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ANCIENT EPIC NOTES: Odyssey v Aeneid comparisons + Aenied and Odyssey themes

Contents

An Homeric hero (Odysseus) v a Virgilian hero (Aeneas) Homer’s Odysseus v Virgil’s Ulysses Roles of Athena and Venus Poseidon v Juno Telemachus v Ascanius Homer’s underworld v Virgil’s underworld Compare Homer’s hero Odysseus to Virgil’s hero Aeneas The Greatness & Personality of Rome in the Aeneid Father-Son Relationships in the Aeneid Dido Turnus Is Odysseus a great leader? Oral Tradition Divine Intervention Hospitality in the Odyssey Loyalty and Faithfulness in the Odyssey The Significance of the Agamemnon sub-plot to the Odyssey Calypso v Circe Nausicaa and Penelope Odysseus the hero turned wanderer Odysseus the wanderer turn back to a hero Was Homer a misogynist? Discuss the roles of women in Homeric society (1994 Q) What makes Odysseus a hero? Aeneas is an unsatisfactory leader – Discuss. Odyssey Character Quotes for Odysseus, Athena, Penelope and Telemachus Short Notes on Characters: Eumaeus, Servants, Suitors, Shades in Hades,

Eurylochus, Bards: Phemius and Demodicus, Irus, Argus and the Phaeacicans

Odysseus and Aeneas endure similar trials and tribulations yet they behave in very different ways


CONCLUSION

Ultimately Virgil’s hero is pius Aeneas – a man with a keen sense of duty to the gods, to his father and his son (his patriarchal family), to his people and the wider community. Homer’s hero is simply polytropos – a multifaceted hero. He is motivated by self-interest. His father, his wife and son are all extensions to himself. The difference between the two comes down to the difference between the purpose of the epics. Like Demodocus, Homer is a blind bard who earns his crust by entertaining kings and nobles at feasts with the tale of an intriguing hero. Virgil’s task however is much more complex. Augustus charged him with writing the Roman epic to rival Homer’s but also to offer the down-hearted Romans a renewed sense of national and racial pride. The Odyssey is a great story. The Aeneid is propaganda. Of course Aeneas is a just man. Odysseus on the other hand is just a man; call it the difference between perfection and reality. Aeneas is perfect. Odysseus is real.

Odysseus is polymetis (of many ploys)

He is the intellectual hero who is famous for his brains; that’s why Athena loves him.

He is a wordsmith who cannot be outdone in speech. He sidesteps Claypso’s vanity trap, he convinced the Achaeans to award him Achilles’ armour (over Ajax) at Troy, he tricks the Cyclops with the pun “me tis” and he is an expert liar who mixes truth with fiction like his Cretan sailor alter-ego told to Eumaeus and Penelope.

Aeneas by contrast is gravitas (solemn)

He would never stoop to lying. That is a Greek trait represented by Sinon’s lies, Sinon can be taken as a stand-in for Ulysses who is inside the horse. In oratory (public speaking) he is genuine. He never lies to Dido for instance, even though it would be tempting. He never minces his words either. He won’t try to trick you. He promises to kill Turnus and does exactly that. Unlike Odysseus he will never conceal his identify but tells all;

even his enemies. Turnus knows he is the son of Venus.

Odysseys is polymechanos (of many devices)

He is the inventive hero can turn his surroundings to his advantage. He designed the Wooden Horse for instance, he built a raft in Ogygia and he is also a master of disguise who not only stole into Troy itself where Helen recognised him but even walked among the Suitors testing their guilt or innocence before the slaughter.

By contrast Aeneas is dignitas (dignified)No matter how desperate he is invention is beneath Aeneas. The Wooden Horse is why one should “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts”. Aeneas does not build ships himself but rather oversees his people who build ships and his ships are sacred to Cybele and turn into nymphs later on. Disguise is the very last thing on Aeneas’ mind. Even in Troy it was his friends who decided to wear the Greek armour. It was Aeneas’ decision to change back.

Odysseus is ptoliporthon (the sacker of cities)

Although Homer is careful not to call Odysseus a pirate Odysseus admits to Aclinous that is essentially that. This reveals the weakness in his character; but a weakness he later recognises. He desires kleos (glory) above everything else and as a young man, as he tells Eumaeus (assuming his Cretab identity) he believed that was what was all-important. Seeing his mother’s shade in the underworld however dispelled that myth, leaving his wife and son to the mercy of the Suitors is something he invited by leaving and seeing the misery of his father at the end is what finally makes him weep. He does live to regret his desire for kleos but that desire is what doomed him. For it was for kleos’ sake that he entered the Cyclops’ cave

By contrast Father Aeneas is a selfless saviour

Our first encounter with Aeneas sees a taciturn hero brooding on the beach. As he tells Dido, had he been given a choice by the Gods, he would have chosen to die defending Troy but as it is he has been set a mission – to find a new home for his people and a new throne for his son. Everything Aeneas does is in obedience to the gods, for the sake of his people and in the interests of his son. He is the responsible hero who leads his people to a new home. Odysseus loses his entire crew coming home. He is the dutiful father who cherishes his son. Odysseus left his son at home to go adventuring because as he admits himself he wasn’t interested in married life. Still, all that duty and responsibility, whilst admirable is also quite boring.


Compare Homer’s Odysseus to Virgil’s Ulysses

Pallas Athene appears to Odysseus under the olive tree in Ithaca in Book 13.

HOMER POSITVE v HOMER NEGATIVE = VIRGIL’S ULYSSES“persuasive” “irrepressible intriguer” “Ulysses and his smooth tongue ...”

“quick-witted” “cunning” “Ulysses the schemer behind all Greek crimes”

“self-possessed” “obstinate” “cruel Ulysses”Greek variants of the name: Odysseus/Olysseus/Oulixeus/Ulixeus ... Latin: Ulixēs / Ulysses

Make the point that Homer offers us a well-rounded hero, who can be both negative and positive (as evidenced by Athena in Book 13) though mainly positive because he is the hero. Virgil’s character Ulysses however is no more than a caricature designed to provide sharp contrast to pious Aeneas and magnify Virgil’s epic over Homer’s.

Compare Homer’s chief adjectives for Odysseus against Virgil’s descriptions of Ulysses in Books 2 and 3 . Corroborate with examples of each from the Odyssey and parallel with Ulysses in Aeneid 2 and 3.

Polymetis Odysseus or “nimble-witted Odysseus” as opposed to Virgil’s “sly Ulysses”: the intelligent or sly hero who avoids insulting Calypso, tricks the Cyclops or by charm and eloquence wins the Suitors approval in the Great Hall by challenging Eurymachus to a trial of strength in the fields, which he declines angrily. Ulysses is however a liar. When Ulysses himself is in the Wooden Horse, Sinon acts as his agent. He is committed to either lie or die at the hands of the Trojans who have never experienced dishonesty on this scale before. Sinon tells us Ulysses blackened his name among the Greeks and threatened the prophet Calchas to point him out for sacrifice. All of these things are dishonest and ignoble. Virgil prefers to portray Homer’s hero as “the irrepressible intriguer” or “smooth tongued” rascal because its suits his purposes.

Polymechanos Odysseus or “inventive Odysseus” as opposed to Virgil’s “schemer”: the inventive master of disguise and deception. Odysseus is the MacGuiver of Greek mythology; the hero who can turn his environment to his advantage. He often boasts that he thought of breaking up a ship to build the Wooden Horse, he is able to sahion a stake from an olive trunk to blind the Cyclops, build his bed around an olive tree and he is a master of disguise who stole into Troy itself as well as his own palace to test the Suitors one by one. Virgil’s Ulysses however is a villain who uses his skills for evil. The Wood Horse is the doom of Troy; the masterpiece of an evil genius.

Polytlas dios Odysseus or long-suffering but godly Odysseus. Zeus himself admits that he can never forget Odysseus “who has been the most generous in his offerings to the immortals.” Unlike Aegisthus, who ignored the advice of the gods, Odysseus never does. Not even in extreme


circumstances like when we washes ashore on Phaeacia; before he crawls off to collapse asleep he remembers Ino’s advice, turns his back to the sea and tosses her magical veil back over his shoulder. He never complains about his suffering but grits his teeth and does whatever it takes to get home to his wife and son. He will sail to the Gates of Hades, cling to the fig tree all day over Charybdis and is even resolved to travel inland, once he settles affairs in Ithaca, to appears the wrath of Poseidon. Homer’s hero endures his torments but Virgil’s Ulysses is not single-minded in that sense. He is described as “cruel”. In the midst of the chaos during the Sack of Troy Aeneas spies Ulysses guarding the treasure in the Temple of Juno. Later, when passing the land of the Cyclopes, he takes a Greek castaway: Achamenides aboard who says he was abandoned by Ulysses in his rush to flee the island. Ulysses is a very different character to the Odysseus who did everything to save his ill-fated men in the Odyssey and this is because Virgil has a different agenda to Homer.

Homer’s polytropic (multifaceted) hero is entertaining as the lovable rogue because as a bard, like Demodocus, Homer’s job was to entertain a crowd after a feast. Who does not enjoy hearing the tales of Odysseus? Virgil’s epic is Roman propaganda however. He was charged by Augustus to write the Roman epic to rival the Greek ones. Aeneas cannot therefore stoop to the level of “the Greeks” and since Ulysses is his rival’s hero, both heroes are going to be compared to each other. Ulysses is therefore the ambassador of Greece in the Aeneid and Aeneas is the really the ideal Roman: Augustus, so Virgil has to stick to the negative side of Ulysses.


Compare the roles of Athena in the Odyssey to Venus in the Aeneid

Conclusion

Athena acts like a surrogate mother for Odysseus because he is her favourite. Venus however actually is Aeneas’ mother so Virgil does not need to imply this connection. The roles of both goddesses are identical.

Mothers love their sons and want the best for them. They even interfere on their sons’ behalves.

Does Athena ever meddle in worldly affairs so that the altered outcome favours her favourite? Cite 3 instances!

Mothers love their sons and want the best for them. They even interfere on their sons’ behalves.

Does Venus ever meddle in worldly affairs so that the altered outcome favours her son? Cite 3 instances!

Education begins at home. Mothers teach their sons right from wrong. They encourage them and sometimes scold them.

Does Athena ever do any of these things for Odysseus?

Cite 3 instances!

Education begins at home. Mothers teach their sons right from wrong. They encourage them and sometimes scold them.

Does Venus ever do any of these things for Aeneas?

Cite 3 instances!

To enable their sons to achieve their potentials mothers also watch out for their sons. They protect them from harm.

Does Athena ever protect Odysseus from harm?

Cite 3 instances!

To enable their sons to achieve t their potentials mothers also watch o out for their sons. They protect them from h harm.

Does Venus ever protect Aeneas from harm?

Cite 3 instances!


Compare the roles of Poseidon in the Odyssey to Juno in the Aeneid

Poseidon does one thing to Odysseus in the Odyssey. He wrecks his raft as he is sailing away from Phaeacia. He also punishes the Phaeacians for helping Odysseus.

Apart from that it is Zeus who drives him off course due to Athena’s anger with the Greeks after Troy (Ajax’s rape of Cassandra) and also Zeus who destroys his ship and kills his crew thanks to Hyperion’s complaint.

Juno however is an outright villain.

There is no villain in the Odyssey; nor are there villains generally in Greek myths; only protagonists and agressors. Poseidon is simply an aggressor; someone who dislikes Odysseus and acts against him but he only does so once.

By Virgil’s day drama and narrative have evolved.

Juno is Aeneas’ nemesis. She is motivated by furor: the opposite of pietas, which drives Aeneas. Her hatred is implacable!


COMPARE TELEMACHUS TO ASCANIUS

Childhood

ODYSSEY 1 First impression of T is very poor 20 year old young man in a state of arrested development: childish. He dreams of his father returning to solve his problems.

AENEID 1

By contrast Ascanius is a child in Book 1. He is incapable of doing anything for himself. He is naturally dependent on his father.

ODYSSEY 2

Charged with unnatural self-assurance a cocky Telemachus embarrasses himself

He learns humility and accepts that he need to be led by Mentor

AENEID 2

Anchises is led out of Troy by his father

Anchises is incapable of leaving himself.

He is a well-behaved child.

ODYSSEY 3 & 4

Guided by Mentor Telemachus learns how to walk and talk with kings in Book 3

By Book 4 he has come so far that Menelaus receives him as a visiting prince on his own merits.

AENEID 5

In the equestrian event Ascanius shows himself to be a quick study and a champion rider but when smoke rises from the harbour he equally demonstrates his sense of duty and leadership when he is the first on the scene and scolds the women.

ODYSSEY 16 onward

Telemachus takes on heavy responsibilities for his father and increasingly has to act on his own instincts and does so admirably

AENEID 7 onward

Ascanius likewise steadily shows his ability to lead as he takes command of the fort in his father’s absence and has to make command decisions on his own

ODYSSEY 21 to end

Telemachus is now a man who fights shoulder to shoulder with his father and even his grandfather. He even makes his own decisions trusting his own judgment

AENEID 11 & 12

Likewise Ascanius too fights alongside his father as a young man and army chief. He makes decisions and acts on his own accord.

Both characters are very similar but we know Telemachus better. We only meet Ascanius intermittently throughout the epic as he gradually grows up. Virgil never portrays the future hope of the Trojan Race in a negative light, whereas Telemachus has depth and develops from start to finish. His journey to manhood is emotional and psychological rather than simply physical. Telemachus is more intriguing. Ascanius is two dimensional. He is a caricature rather than a character,

School

Graduation

Early career

Manhood


Discuss the importance of father-son relationships in Virgil’s Aeneid.

The relationship between fathers and their sons and sons and their fathers is central to Virgil’s entire message in his epic but to discuss it as a theme it is necessary to analyse it, so I’m going to break it down and move from its simplest to its more complex manifestations. It is however necessary to provide a brief model in order to better understand these layers of complexity so let us take the archetypal image from Book 2 of the Trojans fleeing Ilium. Here we see a devoted father Aeneas leading his obedient son by the hand and carrying his own beloved father Anchises, who in turn bears the sacred idols of the Penates and importantly Aeneas also leads his people too. In this image we have four layers of complexity: the sons’ devotions to their fathers, the fathers’ devotions to their sons, the sacredness of that bond and the social aspect of it in the one image.

