Odyssey book 1-12 evidence for themes

Xenia

1- "...ashamed that a stranger should be kept standing at the gates"
5- "it was indeed a spot where even an immortal visitor must pause to gaze in wonder and delight" (misery in paradise)
6- "give the stranger something to eat and drink" (even outside of domestic environment)
6- "grant that the Phaecians may receive me with kindness and compassion" (expects it)
7-12 (Phaeacians, especially Alcinous give perfect Xenia and Odysseus reciprocates the guest aspect of it)
Eg: 7- "Alcinous, it is unlike your royal ways to let a stranger sit at the ashes " (shame culture)
9- Aelous' rejection
9- "I wish to see some friendly gifts from host"
9- uncivilised Cyclopes asking strangers who they are, not offering provisions "strangers who are you an where did you sail from?"
12- many of O's crew violated guest-host relationship by h until cattle of sun god

Kleos

1 (T) "if he had fallen among his men at Troy...would have caused me less distress"
1- "one glimpse of him in Ithaca and they'd pray fr a faster pair of legs"(T)
5- "if i too could have met my fate and died that day...I'd have my burial rites and the Achaean's would spread my fam abroad"
8- bards singing of Odysseus' great achievements even though he has not yet revealed himself
9- "i am Odysseus, slacker of cities, son of Laertes, King of Ithaca"
11- Achilles says he'd rather be a living peasant than have the glory in the dead
12- Wants to get glory of surviving against Charybdis (like Jason and the argonauts), even calling Circe's instructions "irksome"

Nostos

- 5 "sat, disconsolate on the shore...tormenting himself with tears and heartache"
- 10: "for a whole year, feasting on lavish quantities of meat and mellow wine"
- 11 anticleia "it was my heartache for you, my glorious Odysseus that brought my life to an end"
- 12- "there was no homecoming for them: the gods saw to that"

Time

5 (Zeus to Hermes) "they will convey him by ship to his own land, giving him bronze and gold in such quantities as he could never have won for himself in Troy"

Divine intervention

1 (A->T) "she had implanted spirit and daring" and "he felt the change"
5 "and now Zeus bids you to send him off without delay"
5- "his skins would have been torn off and all his bones broken, had not Athene put it tinot his head to grab hold of a rock..."
6- "bright-eyed Athene had other ideas and arranged for Odysseus to wake up..."
6- "Athene put courage into his heart"
6- "made him seem taller and sturdier..."
5- "river checked its current and holding back its waves made water smooth" (gods are everywhere)
8- "athene marked the distance and spoke out...none of the Phaecians will make as good a throw as you"
10- (Hermes (moly)) "I will tell you exactly what to do"

Fate

1- "it was their own transgression that brought them to their doom"
"What a lamentable thing it is that men should blame the gods...when it was not their destiny"
1- "the wise Odysseus shall return to Ithaca"
5- "he is destined to see his native land once more"
11- "gods are to blame...no one else but Zeus" (this who have already met their fate)
12- "there was no homecoming for them: the gods saw to that"

Monsters and fantasy intervention

9- "grant that Odysseus may never reach his home in Ithaca"
8- story of Hephaestus defeating ares mirrors the cyclops (weak outwitting the strong

Justice and revenge

1- "the suitors came swaggering in...the minstrel whom they had forced into their service"

Immortals and mortals relationship

1- "it is for Odysseus that my heart is wrung"
Epithets like "favourite of Zeus"
Surrogate wives of Calypso, Circe

Disguise and deception

7 "at the same moment the magic mist that had hidden him rolled away"

Odysseus' good leadership

9- lotus eaters, O recognises the dangers and forces his men back on board
9- outwits cyclops, is strategic and cunning
10- O's commitment to hunting and keeping his men safe and when his men are captured by Circe, he refuses to abandon them
eat
12- he warns Helios' cattle
12- Odyssesu's protection of the crew against the sirens

Odysseus' bad leadership

9- puts all his men at risk by revealing his identity
Is not able to control impulses and greed of his crew (lotus-eaters, Helios cattle, Aeolus' bag of winds)
10- 90% of crew die against Laestrygonians
12- Odysseus not telling his crew about Scylla and Charybdis is ambiguous in its intention and outcome

Rhetorical skill

6- "courteous and full of subtlety"
- uses witty words to compliment, appease gods and get what he needs
7- "Arete, daughter of godlike Rhexenor, as on who has suffered so much in come a suppliant to your husband"
9- "nobody is hurting me"

Gender and Penelope

5- "you are outraged if a goddess sleeps openly with a man even if she has chosen him as her husband" (calypso)
6- "I Should blame any girl...associated with men before being married"
6- comparison of Nausicaa to Artemis compliment hinting at her virgin, modest nature and how a woman should be
11- "never be too trustful, even of your wife" (Agamemnon's hatred of Clytemenestra is reflected onto women as a whole)

Women assisting Odysseus

5: Calypso (ambiguous)- tempts immortality, prevents his nostos, yet also allows him to leave and gives him tools
6: Nausicaa- assists him in getting to her parents
10: Circe (ambiguous)

Role of slaves

1- (T) "i intend to be master of the royal servants whom my father won for me at war"
7 "the house keeps 50 maids employed"

Oikos and family

1- "Eurycleia loved him most, for she had nursed him as a child"

Odysseus' physical skill and agency

1- "he will think of a way to return he is endlessly resourceful"
5- he constructs a boat,fells trees "twenty in all" and ability on the "heavy seas for two nights and two days"
7- "they stared at him in amazement"-> his presence matches up with his heroic status and emotional skills
8- (modesty) O-"people watch him with delight as he speaks unflatteringly with winning modesty" (paradox, irony)

Civilisation and religion

6- "every suppliant under the name of Zeus deserves protection"
7- "Phaecians pouring libations from their cups to Hermes"
9- once the gods have come into play and Aeolus believes Odysseus must be hated by the gods, rejection of all other social standards (Xenia)
9- "Good sir, remember your duty to the gods; we are your suppliants...Zeus is the god of guests"
9 "we cyclops never blink at Zeus"->claim or to care for the religious ritual of hospitality not the gods in general

Other social values

7- "he threw his arms around Arete's knees"
8- "ashamed of be seen weeping by the Phaecians"

Odysseus's cunning and self-restraint

7 "patient, good Odysseus"
9- cyclops plan and "nobody"

Odysseus as weak/effeminate

5- "disconsolate on the shore, tormenting himself with tears"
6- arrives to shore of Scheria, naked and vulnerable

Telemachus and manhood

1- (A) "you are no longer a child: you must put your childish thoughts away" (importance of him becoming like his father)
1- (T) then god-like himself, he rejoined the suitors
1- "mother...go to your quartered now attend your own work"
1- "I intend at least to be master of my own house and the royal era ants who my royal father won for me in war"
1- "it amazed them all that Telemachus should have the audacity to adopt this tone, and they could only bite their lips"