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• The household, as opposed to the battlefield (Iliad) is the center of the conflict
• Reverse of The Iliad, where Achilles is introduced then vanishes for 2/3 of the poem. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is not introduced until Book 5 
• Probably composed circa 8th century BCE in Turkey (which was controlled by the Greeks) 
• The "authoritative" version was apparently written down around 550 BCE (before that, there were many "Homers") 
• Composed orally and recited to audiences 
• Homer may have been literate and thus written some of the poem as it was developed
• However, most important to remember that the style of the poem is oral [the introduction to the Rieu translation (Penguin) has great information about the history of oral Greek poetry circa 8th century BCE
• Given it is 12,000 lines (The Iliad is even longer at 15,000) it was obviously not sung all at once. Likely, it was sung in portions to dinner guests in the royal palace and developed over a number of years.

Summary

Questions?

• In Poetics, Aristotle notes that Homer is rather unique because he focuses on a singular moment in a larger epic (The Wrath of Achilles in the ninth year of the Trojan War and Odysseus' return after being away from Penelope for 20 years). What problems does this artistic choice imply for adaptation?
• How different would this poem be if it was told in a more linear nature?
• Why does Homer barely mention the suitor's invasion? What effect on the text would that have? How does this effect Penelope and Telemachus?
• What is the role of story telling in the poem? 

Analysis

Non-Linearity

Book 1-4

• Muse is called to sing about the return (nostos) of a great hero from Troy.  
• The poem begins with Odysseus' deep need to get home...Penelope is under siege by suitors...Telemachus is coming of age...Odysseus' father is in the country, grieving for his son...the fall of the entire house is in play...
• One of the biggest themes of the poem is the need for sons to become worthy of their fathers. Orestes is used as an example of the ideal son.  
• Another big theme explored in the early books is the role of hospitality and treatment of guests
• The journey is a metaphor for coming of age (might want to see Joseph Campbell???)

• The call for the muse to sing the return begins the poem. There is also the first of many instances in the poem where the call is to "begin where you wish"
• Non-linearity is an interesting issue in the poem 
• Zeus begins the proper poem, giving the poem an epic and divine background
• Zeus also allows for Homer to bring up any questions about human nature he can (those of you who took lit207 will know about this)
• The first mention of Orestes is here.
• Orestes' father Agamemnon is mentioned for the first time. Agamemnon will be referred to by Homer numerous times as well as Orestes.
• Poseidon punishes Odysseus because his men ate the Cattle of the Sun.   
• Telemachus' search for his father is a search for his own identity as well as an understanding of who his father is (this is something that is very important to Greek society)
•  It is very intentional that Telemachus is seen with the suitors in the beginning. He has no good role models to show him the proper ways of treating guests
• Suitors are comparable to Odysseus' troops eating the Cattle of the Sun.  
• Telemachus HAS to leave his father's home to learn how to properly behave like a man from Nestor and Menelaus. Athena sets all of this into play
• Athena often does this for men. She also advocates for Orestes, who is shown by Homer as an example of the ideal son 
• She persuades Zeus that Odysseus must return, then advises Telemachus under two different disguises and pushes him to Pylos 
• When Mentes arrives, Telemachus seems embarrassed that he left him for so long. This is the first sign of Telemachus growing up...
• Athena/Mentes swears that Odysseus is alive and says that Telemachus looks like his father...she argues that any "sensible" man would be rather upset at the suitor's actions (ie stop whining and do something)
• Telemachus argues that he would rather have been the son of a "fortunate" man, which is a grand denial of his lineage.  
• Athena arrives with a battle spear, tipping her hand as to her attitude about them. She comments that they "loll on the hides of the cattle they had killed" (108)...meat was a food only for rare occasions, so this would show their grand excess.
•  Eating and drinking are very important in their combination with hospitality rites.  
• Athena's clearly madeup story about the poison arrows shows her viewpoint of what should be done to the suitors.
• Comparison to Orestes and his vengeance for Agamemnon's murder.  
• Book one ends with Telemachus naming his father for the first time and Penelope's wonderment at Telemachus' sudden enthusiasm. Eurykleia puts him to bed at the end, which is Homer's way of pulling things back a little bit. 