Let’s start with the simplest relationship: a son’s devotion to his father. Throughout the Aeneid we see Ascanius as an obedient little boy growing into an obedient man who is always devoted to his father Aeneas just as Aeneas himself is devoted to his own father Anchises. This relationship is very matter of fact in the epic and so much so that it is tempting to overlook its importance. It only becomes central to understanding the Aeneid when one stops to take notice of just how much stock Virgil places in it. Take Ascanius for instance. He is the obedient little boy holding his father’s hand as they flee Troy. Ascanius follows his father just as Aeneas follows his. Remember that in despair Aeneas resigned himself to dying in defence of a lost cause: Troy, and always wished he had died there later on but because his mother Venus pulled back the veil from his eyes and allowed him to see the futility in


fighting against fate he conceded to flight. Knowing this however doesn’t stop him obeying his father’s command to return and defend the city at all costs. Aeneas obeys his father even though it goes against his better judgment because he is an obedient son like Ascanius. Sons are therefore consciously obedient to their fathers in the Aeneid. It is not a mindless impulse like a young child gripping his father’s hand for the sake of reassurance. Ascanius grips his father’s hand because he should, just as Aeneas carries his own feeble father because it is his duty as a son to do so. Disobedient sons are men to frown upon in the Aeneid. In Book 2 we also meet Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus): the son of Achilles, who kills Priam’s son before his eyes before slaughtering the already ruined man. His arrogance, malice and careless disregard for the fact that in behaving in such a way he brings dishonour on the name of his now dead father Achilles, who Priam reminds him showed respect when he returned the body of his son Hector, earn him none of our pity and we are even glad to know that he will meet an ignoble end himself in payment for such wanton cruelty. There is a message in this. Sons should respect their fathers and follow their examples. If they do not they will end up like Pyrrhus: wretched, but if they do they will live under the assurance that their fathers are always watching over them with the same fondness that Aeneas showers on Ascanius. The relationship between father and son therefore works both ways. This fact is confirmed in Book 6 when Anchises’ shade tells Aeneas “I knew you would come”. Aeneas’ devotion to his father is therefore matched by Anchises’ faith in his son and that bond traverses the boundary of death.

The father’s devotion to his son is the second layer of complexity and it is personified by Aeneas holding Ascanius’ hand but also more subtly by Anchises holding


the Penates’ images, for where will Aeneas be in exile without the help of the Trojan gods? He has only two hands: one grips his son, the other his father, so his devoted father grips that which is most important and that which his son cannot bear. Anchises is forever looking after his son’s welfare. It is Anchises who in Book 2 takes charge of the desperate situation and commands his frantic son to calm down and return to the melee and die in defence of Troy. It is Anchises in Book 3 however misguided who advises his son to settle in Sicily. It is Anchises ghost at the end of Book 5 who tells Aeneas to descend into the kingdom of Dis to see him and learn his destiny. Aeneas too is devoted to his own son Ascanius. He cannot bear to be separated from him for any length of time and will not for want of his beloved son continue towards Dido’s palace in Book 1 until he has sent Achates to fetch his son to join them. In Book 4 it his Aeneas’ profound sense of obligation to his son that provides him with his excuse for ending his love affair with Dido. He mentions nothing about his own love for Dido or his heart-break at the thoughts of life without her but instead reminds her that as a father he is duty bound to obey the gods and ensure that his son’s destiny is realised in Italy. Why a father should be so devoted to a son is explained when with tears Anchises’ ghost reveals that the gods will deny Rome total glory by robbing Augustus of his own son Marcellus.

Religion is tied to this mutual bond between fathers and sons in Virgil’s epic. Father-son relationships are sacred in Roman religion. Why else would Anchises carry the Penates? He does so not out of some vague sense of reverence but out of the same filial devotion that causes his own son to carry him on his shoulders. Who else but Jupiter himself guarantees the sanctity of the father-son relationships in the Aeneid? Throughout the epic he is


dubbed “the father of men and of gods” and even the name Jupiter is itself a conjunction of the word pater (father) and the god’s true name Jove. Jupiter is the capstone of this hierarchical pyramid. In serving one’s father one ultimately serves Father Jove. Even barbarians are mindful of this connection for when in Book 4 the covetous Libyan chieftain Iarbas prays to Jupiter in complaint against Dido’s outrageous liaison with Aeneas he stings the King of the gods into action by threatening to stop praying to the gods altogether if they allow this scandalous union to continue. Virgil tells us Iarbas is Jupiter’s bastard son but even an illegitimate son can expect justice from his father. And illegitimacy brings us nicely towards the fourth and final layer of complexity.

The final aspect of this bond that is so central to the Roman identity lies behind the family trio: Aeneas’ people following behind. In Roman law the pater familias (family father) was all-powerful in domestic matters. Wives, children and slaves alike looked to the pater familias for guidance and behind closed doors the pater familias was god almighty who commanded the very lives of those in his household. Although in action it is Aeneas in Book 2, it is actually Anchises who leads them because he holds the Penates and the decision to finally leave Troy hinged on his decision to heed the flame from Jupiter that danced upon Ascanius’ head. Roman children follow their fathers, just as Ascanius follows his and by extension the Roman people follow their father, so it is no accident at all that in viewing the procession of the unborn souls in Book 6 Virgil calls Augustus “a father to his people.” And who says it? None other than the great father himself: Anchises, who from a high mound in company with his own son Aeneas surveys the souls of the many great sons that will follow his line. He does not however simply look at his direct


bloodline descendants such as Caesar but also other famous Romans like the Gracchi, Scipio, Brutus and Cato; all of them his beloved children of whom he expects the same level of devotion that he knows his son will show for him. It is interesting to note that Augustus was only Caesar’s son and heir by posthumous adoption through his will. They were loosely related but even still the sacredness of that assumed bond is not diminished by the fact that they were not biologically father and son. In Roman eyes this fact is clearly negligible. Augustus is every bit a son to Caesar as Iarbas is to Jupiter and Brutus is to his forebear Anchises. The importance of father-son relationships therefore does not hinge on DNA but on what one believes in one’s heart.

In conclusion we must mention the Roman ideal of pietas. Virgil’s hero is defined by his piety and Roman piety has many levels. It is not just reverence for the gods as we know it today but an aggregate devotion to all aspects, all tiers on the pyramid capped by Jupiter himself. The pious Roman must obey his father as Aeneas obeys Anchises, he must be devoted to his son as Aeneas is to Iulus, he must be devoted to his people as Aeneas is to the Trojans and in doing so, by fulfilling all these duties to his upmost ability a Roman will be performing his duties to those mysterious gods who are ever present in every single walk of life. They may be merely represented by wooden idols clung to by an old man carried by his son but they are there and must be respected. Pious Aeneas is as loyal to the gods as he is to his father, his son and his people and above all else this is why Aeneas is Roman to the core. This is Virgil’s point and therein lies the reason why father-son relationships are central to the Aeneid.


Turnus

Like Dido, obstacle to Aeneas’ Destiny

Turnus appears in stark contrast to Aeneas because he is a very Homeric hero like Achilles or Odysseus

He wants kleos (glory) above all else. He is not afraid to lead his people against the perceived invaders and “drive them from Italy” and he is devastated by the shame of having been spirit away from the battlefield by Juno; not because he fears for his people but because of what his people might think of him.

He is however a malicious character described by Virgil as a predeator: as a wolf prowling the penned lambs during his attack on the camp in Aeneas’ absence, as a fire breathing chimera, a lion or an eagle in the battlefield.

As the local Rutillian chieftain he feels that he has a natural claim to marry Lavinia (like the Berber chieftain Iarbas felt he had on Dido in Libya) and resents the arrival of this foreign prince of Troy: an unwanted outsider; a rival.

Victim of Juno’s furor

Like Dido, Juno uses Turnus as a pawn in her futile opposition to Fate. Like Dido, Turnus too will be sacrificed by Juno for the sake of her pride.

She sends Allecto to stir up a jealous rage (furor) in his heart against Aeneas.

Furor however is his weakness. Whilst he is a brave warrior and accomplished warrior furor makes him do careless things like leaping alone into the Trojan camp. Though he kills many Trojans eventually they rally against him and Juno send Iris to command him to flee. He is lucky to escape by plunging into the Tiber in full armour: a rather ignoble thing for a hero to be forced to do.

His furor causes him to add insult to injury when he behaves ignobly after killing the young Pallas. He gives the body of the boy back to the Arcadians but only after savagely ripping his baldric off his body armour and casting the corpse back to his people with a threat to Evander; soon to be a grieving father. That single act dooms him later to Aeneas’ sword.

Sympathy for Turnus

Say what you will about Turnus’ cruelty but its important to remember it was brought about by Allecto.

Queen Amata loves Turnus and Lavinia (who is largely a non-entity) in the epic also favoured him above all her other suitors. He has reason to feel agreived by Faunus’ oracle about a war coming from across the sea (the Trojans). He is respected by his people who rally to his call.

Ultimately however he knows the gods are against him. He tells Aeneas that it is not his fierceness but rather “it is the gods that cause me to fear and the enmity of Jupiter.” Juno shirks responsiblity for Turnus by foisting the responsibility on his sister the goddess Juturna who succeeds in driving him away from Aeneas in his chariot but eventually Juno, by order of Jupiter, sends Allecto down as an owl to paralyse the man with fear. Aeneas defeats Turnus in single combat because of divine intervention. How cheated and abandoned he must feel knowing the gods have sided against him.

He faces death bravely however and for a moment Aeneas contemplates forgiving him and going against the gods but the sight of Pallas’ baldric on him causes him to brutally bury his sword up to its hilt in Turnus’ chest.


Would you agree that Odysseus is a good leader?If you have read the Odyssey you will know that Odysseus generally works best alone and whilst he makes leadership mistakes, on balance, taking him as a developing character he finishes the epic as a good leader but he learns the hard way.Book 4. Take Troy for example, Helen tells Teleamachus how she met him one night when he snuck into Troy in disguise. He was acting alone here but he brought intelligence back to the Greeks on the layout of Troy.Remember also how Menelaus tells Telemachus why he came to be separated from Odysseus after Troy. Odysseus initially set out with Menelaus but turns back thinking it better to make sacrifice with Agamemnon and so avoids the gale that blew Menelaus to Egypt but Zeus got him later on near Cape Malea after Cicones. Turning back to support the high king, so to speak, was a strategic political move. He wanted to show solidarity with Agamemnon. Ithaca is a small island kingdom. He had to keep Agamemnon on side – Eumaeus tells the baggared Odysseus us as much later on.Book 2. Aegytius, who speaks first at the Achaean Assembly, recalls how Odysseus ruled his people like a father. He was certainly a much loved and popular king BUT later on, when spinning a tale to Eumaeus, having assumed the identity of a Cretan traveller, he reveals cetain truthes about himself in his lie namely that married life and economic prosperity was not the life he wanted. He yearned to sail, to explore, the fight and win glory above all else and so he left his home for Troy. This is surely irresponsible – something he later comes to realise gradually as he meets the ghost of his mother who waded out into the sea in grief after he failed to return from Troy, listens to how Achilles regrets his choice of fate – he would rather be the lowliest slave working the fields than be king among the dead, witnesses how his wife and son are vulnerable to the threats of the Suitors and finally sees how his own father was reduced to peasantry in despair at losing his dearest son. This revelation comes at a time when he must face the fathers of the Suitors at the end of the book. Book 9 marks the beginning of his wanderings.In Ismarus the city of the Cicones he is a poor leader who allows his men to pressure him against his betetr judgment to feast instead of departing with the spoils allowing the Cicones to regroup and return later in the afternoon. The entire affair is a debacle.In the Land of the Lotus-easters he is marginally better. He has the foresight to send 2 ambassadors and a herald (3 men) in-land and later rescues them and departs the land quickly before more of his crew taste the Lotus. This is surely the behaviour of a responsible leader.His leadership is mixed in the land of the Cyclopes.On the one hand he wisely decides to hide his fleet in the seaward cove and sail round to the mainland only in his ship; thus his fleet are not trapped by the Cyclops. Of course he doesn’t know what lies in store but its foresighted judgment on his part; very responisble. He goes against his better judgment however on entering the cave in the hopes of gaining a wonderful gift from the giant but allows his men to steal his cheeses. Once Polyphemus reveals his true colours however Odysseus’ leadership is masterful. He wisely decides against killing Polyphemus immediately after witnessing him devouring two of his comrades. Instead he bides his time all day but has to suffer the Cyclops eating two more of his men. In fact he eats six in all. Odysseus’ arguaby sacrifices them to the greater good but then;; what else can he


do? What would you do? He spends the whole day perparing the stake even heat treating the point in the fire and concealing it under the sheep dung and gets the Cyclops drunk.Does he have to trick the Cyclops – is this Odysseus’ ego getting the better of him? Then again when Polyphemus’ neighbours ask who blinded him the response his deemed to be the ravings of a mad man. No One blinded him? Its a contentious point.He sends his men out in pairs strapped to the ewes’ bellies and like a good captain waits until all his crew have left safely before escaping himself under the black ram.Once safe however his leadership plunges again at the expense of his ego. His men beg him to simply make off but he cannot resist taunting the Cyclops. This is hybris and almost causes them to run aground when the second boulder lands in front of the ship washing them back towards the groping arms of the Cyclops.Book 10. His leadership in Aeolia is questionable. He simply takes on too much – perhaps he doesn’t trust his men or allows himself to be overtaken by enthusiasm. He doesn’t sleep until Ithaca is within sight and then collapses leaving his conspiratorial men to open Aeolus’ sack of winds. Having returned the a second time Aeolus refuses to help the man who is quite clearly doomed by the gods; cheeky of him to try a second time perhaps.In Laestrygonia he continues to show himself to truly a lone wolf when he moors his own ship outside of the treacherous bay but allows the rest of his fleet to sail inside. Thus he loses all but his own ship to the cannibal Laestrygonians of Telepylos.In Aiaia, he shows his care as a leader by bring back the stag to eat but immediately errs again afterwards. We might question why he draws lotts for choosing the reconnaissance team. Surely a good leader would venture inland himself first. Later however he deals with Eurylochus’ near mutiny masterfully causing him to lose heart and again wisely decides not to murder him but rather to make an example of him instead. His solo-mission against the witch is brave certainly and in having her restore his comrades back to men before taking her to bed is very caring but once in the clear again he surrenders himself to pleasure and even has to be reminded of their nostos by his men; and then leaving for Cimmeria without even noticing Elpinor is dead ... That is irrepsonsible. Its hould not be a surprise to a good leader that one his crew fell off Circe’s roof and remains unburied.Book 12. You could argue that Odysseus is a poor leader when he passes the sirens but then again he takes every precaution that his men are safe and orders them not to untie him under any circumstances whatever. Can we criticise him for being curious?He has to pass Scylla. If he goes by Charybdis he will lose his whole ship but notice he arms himself despite Circe’s warning that it is futile. He will not go down without a fight. This is not leadership but pride but who would you rather follow: a leader who suits up for war even when death is a given or one who simply surrenders himself to death? If nothing else he gave his men heart.Going asleep when he did at Thrinacia was unfortunate but it was Eurylochus who persuaded the Achaeans to sluaghter the sun-god’s cattle. What more could Odysseus do other than warn them. They are grown men. He is their leader; not their father. Is the fact that he loses his crew then his fault? In that single instance perhaps no but is it the last error in a series of mistakes?Once safe at home in Ithaca remember he obeys Athena’s commands to the letter. He does not reveal himself to Eumaeus because he is keeping everything close until


the right moment and he does eventually reveal himself and enlists his and Philotius’ help in the battle in the hall.He carried out his plan with almost mathematical precision. Telemachus follows his lead and even looks to him for inspriation be it a glare to not string the bow or a nod to make ready for battle.Eumaeus and Philotius equally follow their leader’s commands and his orders are levelled and clear-sighted. Eumaeus is to lock the doors so the Suitors are trapped. Remember it is Telemachus he leaves the store room door open so that Melanthius can arm the Suitors; so we cannot blame Odysseus for this. He did give the command.Later on after the carnage the one time gloater warns Eurycleia not to gloat over the dead Suitors. He is a leader full of the wisdom of experience; the school of hard knocks. He is veru practial in ordering the disloyal maids to clean the hall before sending them off for execution by Telemachus. He is foresighted in ordering Phemius to play festival music and for the servants to act as if there is a wedding party on so that the locals will not realise what has happened to quickly and he is wise to lead his son and the two servants up to Laertes’ house in the hills. They are going into the wild to avoid the reprecussions and to prepare for the final battle for which they will need back up, which they get from Dolius and his sons. His behavious in the final few books is madertful. He has become a great leader but he wasn’t always one.


