Lecture 25: The Nostos of Odysseus

explain the odyssey

• epic, ~12,000 lines

• orally composed over several centuries and given fixed form in 700 BC

• attributed to Homer but likely composed 50 years after Iliad by a different poet familiar with Iliad and the Epic Cycle

• divided into 24 books

briefly explain books 1-12 and 13-24 of The Odyssey

1-12 = a man goes on a journey

13-24 = a stranger comes to town

briefly explain the plot of the “odyssey”

• odyseeus fights @ Troy for 10 years

• wife, Penelopê and son, Telemachus in Ithaca

• Penelopê courted by greedy/arrogant suitors

• temporarily holds them off by the trick of the web

• odysseus held captive by the nymph Calypso

• shipwrecked; helped by princess Nausicaä

• tells the tales of his wanderings to the Phaeacians

• Arrives on Ithaca in a disguise, tests his loved ones

• with the aid of Athena, murders all 108 suitors

• reunites with Penelopê, reestablishes control of Ithaca

what is the etymology of Odysseus “polytropos”

• poly- = many, much

• -tropos = turn

• “much-turning” or “much-turned”

  • ex. Hermes polytropos (Homeric Hymns)

how long has Odysseus been away from Ithaca?

20 Total: 10 years at Troy; 3 lost at sea; and 7 on the island with the nymph Calypso (“concealer”)

explain “the cicones and the lotus eaters”

• CICONES: after leaving Troy they stopped at Ismarus in Thrace (land of cicones) and sacked the city — the cicones killed 6 people from each of their ships

• LOTUS-EATERS: blown to a land where the inhabitants eat a drug that makes one forget their home/purpose

explain odysseus’ encounter with the cyclops Polyphemus

• colonization

• natural paradise

• cannibalism and civilization

• hypo-entertainment

explain aeolus, the laestrygonian, and circe

• AEOLUS: kind king Aeolus gives Odysseus a bag of winds (xenia); while he’s asleep his crewmates open it blowing them further away from Ithaca

• LAESTRYGONIANS (“gnashes”): land of cannibals

• CIRCÊ: (daughter of Helius and sister of Aeëtes (Medea’s father)) — she turns men into pigs; Hermes helps Odysseus (give him moly (mandrake) as protection); after denying a potion and making her take an oath, they have sex; Circe releases the men

what are Circê’s next steps for Odysseus and his men?

cross the river Ocean to gather info from the ghost Tiresias; survive the Sirens, and Scylla and Charybdis, and do not eat the cattle of Helius

Explain the sirens, scylla and charybdis, the cattle of helius, and calypso

• SIRENS: plug their ears and tie Odysseus down

• SCYLLA (12-headed monster) and CHARYBDIS (whirlpool): they choose scylla since charybdis is certain death (6 men die)

• CATTLE OF HELIUS: the winds hold them on the island of Helius (Thrinacia) for days; some of the men eat the cattle

  • Zeus smashes their ship with a thunderbold b/c of the cattle (everyone drowns but Odysseus)

• CALYPSO: a nymph who falls of Odysseus when he lands on her island from the Charybdis

  • Athena asks Zeus to release Odysseus and he tells Calypso

explain Odysseus’ historical/mythical travels

• HISTORICAL: story was told to an audience of travelers and Odysseus’ adventures were from an early time identified w/specific geographic feature in/around Italy

• MYTHICAL: voyage as a vision of moral purpose and national identity

How does Odysseus infiltrate the castle and take Ithaca back?

• disguised as a beggar and gets the help of his son Telemachus to get into the castle

  • he is almost discovered by his old nurse Euryclea when she washes his feet

• Odysseus is able to string his bow and shoot arrows through the 12 aligned ax handles

• then odysseus kills the 108 suitors

who is Telegonus?

a child that Odysseus had with Circê; accidentally kills Odysseus

• also, married Penelopê and carried her and Telemachus back to Circê’s island (Telemachus married Circê)

themes of “the odyssey”

• older generation triumphant over the younger

• human justice overcoming wrong-ness

• similar to the myths of creation — stories of the ordered world winning over the disordered; life and progress over death and stagnation

what are parallels across the royal houses of mycenae and Ithaca?

• odysseus + agamemnon: each returning from Tory to find his house in the hands of the enemy

  • telemachus + orestes = fighting to restore family right and honor

what are contrasts across the royal houses of mycenae and Ithaca?

• odysseus survives b/c Penelopê is woman as she should be

• Agamemnon is cut down like a dog