Odyssey (Themes & Context)

• Book 5: Odysseus clinging to the rocks is likened to the suckers of an Octopus

• Book 6: Odysseus is described “like a mountain lion”

• Book 6: Odysseus likens Nausicaa to Artemis

• Book 9: blacksmith & sailing imagery used to mimic the sound of the hot stake entering Polyphemus’ eye and of the action of it

• Book 11: “Like a shadow or a dream”

• Book 12: Scylla is an “angler”, and the crew are “little fishes”

• Book 16: Telemachus and Odysseus weep like an eagle and a vulture whose nest was robbed of young

• Book 21: Odysseus string the bow as easily as a skilled magician stringing a lyre

• Book 22: the suitors’ corpses are compared to fish lying flat on the sand, waiting for the sun to end their lives

• Book 23: Odysseus is compared to a shipwrecked sailor who managed to swim to land despite being battered by the wind and sea

• Book 2: 2 eagles in combat — foreshadows the deaths of the suitors due to the breach of xenia

• Book 12: the cattle moos on the spit and its hyde begins to crawl

• Book 15: Eagle carrying goose stolen from a pen in its talons — Helen says its a sign that Odysseus will soon enact retribution

• Book 15: hawk carrying a dove in its talons — Theoclymenus says its a sign of strength for Odysseus’ household

• Book 19: Penelope dreams of an eagle killing 20 of her geese which foreshadows Odysseus killing the suitors

• Book 20: Penelope dreams that she shares a bed with Odysseus who looks just like he did before leaving for Troy

• Book 20: Zeus sends an affirmative thunderclap upon Odysseus’ request

• Book 20: the suitors see an eagle carrying a trembling dove in its talons, which Amphinomus interprets as a sign that the plot against Telemachus will fail

• Book 20: Theoclymenus sees a portent of blood spattered over the walls and suitors

• Book 24: Zeus sends a thunderbolt as a warning to Odysseus not to follow the suitors’ families

• Book 2: Halitherses prophecises Odysseus returning home, alone & unrecognised, after 20 years of absence

• Book 4: Zeus says it will take Odysseus 20 days to reach Phaeacia

• Book 11: Teiresias prophesises Odysseus’ death

• Book 13: Poseidon fulfils the prophecy of the Phaeacians — although not fully

• Book 3: Athene transforms from Mentor into an eagle before Nestor & Telemachus

• Book 16: Telemachus and Odysseus

• Book 19: Eurycleia and Odysseus

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Telemachus within the Telemachia is still clearly underdeveloped as an heir to Odysseus and as a Homeric hero — however these traits are developed throughout the epic. E.g. he picks up travelling experience at Sparta and Pylos, he becomes more assertive with the suitors, and he achieves his 1st kill by throwing a spear at Amphinomus. Regardless, Edith Hall points out that he is “robbed” of the chance to become a hero — Odysseus stops him from stringing the great bow, and Helen gives him a wedding dress in Book 4, but he never gets the girl.

Also he is compared to another hero, Orestes, and people constantly question whether he will live up to him.

• Athene (Book 13) — says that he was exiled from Crete for murdering a prince

• Eumaeus (Book 14) — says he fought alongside Odysseus at Troy

• Penelope (Book 18) — assumes the identity of a Cretan prince and says he offered Odysseus hospitality in his palace

Critics of the Odyssey as early as the 6th Century BCE note that the gods in the Odyssey are immoral; Xenophanes says they have attributed to the gods “all things that are shameful”. Examples include deceiving Poseidon in Book 1 and the love triangle told by Demodocus in Book 8.
They also directly intervene with the fates of people through prophecy and epiphanies, as well as sending guidance through omens and portents.
Athene more than anything characterises Odysseus as her intervention is usually an enhancement of his own skills.

Gods are also shown to be more approachable than ever before depicted — this is done through Odysseus’ relations with immortal women, and perhaps by dining with Aelous.

Phaeacia & the Cyclopes.

The Phaeacians are known favourites of the gods and the meeting with Alcinous/Arete in Book 7 as well as the Phaeacian games in Book 8 are paradigms of the conventions of xenia — Alcinous moves his own son to seat Odysseus, they do not pressure him until after the games in Book 8, they offer both indoor and outdoor entertainment, etc.

The cyclops question Odysseus, do not greet him nor take his belongings, nor offer entertainment or anything otherwise.

The roles of women are expanded on in the Odyssey.

Mortal women seem to primarily uphold a moral function more than anything else — Penelope and Clytemnestra representative of the behaviours of brided and Eurycleia/Eurynome and Melantho as commonwomen.
Immortal women seem to primarily characterise either entertainment factors of the epic or the dangers of womenfolk which are often pivotal dogmas in ancient societies.

• Fantasy elements

• Enters and leaves Phaeacia while asleep

• Transitional state between the war and getting home

• making the guest comfortable, offering the best set available

• offering the best food/ wine available

• offering entertainment if possible

• reserving questions until the guest is satisfied

• give the guest a xenia gift if possible

• Nestor has the horns of the animals gilded

• A prayer is said and then barley sprinkled onto the altar

• A lock of the victim’s hair is cut

He digs a trench in which libations of milk, honey, wine, and water are poured. He then sprinkles barley and sacrifices a black ram and ewe, pouring their blood into the trench.

Xenia was culturally important as it created a social moral code and an intrinsic level of assumed safety which meant people could mingle freely.
It was also held to high importance as stories such as the Odyssey show that anyone could be a god in disguise and so to be rude to them would be hubris.

They were common gifts on the martial epaulia day, often painted with domestic scenes of women, revealing this as a prized characteristic of women in ancient Greece.

Girls were taught to weave from a young age by their mothers and/or female slaves. It was a domestic skill that signified the label of a “good woman” — e.g., Penelope is renowned for her weaving skills.

It stood as an extension of the value of being loyal to one’s husband — even future husbands, as she maintains her womb to bore only his heirs.
Most unmarried women in Ancient Greece that were not virgins were prostitutes, which is also linked with the kakos status.

Slavery that meant that the enslaved persons were literally owned by their masters and could be subjected to violence and exploitation freely because of it.
However it also meant that families could form personal relationships with enslaved members of the oikos — as seen with Eurycleia, who is seen as a mother-figure, and Melantho, who is said to be like a daughter to Penelope as she was raised in the palace.