Odyssey

Homer and the Odyssey

• Following are some notes on Homer and what scholars call the “Homeric Question,” as well as an introduction to the text. My notes follow for Books 1-10; you are responsible for reading the whole epic, so read carefully!

Homer

• I. Homer -nothing certain is known of his life -according to tradition he was from Ionia, possibly from Chios or Smyrna -legend has it that he was blind

Homer

• II. The “Homeric Question” -most ancient and modern scholars up to the 18th century assumed that Homer wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey -Josephus, an ancient historian, is a notable early exception

-in the 18th century, Robert Wood posed the idea regarding oral composition again; F.A. Wolf suggested that Homer composed shorter poems which were later put together into the form that we now have them -Wolf’s suggestion led scholars to try to separate out the original parts of the poem from later additions = Analyst School

Homer

• -Other scholars analyzed the actual language of the epics, noting that the Greek of the epics is a combination of Aeolic forms (early) and Ionic forms (late), with some Attic forms present as well. -Historical clues in the text are also problematic since there are artifacts from different time periods. Examples: -both bronze and iron are used -two marriage systems operate

Homer

• Eclectic conclusion: texts are a mixture of different periods of time as well as dialects -Unitarian Approach focused on the epic as a whole, on its merits, its design, etc.

Homer• III. Milman Parry and Albert Lord

-in the 1930s, the work of Milman Parry and Albert Lord convincingly demonstrated the oral nature of the Homeric poems. -they showed that epithets and formulaic lines and passages are the building blocks of the oral poet -Epithet: noun-adjective group that fits into a particular position of the metrical line. Examples: swift-footed Achilles ox-eyed Hera rosy-fingered Dawn much-suffering Odysseus

Homer

• Oral composition conclusion: the epics are improvisational poetry in many respects, as the oral poet never delivers the same version twice

Odyssey

• Five [-and-a-half] things:• Author• Homer• Title• Odyssey• Date• Late 8th century bc • Location• Greece• Language• Greek

Odyssey

• [textual tradition/edition]• Don't forget: this is a recent translation

of recent edition (Stanley Lombardo). Read the intro and the translator's notes. Realize the limitations and the assets this version presents. On the tradition of the text, see pp. lviii-lix in Murnaghan's introduction.

Odyssey• Oral poetry (once again) transmitted to written form coincidentally with

the development of writing in the Archaic period; the stories are important enough to be codified into forms in the 6th century in Athens (beginning of the classical period); Alexandrian poet-scholars and text critics divide the books into 24 in the 3rd century; then follows a familiar story about copying and transmission from then till the 1430's; the tradition is rich, though, and includes lots of commentary (scholia) from the Alexandrian period through the Late Antique. Manuscripts survive from 500 years after it was first in written form (earliest papyrus evidence from 3rd c. bc: found in mummy wrappings) but most of our evidence survives in handcopied texts from the 10-15 c (mostly the 15th). A great many MSS survive, more than the 108 that my old OCT uses, but of course some are more or less complete than others (a verse here, a word there, whole books and whole epics in other places).

Odyssey

• Major literary concerns:• Greek epic and its conventions• Thematic conventions• Gods and men• Heroism• Class • Violence• Glory

Odyssey

• Literary conventions• Language• Meter• In medias res• Deus ex machina• Orality and repetition• Epithets

Odyssey

• Identity• Nostos• Civilization v barbarism (and attendant anxieties

and laws)• Fathers and sons• Women's work v men's work• Xenia• Women in the Odyssey• The king

Odyssey

• Power of speech, including poetry and song• The trickster• Nekyia

Odyssey• The text:• Setting: 13th - 12th c bc• 1.1 Memory (muses); wanderer = POLYTROPON• 1.13-16 nostos• 1.15 Odysseus named (1.21 in greek): delayed identity• 1.17, 25 gods and men• 1.35: emphasis on the end of Agamemnon & Aegisthos (and connection with

Telemachus cf 315)• 1.38 (cf. 1.54): witlessness v discerning / cunning (metis) (cf. 1.72)• 1.47 etc.: Hermes, Zeus, Athena, be familiar with pantheon• 1.68: the pun is there in Greek actually - a poetic translation here et passim• 1.75-76 the plot: why Odysseus is off course: book 9; also cf. 1.9 (cattle of

Hyperion)• 1.91 ff: 2-pronged approach (sympathetic magic): a Telemachid and an Odyssey

Odyssey• 1.112: Mentis; cf. Mentor book 2• 1.115 and many other places - notice the conventions of xenia: 129, 132-

33• 1.165: phemius and song and poetry• 1.198: iron (an anachronism: consider history vis a vis setting and telling)• 1.201: xenia and how it works intergenerationally• 1.218 prophecy and augury• 1.230ff: it's a wise man who knows his own father: anxiety re women;

emphasis on male line• 1.266 ruining the house• 1.277 ff.: the wily and deadly one - that's the hero we know in Odysseus• 1.287: coming into his own; the emphasis on public speech and boldness,

which will unfold first with mother then with suitors (cf 310; 365ff)

Odyssey

• 1.299, 302, 303: nestor, menelaus (know the figures)• 1.328-29 xenia• 1.340 hidden identity and epiphany• 1.343 nostos - autoreflexive (cf 390)• 1.375-6 women's work v men's; telemachus lord of

the house• 1.404ff antinous and his sass• 1.452: notice eurykleia; and other women in the

