Odyssey Modern Scholarship

Clarke (Heroism 1)

'The Homeric hero/warrior can be extreme and not necessarily a model of moral excellence'

The same strength, fierceness etc that makes them a hero makes them inclined to anger, recklessness and hubris

Clarke (Odysseus/Kleos/Heroism 2)

'The Homeric warrior is driven to action by a need for social validation: Status, Respect, Honour in the eyes of other men'

Jones (Odysseus 1)

'There have been three common responses to the hero of the Odyssey... The loyal Hero-Husband... fixed on one goal only: return home... The Eternal Wanderer fired with passion for knowledge and experience... An Anti-Hero, a mean, selfish time-server who employs disguise and deceit'

Summary: 1. loyal hero-husband; 2. eternal wanderer; 3. anti-hero

Bowra (Odysseus)

'His need for cunning is enforced by his own recklessness'

Graziosi (Odysseus)

'By turns a comic character, a tragic hero, a stoic sage, and a villain, Odysseus could never, and cannot yet, be pinned down'

Summary: Odysseus is multi-faceted drawing from folk-tale traditions.

Hall (Odysseus/Portrayal of Other Societies)

'When Odysseus describes the Cyclops' island, he speaks with the discerning eye of the colonist. Odysseus the mythical explorer is related to the real-life Greeks who in the archaic age sailed into unknown waters across the Mediterranean and Black Sea.'

Summary: Odysseus the mythical character mirrors the Greeks exploring (and colonising) unknown territory.

Silk (Justice/Revenge)

'Few of Homer's modern readers would condone revenge killing in such a context, let alone acclaim it, but the Odyssey does'

Summary: the ethics of the Odyssey allow revenge killing.

Loney (Justice/Revenge)

The Odyssey is full of vengeance. You must yield an equal level back based on the level of harm caused and your relation to the oppressor.

Summary: vengeance is reciprocal

Stanton (Justice/Revenge)

'The suitors' deaths are sanctioned by Zeus, and Athene even helps Odysseus to kill them, showing that it is not just a personal vendetta Odysseus has with the suitors. Odysseus does not even see himself as the cause of their deaths; rather their own hard actions and the doom of the gods caused it'

Summary: the suitors are to blame for their own killing; the gods support it ∴ the killing is just

Johnson (The Gods)

The gods in the Odyssey are there for 2 reasons: to play a major role in shaping the plot […] and to be 'conveniences to explain what characters could have done anyway, without the interference of the gods'

They are given human emotion and explain why people do what they do and why certain things happen to them.

Mandzuka (The Crew/Fate/Morality)

'Homer frees Odysseus of any responsibility over the deaths of his comrades and the executions [of the suitors] because they all had to die for reasons of fate and ethics'

Summary: Odysseus is absolved of blame for his crew’s death because they died at the hands of fate.

Hall (Epics)

'The improvisational medium of Rap Music, along with the Hip-Hop culture to which it is allied, has parallels with Greek oral epic. They both depend on a distinct rhythm and dialect featuring conventional formulaic phrases.'

Summary: modern hip-hop and rap culture mirrors Greek oral epic.

Schein (Literary Techniques)

'The so-called "reverse simile"*... has particular force because Odysseus himself in Books 5 and 12 has been represented as such a survivor.'

*Penelope's happiness at seeing Odysseus is like the gladness of the survivors of a ship wrecked by Poseidon who have managed to swim to shore safely

Summary: the simile describing Penelope’s happiness at seeing Odysseus is particularly evocative because Odysseus himself has survived such a thing.

Walsh (Portrayal of Other Societies/Justice/Revenge/Xenia)

Polyphemus is wrong in defying the Greek institution of Xenia and suppliancy, plus the entire nation of Cyclopes are in on an act of hubris by rejecting the gods. This marks launching an act of vengeance by Odysseus as a justifiable reaction against Polyphemus' actions.

Summary: Odysseus’s attack of Polyphemus is justified because the cyclopes are wrong to defy ξενία

Nagy (Nostos 2)

'The Odyssey is not only a nostos: it is a nostos to end all other nostoi... The Odyssey is the final and definitive statement about the theme of a heroic homecoming: In the process of retelling the return of Odysseus, the narrative of the Odyssey achieves a sense of closure in the retelling of all feats stemming from the heroic age.' Odysseus becomes a hero because he manages to get home, whereas other great heroes, like Achilles and Agamemnon, end up stuck in Hades.

Summary: the Odyssey’s nostos is what makes it epic: because Odysseus makes it home, unlike the Hades-bound Achilles and Agamemnon.