ORAL TRADITION

Epic is meant to heard not read!

Odyssey is an epic – composed in dactyllic hexameter – a repetitive poetic rhythm, easy to remember and uses simple formulaic titles of heroes like rosey fingered dawn, Zeus the father of men and of gods, long-suffering godlike Odysseus which are lyrics in a memorable song. Elsewhere Homer repeats whole passages almost verbatim like the similarities between Odysseus’ scouting of Leastrygonia and Aiaia: where he climbs a cliff to survey a vast forest with a single plume of smoke rising from the middle, or the parallel between Menelaus’ men being reduced to angling for fish in the pools of Pharos and Odysseus’ in Thrinacia due to a raging storm at sea. He also uses extended similes to describe things because, being a poem, it is descriptive.

Although the ancient Greeks said Homer came from Miletus in Ionia, was blind but composed the Iliad and the Odyssey, no standard edition of either poem emerged until the 3rd century BC when they appeared in the Library of Alexandria. Fragments (quotes) from the epics however appear in all sorts of classical (5th century BC) texts from Plato’s philosophies to the histories of Herodotus and are correct to the standard version meaning that this poem was learned like a folk song rather than written down and stored in a library.

The epic however was probably composed by several poets and Homer was merely an imagined author or the most famous of them.

We know this because the epic is composed in all three dialects of Ancient Greek: mainly Ionic (spoken by the Athenians, the Aegean islanders and the people of Ionia in Turkey near Miletus where Homer was said to come from) but also Aeolic (spoken by the Thebans and people in north west Turkey) and even Doric (spoken by the Spartans and Cretans). Some books in the Odyssey involve all three. What poet would willingly compose a poem that alternates through Leinster, Munster and even Donegal Irish?

There are 24 scrolls or bibloi (meaning book after the city of Biblos that exported papyrus scrolls) because there are 24 letters in the Greek alphabet. The books of the Odyssey are artificial librarian divisions. Many books either stop midway through the story such as Books 9 and 10 which track his wanderings or do not end at their natural conclusion like Book 4 which jumps from Telemachus’ stay in Sparta to Penelope in Ithaca. The epic also does not end in a satisfactory way and we know from Teiresius’ prophecy that there was at least the potential for a sequel that does not survive. Book 24 or Biblos Omega as it is known in Greek is only so long because the scroll was literally so long and being the last letter it also was the last book of the series.

More tellingly however are the inconsistencies in the books. They are not so large as to destroy the narrative but pose difficult questions like why, if Circe gives Odysseus directions to Ithaca on his return to Aiaia to bury Elpinor after his visit to the Underworld did he have to go to ask Teiresius the way home in the first place? Or why Odysseus, who develops as a character learning through experience, repeats the same mistakes in Books 9 to 12. He allows his men to cajole him into feasting rather than flying in Ciconia only to do more or less the same in Aiaia when his crew refuse to follow him up to Circe’s house or he sends just 3 men inland in the land of the Lotus-Eaters then goes inland himself in the land of the Cyclops but reverts back to his old mistake in Laestrygonia. The conclusion can only be that each of these episodes were themselves popular stand-alone folk-songs that were included in a larger compendium of songs called The Odyssey after their protagonist hero and that the epic itself was arranged by some unknown scholar.

We know the epic itself was never performed from start to finish. Classicists in the 19th century proved that it would take 18 hours to sing the entire Odyssey but on their visit to the Balkans the found illiterate Serbian poets who possessed encyclopaedic memories for vast repertoires of folkloric songs composed in a simple meter. These poets could on request compose ad lib an entirely new song from a stock of smaller verses to suit a given occasion. Taking the performances of the bards like Phemius in Ithaca or the blind Demodocus in Phaeacia (perhaps Homer’s cameo role in his own epic) we see that these rhapsodoi or bards selected shorter snippets from their repertoires to entertain the lords and ladies after a feast. In fact, Homer was more like a traditional Irish seanachee who earned is crust by moving from house to house singing songs on request like Demodocus who sings about the love triangle between Ares, Aphrodite and her husband Hephaestus and later a ballad about the heroes of Troy. This is the oral tradition. The Odyssey survived for centuries as a series of songs. That is why it was so popular in the largely illiterate ancient Greece. Were it simply a book, the epic would never have survived the Dark Ages.

Most of the texts we have from ancient Greece are the results of happy accidents: treasure troves of texts that were thought lost. For instance today classicists love to find mummies in Egypt because they were wrapped with unwanted papyrus – like being wrapped in newspaper – these documents encased in a maché hold tantalising poems and plays that have long since been lost: whole tragedies by Sophocles, lost works of Plato, alternate histories of Alexander’s campaigns and who knows, maybe even the lost sequel to Homer’s Odyssey? Books themselves did not tend to survive long before the invention of the printing press. Where is the original Táin or the medieval story of Robin Hood now? They were lost. We know about Cuchullain and the Outlaw of Sherwood because they survived in the popular imagination before someone wrote them down and the book was mass produced. The most widely produced ancient manuscript is the Bible. In antiquity however there were more gospels than there are now. Four were preferred by the early church and four survived. The Gospel of Saint Thomas for example was lost until it was discovered in a jar in Egypt in the 1930’s. It is considered a Gnostic rather than Christian text even though it tells the sequel to the story of the Road to Damascus. The ideas recorded however in these standardised versions had survived through the oral bardic tradition for centuries beforehand just as in Ireland most people at least know the chorus verse of the Wild Rover or Molly Malone and can learn the rest easily enough by listening to a singer singing the songs without ever reading the song lyrics in a book.


DIVINE INTERVENTION

There are 4 ways in which the gods intervene in the lives of mortals in the Odyssey.

Directly and openly – Example: Odysseus is aware of a god’s presence like when Hermes gives Odysseus the antidote to Circe’s drug in Book 10

Directly but in disguise as in Odysseus is unaware of a god’s presence like whenAthena gives him directions to the Palace of Alcinous

Indirectly – when a god intervenes in the life of someone else who then helps Odysseus like whenAthena goes to Ithaca to help Telemachus so that he will be of use to his father later on

Discreetly – when a god intervenes secretly and no one notices like whenAthena calms the storm in Book 5 so Odysseus can swim to shore

There is also a very subtle instance, but it is only of minor importance compared to the other ones. Subtly Homer seems to imply a presence but does not expressly state it. Olive trees tend to appear at pivotal moments: Odysseus sleeps under two entwined Olive trees in Phaeacia, the stake with which he blinds the Cyclops is an olive trunk, Athena and Odysseus plan his nostos under and olive tree in Ithaca and Odysseus’ bed is built around an olive tree so cannot be moved.

Ultimately, Homer’s world is a more exciting version of our own in which the gods interact, intervene and change the course of events for their own purposes.

Examples of divine intervention in The Odyssey

You can decide for yourself which category of intervention each one counts as.


Book 1: Telemachus

The epic begins when Athena reminds Zeus that Odysseus is destined to return home, so whilst Poseidon is away Zeus and Athena contrive to bring about his deliverance from Ogygia

Athena arrives in Ithaca disguised as a Taphian chieftain Mentes to put Telemachus on the road to manhood because as we find out his help will be instrumental in Odysseus’ nostos.

To confirm Telemachus’ new-found self-confidence Athena reveal herself to be a goddess by vanishing before Telemachus’ eyes but not before the suitors

Athena also closes Penelope’s eyes in sleep at the end of Book 1 to save her from wallowing in her grief.

BOOK 2: THE ACHAEAN ASSEMBLY

When Telemachus rises the next day to go to the Achaean Assembly Athena enhances his beauty so that he cuts a fine and impressive figure on his way into town.

When Telemachus loses control in the assembly and prays aloud that a day of reckoning may fall on the suitors when Odysseus will return and avenge the suitors’ outrage Zeus sends an omen. Two eagles fly swoop over the assembly, fight and then fly off in different directions. Halitherses interprets this to signify that Odysseus will not be parted from his friends for much longer.

Later whilst Telemachus stands brooding on the beach feeling helpless he prays to Athena for guidance and the goddess appears disguised as Mentor: an old friend of Odysseus. The real Mentor had just supported Telemachus at the assembly and received the condemnation of the suitors. She advises him to return home and make provisions for his trip to the mainland, whilst she herself busies herself in hiring him a crew and a ship.

Whilst Telemachus in up in the palace, Athena takes his form and hires a ship and crew in the town.

To conceal their departure Athena showers the suitors in sleep so that no one will see Telemachus leaving the palace. They leave by sea under the cover of darkness in a hired ship.

BOOK 3: PYLOS

Athena, still in the form of Mentor, remains at Telemachus’ side for most of Book 3 teaching him how to act in high society and bolstering his self-confidence by urging him not to be shy. As Mentor she seems the elder so she leads by example in showing him how to make public offerings to the gods and how to speak to a king like Nestor.

When her work is done she impresses upon Nestor the divine sanction of Telemachus’ quest by transforming into a vulture and flying out of an open window. Nestor is naturally dumb-struck and in awe of his guest who has the clear and obvious help of Athena, the very goddess who walked openly with Odysseus in Troy.


BOOK 4: SPARTA

As Menelaus reveals how he came by knowledge of the whereabouts of Odysseus in Egypt. One of Proteus’ daughters helped Menelaus to overcome her father, the old man of the sea, who seas everything that happens on the waves, by hiding him and three of his companions in holes on the beach covered in sealskins. Proteus soon emerged from the deep to bask with the seals in the midday sun whereupon Menelaus following Eidothea’s advice wrestles him and refuses to let go though he transforms into all manner of animal. Finally Proteus consents to telling him whatever he desires to know.

Menelaus then recounts how the gods contrived to punish the Greeks on their return from Troy. Poseidon saw to Ajax the lesser (not Ajax, son of Telemon, who we meet in the underworld later) by driving him into the cliffs and drowning him for outraging his niece Athena by raping Cassandra in her temple.

Agamemnon managed to get home quickly thanks to the aid of Hera.

Meanwhile in Ithaca, the palace realises Telemachus had gone to the mainland. Whilst the suitors storm off to catch him on his return and kill him Penelope anxiously prays to Athena to save him and then gradually wears herself out and falls asleep. Athena makes a phantom of Penelope’s sister Iphitome who assures her that Telemachus has the help of none other than Athena and has nothing to fear. She refuses however to give Penelope any word about Odysseus.

BOOK 5: CALYPSO

Returning to the story of Odysseus Homer brings us back to Olympus now where Athena again reminds Zeus of his promise. Zeus then tells Hermes to go tell Calypso to release Odysseus.

In Ogygia Hermes receives hospitality from Calypso and tells her the will of Zeus. She obeys under protest.

On the fourth day after leaving Ogygia Poseidon spies him crossing the wine-dark sea and churns up the sea with his trident. The swell wrecks Odysseus’ raft and he despairs.

But Ino, the white armed goddess (a sea nymph). Is passing by and saves him by giving him a magical veil (like a life jacket) which keeps him afloat and saves him from drowning.

Once Poseidon drives off Athena discreetly calms the storm so Odysseus can swim for the coast of Phaeacia.

In the current of a strong estuary now Odysseus prays to the river god to call off the waters so that he may swim ashore. The river god hears his prayer and allows him access to the beach.

Once on dry land he immediately remains true to his word and casts Ino’s veil over his shoulder back into the sea. Ino catches it and sinks back into the deep.

Athena then closes Odysseus’ eyes in sleep once he has safely tucked himself up beneath a pile of leaves beneath two olive adjoining trees.

BOOK 6: NAUSICAA

Taking the form of one of her best friend’s Athena now appears over the sleeping Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous of Scherie. She put it into her head to go down to the river and wash her clothes with her hand maidens so she will look her best when she marries someone soon.


When Odysseus is awoken by the grils’ game and emerges naked, covered in dirt and brine looking like a mountain lion the girls scatter in fear but Athena emboldens Nausicaa to stand her ground.

Whilst Odysseus bathes in the river Athena enhances his beauty so that Nausicaa will find him attractive as well as charming.

On the outskirts of Scherie Odysseus ducks into a grove sacred to Athena whilsth Nausicaa and her maids travel on towards the palace. There he prays to the goddess and rebukes her for not helping him in his recent trials and begs her help now in Phaeacia. Athena hears his prayer as always but now Homer explains why she doesn’t appear openly to Odysseus – out of respect for her uncle Poseidon who vowed to harry him until he reached Ithaca.

BOOK 7: THE PALACE OF ALCINOUS

Athena now places a misty shroud over Odysseus to make him invisible to the Phaeacians.

Next she takes the form of a young Phaeacian girl carrying pitcher of water. Odysseus asks her directions to the palace. Athena then guides him to the palace and in the course of the their journey she gives him some background details about Phaeacia and also warns him about their xenophobia (distrust of strangers).

In the palace of Alcinous Odysseus follows Nausicaa’s advice and makes straight for Queen Arete and kneels before her. Just at that moment Athena lifts the mist and the hero suddenly appears before the astonished hall.

BOOK 8: THE PHAEACIAN GAMES

As the Phaeacians move towards their assembly place in the town Athena disguised as Alcinous’ herald roams up and down the streets of Scherie spreading curiosity about the stranger.

When provoked by Braodsea into competing in the games Odysseus’ discus flies farthest and Athena, disguised as one of the attendants proclaims his victory.

After Alcinous agrees to speed Odysseus home he reveals a strange old prophecy. Poseidon blessed the Phaeacian’s with great skill in seafaring. Consequently they have no need of helmsmen because their ship’s so blessed by Poseidon never lose their way on the sea but it was foretold that one day they would incur the hatred of Poseidon for helping a stranger on his way home … This explains what happens later on in Book 13.

BOOK 9: THE CYCLOPS

After leaving Ismarus, the city of the Cicones, Zeus sends a gale that drives Odysseus and his fleet off course. Eventually when the win died down a little he spied Cape Malea and for a moment felt he was in the clear but then the wind picked up again and drove the ships into the open sea. The last recognisable land mark was the island of Kythera but for nine whole days and nights the wind drove the ships into unknown seas.

BOOK 10: CIRCE


On hearing Eurylochus’ tale of what befell half his comrades in Circe’s house Odysseus decides to go alone to meet the Goddess. Along the track he is met by Hermes, disguised as a youth who teaches him how to overcome Circe and gives him a magical antidote to her drug called moly.