Odyssey

Odyssey

• Book 2: understand the importance of ekklesia; speech; role of king;

• Book 3: understand the importance of Mentor / Nestor / Peisistratus

Odyssey• 4.125 ff women's names and importance of women in Odyssey• 4.151: helen's self-opinion: shameless• 4.192: weeping: the ethos of the epic hero• 4.233: drugs, especially in the hands of women (cf Circe etc; here

analgesic); also attendant ethnography with Egyptian and other eastern exotica

• 4.265 etc Odysseus' trick with Helen in troy; cf. the horse, etc. (cf. 298: she's wily too)

• 4.313 iron again• 4.325: innermost chamber: all speaks to anxiety of place and

civilization: cf end of the epic, etc• 4.327: repitition of dawn and rosy fingers (epic convention and

epithet)

Odyssey

• 4.368 emphasis on athletics• 4.378 what a line: the gods never allow us to forget them -

how often is that true in this epic?• 4.413: again with the doubt of the father• 4.439: shepherd: cf. Polyphemus• 4.458 dawn• 4.480 etc. notice emphasis on metamorphosis cf. wiles• 4.536ff - long excursus on Agamemnon; notice 561ff the

odyssean version of his death (cf Aeschylus)• 4.599: the reason to marry Helen• 4.606 dawn

Odyssey• 5.1 dawn again• 5.8 still? (epic convention) - the end of telemachid, and now we get the

odyssey• 5.10, 14 the king & father (and she's talking to Zeus after all)• 5.40 etc: why it's good to be odysseus: kleios - glory• 5.50: caduceus and other phallic symbols• 5.55 etc: notice epic similes: comparatively rare in the odyssey (cf. iliad)• 5.66 women's work even among goddesses cf. circe and even athene• 5.70 ff interesting: catalog• 5.102 the relationship between gods and men• 5.118 sexual politics among gods and among goddesses with mortals:

dawn with tithonous; interesting nod to ortygia (asterie)

Odyssey

• 5.184 the oath by the styx - why powerful?• 5.190 iron• 5.211 ff the gulf between gods and men - or at least

between goddesses and women - beauty v domestic assets - relation to nostos

• 5.227: made sweet love. brown-chicken-brown-cow!• 5.330 epic simile• 5.335 ino: an interesting history w cadmus• 5.371, 397, 435, 493 epic simile

Odyssey

• 6.40 laundry: women's work• 6.49 dawn• 6.101, 240 epic simile• 6.148: the odyssean technique: soft and winning speech• 6.186: the asset of marriage; relationship to nostos• 6.212: xenoi• 6.229 pudicitia• 6.235 epic convention: the class: the beauty• 6.331 the patron athene

Odyssey

• Book 7: understand the importance of xenia and athletics, odysseus glory in the discus;

• Book 8: understand the importance of demodocus' song about ares and aphrodite and the attendant connections with the tbemes of men and women, rape of helen, etc.; hidden identity of Odysseus, etc.

Odyssey

• 8.516: bards are revered• 8.564-565, 585 weeping again: the ethos of

the hero• 8.570 etc. epic simile• 8.595-6 xenia again; plain truth, no trick (cf.

Polyphemus)

Odyssey• 9.21 identity: i am odysseus, laertes' son• 9.37 nostos• 9.62: #1 Cicones• 9.85: #2 Lotus eaters• 9.103: #3 Cyclopes• 9.104-112: lots on civilization v barbarism; xenia; law & relationship to gods• 9.116 etc. goats (and sheep) and virgin land: the pastoral ideal• 9.146: (et passim): more dawn• 9.153: 12 ships• 9.168-172: more xenia, civ, barbarism, etc.• 9.182ff: what price barbarism (no society)• 9.206: ditto• 9.219-220: ditto

Odyssey

• 9.246-247: the Cyclops' assumptions• 9.258ff: the same issues• 9.274: i knew all the tricks• 9.280 ff: homophagia• 9.288: outrage• 9.321: glory from athene• 9.330: fate: whom i would have chosen• 9.348-9: irony: he doesn't WANT anyone to meet him• 9.360ff: Noman: cf the rest of the identity delay thru the piece

etc.• 9.368 the Cyclops' gift

Odyssey

• 9.380-392: the phallic, the similes, the anachronism - a lot going on there

• 9.405: some kind of trick• 9.410: again, what price loner• 9.418, 421: as if i could be so stupid; i wove all sorts of wiles• 9.450: apostrophe to a ram• 9.463 theft• 9.474; 478-479: rubbing it in, and citing xenia the while• 9.492, 498 again?!?!: the hero's heart• 9.511-513: vis vs mens

Odyssey• 10.2 #4 Aeolus (an interesting figure)• 10.26 bag o winds• 10.86 cursed by the gods• 10.95 #5 Laestrygonians (and more homophagia• 10.135: like giants• 10.149: 11 ships destroyed• 10.153 #6 Aeaea and Circe and the relationship to Aeetes• 10.237-242: Circe weaving• 10.253-257: more drugs• 10.280 v 10.315: sword on shoulder at first, highlighting the phallic

nature of drawing it from close to the thigh & the point with Circe

Odyssey

• 10.295 helped by hermes after all• 10.322 anxiety about emasculation• 10.325 moly• 10.345: grabbed knees• 10.352 you must be od of many wiles• 10:355 sex for trust• 10.442-444 nostos and its relationship to civilization• 10.460 Eurylochus and leadership: kingship• 10.488-493 a year? think about home (nostos again)