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Page 1 of 6 The Odyssey Lecture Notes

BRIEF OVERVIEW I. Introduction A. The Epic – A long story told in elevated language (usually poetry) which relates the great deeds of a larger-than-life hero, who embodies the values of a particular society B. The characteristics of the Epic 1. a hero of imposing stature, national or international importance, and of great historical or legendary significance 2. a setting vast in scope 3. action consisting of deeds of great valor, requiring super-human courage 4. supernatural forces interest themselves in the action and intervene 5. a style of “sustained elevation and grand simplicity” 6. poet exhibits objectivity C. Conventions (devices) 1. poet opens by stating the theme and invoking the muse o epic poetry (Calliope) to inspire and instruct him 2. opens “in medias res” 3. includes long lists of warriors, ships, armies, etc. 4. extended formal speeches 5. frequent use of Homeric (or epic) similes 6. written in dactylic hexameter /uu x6 7. Homeric epithets – adjectival phrases repeated so often in conjunction with a character’s name that it almost becomes a part of the name II. What happened between the end of the Iliad and the beginning of the Odyssey (see part IV chapters 2 &3 and Hamilton’s Mythology) A. How Achilles died- (Paris shot him in the heel) B. Achilles’ Arms – how they caused Ajax’s suicide C. How the Greeks defeated the Trojans 1. Hercules’ bow and arrows 2. the Paladium 3. the Trojan horse D. The Fall of Troy 1. the murder of Astyanax 2. the rape of Cassandra in Athena’s temple 3. failure to show homage to the gods for their victory E. The Gods’ Revenge 1. Agamemnon lost nearly all his ships 2. Menelaus was blown to Egypt 3. Ajax was drowned 4. Odysseus takes ten years to get home III. Themes A. Homecoming (nostos) B. Glory (kleos) C. Hospitality (xenia) D. Honor (time) IV. The Structure of the Odyssey – “Homer starts the Odyssey at the precise moment when the situation on Ithaca is coming to a head and something mustgive.” A. Books 1-4, the Telemachy – highlight the importance of xenia B. Books 5-8, Calypso’s Island and Scheria C. Books 9-12, flashback of adventures from Troy to Calypso’s Island, narrated by Odysseus D. Book 13 … straightforward chronology V. Odysseus’ Character

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A. He understands what it means to be human (He rejects Calypso’s offer of immortality) B. He is cautious – many examples C. Skillful in rhetoric and persuasion – speech to Calypso, return to Ithaca are two a many examples D. Quick-thinking, clever – the story of the Cyclops E. His name means “giver and receiver of pain” (scar on leg is symbolic) F. Polutropos – skilled at reading his interlocutors and self-controlled VI. Threat from powerful women A. Calypso B. Circe C. Sirens D. Nausicaa VII. Nekuia - when Odysseus speaks to ghosts A. symbolic of the death of the warrior Odysseus and the rebirth of the Ithacan Odysseus B. allows Odysseus to know what’s happening at home on Ithaca C. shows that Odysseus is in limbo – neither dead like his comrades or truly living with his family VIII. The Island of Thrinakia – was it Moira (fate)? IX. Back on Ithaca A. Why Athena has such fondness for Odysseus 1. She is the goddess of wisdom, Metis (wisdom, skill, craft) 2. Odysseus is know for these qualities B. Note differences in Athena’s perception of whyshe hasn’t helped Odysseus soon and Odysseus’ perception C. Emotional Suffering 1. Telemachus’ arrival 2. the dog Argos (symbolism of the condition of his homeland) 3. seeing Penelope D. Revenge 1. The bow contest – irony – suitors condition the weapon that will kill them 2. Odysseus hangs all the disloyal slaves – what impression does this give to modern readers? E. Odysseus and Penelope – Their bed symbolizes Odysseus and Penelope’s marriage, Penelope’s fidelity, and Athena’s patronage (it’s made from an olive tree, her symbol) F. Book 24 – ties up the loose ends 1. second Nekui – conversation between Achilles and Agamemnon 2. Odysseus’ reunion with Laertes 3. Laertes, Odysseus, and Telemachus battle the suitors’ relatives 4. Athena requires both to pledge a truce. ======================================================================== SO IT BEGINS . . . In order to really understand The Odyssey, you need loads of backstory . . . but don’t worry. It’s all really interesting. Seriously. Check this out . . . BEFORE the TROJAN WAR So one day, Zeus was throwing this super-fancy party for Peleus and Thetis, but there was one goddess who really-really didn’t want on the guest list: Eris, the Goddess of Discord. Discord means fighting and arguing, so why would you want the Goddess of arguing at the super-fancy-fun party that you’ve been planning for months? You wouldn’t, right? Well, of course Eris finds out about the party, and she is furious that she wasn’t invited. {INSERT MORE}