BOOK 12: THE CATTLE OF THE SUN

Despite Odysseus’ urgings to the contrary, Eurylochus succeeds in convincing his men to land on Thrinacia. During the night Zeus rouses a storm that prevents them from leaving the island for a whole month, during which time they run out of meat and are forced to eat fish.

Whilst he sleeps Odysseus’ men break their promise to him and butcher some of the Sun-god’s cattle. Then, even after being scolded by Odysseus they continue dining on beef for a whole week. Hyperion threatens to go down to the underworld and shine on the dead if Zeus will not make the Achaean’s repay their theft in blood. Zeus agrees and as soon as the Achaeans are clear of the island in open water he strikes the ship with a thunderbolt and blasts the ship with squalls. The ship is torn to pieces and Odysseus’ men drown but he alone escapes by clinging to some wreckage.

For nine days and nights he drifts until he finally washes up on Ogygia where the nymph Calypso takes him as her lover.

BOOK 13:

Seeing the Phaeacians depositing a sleeping Odysseus with all his booty on the shore of Ithaca Poseidon complains to Zeus. With his permission Poseidon transforms the returning ship to stone in full view of all the Phaeacians. Alcinous recognises it for the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy and advises his people to make immediate sacrifice to Poseidon in the hope that he will not raise a ridge of mountains all around their land cutting them off from the sea.

Meanwhile in Ithaca Athena showers Odysseus in a mist to hide him.

After Odysseus has woken and checked his booty Athena comes up to him disguised as a shepherd boy. Odysseus asks the boy what land he has reached and Athena tells him it is Ithaca.

Cautious Odysseus immediately lies and says he is a Cretan fugitive who killed Idomeneus’ son and has heard tell of Ithaca. Athena waits until he has finished his tale and then chuckling reveals her divinity by transforming into a beautiful woman. Odysseus rebukes her for abandoning him on his adventures since Troy where she helped him openly. Athena explains that she could not be seen to help him because of Poseidon, though she also admits that she has always been watching over him regardless of whether he knew it or not because he is so intelligent, so cunning and self-possessed.

Together they stow his booty in the nearby cave of the Nymphs. Odysseus hauls it up whilst Athena finds the best spot within the cavern. Then they both plan Odysseus’ revenge on the suitors under the shade of a sacred olive tree. Athena tells Odysseus to go first to Eumaeus’ hut to get the lay of the land and to that end she withers his looks and transforms him into a beggar.

BOOK 15: TELEMACHUS COMES HOME

Athena goes to Sparta where she finds Telemachus and Peisistratus asleep in the portico of Menelaus’ palace. Hovering at his ear she reminds him of his mission and tells him to beg leave to return home at once. She also warns him of the suitors’ ambush and advises him to steer for the city side of the island instead of the usual route. She also tells him to first visit Eumaeus before going to the palace.


Just as Peisistratus and Telemachus are making ready to leave Sparta Zeus sends an eagle swooping past to the right of their chariot clutching a white goose in it talons. Helen interprets the omen to signify that just like the eagle Odysseus too will pass his trials and seize his prize.

On leaving Pylos Athena sends a favourable wind that drives the ship quickly west towards Ithaca.

Just as they are about to disembark Apollo’s hawk rushes past the ship to the right bearing a struggling dove in its talons. Some of the feathers fall in front of Telemachus. Theoclymenus, the fugitive Telemachus took aboard at Pylos is a seer and interprets the omen to signify that Telemachus’ line will rule Ithaca forever.

BOOK 16: FATHER AND SON REUNITED

Just after Eumaeus leaves the hut to go to the palace to inform Penelope of Telemachus’ safe return Athena appears at the threshold disguised as a beautiful woman. She is visible only to Odysseus but not Telemachus and she beckons Odysseus out. She then tells the hero to reveal him self to his son and restores his good looks and his clothes whereupon Telemachus sees his father standing by the door. He never sees Athena though he initially mistakes Odysseus for a god.

After confronting the suitors for their treachery against her son Penelope returns to her bedchamber where Athena sends her to sleep.

Before Eumaeus returns to the hut, Athena also restores Odysseus’ disguise for fear that the swineherd would not keep the secret but would blurt it out to Penelope.

BOOK 17: A STRANGER COMES TO TOWN

When Telemachus meets Theoclymenus and Peireaus he tells Periaeus to keep possession of his treasures for the moment in case the wicked suitors steal them. He leads Theoclymenus to the palace where he gives him hospitality and is reunited with his mother. During their talk the seer tells Penelope of the omen they saw and foretells that Odysseus is home now, on the prowl waiting for his moment to strike. Penelope hopes what he says is true and promises him great rewards if he is.

On the way towards the palace Odysseus’ disguise fools all but his faithful old dog Argos who he finds sleeping on a dung heap by the gate. Odysseus stifles a tear for his dog and as he passes the dark shadow of Death closes the dog’s eyes forever.

On hearing that Antinous hit the beggar with a stool Penelope prays that Odysseus will return soon and he and Telemachus will kill all the suitors. Just then Telemachus sneezes. The sneeze sounds like a thunderbolt in the hall and Penelope takes the sneeze as an omen signifying divine confirmation of her prayer.

BOOK 18: THE BEGGAR IN THE PALACE

As Odysseus does his rounds of the great hall assessing each suitor in turn Athena inspires Penelope to appear amidst the suitors. She calls her handmaiden Eurynome who advises her to take a bath to wash the tears from her cheeks. Penelope refuses but asks Eurynome to fetch her handmaidens Autonoe and Hippodameia to walk with her into the midst of the suitors for modesty forbids a lady to walk alone in the society of men. Whist Eurynome is away, Athena showers Penelope in sleep and then makes her look beautiful.


After Odysseus sends the disloyal maids scurrying off to Penelope’s chamber under threat of his telling Telemachus about their affairs with the suitors, he takes charge of stoking the fire. Athena now inspires Eurymachus to taunt the beggar so that his insults will cut deeper into Odysseus’ heart and seal his fate.

BOOK 19: PENELOPE MEETS THE BEGGAR

When the suitors go home Odysseus is left alone in the hall and Homer tells us that Athena helps him plot his next moves but she is not actually present.

As Odysseus and Telemachus haul the spears and armour to the storeroom Athena lights the way Notcing this unnatural light Telemachus takes it for the work of some god but Odysseus warns him to get a grip on himself and get on with the task at hand.

On leaving the beggar and going up to her chamber Athena again seals Penelope’s eyes in sleep.

BOOK 20: PRELUDE TO THE CRISIS

As Odysseus lies battling with his emotions: seething rage and violence in his heart, Athena descends in the form of a woman. She calms his spirit and assures him of his victory by her help, then showers him in sleep.

The next morning Odysseus prays to Zeus to give him some sign of his approval. A clap of thunder sounds above and a maid preparing bread for the day voices a prayer that Odysseus may yet return and kill the suitors. Odysseus rises convinced of victory.

When Eumaeus comes into the hall he brings with him the cowherd Philoetius who greets Odysseus hospitably and professes his loyalty and love for Odysseus. Odysseus now swear an oath to him that Odysseus will return and kill the suitors whilst he is still in the hall. Just as he finishes speaking the suitors begin to talk of killing Telemachus again and an eagle flies high to the left clutching a trambling dove. Amphinomous the suitor’s seer interprets this omen to signify that they will be unsuccessful in their plans and advises them instead to feast. They decide to do as he says and turn their attention to eating and drinking.

When the suitors arrive they begin to bait Odysseus to little avail as Odysseus remains silent and endures but Athena inspires Ctesippus to hurl a cows hoof at him. Odysseus however ducks and as the hoof smashes into the wall behind he grins sardonically at the suitor. Telemachus then breaks up the commotion.

The suitors now cajole Telemachus into coaxing his mother to wed the one among them who gives her the finest gifts but Telemachus refuses to drive his mother from the house. Athena now showers the suitors in hysterical laughter. Theoclymenus the seer however has a premonition of doom. He sees their ghostly faces drenched in blood and a shadow looming over the whole hall. Then the suitors hysterics turn on him and Eurymachus calls for the suitors to escort the raving madman into the light so he can see that it is not night but Theoclymenus refuses his escort and takes himself out of the hall back to Peiraeus’ house.

BOOK 21: THE GREAT BOW

Penelope is eavesdropping on the commotion in the great hall and so Athena now inspires her to descend and set the challenge.


The moment Odysseus sounds the string of the bow Zeus sends a thunderbolt crashing across the sky as the suitors’ faces go white in awe.

BOOK 22: SLAUGHTER IN THE HALL

In the thick of the fight Athena appears at the threshold disguised as Mentor. Odysseus is overjoyed to see his old friend and pleads with him to help him fight the suitors but equally the suitors tell him to kill Odysseus. Athena scolds Odysseus for losing his nerve and then transforms into a swallow and flies up into the rafters.

When the suitors throw six spears in a single volley at Odysseus and his men Athena knocks them off target but when Odysseus, Telemachus and the two herdsmen send four spears back in answer Athena guides them to hit their marks. The suitors send another volley but this time Athena only sends four off their targets. Amphimedon’s spear nicked Telemachus’ wrist and Ctesippus’ grazed Eumaeus’ shoulder.

BOOK 23: ODYSSEUS AND HIS WIFE

When Eurynome bathes Odysseus Athena restores his good looks.

When Penelope and Odysseus finally go to bed Athena holds back the dawn and prolongs the night.

Athena allows the dawn to rise once she is satisfied that Odysseus has had his fill of sleep.

As Odysseus leads Telemachus and the two herdmes out of town towards Laertes’ home in the hills Athena shrouds them in darkness to hide them.

BOOK 24: PEACE

Hermes leads the ghosts of the slain suitors to the Fields of Asphodel in the underworld where they meet the spirits of Achilles and Agamemnon exchanging war stories.

When Laertes takes a bath back at his hut Athena fleshes out his withered limbs and reinvigorates him.

Meanwhile Rumour speeds through the town spreading word of Odysseus’ return and the fate of the suitors.

Antinous’ father Eupithes stirs the Achaeans up to take revenge on Odysseus despite Medon’s warning that they fight with the obvious help of an immortal. Halitherses the soothsayer reminds them of the prophecies he made which they ignored and urges them to listen to him for once and not draw the lightning on their necks but as always he is ignored.

Athena now appeals to Zeus and asks him to bring Odysseus’ trials to an end. Zeus reminds her that none of this was his doing but hers. He does however tell her that there is to be no war in Ithaca.

Athena takes the form of Mentor and joins Odysseus’ band of twelve men. She breathes immense strength into Laertes and urges him to pray to Zeus and Athena and cast his spear. He does so and the spear kills Eupithes.

As Odysseus and Telemachus rush at the suitors Athena calls out in her immortal voice for the fighting to stop. The suitors’ fathers turn and run back to the town pursued by Odysseus and Telemachus bent on killing them all.

Zeus now sends a lightning bolt that land before the feet of Athena. Everyone stands still as Athena, in the form of Mentor, draw up the terms of the peace.

THE END


2002 Higher Level Classical Studies, Topic 6

This is not an answer to the above question. It simply gives you what to think about in order to answer it.

Reason for the Agamemnon sub-plot in the Odyssey

It provides a parallel

Agamemnon (Odysseus), Clytemnestra (Penelope) and Orestes (Telemachus)

An impetus to Telemachus (Father-Son Relationships)

Mentes (Athena) tells an apathetic Telemachus to look on Orestes (a son who never knew his father but still avenged his murder) as a role-model warning him that though not all men can be greater than their fathers (referencing Achilles) some, like Orestes presumably, can at least hope to match them. Thus Telemachus must grow up and assume responsibility before he can stand beside nostos (returning) Odysseus in the Great Hall against the Suitors at the end of the epic.

Rashness of Agamemnon (Character of Odysseus)

In Book 11 (The Underworld) Agamemnon’s shade warns Odysseus not to trust women in general and never to divulge everything to his wife but only to reveal enough information to satisfy her womanly curiosity; a warning Odysseus does not actually heed for in Book 23 he does in fact tell Penelope his entire tale including his various affairs and Athena even holds back the dawn so that the two can sleep a while after his long story. Odysseus however is wiser than Agamemnon. He does not bring his affairs home with him unlike Agamemnon who did. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus murdered Cassandra along with him. Penelope will have no cause to be angry at Odysseus on his return and her fidelity will be rewarded.


Fidelity of Penelope (Loyalty and Faithfulness)

It is interesting that two half-sisters should be so guilty of causing so much trouble. Helen, the daughter of Leda and Zeus caused the Trojan War that took the husband of her half-sister Clytemnestra (the daughter of King Tyndareus of Sparta and Leda) Agamenon to Troy. In his absence she began an affair with Aegisthus who later butchered Agamemnon and his comrades like an ox on their triumphant return to Argos.

Agamemnon’s shade comforts Odysseus in Book 11 on how fortunate he is in his choice of wife saying that the daughter of Icarius would never behave as badly as his wife did.

Wrong of Suitors (Hospitality)

In Book1 Zeus complains of how mortals blame the gods when it is their own crimes that bring them doom; meaning mortals never take responsibility for their actions but rather blame the gods instead. Zeus’ example is Aegisthus: a man who was warned several times not to sleep with Agamemnon’s wife but did, killed Agamemnon and was justly murdered later on by his son Orestes in vengeance. The parallel is obvious. Aegisthus was technically a guest who killed his host: Agamemnon because he desired his host’s wife: Clytemnestra.

In Book 4 Menelaus is indignant when Telemachus tells him about the state of affairs in Ithaca. He compares the Suitors to two fawns that the doe (female deer) has lodged in a lion’s den as she goes out to forage. “Back comes the lion to his lair, and the fawns meet a grisly fate – as will the Suitors at Odysseus’ hands.”

Like Aegisthus, the Suitors are constantly warned by omens like the two eagles that attack each other over the Achaean Assembly in Book 2 and prophecies like that of Halitherses the seer who prophecies the eagles to signify that Odysseus shall return but the arrogant Suitors never heed the omens.


Like Aegisthus, the Suitors bemoan their dooms in Book 24 and blame Zeus rather than themselves for their dooms at the hands of nostos (returning) Odysseus.

Warning to Odysseus (Homer’s Narrative)

Agamemnon and Odysseus have much in common. They were both ambitious men who left their families and went to Troy in search of fame and fortune. Unlike “wise Penelope” Agamemnon calls Clytemnestra “my accursed wife” in Book 11. Like Orestes Telemachus too will prove a worthy son to his father but most of all perhaps Agamemnon’s fate presents Odysseus with a stark truth about his life; one that he comes to realise and reveals to Eumaeus in Book 14 when he assumes the identity of a Cretan comrade of Idomeneus. Like Agamemnon, Ajax, Achilles and even Heracles (all of whom Odysseus meets in the Underworld in Book 11) Odysseus valued glory too highly as a young man and left behind all that should have been most important to him: his wife, his son and his parents. Like Agamemnon Odysseus will find his wife accosted by Suitors, his son’s life and inheritance threatened by them, his mother dead from suicidal grief and his father made wretched by the loss of his son. Unlike Agamemnon however Odysseus will do things differently. Agamemnon’s shade is the first to tell him not to return home directly but to arrive in secret to get the lay of the land first and approach his nostos with caution and precision; which he does.


