L6 CC Scholars for Summer Exam 2025

PETER JONES (oikos)

"The Odyssey makes the household...rather than the battlefield, the centre of its world". (OIKOS = centre)

JOHN HALVERSON (oikos)

"The Odyssey is....a defence and reaffirmation of the 'oikos' [the home] in the threat of erosion."

GRIFFIN (family vs kleos)

"Odysseus comes from a close and affectionate human family, and his attitude to Penelope and Telemachus is that of the good husband and father. Such a man does not throw away his life for glory."

EMILY WILSON (Penelope)

"She's canny, she's strong-willed, she has grit, she has a vivid imagination, she's loyal, she's a competent, mostly single mother who shows deep love for her difficult, moody son, and she keeps a big and complex household running for two decades. You have to love her for all these things!"

GRIFFIN (Penelope)

“By her self-command and guile, Penelope shows herself to be like him; the true wife for the hero of The Odyssey.”

PETER JONES (Penelope - trick?)

“This contest could be deemed a clever way of creating time, the time Odysseus needs to return whilst the Suitors struggle with the bow. On the surface she sets it up to seek a husband worthy of Odysseus, but below the surface, perhaps it is a clever trick.”

KAREN NIMHEALLAIGH (women)

“Ask an ancient Greek or Roman about the ideal virtuous woman, and his or her answer would probably say something about weaving.”

PETER JONES (summing up Odysseus)

“1. Loyal hero-husband who just wants to return home; 2. eternal wanderer with a passion for new experiences; 3. anti-hero, mean, selfish, using deceit to achieve immoral ends.”

PETER JONES (Odysseus)

“He is an anti-hero, a mean, selfish time-server who employs disguise and deceit often to gain the most disreputable ends (classical Greeks and Romans frequently saw him in this light).”

PETER JONES (metis)

“The episode with Polyphemus is generally regarded as Odysseus’ greatest triumph, emphasising one of his most important attributes: his “metis” (cunning, intelligence). The man of “metis” is essentially a deceiver, like his common epithet “resourceful” – “polumetis” denotes.”

W.A. CAMPS (Odysseus)

“Odysseus has the capacity to inspire affection and regard as husband, man and king”