Nagy (Heroism/Kleos/Nostos 3)

Odysseus' kleos is connected to his nostos - By returning home and having the poem/song about his homecoming, Odysseus extends his reputation to all of the Greek speaking world and thus achieves his kleos. Unlike Achilles who achieves his kleos on the battlefield and must die there, not having a nostos, Odysseus must achieve that nostos to have his kleos.

Murnaghan (Odysseus/The Gods)

The Odyssey is 'governed by Athene's unprecedentedly overt and continuous intervention on her favourite's behalf, and it is coloured by the premise that Odysseus is always in control.'

Summary: The Odyssey is governed by Athene; the idea that Odysseus is always in control is a falsehood.

Murnaghan (Odysseus/The Gods/Disguise 2)

Odysseus' disguise can only fully work when he comes back to Ithaca and has Athene's help in disguising him as a beggar - Odysseus disguised himself before (e.g. as No-one to Polyphemus), but these could not be sustained for a long time successfully without Athene's help, which she is not allowed to give until Odysseus reaches Ithaca. Therefore, divine help is necessary in ensuring the disguise is successful, as well as Odysseus' cunning.

Silk (Women 2)

Nausicaa is 'transient' (only around for a while, briefly, like a fling) and a foil for 'durable Penelope.' The episode with her is a 'playful romantic interlude for sombre heroic return.'

Summary: Nausicaa is Penelope’s foil.

Chrystal (Women)

'Significantly, it is astute Queen Arete, not bibulous King Alcinous, who holds the key to Odysseus' homecoming and rehabilitation. Domesticity reigns too in the Nestor household; his queen made the royal bed, and his daughter bathed his guests. Nausicaa, Penelope, Helen... are all free to come and go as they please; they are certainly not secluded or segregated from their men. Their domestic roles are clearly delineated but they are active and integral to their respective households.'

Felson and Slatkin (Penelope/Women)

Odysseus and Penelope are similar in their characters and Penelope is not lesser than her husband - they share their ingenuity (metis)... Athene also shares this trait of metis/cunning. Females not always airheads.

Thalmann (Slaves 3)

The Slave is viewed either as "lacking autonomy, and so corruptible, a dangerous element lurking in the very foundation of the oikos, or as capable, because of an innate nobility which is impervious to changes in fortune, deciding to remain loyal to an absent master."

Goldhill (Social Order/Xenia)

Xenia 'was not just a question of polite rules between people, but an essential functioning of ancient society. The man away from his Oikos, without rights, was without all protection and without any means of livelihood. The appeal to xenia was his only manner of proceeding.'

Goldhill (Xenia 2)

'The treatment of a xenos (guest/host) functions as a criterion between the different societies Odysseus visits, as his own playing of various guest roles goes toward the development of his character.'

Summary: Xenia functions as a criteria for good society across Odysseus’s travels.

Segal (Supernatural)

Phaeacia is like a fantasy realm. However, the Phaecians are still mortal and share in the suffering mortality to which Odysseus returns. 'The last vision of them, in the same verse as Odysseus' awakening on Ithaca, is one of trouble and uncertainty as they stand about the altar praying to Poseidon.'

Summary: Phaeacia is like a fantasy realm but the Phaeacians are mortals, praying to Poseidon in their suffering.

Gregory (Supernatural)

Supernatural dreams also exist, which can be beneficial or distressing... a dream is sent by a god to distress. Dreams can also be waking visions, e.g. Penelope's dream of the geese being slaughtered by the eagle representing Odysseus killing the suitors. Dreams can also be tied up with ghosts and the afterlife.

Summary: dreams can be: visions, beneficial, distressing, related to the afterlife

Lawson (Fate/The Gods)

Especially from the human point of view, fate and gods intersect and intertwine. "There are ambiguities concerning who and what is ultimately responsible for the decree and execution of fate."

Thalmann (Slaves 2)

'Slaves are portrayed in the narrative selectively and from a particular perspective.' This means that the slaves in the poem are "viewed from above and categorized, and their representation is simplified accordingly."

McDonald and McKendrick (Relationships/Family)

'In Homer's poem, the family is always and everywhere aristocratic. No ordinary men, in our sense of the word, are of any consequence in the work; even the slaves are noblemen who have come on hard times, and their stories are told with reference both to their own familial origins and to the families they are now connected with.'

Franklin (Relationships/Family)

Homer is "urgently concerned with preserving the stability of the family unit, and working out the frightening social and political consequence of familial breakdown."