Divine Intervention in The Odyssey

We must take it for granted that Homer’s world is a world in which people believe the gods intervene regularly. Even the Suitors are aware of this. For instance they question Telemachus on the strange disappearance of Mentes in Book 1 wondering if he was not some god come amongst us in disguise as they often do to test us and they reiterate that thought when Antinous hits the beggared Odysseus with a stool in Book 18.

There are in fact 4 kinds of divine intervention in the Odyssey

Direct Intervention and Revelation

This refers to when a god or goddess intervenes directly and reveals their divinity to the hero thus charging them with reassurance and confidence

Athena as Mentes to Telemachus in Book 1 (Ithaca) when she vanishes, which charges him with supernatural self-confidence and assurance of victory over the Suitors in the Achaean Assembly and happiness that is father shall return one day soon.

Athena as Mentor to Telemachus and Nestor in Book 3 (Pylos) when she turns into an eagle and flies out the window of the palace, which convinces Nestor to afford Telemachus all he help he needs in his mission to Sparta.

Athena to Odysseus (Nestor tells us she walked openly with him in Troy in Book 3 and Odysseus himself reminds her of this on the beach in Ithaca in Book 13). This allowed Odysseus to act with confidence; something he no longer does by Book 13 after she seemingly abandoned him.

Athena to Odysseus on the beach in Ithaca in Book 13 when she tells him the 3 reasons why she loves him cutting short his attempt at deceiving her


by assuming the guise of a Cretan traveller. After which they both ist down under an olive tree to plan the next steps of his nostos (return)

Hermes to Odysseus in Book 10 (Circe) when he gives the here moly: the antidote to Circe’s magical drug, after which he strides confidently off to defeat Circe and rescue his men.

Athena’s voice in Book 24 that commands the fathers of the Suitors to cease their feud with the House of Laertes thus ending the feud resolutely.

Direct Intervention and Recognition

This is when a god’s direct presence is recognised by a character which has the effect of offering them much-needed reassurance.

Athena to Telemachus, when she lights his way to the storeroom though his torch is dim. He suspects a god’s hand at work in hiding the Suitors weapons.

Athena to the Suitors in the Battle in the Great Hall (Book 22) when she assumes the form of a swallow and miraculously deflects the spears of the Suitors thrown against Odysseus and Telemachus at near point blank range but steers their spears to kill their marks. Divine intervention is recognised by the doomed Suitors who realise the gods favour Odysseus.

Athena to Odysseus in Phaeacia (Book 5) when Odysseus stops in her grove and prays to her for guidance she assumes the form of a young girl who tells Odysseus everything he needs to know about Scherie and the Phaeacians and gives him directions to the palace. He makes for the palace with confidence.

Indirect intervention that goes undetected by the characters yet brings benefit

Book 2 Athena enhances Telemachus’ good looks and stature for the Achaean Assembly, again in Book 6 she does likewise for Odysseus to impress Nausicaa, and again for Odysseus to intimidate the beggar Irus in Book 18 and there are other examples besides.

Book 5 Athena calms Poseidon’s storm that endangers Odysseus’ swim to Phaeacia

Book 4 Athena sends a phantom of Penelope’s sister Iphthime to comfort her distress at hearing the Suitors mean to ambush Telemachus on his return from


the mainland. Book 6 She also assumes the guise of Dymas: a friend of Nausicaa, and whispering over the sleeping girl puts it into her head to go to the river to wash her clothes in preparation for her wedding.

In Book 8 Athena disguised as one of the crowd cries out that Odysseus’ discus went farther than anyone else’s. In Book 2 she assumed the form of Mentor to lift a desperate Telemachus’ spirits and in the same book assumes the role of Telemachus himself in order to hire a ship and a crew in Ithaca whilst the real Telemachus packs his things in the palace.

Subtle intervention that is not expressly stated by Homer

Olive trees sacred to Athena seem to be present at pivotal moments throughout the epic. In a poetic way perhaps this is Homer’s subtle way of saying Athena is involved but if she is he does not say so. It remains just a curious point of interest.

Book 5 – Odysseus finds shelter under two entwined olive trees in Phaeacia

Book 9 – Odysseus carves the stake that he uses to blind the Cyclops from a green olive trunk

Book 13 – Athena and Odysseus sit under an olive tree to plan his nostos

Book 23 – Odysseus’ bed cannot be moved because he built it around an olive tree. This is the secret knowledge that Penelope tricks her husband into revealing so as to prove his identity to her.


Code of Hospitality (Xenia) in the Odyssey

A 3 way relationship between guest, host and Zeus Xenios: the god of hospitality – as the Suitors remind Antinous when he assaults the beggared Odysseus in Book 18 and Odysseus himself reminds Polyphemus in Book 9.

Procedure

Guest waits on the threshold of the palace or house

Mentes (Pallas Athene) Book 1 BUT NOT the Suitors Odysseus in Aeolia BUT NOT in Cyclops cave!

Host admits guest and sees to his every need

Telemachus with Mentes, Alcinous with Odysseus, Menelaus with Telemachus, Eumaeus with Odysseus, even Calypso to HermesBUT NOT Polyphemus to Odysseus, Calypso to Odysseus

Only after a guest has washed, rested, eaten and drunk does a good host inquire as to his identity

Telemachus with Mentes, Alcinous with OdysseusBUT NOT Polyphemus with Odysseus

Host provides a bed for the guest usually in the portico (porch) of the palace

Menelaus for Telemachus and Pesistratus, Telemachus and Penelope for the beggar (Odysseus in disguise) BUT NOT Polyphemus with Odysseus and his men

A good guest should ask permission to leave and good host should not detain him longer than he wants

Telemachus with Menelaus, Odysseus with AlcinousBUT NOT Calypso with Odysseus (7 years) and Odysseus with Circe (crew has to remind him)

A good host not only gives his guest provisions for the journey but also gives a parting gift

Menelaus’ bowl for Telemachus, Aeolus’ bag of winds for OdysseusBUT NOT Polyphemus (his gift is that No One will wait until the end to watch his men eaten)

There are several fine examples of good hospitality in the Odyssey but the best of them are

Telemachus and Mentes – our first glimpse of Achaean hospitality Menelaus with Telemachus – a lavish host Alcinous with Odysseus – a very respectful and mindful host Eumaeus – a poor host, whose hospitality is every bit as important as Menelaus’ and more so

because it is all the poor swineherd can afford, yet he gives it willingly.


The worst example of hospitality is Polyphemus as a host and the Suitors as guests

Though you could also include Calypso and Circe – who fall somewhere in between.

Compare the roles of Calypso and Circe

As goddesses Calypso and Circe are alike in that they both go to bed with Odysseus but their motivations are very different.

Homer doesn’t tell us why Calypso lives on the lone island of Ogygia, which seems like a lonely place and since she is a goddess we wonder why she chooses to live there. Actually she didn’t make that choice. Zeus did. She supported her father Atlas during the Titanomachy (the divine war between the Olympian gods and the Titans) and was banished to Ogygia in punishment. When Odysseus washes up on the beach therefore he is probably her first house guest ever. Being so lonely however, as Calypso herself admits to Hermes, she decided to keep him as a plaything: essentially Odysseus becomes Calypso’ sex-slave. It is quite obvious who is in control of the relationship. Calypso is dominant and Odysseus subservient. Though their nights are passionate, Calypso, despite her best efforts, never makes Odysseus fall in love with her. As a hero (or perhaps as a man) Odysseus will never fully surrender his heart and soul to Calypso, though he is powerless to escape. He has no boat, no provisions and not the first clue as where he is. He is marooned and spends his days weeping for his homeland, his wife and his son. Our first glimpse of Homer’s hero is therefore a pathetic one, in complete contrast to the reputation we hear about in the first four books of the epic. This is entirely Homer’s point. Here was have a man who has been unmanned, a hero who has been captured and enslaved by a goddess. Calypso loves Odysseus but only as long as he remains wretched. Once Calypso receives word from Zeus through Hermes that she is to release Odysseus, she complains about the double standards between adulterous gods and chaste goddesses but she accepts the will of Zeus. She does however hold one more trick up her sleeve and tries one last time to keep her puppet from leaving her. By offering him the choice of immortality should he stay with he as her consort she surrenders her power over the hero and polymetis Odysseus rises to the occasion. We now see the hero Homer has built up in the first four books: a cunning wordsmith, who side steps Calypso’s verbal trap with nimble his nimble wits and poetic turn of phrase. But what we stand to miss if we move on too quickly is this point. As long as Odysseus was vulnerable and powerless Calypso loved him but once the chips were down, and the cards lay face up Odysseus did not return the same affections. When asked to choose Odysseus chose Penelope and death over Calypso and eternal life. Once Calypso accepts that Odysseus will not be hers it is interesting that she does the bear minimum to help him to leave. It is as if she simply does her job but no more than that. She gives him the tools to make the ship, shows him the forest where he will find the wood, gives him some provisions and retires to her house, as if Odysseus is now an irritation who has outstayed his welcome.

Circe on the other hand needs to be mastered before she will offer Odysseus her affections. She is a powerful and malevolent witch who seeks to transform Odysseus and his men into pigs. She too


seeks to dominate mortal men but in a way that is more aggressive and active than Calypso. Odysseus arrived in Ogygia by chance (or by fate), quite unbeknownst to Calypso. Finding herself in a position of power she chose not to treat Odysseus like an equal but as a slave and having no other choice Odysseus complied until such time as he was given a choice and escaped. Circe however is more evil. She invites the Achaeans in, she seems in every way the good hostess like the witch in Hansel and Grettle until her charges are in her power. Then she springs her trap. But Odysseus is forewarned by Hermes and wisely goes along with her. Luring her into a false sense of security and watching her all the time, Odysseus is clearly the more cunning of the two. Circe is defeated the second Odysseus crosses the threshold. His tact and skill impresses and excites her and his heroic manliness charges the situation with a sexual energy. When he holds her neck to his blade she recognises him for that polytropos man, whom Hermes warned her about long ago. Finally she has met her match and melts before him. They now become lovers but equal lovers. Despite the shaky start the relationship is a strong one and the affection is on both sides. Odysseus becomes so lost in the affair that he even forgets about his mission. In the end he leaves only to satisfy his men. When he chooses to leave, unlike Calypos, Circe goes above and beyond the call of duty in helping him to prepare for the voyage. Here is goddess whose love for Odysseus is a natural and genuine one.

Circe and Calypso try to dominate mortal men but Calypso cannot abide the equal footing that a human relationship presents. With all the stubborn tenacity of Titaness she guards her dominant position fiercely and looses interest when it is lost, dropping Odysseus like a broken doll. Circe on the other hand wants nothing from Odysseus in the beginning but once he shows his manliness she becomes interested and changes tack. They both swear not to harm each other – as husbands and wives do and from then on Circe and Odysseus walk hand in hand as equals.

But for all their charms and powers Circe and Calypso are not good ambassadors for the gods. They covet the thrill of mortality. Who wants to live forever? For humans every second matters, every day is counted and every kiss means more than the last. For a goddess, what is love but a flimsy concept? It is a vague idea, something they will never know. Pallas Athene however practices her love for Odysseus in acceptable terms. Quite apart from the fact that she chose to remain a virgin she does not fancy the mortal but loves him as a mother loves a son. She takes pride in watching her protégé win renown and chuckles at his cheeky escapades. She sighs when he makes mistakes and helps him to learn the error of his ways. Her love for Odysseus is pure and virtuous and in the end she stands above and beyond Circe and Calypso; mere minor deities, obscure nymphs who dwell in obscure places. She is Athene glaukopis, the owl-eyed daughter of Zeus and she has sense enough not to cross the line with a mortal, especially a mortal like Odysseus and for that, we love her all the more.


Nausicaa

She is the epitome of a 1950’s stereotype: the catholic school girl. She is educated, pious, chaste and very eligible (quite the catch) and she’s looking. Yet despite her high opinion of herself she is equally naïve. She is young and cocky and underestimates Odysseus. She thinks he is interested in her, when in fact he is only interested in what she can do for him. But Odysseus is mindful of her fragility. He thinks her beautiful but equally, like Calypso perhaps, beneath him. She presents him with no challenge whatsoever. Ultimately, whist she provides nice eye candy she is also boring.

In Book 6 Homer introduces comedy to an epic; something quite novel. The meeting of Odysseus and Nausicaa seems like a tongue in cheek attempt at a racy novel. Homer is even self-consciously aware of it. Odysseus finds himself in a fine pickle this time: naked, covered in brine and in need of the help of a teenage girl. How does one go about that exactly? Homer likens him to a furtive mountain-lion stalking antelopes. Nausicaa and her handmaidens are likened to nymphs frolicking in a meadow. It’s all far too cheesy to be accidental. There’s too much name dropping in Odysseus’ speech and too much tact on his behalf. For example he wisely decides not to actually drop to his knees and embrace her ankles because, naked as he is, that might scare the poor girl. Instead he remains where he is but simply says he is on his knees.

Nausicaa has been emboldened by Athena and does not bolt from what to a modern audience seems like a flasher coming out of the trees in a park. And then this flasher turns on the charm. He says she reminds him Apollo’s palm in Delos, which implies that he is pious (he does not call her sexy which would be inappropriate but being likened to a holy tree is acceptable) but it also implies he’s been there (a traveled man) and he goes on to explain how he came to see it revealing that he once commanded an armada of ships which he lost on his return voyage from Troy. So in one fell swoop he gets her eyes flicking with a compliment and her heart fluttering at the knowledge that he is rich and successful. Now all he needs do is ask her help, which he does, and she’s left quivering with excitement. Here surely is a prospective husband: a fine man of whom her parents will surely approve. And of course, and this is the clincher, he’s in need of her help. Nausicaa can do something for him. Oh thank you gods, she must have whispered inwardly. But don’t let on that you fancy him now girl! No no keep up appearances. Make him walk behind the wagon so the locals don’t start a rumour – a rumour which may one day come true … That was easy thinks Odysseus as he strolls along the road toward Scherie. Nice girl he thinks to himself. Better not lay it on any thicker than that though or she really will fall for me, poor thing.

Ultimately Odysseus is very tender with Nausicaa. He doesn’t land her in trouble with her mother when she notices the clothes he is wearing. Instead he takes the blame himself and makes Nausicaa out to simply be a charitable soul who helped a man in a wretched state, which is actually true but


he says to Alcinous, we men are naturally suspicious and we can appreciate how it looks for a teenage girl to meet a naked man by the beach and clothe him himself. What else happened her mother wonders. Nothing more explains Odysseus than your daughter proving her generosity, nobility and piety. Alcinous even chides his daughter for not bringing Odysseus home at once, which Odysseus even knocks back saying she did but he in fact merely followed the wagon for fear of the gossip the sight of them would provoke in the town and this is a lie because it was Nausicaa who asked him to get out and follow at a distance as they approached the town.

