that the associations are markedly different in Hesiod.’125
In the Iliad, passages that feature the hawk (ἴρηξ, κίρκος) include 16.582‒83, where Patroclus rushes through the front ranks like a hawk that swoops on jackdaws and starlings. After the death of Patroclus, the fleeing Achaeans are likened to jackdaws and starlings that scream confusedly when they see a hawk, ‘the bane of small birds’ (Il. 17.755‒57). At Iliad 22.139‒42 the swift-footed Achilles chasing Hector, is described in terms of a hawk that swoops down and attacks a dove. In all these three instances, the hawk signifies the aggressor, with its victims being doves, jackdaws, and starlings.
The hawk is presented as chasing these small or less powerful birds as prey, thereby confirming the importance of feeding patterns in the deployment of individual animals in similes. The flight of the hawk must lie behind its appearance as a symbol of heroic strength, especially in passages that call attention to speed. This can be further supported in the verses, ‘The girls sank down helplessly, like birds beneath a hovering hawk’ (Alcman 82). The hawk is also consistent with those of Iliadic warriors who prize prowess in battle above other qualities, and who, in the latter parts of the poem, refuse battlefield supplications of weaker victims.126
In Homer, passages that specifically refer to the ‘eagle’ (ἀετός) include Il. 12.201, where an omen featuring an eagle and a snake checks the Trojans’ progress as Hector leads them towards
124 Lonsdale (1989), 406.
125 Lonsdale (1989), 407.
126 Steiner (2012), 7
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the Achaean ships. Although carrying a snake, the eagle is bitten by this snake until it drops it on the ground. Here, the snake represents the Achaeans while the eagle represents the Trojans. The events in the omen are a warning for the Trojans not to act like eagles, lest they be bitten by the snake (Achaeans). At Iliad 21.251, Achilles escapes the raging river as fast as a black eagle (αἰετοῦ . . . μέλανος), ‘the hunter, quickest and strongest of all flying things.’ In the first example, the ferocity of the eagle is emphasised, although it is superseded by the prophetic significance of the omen.
The second instance (Il. 21.251) relies on the image of the eagle to demonstrate Achilles’
swiftness of foot.127 The eagle is symbolic of merit wherever it is found, the lesser crows and jackdaws vain imitators of its unattainable prowess.128 Archilochus also relates a fable of the eagle and the beetle (frags. 172‒81W and 185‒87W). In these fables that feature the eagle dealing mercilessly with smaller animals, just like the lion, the piquancy of the encounter depends on the oppositions between the members of the pair: the ainos juxtaposes the small and weak with the large and strong, the female with the male.129
Pindar uses an image of an eagle that has been put to sleep by the notes of the lyre. The eagle has succumbed to sleep despite its majesty (Pythian I.7). Murgatroyd’s interpretation of this symbol is that the music of the lyre,
‘… is so soothing and enchanting that it affects the instruments of Zeus’ power, temporarily quenching his fiery,
127 Also, Od. (20.243). Cf. Pfeijffer (1994), 307 on the majesty of the flight of the eagle. On the way it gains its food (menu-driven power) see also (Pind. Nem. 3.80‒81)]. The eagle is also a bird of Zeus (Pind. 01. 2.88); Pyth. (1.6;
4.4). The eagle is the king of birds (Pind. Isthm. 6.50, Pyth. (1.6‒7), where the eagle is portrayed as sitting on Zeus’
sceptre (ibid).
128 Steiner, (2012) ‘The eagle, a superior, top-rank bird as indicated by its close relationship with Zeus…’, 30.
129 Steiner (2013), 6.
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spear-like (or war-like) weapon, the thunderbolt, and pouring a dark ‘cloud’ of sleep over his sacred bird and servant, the eagle, and it even puts Ares, the god of war into a deep, trance-like slumber.’130
The eagle’s talons and wings are a symbol of power because it soars on its wings, and catches prey using its talons.131
In Aesop, the omen of an eagle that flies away with the Samian public seal (Vita G. Chs. 94‒95), and later drops it on the lap of a slave is interpreted by Aesop as a sign that the Samians would lose their freedom, clearly because the eagle is identified as the king of birds.132 There is also the fable of the Eagle and the dung beetle in Vita G. Ch.139, in which the eagle mocks the
‘littleness’ of the beetle, foreshadowing the death of Aesop at Delphi.133 This fable also appears in Aristophanes (Wasps 1446‒48), an indication that by the fifth century, or even earlier, Aesop had become ‘good to think with’.134
The deployment of the eagle in Kalanga is interesting as it appears in Nau in Ndebele, and not in Kalanga. The praise song to the first Ndebele King, Mzilikazi reads:
Ngqungqulu yamadolo abomvu N’okutshaya amazolo,
Eagle that has red knees
Because of beating the dew.135
130 Murgatroyd (1988), 56.
131 Also Pind. Nem. (5.21), Ol. (2.86‒88), Nem. (3.80‒82) and Bacchylides (5.16‒30)
132 Kurke (2010), 142‒43, and 171‒72.
133 Kurke (2011), 37.
134 Kurke (2011), 53.
135 Wentzel (1983), 252‒3 (6.9).
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The type of eagle mentioned, Ngqungqulu, ‘martial eagle’ is the one that the poem specifically refers to. Variants of this Ndebele formulaic praise focus on the red knees of this eagle sub-species that usually read, Ngqungqulu emadolo abomvu ngokuguqa egazini, ‘Eagle with red knees because of kneeling on blood.’136 One can note the consistency of the eagle as a symbol of political power in Kalanga, Ndebele and Greek orature. The ‘red knees’ that the eagle possesses are true to its appearance, and are used here to explain the place of killing in the process of ascending to power. The eagle’s wings also add to its veneration in Southern African praise poetry.