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The TROJAN WAR / THE ILIAD ======================================================================== P 1203-1209 Things to Consider  Homeric Simile – a REALLY LONG, descriptive simile  Homeric Epithet – a nickname for a character, which provides thoughtful insight about the individual’s personal characteristics  Unreliable Narrator – The concept that you can’t really believe the narrator in the story, because maybe he or she is actively lying or otherwise leaving out really important information  Xenia – Greek concept of HOSPITALITY. This was a very strict rule, whereby a host had to provide a guest food, et cetera, without question. Sometimes, bad guests would take extreme advantage of hosts, like with Penelope and the Suitors & with Odysseus and the Cyclops Polyphemus  Dramatic Irony – when the audience knows something that a character in the text does not know  Odysseus – Hero of THE ODYSSEY; King of Ithaka; Hero of the Trojan War; Greek; Friend of Agamemnon, Menelaus, Achilles, Diomedes, Aias (Ajas); Enemy of the Trojans: Paris (Alexandros), Hektor, King Priam, Queen Hekuba, Cassandra  Penelope – Queen of Ithaka, wife of Odysseus, mother of Telemachus, pursued by many men in Ithaka to remarry  Telemachus – Prince of Ithaka, son of Odysseus and Penelope, goes on his own mini-odyssey to find his father and ask other Greek kings (like Menelaus) for help  Ithaka – Odysseus homeland, Greek island  Hermes – Messenger God; sent by Zeus to Calyso, to make her release Odysseus.  Calypso – Sea Goddess, Nymph; she holds Odysseus captive for 7 years  Zeus – Main-God, in charge of all the other gods. He commands Hermes, to tell Calypso, to let Odysseus go, so that he can return home. Whatever Zeus says goes.  Athena – goddess who really likes Odysseus. She advocates on his behalf VERY OFTEN THE ODYSSEY begins with THE INVOCATION OF THE MUSE. What this means is that the actual poet Homer is praying to the Goddess of Epic Poetry, The Muse Calliope, for help, so that he can accurately tell the tale of Odysseus. This is not too different to how some athletes, like Tebow, like to pray during athletic events. Homer wants to give a shout-out to the almighty, so that he can tell a really good poem. We learn here – Spoiler Alert – that all of Odysseus’s men will die, by the time he returns home to Ithaka. Now, we think about the concept of UNRELIABLE NARRATOR. You see, since he’s the only one of his people to return home from Troy, then he’s the only who tells us what happened there. I mean, how do we know that Odysseus didn’t just kill all of his men as they slept or left them stranded on an island . . . ? I mean, it’s just his word, after all . . . Well, he’s King of Ithaka, so his word really means a lot. He, Brilliant Odysseus, knows this . . . and he uses this to his FULL advantage. Books 1-4 of THE ODYSSEY, often called THE TELEMACHY, are skipped in the version that we have in our textbook. Books 1-4 don’t deal with our hero Odysseus at all. In fact, they concern themselves with what is going on in Odysseus’s home, with his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. Penelope has been bound by the tradition of XENIA. You see, Penelope has been without her husband for a looooong time, so long that many people now expect the still-young queen to remarry. However, she doesn’t want to for a variety of reasons: she loves her husband; she thinks that Odysseus will still return; she has been ruling Ithaka just fine by herself for years and doesn’t want a new man to take-over; she fears for her son’s life if she were to remarry.