Nausicaa ends up wishing to marry a man like Odysseus much to Alcinous’ dismay as he in fact offers her hand to Odysseus but Odysseus cannot be swayed to stay in Phaeacia’s wonderland. The call of his homeland, his wife, his son and his father is too much.

Penelope

A lonely women – always crying for Odysseus (Book 1, Book 4, Book 19)

An anxious mother – worries for her son. Delighted by his show of authority in Book 1 after Mentes

Devastated to learn of the Suitors ambush in Book 4

Decides to remarry because her son has grown up in Book 21 obeying O’s words to her Book 18 when he left for Troy.

A loyal wife – Not like Clytemnestra according to Agamemnon Book 11

A wife who remains celibate for 20 years waiting for O to return

A wife who can put up with 108 Suitors in preference for her husband

A wife who runs the palace in the master’s absence.

Odysseus’ equal – a polymetis woman

She tricks the Suitors with the shrowd for Laertes

She tricks the Suitors to give her presents in Book 18 (observed by a proud O in disguise)

She even tricks O himself into revealing the secret of their bed in Book 23


Odysseus as a Homeric hero turned wanderer

Homer builds Odysseus’ character up in the first four books of the Odyssey even though the Telemacheid as it is often called focuses on the story of Telemachus and does not feature the hero of the Odyssey. He is conspicuous rather by his absence. In this part of the epic Homer presents Odysseus as a megathumon (great-hearted) king who ruled his people like a father and held regular assemblies; not seen in Ithaca until his son summons the Achaeans in Book 2 to sue the Suitors. He was admired by his fellow countrymen with many close contacts scattered around the neighbouring islands like Mentes from nearby Taphia and the old Aegyptius and Mentor in Ithaca. He was a good son to his father Laertes who now lives out his days in obscurity broken hearted over the loss of his beloved son. He was a good master to his slaves like Eurycleia who nursed his son Telemachus as a boy. Most of all he was a good husband. Why else would Penelope weep constantly and pray for his safe return? We also learn that Odysseus was a hero alike in word and deed. In Book 3 Nestor, who was Agamemnon’s chief advisor in Homer’s Iliad, tells us that of all the Achaeans Odysseus was the most polymetis (cunning) and was loved by Pallas Athena the most. In Book 4 we also learn that in addition to being intelligent, Odysseus was also polymechanos (inventive) in Troy. He was a master of disguise who crept into Troy and met Helen and he designed the Wooden Horse. Menelaus also recalls how Odysseus is thumoleonta (lion-hearted). Shocked and indignant by Telemachus’ report of affairs in Ithaca he likens the Suitors to two fawns left by their mother deer in a lion’s den who will surly give them a grisly end once he returns home and recalls how Odysseus once floored a boxer in Lesbos with one punch. He prays that the Suitors meet that Odysseus soon. There are many different sides to Odysseus but perhaps the most important in the context of the epic is his piety. Remember that it is Athena who sets the wheels of fate in motion in the Odyssey by reminding Zeus of polytlas dios (long-suffering godlike) Odysseus. She presents Odysseus as a contrast to Aegisthus whom Zeus has selected as an example of a man who blames the gods for his doom when in fact he should really look to his own actions as the cause of his fate. When reminded of Odysseus Zeus promises his daughter that he cannot forget Odysseus who was so generous in his sacrifices to the gods. Odysseus is loved by the gods in the Odyssey because unlike other men such as Aegisthus he never blames the gods. He never wastes time in complaining. Instead he grits his teeth and endures whatever fate throws at him and never loses sight of his mission: to get home to his wife and son. By not complaining or losing his temper Odysseus is also a man that can control his emotions. He does not act on impulse but always thinks things through. For example, as Menelaus says, if Odysseus had not been inside the Wooden Horse the Greeks would have given themselves away by answering Helen when she called out their names imitating their wives’ voices. Polytlas dios Odysseus saved them by exercising his innate self-restraint.

By the beginning of Book 5 therefore we have been introduced to Homer’s polytropos (multifaceted) hero and learned the nature of several of these facets. Our first impression of Homer’s hero is therefore an anticlimax because instead of the towering figure we expect to meet instead we are presented with the image of a broken man weeping on the shore of Ogygia and we must conclude that our disappointment was intended by the poet Homer.


The Odyssey is the story of Odysseus’ nostos (return) from Troy. In the Iliad, Homer presented Odysseus as a hero alike in word and deed. The Odysseus of the Iliad was a wise counsellor, a cunning strategist and a fierce warrior in arms. In the Odyssey Homer deliberately strips him down to his bare essentials. Odysseus is nothing more than a man and it is Odysseus honest acceptance of this fact that stands as his greatest talent.

In Book 5 we do not meet the cunning tactician who controls everything from behind the scenes. Instead we meet a man who has no control over his life. Since he first washed up shipwrecked on Calypso’s isle seven years ago he has been reduced to the humiliation of being dominated by a female character; essentially all that made him a hero has been stripped away from him. He has been unmanned, disempowered and imprisoned. He is degraded by serving as nothing more than the goddess’ sex-slave every night. He cries because his spirit is broken. He has no way of escaping Calypso’s island. He does not even know where he is or in what direction Ithaca lies so he cannot escape. He has no means of transport away from the island. All he can do now is weep. It is pathetic however for a reason.

Homer wants us to see Odysseus pick himself up again. On Zeus’ express instructions Calypso finally releases Odysseus and sends him on his way and as soon as he is once more in the driving seat we see the hero reprise his true role. When Calypso offers him a choice to leave her and return to Ithaca and Penelope or to stay on as her immortal lover she re-empowers Odysseus. He is once more his own master and immediately snaps out of his long depression and demonstrates his old skills once more. For example, the polymetis hero cleverly manipulates the goddess into swearing an oath to not harm him as he sails away and also deftly avoids insulting her beauty by claiming that it is his homeland for which he longs (something Calypso cannot offer him) rather than the embrace of his mortal wife. Next we see the polymechanos hero building a raft from raw materials. When Poseidon wrecks his raft we see the polytlas hero at breaking point when he wishes he had died in Troy and then the pious man who never fails to respect everything the gods tell him. We would forgive any man washed up on a beach for forgetting what Ino told him to do with the magic veil but Odysseus remembers her instructions and returns the veil to the sea before going off to find shelter. In Book 6 however he demonstrates his moral underpinnings for he is megathumon (great-hearted) Odysseus. Having been advised to manipulate Nausicaa into helping him he has been essentially given carte blanche over her life. Odysseus charms her into helping him but he does not go too far. He only uses her to the extent that he needs. He does not ruin her by seducing her and making false promises and in the end the girl wishes for a husband like Odysseus but not Odysseus himself. Later on in Book 8 we see the man who is alike in word and deed. Odysseus has not only cleverly wheedled his way into the confidence of King Alcinous of Phaeacia but when stung by taunts proves his worth by defeating the young men at sport. We even see that he is thumoleonta (lion-hearted) when he angrily challenges the arrogant young men to any feat of agility or athleticism that they would devise and promises to defeat them at it. None take up his challenge.

When he reveals his identity to Alcinous and the Phaeacians in Book 9 he recounts the tale of his wanderings beginning at his departure from Troy and during his tale we find out that Odysseus is self-aware. He knows he is famous and even brags that his is ptoliporthon (the sacker of cities). He is mindful therefore that the whole world knows his name, about how he designed the Wooden Horse and that he is a kind of pirate out to gain wealth and renown in equal measure. He is not ashamed of this. He admits it in such a matter-of-fact way that he even seems proud of it but he is equally careful


to tell us that he went against his conscience by entering the cave of the Cyclops. He ignored his gut feeling for the sake of kleos (glory) and the abused the code of Xenia (hospitality) by entering the abode of the Cyclops and helping himself to his food rather than waiting on the threshold to be invited in by his host. Had he the manners to wait for his host he would not have been trapped inside the cave of the hideous monster but would have been able to escape without loss of life. The love of kleos drove Odysseus to commit a crime: he broke the code of Xenia and then he committed the sin of hybris (arrogance) for not being content to simply blind the Cyclops and live to tell the tale against the advice of his men Odysseus went too far and taunted the already defeated Cyclops. By revealing his true name Odysseus hoped that the Cyclops could in future help Odysseus to win more kleos by telling whoever asked him who it was that blinded him but in so doing Odysseus was himself blinded by his own ambition and unwittingly gave the Cyclops the means by which to seek retribution from the gods for such an outrageous display of hybris. Polyphemus cursed Odysseus, his father Poseidon heard the prayer and Zeus saw to it that the hero was punished accordingly.

Odysseus is therefore a man who learns by experience. Who better to deal out death and judgement to such despicable guests as the Suitors than a once despicable guest like Odysseus? Odysseus pays the price for his hybris and his love of kleos and changes so that by Book 13 a much wiser Odysseus returns to Ithaca than the Odysseus who left it in search of kleos 20 years before.

In the katabasis (underworld) in Book 11 Odysseus meets several shades all of whom bring home the message that his ambition to win kleos is misguided. One of the first shades he meets is a shock to him. He cannot know his mother Anticleia committed suicide in grief for the loss of her son. It is heart-breaking to see how he tries to embrace her ghost three times. Later Achilles’ shade reveals how, upon relfection in death, he made the wrong choice of fate. He chose to live a short glorious life and win a kind of immortality by renown instead of living a long full life like most of us but ultimately to take our place amidst the forgotten dead. If he could do it all again he says he would rather be a slave working the fields than king amongst the all the dead. Later he meets Ajax who reminds Odysseus how damaging his desire for glory was for those he loves. When Odysseus wrongly convinced the Greeks to award him Achilles divine armour instead of his best-friend Ajax he committed suicide in outrage. He still bears the grudge and now because he is dead the wrong can never be righted so he refuses to talk to Odysseus and drifts back sadly to Erebus despite Odysseus’ pleading shows of regret. Agamemnon’s shade reminds him of the vulnerability of his wife and son at home alone in his long absence. All he can do is hope that Penelope and Telemachus are alright but he cannot know because he left them alone a decade before. A phantom of Heracles reminds him how his love of kleos ruined his mortal life and robbed him happiness. Though a god now who lives in bliss his phantom still regrets his life’s choices and wishes it had been different. Unlike these characters who are all dead, Odysseus is alive and so he can still change his life and take a second chance. Being the intelligent hero he is not going to waste it.

In Book 12 we see just how alone and helpless Odysseus is because he is just a man who seems to have been marked out for suffering by the gods and yet despite this he manages to use his whole being to become master of his destiny. He braves the strait of Scylla and Charybdis but having been assured by Circe that he can do nothing against these foes he nonetheless arms himself and watches out for the six-headed Scylla. Odysseus will not simply surrender to death. He will go down fighting if it comes to it. Later on we see Odysseus having lost his crew to the wrath of the gods holding on for dear life to the branch of the fig tree over the vortex of Charybdis. How long can you hold on for dear


life and why would you? Odysseus holds on all day until evening because his goal is to return to his wife and his son. Where other men would let go and surrender themselves to death Odysseus has the will to hold on and perhaps this image especially shows how Homer champions the bare humanity of his hero. Odysseus is nothing more than a man in Book 12. He is not a cunning tactician manipulating his way through life. He is not an inventive trickster or even a famous pirate. He is simply a human being holding onto a branch above a whirlpool for dear life. The heroism in it is that Odysseus holds on. He never lets go. He never gives in. He is destined to arrive home in Ithaca because his actions in life guarantee it. Odysseus will return because he will not accept anything short of that end. Come what may he will return whatever the cost because he is human rather than a god.

Homer’s polytropos hero shows us that there are many sides to humanity. We mortals are not flawless like the gods. In our lives we occasionally commit hybris by being too proud and regardless of our best intentions we offend. We get carried away sometimes and lose sight of what is really important in life in our quest for kleos but we hope that we are good people and try our best to ensure that come what may we never lose sight of some basic things like our homes, our families and the possession of our souls because if we lose them we lose our humanity and then we are truly in lost and will wander forever. Odysseus is lost and he is wandering but he has not forgotten who he is and what he has to live for. That is why he weeps in Ogygia. These reasons are what give him the will to cling to that branch. Rudyard Kipling put it well in his poem IF he presents a series of challenges starting with the word if like “If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew, to serve your turn long after they are gone, and so hold on when there is nothing in you, except the will which says to them, Hold-on!” The last line of the poem sums up Odysseus. Kipling’s poem ends with (if you can do all these things) “Then yours is the Earth and everything in it, and - which is more – You’ll be a man, my son.” Odysseus is that man; no more and no less. He is simply a man.

In the second half of the Odyssey Odysseus will become a hero again but the transition from wanderer to hero will be gradual. Homer’s polytropos hero will be cautious and methodical as he approaches to problem of the Suitors and he will use everything in the fabric of his being to ensure that he protects his family and his home from harm.

If this is not heroic then I do not know what is.


Odysseus as wanderer turned Hero (Books 13 – 24)/Homer slowing down the story

From Book 13 we see a cautious measured hero who never makes a mistake. Homer builds the suspense gradually step by step: The plan (Athena) and then with Telemachus, The Beggar in The Palace, The Great Bow and the Battle and Aftermath

Book 13: Athena loves him for 3 reasons

Book 14: Gets the low down on Ithaca from Eumaeus – learns all about the Suitors, Telemachus and Penelope

(Book 15: About Telemachus’ return to Ithaca)

Book 16: Reunited with son, now has an accomplice

Book 17: Goes to town – meets Melanthius, his dog Argus and Antinous throws a stool at him

Book 18: Defeats Arnaeus aka Irus, Eurmachus attempts to assault him, judges the maids

Book 19: How Odysseus (man of woe) was named as a child, Eurycleia recognises him, Penelope on the point of despair

Book 20: Athena gives him encouragement, Philotius = the good cowherd (O builds up his team) Ctseppius (the Suitor) throw a hoof at O but misses

Book 21: The Great Bow – T sets it up, Leodes tries, Antinous calls for bow to be softened with Tallow, O reveals himself to E + Ph., Eurmachus tries and fails, O asks to try but Suitors refuse but E carries O the bow – he strings it and shoots the gives T the nod!

Book 22: Battle in Great Hall

Book 23: O and Peneope reunited – Penelope will not believe it

Book 24: Suitors in Hades and feud ends with Athena’ command


Views on Women – Is Homer a misogynist?

Approach it from the roles of women in this patriarchal world

Daughters, Wife, Mothers and Women in their own right

Present both sides of the argument and decide, which one you agree with

Daughters: Penelope is the dutiful daughter in law who will not remarry until she weaves a shroud for her father-in-law Laertes (Book 2).

Nausicaa too is a dutiful daughter who wants to avoid scandal by asking O to follow the wagon at a distance to avoid gossip in Book 6.

But Melantho, whom Penelope raised as a daughter betrayed her to the Suitors.

Wives: Penelope is a dutiful wife who obeys O’s command not to remarry until T has grown his first beard. She waits longer than that but she is running out of resolve.

On the other hand Helen caused the Trojan War by running away with Paris and Clytemnestra invited Aegisthus into her bed and helped him murder Agamemnon on his return from Troy.

