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Odyssey

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Ancient History,
Classical History and Mythology

   Beginning of the Odyssey
   Beginning of the Odyssey

   The Odyssey ( Greek Οδύσσεια (Odússeia) ) is one of the two major
   ancient Greek epic poems attributed to the Ionian poet Homer. The poem
   is commonly dated circa 800 to 600 BC. The poem is, in part, a sequel
   to Homer's Iliad and mainly centers on the Greek hero Odysseus (or
   Ulysses in Latin) and his long journey home to Ithaca, following the
   fall of Troy.

   It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan
   War. Due to his twenty-year absence, most people assume Odysseus is
   dead. His son Telemachus and his wife Penelope must deal with a group
   of unruly suitors who have moved into Odysseus's home, greedily
   consuming his goods, insulting him and his son, and competing for
   Penelope's hand in marriage.

   The poem is fundamental to the Western canon and continues to be read
   in Homeric Greek and translations into modern languages around the
   world. The original poem was composed in an oral tradition by an aoidos
   perhaps a rhapsode. The details of the ancient oral performance, and
   the story's conversion to a written work inspire continual debate among
   scholars. The Odyssey was written in a regionless poetic dialect of
   Greek and comprises 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter. Among the most
   impressive elements of the text are its strikingly modern non-linear
   plot, and the fact that events are shown to depend as much on the
   choices made by women and serfs as on the actions of fighting men. In
   the English language as well as many others, the word odyssey has come
   to refer to an epic voyage.

Character of Odysseus

   Odysseus's heroic trait is his mētis, or "cunning intelligence"; he is
   often described as the "Peer of Zeus in Counsel". This intelligence is
   most often manifested by Odysseus's use of disguise and deceptive
   speech. His disguises take forms both physical (altering his
   appearance) and verbal, such as telling the Cyclops ( Polyphemus) that
   his name is "Nobody", then escaping after blinding Polyphemus. When
   queried by other Cyclopes about why he is screaming, Polyphemus replies
   that "Nobody" is hurting him. The most evident flaw, however, that
   Odysseus sports is that of his pride, or hubris. It is due to his stark
   pride that he taunts the blinded Polyphemus, allowing him to hurl
   stones in his direction by following the sound of his voice. Odysseus's
   hubris was also the initial cause of Poseidon's wrath, and continued to
   enrage the sea god the length of his voyage. Because Odysseus is
   intrigued with the reaction of Polyphemus, he tells the Cyclops he is a
   fool and that his real name is Odysseus.

Structure

   The Odyssey begins in medias res, meaning that the action begins in the
   middle of the plot, and that prior events are described through
   flashbacks or storytelling. In the first episodes we trace Telemachus'
   efforts to assert control of the household, and then, at Athena’s
   advice, to search for news of his long-lost father. Then the scene
   shifts: Odysseus has been a captive of the beautiful nymph Calypso,
   with whom he has spent 7 of his 10 lost years. Released by the
   intercession of his patroness Athena, he departs, but his raft is
   destroyed by his divine enemy Poseidon, who is angry because Odysseus
   blinded his son, Polyphemus. When Odysseus washes up on Scherie, home
   to the Phaeacians, he is assisted by the young Nausicaa and is treated
   hospitably. In return he satisfies the Phaeacians' curiosity, telling
   them - and the reader - of all his adventures since departing from
   Troy. This renowned, extended "flashback" leads Odysseus back to where
   he stands, his tale told. The shipbuilding Phaeacians finally loan him
   a ship to return to Ithaca, where he is aided by the swineherd Eumaeus,
   meets Telemachus, regains his household, kills the suitors, and is
   reunited with his faithful wife Penelope.

   In nearly all modern editions and translations the Odyssey (like the
   Iliad) is divided into 24 books. This division is handy but it is not
   original; it was developed by Alexandrian editors of the 3rd century
   BC. Aside from this, the first four books, focusing on Telemachus, are
   sometimes known as the " Telemachy". Within Odysseus's narrative, the
   section describing his meeting with the spirits of the dead is known as
   the " Nekuia".

   The last 550 lines of the Odyssey, corresponding to book 24, are
   believed by many scholars to have been added by a slightly later poet.
   Several passages in earlier books seem to be setting up the events of
   book 24, so if it is indeed a later addition, the offending editor
   would seem to have changed earlier text as well. For more about varying
   views on the origin, authorship and unity of the poem see Homeric
   scholarship.

Outline of the plot

   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
   Herbert James Draper, Ulysses and the Sirens, 1909
   Herbert James Draper, Ulysses and the Sirens, 1909

   Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, was a baby when Odysseus set out for Troy.
   At the point where the Odyssey begins, ten years after the Trojan War
   ended, Telemachus is about twenty and is sharing his missing father’s
   house on the island of Ithaca with his mother Penelope and with a crowd
   of 108 boisterous young men, "the Suitors", whose aim is to persuade
   Penelope to accept her husband’s disappearance as final and to marry
   one of them.