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When Book (Chapter) 5 of THE ODYSSEY opens, the reader sees Hermes, making his way to Calypso’s island. At the command of Zeus (after Athena spoke with Zeus), Hermes is going to tell Calypso that he must release Odysseus. As he’s flying to Calypso’s island, Hermes is described in length. It’s interesting to note that he has a magic want (yes, like Harry Potter), whereby he can make people fall asleep and awake whenever he wants (like the Sandman). Calypso’s island is described as a paradise. It is very lush and green; it is an ideal place to be. However, when we first see Odysseus, he is VERY SAD. He’s sitting by the sea, crying with a heavy heart, staring out at the horizon. He just wants to go home to Ithaka. Hermes speaks with Calypso, and she reluctantly agrees to let him go. However, she first wants to speak with him. There is DRAMATIC IRONY here, because she tells Odysseus that it was her idea to let him go; we readers really know that she is being compelled to release him, because Zeus has commanded it. They share a meal, where Odysseus eats human-food and Calypso eats Ambrosia and drinks Nectar (food/drink of the gods – if humans ate god-food, then really bad things would happen. INSERT MYTH INFO.) Calypso tries to convince Odysseus to WILLINGLY stay with her. FIRST she offers him immortality, if he stays with her. THEN, she explains that she’s better looking and richer than Odysseus’s wife Penelope. She suggests that it would be much more fun for him to stay with her, the immortal goddess Calypso, than return to his older, aging wife Penelope. In his response, Odysseus shows how smart, careful, calculating, and slick he is. You see, he could answer Calypso very rudely, but then she might turn on him and just kill him. Gods, you see, had violent and uncontrolled emotions. They could do what they wanted and get-away-with-it. Odysseus knows this. So, he answers Calypso in an underhanded way, that satisfies her vanity and still gets him off of her island. He says, essentially, that he knows that Calypso is way prettier, et cetera, than is old and aging wife, but he wants to go home to his wife Penelope on the island of Ithaka, anyway. Her vanity satisfied, Calypso lets him leave. It takes Odysseus about 20 days to reach land after leaving her island. When he reaches a new shore, he is exhausted and falls into a deep sleep. ======================================================================== P1210-1212. King Alcinous Things to Consider  Theme, Father vs Son  Our textbook skips books (chapters) 6-8 of THE ODYSSEY, where Odysseus meets a nice king who end up helping sending Odysseus directly home. Here, something called a FRAME-TALE (a story-within-a-story) starts. It’s also interesting to note (and we don’t get this info. here in our textbook – it’s a bit frustrating how many cool things the textbook leaves out – but OK) that the princess of this land (King Alcinous’s daughter) wants to marry Odysseus, too. All the ladies really like Odysseus. He’s very famous, after all, and the King of Ithaka. And, of course, Odysseus must decline her VERY CAREFULLY. After all, Odysseus still needs her father’s help. Her father will offer him ships and sailors to return him safely to the shores of his homeland Ithaka.

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Odysseus, of course, agrees to tell King Alcinous and his friends all about his adventures. After all, the king is super-excited to meet the famous King Odysseus of Ithaka, and he is offering to provide ships and sailors to Odysseus, to get him home. Odysseus is a good guest, so he will entertain his host. Odysseus begins by making a big deal about his own father Laertes (pronounced lay-air-tees). Odysseus has a really strong tie to family. Odysseus own son Telemachus, also has a strong love for Odysseus. This is NEW for GREEK STORIES. You see, before, most of the stories involved (step)fathers killing (step)sons, (step)sons killing (step)fathers … This is, like, the first time that a healthy, loving family is depicted in Greek Storytelling, so it’s a major new step. Like how Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was one of the first books were an African-American was a major character in the text, or when women, in general, were accepted as writers. Odysseus also briefly mentions how he was held hostage by the goddess Calypso and a witch named Circe, although he never wanted to be with (Circe), that he only ever wanted to make it home. He makes sure that he’s seen as blameless for cheating on his wife. Then, we essentially go back-in-time to events that happen right after Odysseus leaves Troy. ======================================================================== P 1212 THE CICONES Things to Consider  Eliminated from our textbook is the very first section, where Odysseus and his men randomly attack the Cicones, who are seriously just minding their own business. The CICONES happen to be allies (friends) of the Trojans, so Odysseus and his men think that it’s a-ok to just attack them, steal from them, kidnap them (seriously --- they take women), kill them … And they attack them for a long time, before the Cicones call on their own friends for back-up. When their back-up arrives, about 72 of Odysseus’s own sailors are killed, so they take off. ======================================================================== P 1212 “The Lotus Eaters” Things to Consider  The next place where they land is the island of THE LOTUS EATERS. The easiest way to view these people are is as drug addicts. These people offer Odysseus and his men Lotus, which, when eaten, take-away all desire to work or return back home. All the Lotus Eater wants to do is hang out and relax. Odysseus, of course, makes sure to tell (to the listeners at King Alcinous’s court) that he, of course, didn’t eat any Lotus, that he got his men back onto the ships, back on their route back to Ithaka. The Lotus Eaters were very nice people, but staying with them would mean that no one would leave. Three of Odysseus’s men ate the Lotus, and it was very difficult to get them back onto the ships. Once there, they had to be tied down, because they really wanted to stay. Sounds like a typical intervention. ======================================================================== P1212-1223 “The Cyclops” Polyphemus Things to Consider  Xenia - Hospitality

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Xenophobia – Fear of Strangers Unreliable Narrator Odysseus – “Nobody”, Quick Thinking, Pride (not proudness!!) Polyphemus

Next, Odysseus finds himself on the lands of the cyclops, who live differently than the Greeks. The cyclops do not engaged in agriculture (farming), which indicates a lack of civilization and technology. They also don’t come together as a group to make shared laws, which again indicates a lack of civilization. They live solitary lives, and all male cyclops do what they want in their own homes (and can be abusive if they want, no one will stop them). This highlights the concept of XENOPHOBIA (fear of strangers, foreigners). Odysseus doesn’t like the cylcops, because they do not live the Greek-way; this is very important to keep in mind, later on in this section.

UPDATED: Nov. 14, 2013