Even Calypso and Circe are poor ambassadors. Both seem to be nymphomaniacs. Calypso imprisons O and reduces him to a male concubine whereas Circe only helps him once she becomes attracted to him. In Hades he sees Eriphyle who betrayed her husband for gold.

Mothers: Penelope protects her son just as Athena acts as a surrogate mother for O and Eurycleia acts as a nanny to T. O’s own mother committed suicide through grief at his loss (Book 11)

BUT Clytemnestra tried to kill Orestes, Ino, the White Goddess of saves O from drowning in Book 5 killed her son by committing suicide to avoid rape and his murder at the hands of her husband and in Book 11 O sees Epicaste, Oedipus’ mother who unwittingly became his wife later on.

Women themselves

Women are cunning – Penelope tricks the suitors with the shrowd for 4 years, she tricks them into giving her presents and even tricks O in the end over the secret of their bed. Athena often disguises herself only appearing before O on rare occasions: in Troy, on the beach in Ithaca and in the morning before the Great Battle. Helen too disguised her voice to trick the Greeks into revealing themselves inside the Horse. Circe invited O’s men inside and gave them hospitality, setting them at ease before transforming them into pigs.

Helen and Circe are pharmakeutrias (witches who know about drugs). Both drug their guests.

Women also lie and cheat. Clytemnestra welcomes Agamemnon home and conducted Aegisthus to murder him when his guard was down. The Suitors complain that Penelope teases them; neither accepting them nor rejecting their attentions, Even O accuses Athena of abandoning him when he was at sea. There is a perception that women are fickle.

If you think Homer is a misogynist you might argue that the epic is mostly about men in a man’s world. Women take second place in the story. They are often 2 dimensional; especially Penelope who he could develop but does not and that Athena really is not very feminine.

If you think Homer is not you might make the point that a misogynist is a man who is biased towards men at the expense of women and draw attention to the fact that there are more bad men in the epic than women. Pull in Zeus’ reflection on Aegisthus’ fate as back-up and put it down to the fact that some women are good whereas most are bad to greater or lesser extents because the epic carries important messages about life, religion and morality.


Q.1994 – Discuss the role of women in Homer’s Odyssey.

Introduction – patriarchal (male dominated) society yet women are still seen as important members of society. They play a very important part in the hospitality ritual.

Paragraph 1: Domestic chores:

Spinning and weaving. Example Penelope makes a funeral shroud for her father-in-law Laertes (bk 1 lines 105-110).

On the island of Ogygia Calypso “was singing with her beautiful voice as she went to and from at the loom”.

Women of all ranks were expected to carry out these chores whether they were queens, goddesses or slaves.

Nausicaa is instructed by Athene (in disguise) to go down to the shore to wash clothes for her brothers. She does this in the hope of meeting a husband. According to Homer “this is how a bride gains a good reputation”.

Queen Arete is described as “sitting at the heart with her ladies, spinning yarn dyed with sea-purple”

Phaeacian women are reputed to be skilled in spinning and weaving.

Paragraph 2 – Gift- giving:

Women played an important role in the hospitality ritual. Queen Arete gives gifts to Odysseus when he is in Phaeacia. Give examples.

When Telemachus is leaving Sparta Helen gives Telemachus a robe for his future bride (bk 4 line 127). She has made it herself. Helen said to Telemachus as he was preparing to leave Pylos “look, dear child, I too have a gift for you here, a keepsake from Helen, made by her own hands”. This example is also an example of a domestic chore.

Paragraph 3 – Bathing:

When Telemachus and Nestor arrive in Menelaus’s palace, the maids “rubbed them with oil and dressed them in thick cloaks.”

When Telemachus is in Pylos “the beautiful Polycaste, King Nestor’s youngest daughter, now bathed Telemachus”.

Even though princess Polycaste is a princess she is not exempt from this chore.

Paragraph 4 - Male dominance within marriage:

Women were disposed of in marriage.


Laertes is praised for being a good husband as he did not cheat on his wife! Infidelity is acceptable in the world of Homer’s Odyssey. Penelope remained loyal to Odysseus for 20 years while he had two affairs on his way home with Calypso and Circe. Laertes never cheated on his wife with Eurycleia. According to Homer this was “for fear of his wife’s displeasure he had not slept with her”.

Athena told Telemachus to send Penelope back to her father’s house to arrange a dowry. He said that it was up to her father Icarius to “arrange a marriage and see that she has a generous dowry, as is only right for a beloved daughter.”

Telemachus is the head of the household in the absence of his father. He frequently orders Penelope to go to her room and she faithfully obeys him. “go upstairs to your room with your ladies”

Paragraph 5 – Conservativeness/modesty of women:

Nausicaa is accompanied by her female attendants when she goes to the shore on a washing expedition! Once the women were alone and there were no men in sight “they threw off their headgear and began playing with a ball”

Every time Penelope comes down to the hall and is in the company of the suitors she is accompanied to women and draws a veil across her cheeks “I am not going to face that masculine company alone: modesty forbids”


“Aeneas is an unsatisfactory hero.” Discuss:

Aeneas is a satisfactory hero in Virgil’s Aeneid. Excellence in the spheres of debate and action was the hallmark of the Homeric hero (words

and deeds). Virgil wrote the Aeneid to imitate Homer’s epics. As such he wanted to create a hero of epic

proportions comparable to Homers heroes. Virgil succeeded in doing so and Aeneas is undoubtedly a satisfactory hero of epic proportion.

Aeneas is a satisfactory hero for the following reasons:

1. He is pious.2. He leaves Dido (patriotism).3. He endures many hardships and sufferings.4. He is a good and generous leader.5. He is a brave and formidable warrior (deeds).6. He is a good orator.

1. Aeneas’ piety:

Aeneas is renowned for his piety (pietas). He shows piety towards his family, his followers and country and the Gods.

When Aeneas introduced himself to Venus, who was disguised as a Spartan girl, he said: “I am Aeneas, known for my devotion.”

When Aeneas’ men came in search of Aeneas in Carthage, fearing that he may be dead, they said to Queen Dido:” Our King was Aeneas. He had no equal for his piety and his care for justice, and no equal in the field of battle.”

He is clearly a good leader as he is exalted by his men here. Aeneas is certainly a satisfactory hero as his men deem him to be an excellent leader.

When Aeneas went to visit Evander in Pallenteum his men felt lost without him and were overjoyed by his return.

Aeneas returned standing high on the stern of his ship as soon as the Trojans saw Aeneas they: “the Trojans on the wall raised a shout to heaven, fresh hope renewing their anger”.

Aeneas shows piety towards the Gods throughout the book making numerous sacrifices, prayers and libations to them.

He obeys their commands at all times. When Mercury came down to Aeneas in Carthage and told him that he must leave and found Carthage Aeneas did so immediately. Virgil describes how: “the warning, the command of the Gods, had struck him life a thunderbolt. Mercury told him that he should think of Ascanius's future. Thus in leaving Carthage he also thinks of his son.


He shows great devotion to his father. He visits him in the Underworld and he rescues him from Troy by carrying him on his shoulder to safety.

2. Aeneas leaves Dido (patriotism):

As already highlighted Aeneas possessed pietas and was immensely patriotic. Aeneas decision to leave Dido and place his country above his personal life is a true

testament to his heroic status. Aeneas stayed in Cartage for over a year and would have happily there if he had not been

commanded by the Gods to leave. His decision to leave Dido is highly significant. Aeneas put his Gods and country before his own personal desires. This reminds the reader of Augustus Caesar who Aeneas’character is the prototype of. He

always but his country first unlike his sworn enemy Mark Anthony. Anthony lingered in Egypt with Cleopatra instead of putting his country and its welfare first. Augustus used this in his propaganda against Anthony. Aeneas epithet most frequently used to describe Aeneas is - Aeneas the True and this title is

apt as when he leaves Carthage he is true to his country and true to the Gods.

3. Aeneas’s endurance:

Aeneas shows tremendous bravery in the face of all the adversities that he faces. When leaving Sicily he is caught in a storm started by King Aeolus at the command of Juno.

He wished that he had died on the battlefield in Troy: “Those whose fate it was to die beneath the high walls of Troy with their fathers looking

down upon them were many, many times more fortunate than I.” He stays alive his men and despite being sick with worry when they arrive at Carthage he

comforts his men by saying: “Your task is to endure and save yourselves for better days.” Virgil describes how despite using these words he was sick with all his cares. He: “showed them the face of hope but kept his misery deep in his heart.” Aeneas must also show his endurance during his wanderings. He was faced with plague and

lost of large numbers of his men yet he persisted in his mission to found Rome. He even endures the worst occurrence possible when his own people the Trojan women,

under the spell of Juno set fire the the Trojan ships in Sicily. He is comparable to the “indomitable Odysseus” of Homers Odysseus. Similarly Hercules had

to endure 12 labours before he won his freedom. He is therefore undeniably a satisfactory hero comparable to Odysseus or Hercules.

Aeneas endurance is remarkable in light of the fact that he knows very little about his destiny and it is only revealed gradually throughout his journey. This further testifies to the fact that he is satisfactory hero.


4. Aeneas’s generosity:

On arrival in Carthage Aeneas’ men are in desperate need of food and drink after the storm. Aeneas provides for his men showing both his good leadership skills and generosity. He kills seven stags and divides them between his men. He also shares the wine that Acestes had given them in Sicily with “hero’s generosity”. He held funeral games for his father and everyone received a prize, a further example of his

generosity.

5. Aeneas is a brave and formidable warrior (deeds):

When Aeneas awoke from a dream in which Hector appeared to him to find Troy in flames, despite Hector’s warning to escape Aeneas recounted to Dido how he:

“Mindlessly put on his armour, for reason had little use for armour, but my heart was burning to gather comrades for battle and rush to the citadel with them”.

He fought and defeated Turnus who is reputed to be “ a second Achilles”. He fought in the Trojan War for 10 year and was one of the few survivors. He fought a second war in Italy and was victorious. He is the founder of the Roman race. Aeneas’s visit to the Underworld in particular marks him out as a hero. Only a few mortals, heroes such as Odysseus, Hercules, Theseus, Orpheus and Pollux had

succeeded in entering the Underworld. Thus it is undeniable that Aeneas is a satisfactory hero as if he wasn’t he would not have

been able to enter the Underworld.

6. Aeneas is a good orator (words):

Excellent in debating is a quality which all heroes must possess. In Homer’s Odyssey the importance of oratory is highlighted as one of the qualities which a

hero must possess. Telemachus in Homer’s Odyssey strives to become a hero like his father Odysseus. In order

to do so he must become a good orator like his father. Athene therefore sends him to Pylos and Sparta where he must address King Nestor and

Menelaus. Aeneas is an excellent orator. Aeneas finds the right words to address Kings, Queens and Gods. He addresses the God Apollo through the Sibyl Deiphobe before entering the Underworld. He begs Apollo, who he says has always favoured the Trojans, to allow the Trojans to settle

in Latium.


Aeneas addresses Dido on arrival in Carthage and asks for her help. His appeal to Dido is successful and she offers him hospitality as she emphasises with his suffering.

Aeneas is even successful in persuading a Greek, King Evander, to become his ally in the war against the Latins.

This is an excellent testament to his skills of oratory. Aeneas is undeniably a satisfactory hero as he is an excellent orator.


Homer:

“Noble Odysseus”

“Shrewd Odysseus” – speech to Arete

“Inventive Odysseus”

T&P:

“Best of husbands” – P

“Good father” – T

“Lionhearted man.” – P

“My dear father.” – T

Nestor/Mentor:

“Godlike Odysseus” – Ment

“What a man he was in word and deed” – Mt

“Admirable Odysseus, who in every kind of strategy proved himself supreme,”- N

“That wise and subtle king” – N

“Illustrious father,” - N

Servants:

“My unhappy master” – Philoetius

“Then weeping, they flung their arms round wise Odysseus’ neck and showered kisses on his head and shoulders.”

– Recognition – Homer about Eumeus and

Zeus:

“Wisest man”

“Most generous in his offerings”

Athena:

“Wise”

“Unlucky”

Phaeacians:

“I wish I had a man like him for my husband” – N

“Unfortunate wanderer.” - N

Menelaus/Helen:

“At Troy it was Odysseus who stroved the hardest and achieved the most” – M

“Never have I set eyes on a man of such endurance as the indomitable Odysseus” – H

Odysseus:

“If I by Zeus’ will and yours kill them, where would I to escape vengeance” –Piety

“for the list of woes which the gods in heaven have sent me is a long one” to Phaeacians

“I thought of plan after plan, scheme after scheme” to Phaeacians


Athene Quotes

‘It is for Odysseus that my heart is wrung, the wise and unlucky Odysseus’-Athene convincing the Gods to intervene and set him free from Calypso; bk 1 line 48

‘wise Odysseus shall return to Ithaca’-Athene to the Gods-she is his champion; bk 1 line 82

‘she assumed the appearance of a family friend, the Taphian chieftain Mentes’-Athenes disguises; bk 1 line 105

‘The reason here is this. I actually heard that he was home-I mean your father. But the Gods muct be hindering his return, because the good Odysseus is not dead, but alive somewhere on this earth.’-Athene in the disguise as Mentes-gives courage and confidence to the disconsolate Telemachus ; bk 1 line 198

‘he is endlessly resourceful’-Athene to Telemachus-champion of Odysseus; bk 1 line 205 ‘You, my friend-and what a tall and splendid young man you have grown!-must be as

brave as Orestes.-Athene encouraging Telemachus to take revenge and be like Orestes; bk 1 line 300

‘In Telemachus’ heart she had implanted spirit and daring, and had brought the image of his father to his mind even more strongly than before. He felt the change and was overcome with awe, for hi realized a god had been with him,’-Athenes role in encouraging Telemachus successful; bk 1 line 320

‘there she wept for Odysseus, her beloved husband, till bright-eyed Athene closed her eyes in sweet sleep’-Homer on Athenes role in assisting the whole family; bk 1 line 364

‘Athene endowed him with such supernatural grave that all eyes were turned on him in admiration when he came up.’-Homer on Athene supporting Telemachus as he prepares to address all the suitors; bk 2 line 11

‘Telemachus, you will be neither a coward nor a fool in the future, if your fathers manly vigour has descended on you and what a man he was in word and deed!’-Athene as Mentor instilling spirit into Telemachus; bk 2 line 270

‘And since you are by no means lacking in Odysseus’ resourcefulness, and since you will be no fool or coward in the future, you can hope to succeed in this undertaking-Athene as Mentor giving confidence; bk 2 line 278

‘They are fools, and there is no sense in them. Nor have they any inkling of the dark fate that is stalking so near and will strike them all down in a single day.’-Athene as Mentor shows her hatred of the suitors-justice will prevail; bk 2 line 285

‘The bright-eyed Athene now had yet another idea. She made her way to godlike Odysseus’ palace and lulled the suitors there into a state of pleasant drowsiness, clouding their wits as they drank, and striking the wine cups from their hands. Their eyelids heavy with sleep, they lingered no more at table, but went off to the town to their beds’-Athene ensuring the suitors don’t obstruct Telemachus’ preparations for sailing to visit Nestor; bk 2 line 393