   The goddess Athena (who is Odysseus’s protector) discusses his fate
   with Zeus, king of the gods, at a moment when Odysseus's enemy, the God
   of the Sea Poseidon, is absent from Mount Olympus. Then, disguised as a
   Taphian chieftain named Mentes, she visits Telemachus to urge him to
   search for news of his father. He offers her hospitality; they observe
   the Suitors dining rowdily, and the bard Phemius performing a narrative
   poem for them. Penelope objects to Phemius's theme, the "Return from
   Troy" because it reminds her of her missing husband, but Telemachus
   rebuts her objections.

   Next morning Telemachus calls an assembly of citizens of Ithaca and
   demands a ship and crew. Accompanied by Athena (now disguised as his
   friend Mentor) he departs for the Greek mainland and the household of
   Nestor, most venerable of the Greek warriors at Troy, now at home in
   Pylos. From there Telemachus rides overland, accompanied by Nestor's
   son, to Sparta, where he finds Menelaus and Helen, now reconciled. He
   is told that they returned to Greece after a long voyage by way of
   Egypt; there, on the magical island of Pharos, Menelaus encountered the
   old sea-god Proteus, who told him that Odysseus is a captive of the
   mysterious goddess Calypso. Incidentally Telemachus learns the fate of
   Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and leader of the Greeks
   at Troy, murdered on his return home by his wife Clytemnestra and her
   lover Aegisthus.
   Charles Gleyre, Odysseus and Nausicaä
   Charles Gleyre, Odysseus and Nausicaä

   Meanwhile Odysseus, after wanderings about which we are still to learn,
   has spent seven years in captivity on the goddess Calypso's distant
   island. She is now persuaded by the messenger god Hermes to release
   him. Odysseus builds a raft. It is wrecked (the sea-god Poseidon is his
   enemy) but he swims ashore on the island of Scherie, where, naked and
   exhausted, he falls asleep. Next morning, awakened by the laughter of
   girls, he sees the young Nausicaa, who has gone to the seashore with
   her maids to wash clothes. He appeals to her for help. She encourages
   him to seek the hospitality of her parents Arete and Alcinous. Odysseus
   is welcomed and is not at first asked for his name. He remains several
   days with Alcinous, takes part in an athletic competition, and hears
   the blind singer Demodocus perform two narrative poems. The first is an
   otherwise obscure incident of the Trojan War, the "Quarrel of Odysseus
   and Achilles"; the second is the amusing tale of a love affair between
   two Olympian gods, Ares and Aphrodite. Finally Odysseus asks Demodocus
   to return to the Trojan War theme and tell of the Trojan Horse, a
   stratagem in which Odysseus had played a leading role. Unable to hide
   his emotion as he relives this episode, Odysseus at last reveals his
   identity. He then begins to tell the amazing story of his return from
   Troy.

          After a piratical raid on Ismarus in the land of the Cicones, he
          and his twelve ships were driven off course by storms. They
          visited the lazy Lotus-Eaters and were captured by the Cyclops
          Polyphemus, escaping by blinding him with a wooden stake. They
          stayed with Aeolus the master of the winds; he gave Odysseus a
          leather bag containing all the winds, a gift that should have
          ensured a safe return home, had not the sailors foolishly opened
          the bag while Odysseus slept. All the winds flew out and the
          resulting storm drove the ships back the way they had come.

          After pleading in vain with Aeolus to help them again, they
          re-embarked and encountered the cannibal Laestrygones.
          Odysseus’s own ship was the only one to escape. He sailed on and
          visited the witch-goddess Circe, whose magic potions turned most
          of his sailors into swine. Hermes met with Odysseus and gave him
          a drug called moly, a resistance to Circe’s potion. Circe, being
          attracted to Odysseus's resistance, fell in love with him. Circe
          released his men. Odysseus and his crew remained with her on the
          island for the next year. Finally, Odysseus's men convinced
          Odysseus that it was time to leave. Guided by Circe's
          instructions, Odysseus and his crew crossed the ocean and
          reached a harbour at the western edge of the world, where
          Odysseus sacrificed to the dead and summoned the spirit of the
          old prophet Tiresias to advise him. Next Odysseus met the spirit
          of his own mother, who had died of grief at his long absence;
          from her he learned for the first time news of his own
          household, threatened by the greed of the suitors. Here, too, he
          met the spirits of famous women and famous men; notably he
          encountered the spirit of Agamemnon, of whose murder he now
          learned (for Odysseus's encounter with the dead see also
          Nekuia).

          Returning to Circe’s island, they were advised by her on the
          remaining stages of the journey. They skirted the land of the
          Sirens, passed between the many-headed monster Scylla and the
          whirlpool Charybdis, and landed on the island of Thrinacia.
          There Odysseus’ men – ignoring the warnings of Tiresias and
          Circe – hunted down the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios.
          This sacrilege was punished by a shipwreck in which all but
          Odysseus himself were drowned. He was washed ashore on the
          island of Calypso, where she compelled him to remain as her
          lover for seven years, and he had only now escaped.