• Book two lays out the politics and issues at hand in Ithaca.
• Because of Telemachus' actions at the end of book one, this is now not only a domestic issue, but now a public issue involving the suitors.
• Telemachus assembles the first assembly since Odysseus left for Troy. He even takes his father's seat, which is a bit of a daring move. 
• While a formal meeting, the suitors do not hide their inhospitable intentions towards Odysseus
• Antinoos blames the issue at hand on Penelope
• Telemachus rather cleverly foreshadows the eventual unavenged deaths the suitors will have
• Penelope's weaving comes up for the first time at this point. Her call to weave a shroud for the eldest male in her family is one the suitors will respect.
• Nevertheless, Antinoos seems to be impressed and arguably catching on to Penelope's trick
• Telemachus prays by the sea to his mother ala Achilles in book one of The Iliad  
• Despite Euryklia's pleas, Telemachus sets off with Athena. He takes her guidance in the same way his father would 

• Telemachus goes to see Nestor in Pylos
• Nestor has no news
• Despite this, it is an important journey for Telemachus because Nestor was at Troy and is an elder who can teach Telemachus plenty about the values of his father's world
•   Telemachus' visits to Nestor in 3 and Menelaus in 4 are set up by Athena to give him a good reputation (kleos) and to show him he has all of the same heroic qualities that his father has.
• Both also compare Telemachus to Orestes.
• Nestor's son is also used as an example for Telemachus...he greets guests, feeds them, and address them as a representative of his father. He is roughly the same age as Telemachus, but holds himself up to the standards set.  
• Telemachus also sees two of the most important forms of feasting, a sacrifice (Nestor...interestingly to Poseidon and Athena..the two who have the most interest in his father!) and a wedding (Menelaus) 
• As contemporaries of his father, they can be proper models for Telemachus of behavior 
• Menelaus allows Telemachus to draw his own conclusions 
• Stories from The Iliad show Telemachus what being a hero is about 

“But how, Mentor,” replied Telemachus, “dare I go up to Nestor, and how am I to address him? I have never yet been used to holding long conversations with people, and am ashamed to begin questioning one who is so much older than myself.” 

• There is an incredible contrast to what happens in Sparta and Pylos to what is going on in Ithaca 
• Athena returns in book four to reassure Penelope that Telemachus will be safe
• Athena is generally concerned about the entire family and favors Telemachus like she favors his father
• It is a telling sign that Athena leaves. Her departure shows that Telemachus is on his way to independence 

Books 5-12

• Odysseus' own journey is one of self discovery as well. He learns about his own mortality and what it means to be a man
• It is a journey of rebirth (note how Book 5 begins with the word "dawn")
• His time with Nausicaa reminds us of a young man meeting her, courting her, meeting her parents, etc
• When we come onto the scene in Book 5, he has already rejected Calypso and her offer of immortality
• Hermes' intervention saves his life 

• In Book 5 we met Odysseus in the flesh for the first time 
• Begins with the Gods and ends with Odysseus asleep ala Telemachus in Book 1
• A "living death" for Odysseus

• The relationship between Nausicaa and Odysseus shows the timeless tale of youthful inexperience and middle aged experience and manipulation
• Nausicaa is a marriageable princess who contrasts Telemachus.
• Nausicaa's people used to belong to the world of the Cyclops and Calypso
•  The normalcy of the domestic
• Contrast to anarchy at home 

• Book nine begins the first person narration by Odysseus. 
• This technique makes it seem like Odyssey is just getting home and hides the fact that he has spent the last seven years with Calypso. 
• He gets the cyclops drunk and refers to himself as "no one" 

• In book ten, Odysseus' refusal to eat until his comrades are released is what saves them. He falls under Circe's control right afterward and it is clear in the text that they would not have escaped if Odysseus had not done this.  
• Possible feminist interpretation, and very Biblical, of Circe directing Odysseus to the underworld is like a mother birthing a child, which begins their descent towards death.  