‘a god will inspire you. For I think the Gods have blessed your birth and your progress to manhood’-Athene as Mentor to Telemachus-giving courage; bk 3 line 27

‘I only wish that bright-eyed Athene could show towards you some of the loving care she devoted to your illustrious father….For never in my life have I seen the gods display such open affection as Pallas Athene showed in her championship of Odysseus’-Nestor to Telemachus-champion of Odysseus and family; bk 3 line 221

‘The imprisonment of Odysseus in Calypso’s home was heavy on Athene’s heart’-Homer-shows how she cares for Odyseus; bk 5 line 5

‘And now Athene filled his eyes with sleep and sealed their lids-sleep to soothe his pain and utter weariness’-Homer-champion of Odysseus; bk 5 line 492


‘Athene put courage into her heart and took the fear from her limbs, and she stood her ground and faced him’-Homer-Athene gets Nausicaa to help Odysseus; bk 6 line 141

‘she endowed his head and shoulders with beauty’-Homer on Athene’s role in assisting Odysseus in his encounter with Nausicaa and the Phaeacians

‘That shows how your mind always works!’said Athene, goddess of the flashing eyes.’And that is why I cannot desert you in your misfortunes: you are so persuasive, so quick-witted, so self possessed’-shows close relationship between Odysseus and Athene and the admiration she has for Odysseus, they have a close bond and understand one another; bk 13 line 330

‘Athene now appeared before Odysseus…and urged him to go round collecting scraps from the suitors and so learn to distinguish the good from the bad, though this did not mean that in the end she was to save a single one from destruction’-Homer- Athene urging Odysseus and ensuring justice is served; bk 17 line 361

‘Once more the suitors threw their sharp spears with all their might, but Athene made the whole volley miss’-role of Athene, assists Odysseus; bk 22 line 273

‘Athene called out to odysseus: ‘Odysseus, favourite of Zeus, resourceful son of Laertes, hold your hand! Stop fighting your countrymen, in case you incur the wrath of Zeus the Thunderer’-Athene stops the fighting and peace is restored

Quotes on Penelope


‘with Penelope for your mother, I cannot think that your house is doomed to an inglorious future’-Athene (disguised as Mentes) in first visit to disconsolate Telemachus: Bk 1

‘incomparable schemer’-Antinous at the debate in Ithaca after listening to Telemachus’ speech; Bk 2

‘her skill in fine handicraft, her excellent brain and that genius she has for getting her way’-Antinous after discovering the shroud trick; bk 2

‘incomparable prize’- Eurymachus; Penelope would be a prized wife; bk 2

‘We don’t want tears to spoil her lovely cheeks’- Telemachus telling Eurycleia not to inform his mother of his trip-shows strained relationship between mother and son; bk 2

‘fond lover, willing lady’-Nestor on Clytaemnestra-easily seduced and unfaithful to her husband unlike Penelope who longs only for Odysseus

‘save my dear son for me’-Penelope praying-shows her love for son and her piety; bk 4 line 765

‘is there a woman of my time whom Zeus has treated worse than me? I had a wonderful husband years ago, the best and bravest of the Danaans, a lion-hearted man, famous from Hellas to the hearst of the Argos. That husband I have lost.’-Penelope distraught; bk 4 line 722

‘my darling son’-Penelope longing for son; bk 4 line 728


‘And now my beloved son, for whom I grieve even more than for his father, has sailed away in a great ship’-Penelopes sheer grief; bk 4 line 817

‘My good wife’-Odysseus talking to his mother; bk 11 line 177

‘Not that your wife will ever murder you’-Agamemnon to Odysseus-contrast between Clytaemnestra and P; bk 11 line 444

‘wise Penelope’-Homer and Eumaeus; general description throughout

‘the thoughtful Penelope’-Homer gen description

‘sagacious Penelope’-Homer

‘for in loveliness of face and form, and in wisdom, you are supreme among women’-Eurymachus to Penelope-would be a prized wife; bk 18 line 247

‘bewitching them with her persuasive words’-Homer description-Penelope is like a female version of Odysseus, acquisitive; bk 18 line 281

‘she has a patient heart’-Eumaeus to Telemachus; bk 16 line 37

‘I eat my heart out longing for Odysseus’-Penelope-shows her loyalty; bk 19 line 135

‘That would be just like my mother, who for all her wisdom is far too ready to make much of a lesser man and send the better man packing’-Telemachus-strained relationship between mother and son; bk 20 line 131


‘my hard-hearted, unmotherly mother’-Telemachus-strained relationship; bk 23 line 98

‘he wept as he held his dear and loyal wife in his arms’-Homer; close bond between Odysseus and Penelope; bk 23 line 232

‘you are a fortunate man to have won a wife of such pre-eminent virtue’-Agamemnon-lavishing praise on Penelope-contrast between Clytaemnestra and Penelope ; bk 24 line 192

‘prudent Penelope’- Homer description; bk 20 line 188


Telemachus Quotes- The Odyssey

1. “Courteous Telemachus” – Talking to Athene dressed up as Mentes. Book 1 line 213.

2. “You are no longer a child: you must put childish thoughts away” – Athene dressed up as Mentes, talking to Telemachus. Book 1 line 295.

3. “What a tall and splendid man you have grown! – Must be as brave as Orestes”. - Athene dressed up as Mentes, talking to Telemachus. Book 1 line 295.

4. “Athene endowed him with such supernatural grace hat all eyes were turned on him in admiration when he came up” -Talking to men at assembly. Book 2 line 11.

5. “Yet I would willingly fight if I had the strength” - Telemachus is openly weak. Doesn’t have strength. Book 2 line 61.

6. “He burst into tears and flung the staff on the ground” – Telemachus talking to men at the Assembly. Book 2 line 80.

7. “You will neither a coward nor a fool in the future” – Athene to Telemachus. Giving him confidence dressed as Meno. Book 2 line 270.

8. “But you must swear to me that you won’t tell my good mother for a dozen days… We don’t want tears to spoil her lovely cheeks” – Telemachus loves his mother. Talking to Eurycleia. Book 2 line 373.

9. “I have no practice in making speeches”- Talking to Athene dressed as Mentor. Shows his weakness. Development of Telemachus. Quite childish. Book 3 line 25.

10. “Plucked up the courage to make him a spirited reply” – Talking to Nestor. Still a bit weak. Book 2 line 78.


11. “You talk exactly as he did” – Nestor to Telemachus about Odysseus. Book 3 line 121.

12. “There is no chance that you will ever be a coward, you already have you quardian gods on your side” – Nestor to Telemachus, gives him confidence. Book 3 line 380.

13. “My childhood is a thing of the past” – Telemachus is embarrassed about his previous behaviour and tells the suitor Ctesippus this. Book 3 line 10.

14. “Could not help admiring the neat way in which he set them up” – When Telemachus digs a single long trench for all the axes. The suitors say this. Book 21 line 122

15. “I suppose I shall always be a coward and a weakling. Or perhaps I’m too young, not sure enough yet of my own strength to defend myself against anyone wo may come to pick a quarrel with me”- Telemachus plays up on the suitors perceptions of himself.

16. “Whose conversation gives us as much pleasure as we would get from listening to a god”- Nestor’s son Peisistratus about Telemachus to Menelaus. Book 4 line 160.

17. “I like the way you talk, dear boy: One can see that you have the right blood in your veins” - Menelaus to Telemachus. Book 4 line 160.

18. “Please let me return to my own country; I’m longing to be home” – Telemachus to Menelaus. Telemachus is more confident, well spoken and assertive. Development of character. Book 15 line 65.

19. “I shall certainly not bar you from my good ship, if you wish to sail with us” – Telemachus to Theoclymenus (murderer). Good example of hospitality. Telemachus welcomes him.

20. “You will come to know in due course what I am made of, and I am certainly not stupid” – Telemachus to Odysseus. He has developed as a character. He is getting involved in revenge.

21. “You’re back Telemachus! Light of my eyes” – Penelope to Telemachus. Penelope loves Telemachus.


22. “It amazed them that Telemachus should have the audacity to address them in this style”- The suitors are shocked at the development of Telemachus.

23. “Telemachus killed Euryades” – Telemachus has matured and supports his father in battle. Book 22 line 268.

EUMAEUS

“The worthy swineherd”–H.


“The good swineherd”–H.“He cared for me and loved me dearly” – E. about O.“Though he is far away, I still call him my beloved master” – E. about O.“I shall never find so kind a master again” – E. about O.“For I was neither a fool nor a coward.” –E.“My poor friend!” E. – O.“And you, Eumaeus…” - H.“Here I sit, yearning and morning for the best of matters” – E.“Even in his absence I can hardly mention his name” – E.“My heart is wrung when anyone reminds me of my dear master” – E.“Like a fond father welcoming back his son…” – H. E. greets T.“The admirable swineherd threw his arms around Telemachus the godlike youth and showered kisses on him as though he had just escaped from death” - H“Yet the blessed Gods don’t like wicked acts. Justice and fair play are what they respect in men” – E.“I care little for that as long as thoughtful Penelope and godlike Telemachus are alive in the palace.” – E’s love for P. + T. “The herdsman had made it himself for his absent master’s swine, without help from his mistress or the aged Laertes” –H.


“But he gave Odysseus the portion of honour, the hog’s long chine” – H.“The were guarded every night by four dogs, as savage as wild beasts, trained by the master swineherd” – H.“Tonight you shan’t go without clothing or anything else” – E. Theme of hospitality.“He got himself ready for a night outside, and Odysseus was delighted to see his diligent concern for his absent master’s property” – H.

ANCIENT EPIC NOTES: Odyssey v Aeneid comparisons + Aenied and Odyssey themesEurycleia:

Odysseus and Telemachus’ nurse.

Extremely loyal to Odysseus and his family.

Recognises Odysseus by his scar.

Locks the women in when Odysseus is taking his revenge.

Tells Penelope Odysseus has

Eumeas:

The swineherd.

Extremely loyal to Odysseus and his family.

Longs for Odysseus to return

Odysseus stays in his hut when he first returns.

Philotius:

The cowherd

Very loyal to Odysseus and his family.

Longs for Odysseus’ return.

Helps Odysseus to take revenge.

Melathius:

The goatherd

Attacks and abuses Odysseus

Helps the suitors to get armour.

Is captured and tortured and

Eurynome:

Housekeeper of Penelope.

Loyal to Penelope and Odysseus.

Dolius:

Father of Melanthius and Melantho.

Old servant of Penelope.

Works on Laerte’s estate.

Odysseus’s

Servants

Melantho:

Maidservant to Penelope. who helped raise her.

Daughter of Dolius

Abuses Odysseus. Penelope rebukes her for it.

Mistress of Eurymachus, one of the suitors.

Medon:

The Herald.

Helped Penelope raise Telemachus.

Is sympathetic towards Penelope.

Told Penelope the suitors were planning to kill Telemachus.

Telemachus asks Odysseus to spare his life. He was

CTESIPPUS

- He mocks Odysseus when he is disguised as a beggar

- Throws am ox’s hoof at him but misses

- Telemachus threatens him by

The Suitors


Characters Odysseus meets in the Underworld:

CTESIPPUS

- He mocks Odysseus when he is disguised as a beggar

- Throws am ox’s hoof at him but misses

- Telemachus threatens him by

EURYMACHUS

- The other ringleader of the Suitors

- Second suitor to be killed by Odysseus

- After Antinous has been killed, Eurymachus tries to blame him for all of the trouble that’s been caused

ANTINOUS

- One of the ringleaders of the suitors.- Loud, arrogant and disrespectful of the

xenia laws- Heads the plot to kill Telemachus when

he returns home from Sparta- His father, Eupeithes, was once saved

by Odysseus- Attacks beggar Odysseus- He is the first to be killed by Odysseus- Shot through the throat by his arrow

while dining

AMPHINOMUS

- The best-behaved Suitor- Liked by Penelope- Tries to dissuade the Suitors

from plotting to kill Telemachus- Athene does not spare him in

the fighting - Odysseus warns him to leave but

Athene compels him to stay- He is killed by Telemachus

AMPHIMEDON

- His ghost tells Agamemnon of the suitors’ death in Hades

- Killed by Telemachus

TIRESIAS :

He is a famous deceased Greek prophet. Odysseus goes to Hades to question Tiresias and has to kill a goat in order to be able to speak with him. Tiresias gives Odysseus valuable advice concerning the rest of his voyage, specifically concerning the cattle of Helios, advice which Odysseus' men did not follow and

ELPENOR :

One night he got drunk and wanting some fresh air went to sleep on the roof of Circe’s palace. When he woke the next morning he forgot to use the ladder to get off the roof, he fell, broke his neck and died.


ACHILLES:

Greek hero at Troy who killed Hector and was himself killed by Paris

AJAX:

Great Greek fighter at Troy; when Achilles died, Odysseus rather than him was honoured with the gift of Achilles’ armour. This led to his suicide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios

Argus:

Odysseus’ old hunting dog; he had been a puppy when Odysseus left; he was once a fine hunting dog but now he is has been neglected and is covered in fleas; Argos is delighted to see his master after 20 years but has no strength to run up to him; he died when Odysseus goes into the palace. Irus:

He was the favourite beggar of the suitors. He is cruel towards Odysseus when he is disguised as a beggar.


Other Characters

Bards: Demodocus & Phemius

Demodocus was a Phaeacian blind bard who sang at the court of King Alcinous. He is admired by Odysseus for his skill.

Phemius was a bard forced to sing for the Suitors in Odysseus’ palace. During the fighting, Telemachus saves him from being killed by Odysseus when he tells him of how

Eurylochus :

He was the leader of one of the groups on Circe’s island Aeaea. His group came across Circe’s palace. When Circe invited the group into her palace he refused to go in as he suspected it to be a trap. When Eurylochus’s crew members were changed into pigs, he ran back to tell Odysseus what had happened. Eurylochus refuses to go back to the palace with Odysseus.

Eurylochus convinced the rest of

The Phaeacians


Alcinous: king of Phaeacia, offers hospitality to Odysseus, organises a ship and crew to take him back to Ithaca, gives Odysseus gold ornaments, cloaks, tunics, tripods and cauldrons when he leaves.

Arete: Alcinous’ wife, organises Odysseus’ gifts when he is leaving, Phaeacians have a lot of respect for her e.g. “wise woman”.

Nausicaa: daughter of Alcinous and Arete, she is the first person Odysseus speaks to in Phaeacia, gives him food, water and directions to her father’s palace, Alcinous offers to let Odysseus stay in Phaeacia and marry her.

Demodocus: blind bard, sings to the Phaeacians about the Trojan War which causes Odysseus to start crying.

Euryalus: son of Naubolus, insults Odysseus during the Phaeacian games by comparing him to a skipper of a merchant crew whose only concern is extortionate profits, this provokes Odysseus into taking part in the discus throwing.

Laodamas: Alcinous’ son, breaks the laws of hospitality by challenging his guest Odysseus to take part in the games.

Nausithous: father of Alcinous, prophesised that one day Poseidon would wreck one of their ships and surround their city with mountains after they had given a stranger safe passage

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