   Having listened with rapt attention to his story, the Phaeacians, who
   are skilled mariners, agree to help Odysseus on his way home. They
   deliver him at night, while he is fast asleep, to a hidden harbour on
   Ithaca. He finds his way to the hut of one of his own former slaves,
   the swineherd Eumaeus. Odysseus now plays the part of a wandering
   beggar in order to learn how things stand in his household. After
   dinner he tells the farm laborers a fictitious tale of himself: he was
   born in Crete, had led a party of Cretans to fight alongside other
   Greeks in the Trojan War, and had then spent seven years at the court
   of the king of Egypt; finally he had been shipwrecked in Thesprotia and
   crossed from there to Ithaca.

   Meanwhile Telemachus, whom we left at Sparta, sails home, evading an
   ambush set by the suitors. He disembarks on the coast of Ithaca and
   makes for Eumaeus’s hut. Father and son meet; Odysseus identifies
   himself to Telemachus (but still not to Eumaeus) and they determine
   that the suitors must be killed. Telemachus gets home first.
   Accompanied by Eumaeus, Odysseus now returns to his own house, still
   disguised as a beggar. He experiences the suitors’ rowdy behaviour and
   plans their death. He meets Penelope: he tests her intentions with an
   invented story of his birth in Crete, where, he says, he once met
   Odysseus. Closely questioned, he adds that he had recently been in
   Thesprotia and had learned something there of Odysseus’s recent
   wanderings.

   Odysseus’s identity is discovered by the housekeeper, Eurycleia, when
   he undresses for a bath and reveals an old thigh wound; he swears her
   to secrecy. Next day, at Athena’s prompting, Penelope maneuvers the
   suitors into competing for her hand with an archery competition using
   Odysseus’s bow. Odysseus takes part in the competition himself; he
   alone is strong enough to string the bow and therefore wins.
   Immediately he turns his arrows on the suitors, and all are killed.
   Odysseus and Telemachus kill (by hanging) twelve of their household
   maids, who had slept with the suitors; they mutilate and kill the
   goatherd Melanthius, who had mocked and abused Odysseus. Now at last
   Odysseus identifies himself to Penelope. She is hesitant, but accepts
   him when he correctly describes to her the bed he built for her when
   they married.

   The next day he and Telemachus visit the country farm of his old father
   Laertes, who likewise accepts his identity only when Odysseus correctly
   describes the orchard that Laertes once gave him.

   The citizens of Ithaca have followed Odysseus on the road, planning to
   avenge the killing of the Suitors, their sons. Their leader points out
   that Odysseus has now caused the deaths of two generations of the men
   of Ithaca – his sailors, not one of whom survived, and the suitors,
   whom he has now executed. The goddess Athena intervenes and persuades
   both sides to give up the vendetta.

The geography of the Odyssey

   Reconstitution of the world described by the Odyssey
   Reconstitution of the world described by the Odyssey

          Main articles: Homer's Ithaca and Geography of the Odyssey.

   Events in the main sequence of the Odyssey (excluding the narrative of
   Odysseus) take place in the Peloponnese and in what are now called the
   Ionian Islands. There are difficulties in the identification of Ithaca,
   the homeland of Odysseus, which may or may not be the same island that
   is now called Ithake. The wanderings of Odysseus as told to the
   Phaeacians, and the location of the Phaeacians' own island of Scherie,
   pose more fundamental geographical problems: scholars both ancient and
   modern are divided as to whether or not any of the places visited by
   Odysseus (after Ismarus and before his return to Ithaca) were real.

Near Eastern influences

   Scholars have seen strong influences from Near Eastern mythology and
   literature in the Odyssey. Martin West has noted substantial parallels
   between the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Odyssey. Both Odysseus and
   Gilgamesh are known for traveling to the ends of the earth, and on
   their journeys go to the land of the dead. On his voyage to the
   underworld Odysseus follows instructions given to him by Circe, a
   goddess who is the daughter of the sun-god Helios. Her island, Aiaia,
   is located at the edges of the world, and seems to have close
   associations with the sun. Like Odysseus, Gilgamesh gets directions on
   how to reach the land of the dead from a divine helper: in this case
   she is the goddess Siduri, who, like Circe, dwells by the sea at the
   ends of the earth. Her home is also associated with the sun: Gilgamesh
   reaches Siduri's house by passing through a tunnel underneath Mt.
   Mashu, the high mountain from which the sun comes into the sky. West
   argues that the similarity of Odysseus's and Gilgamesh's journeys to
   the edges of the earth are the result of the influence of the Gilgamesh
   epic upon the Odyssey.

   There are also some parallels between the Odyssey and the story of
   Sindbad, whose misfortune on the ocean is rival to that of Odysseus. He
   also has an encounter with a monster similar to Polyphemus, and escapes
   using similar tactics.
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