Book 14

• Eumaeus greets Telemachus "as a father greets a son" 

Book 21

• Note the moving scene where Penelope cries on the arrows as if she is saying goodbye to her husband
• Telemachus would have strung the bow if Odysseus didn't stop him 
• Swallow's note the bow gives=pun on swallows migrating back to nests they previously inhabited... 
• Apollo is God of the bow and the contest takes place on Apollo's feast day 

Characters

Odysseus

• Odysseus' own journey is one of self discovery as well. He learns about his own mortality and what it means to be a man 
  

Telemachus

• In a poem filled with stories, it is interesting that Telemachus only knows his father by story
• Telemachus' search for his father is a search for his own identity as well  

“Telemachus,” said she, “if you are made of the same stuff as your father you will be neither fool nor coward henceforward, for Ulysses never broke his word nor left his work half done. If, then, you take after him, your voyage will not be fruitless, but unless you have the blood of Ulysses and of Penelope in your veins I see no likelihood of your succeeding. Sons are seldom as good men as their fathers; they are generally worse, not better; still, as you are not going to be either fool or coward. 

No matter how far out of the world you live, you will have heard of Agamemnon and the bad end he came to at the hands of Aegisthus — and a fearful reckoning did Aegisthus presently pay. See what a good thing it is for a man to leave a son behind him to do as Orestes did, who killed false Aegisthus the murderer of his noble father. You too, then — for you are a tall, smart-looking fellow — show your mettle and make yourself a name in story.” 

Penelope 

• Considered to be rather intelligent by suitors (2)
• Not in any way helpless as shown by the shroud, bow trial, and then her trick to see if Odysseus is really him 

We caught her in the act of undoing her work, so she had to finish it whether she would or no. The suitors, therefore, make you this answer, that both you and the Achaeans may understand-’Send your mother away, and bid her marry the man of her own and of her father’s choice’; for I do not know what will happen if she goes on plaguing us much longer with the airs she gives herself on the score of the accomplishments Minerva has taught her, and because she is so clever. We never yet heard of such a woman; we know all about Tyro, Alcmena, Mycene, and the famous women of old, but they were nothing to your mother, any one of them. It was not fair of her to treat us in that way, and as long as she continues in the mind with which heaven has now endowed her, so long shall we go on eating up your estate; and I do not see why she should change, for she gets all the honour and glory, and it is you who pay for it, not she. Understand, then, that we will not go back to our lands, neither here nor elsewhere, till she has made her choice. 

Eurycleia

The Suitors

• They arrive in the house in approximately the 17th year of Odysseus' absence
• 108 of them, but besides Eurymachus, Antinous, and Amphinomus they are barely characterized.
• The, as Agamemnon points out, the best men of Ithaca (24). However, they are clearly in violation, in a disgusting manner, of the Greek convention of xenia (hospitality)

Orestes

• Son of Agamemnon
• Kills his mother after she kills his father and turns his sister Electra into a maid... 

Symbolism

Hospitality Scenes In The Poem

• Telemachus/Athena (1)
• Nestor/Telemachus (3)
• Menelaus/Telemachus (4)
• Calypso/Hermes (5)
• Nausicaa/Odysseus (6/7) 
• Uh...Cyclops/Odysseus (9)
• Circe/Odysseus (10)
• Eumaeus/Odysseus (14/15)  

Themes

Sons Becoming Worthy of Their Fathers

Eating & Hospitality

Journey as symbolism for growing up 

Gender

Point of View

Irony

Ending

Adaptations

Wordle

Bibliography

• Jones, Peter. "Introduction." Introduction. The Odyssey. By Homer. Trans. E. V. Rieu. London, England: Penguin, 1991. I-LII. Print.

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