Hospitality

In book one: Athena Inspires the Prince, Greek hospitality is introduced specifically on page 81. “Greetings, stranger! / Here in our house you’ll find a royal welcome./ Have super first, then tell us what you need.”(1:144-146) In this quote it gives the reader a good idea about how a person in this time period is going to be treated when they are to enter a house of someone they have never met. The significance of this quote is that Prince Telemachus is meeting a complete stranger and he offers him food and he welcomes him into his home before he interrogates this complete stranger. It is obvious that the man welcoming in Telemachus wants him to be able to feel right at home before he asks what he is doing at his home. “Help yourselves to food and welcome! Once you’ve dined we’ll ask you who you are”(4:68-69). It is obvious that Greek hospitality involves making the guest or stranger feel at home by feeding them and making them feel comfortable before they ask who the person is or why they have come there.

Ellye

The Number Nine.

If one reads through the Odyssey and the Iliad, the number nine just keeps popping up. There may be several reasons for this, but i find one particularly compelling. While doing some background research, i found that there were in fact nine muses (the goddesses of literature and the arts). Perhaps this is a coincidence, but it may be a "shout out" to those goddesses. Just to name a few examples of where this pops up:

• After leaving the Aeolian Isalnd. "Nine whole days we sailed, nine nights, nonstop" (231).
• They start the Iliad after nine years of war.
• Also in the Iliad, there is a scene with nine heralds.
• Others examples...

How Badly did Odysseus Really Want to Get Home

Interfering Gods

The Gods in The Odyssey are constantly interfering with the lives of mortals. They play favorites and are big influences to how conflicts between mortals are resolved. Athena often interferes in the life of Odysseus and his family because she likes them. For instance, when The Odyssey first starts, Athena disguises herself and hints to Telemachus that his father is still alive making him want to go out and look for his father. Another example of this is when Odysseus meets the King and Queen of the Phaeacians, Athena tells Odysseus to appeal to the queen first to gain her favor. Whether or not Odysseus would have thought to do this on his own is unknown, but this advice definitely effected the course of the story. One last example is when Hermes helped Odysseus on Circe's island by giving him a plant that will make him immune to her potions. If Odysseus were a pig, his chances of getting back to Ithaca would be very slim.

In Medias Res

The "In Medias Res" style in Homer's The Odyssey and in The Iliad, is a style very common for Homeric style epics. In Medias Res, is where a story begins in the middle or during the conclusion and the beginning of the story is told in flashbacks. This causes some confusion in the case of The Odyssey, when, the actual book starts closer to the time Odysseus will return and then goes a little back in time to meet up with Odysseus. When Odysseus is asked about his journey thus far by Alcinous in book 8 he starts with the Cyclops, from there he talks about Calypso, then Circe and the story once again catches up with the present. I personally don't like this style of writing, because I feel like there is too much going back and forth, and I already know the story of The Odyssey so is feel like a bunch of waiting. However, when it was originally told by storytelling, so it would make more sense for the story to be told in flashbacks instead of from beginning to end. It's the transition from spoken word, to written story.

Odysseus' humanity

Even though Odysseus is thought of as a hero, and has the reputation of almost being a god of all men, he still contains flaws, which is what makes him such a human character, one that we can relate to. He is evidently human, especially in Book Ten, with Circe. Even after spending 8 years with Calypso, and after almost arriving to his kingdom, he lingers to stay a year with Circe, and has to be reminded by his crew mates that it is time to leave. Like both Gilgamesh and Rama, even though Odysseus is thought to be a super human, Odysseus is still a mortal and therefore flawed. Like the other two heroes we have studied this year, Odysseus is on both a figurative and a literal journey. Odysseus has too much pride, self-confidence, and hubris in the beginning of the story. I think this is the reason that Athena, his biggest supporter, lets him find his own way home, no matter how many obstacles he encounters along the way. She is there to help keep him from serious harm, but she doesn’t keep bad things from happening to him. I think the reason for her approach is that she wants him to learn some humility and have his pride lowered in order for him to become a better man.

Fate

Fate. It has been demonstrated that the Greek view of fate is derived from the Indo-European notion of justice- that each being as a fate or Moria assigned to him and marked clearly by boundaries that should never be crossed. Therefore mans energy should not be spent, exceeding the limits of his fate but in baring it with style pride and dignity, gaining as much fame as he can with in the boundaries of his Moria.

The importance of disguise

Even before the Odyssey begins, disguise is an important theme in Greek stories. This includes the story of Odysseus and his adventures during the Trojan War and is trip homeward. Starting in the beginning of the book Odysseus is thought to be lost at war. This results Telemachus living in a house full of suitors with his mom. These suitors live in side the palace eating their food and using up all their resources. Since the immaturity of Telemachus, he is unable to convince the suitors to leave, actually making them more prone to stay. Athena, the god of wisdom, comes to Telemachus with some words of wisdom, and some advice. She is indeed in disguise. She disguises herself as an ally of Odysseus. As you all know, she tells him that he has to voyage to Sparta to find out recent news about his father. This is only one of the few occurrences where disguised is use as a big factor of this story. Also we already know that before Odysseus returns home, he disguises himself as someone else, because of the story of Agamemnon’s wife murdering him. I believe we will see many more occasions when disguise is used. What do you all think?

Continuing on what Lauren said...

She mentioned the role of Penelope and the importance that she plays. Aside from her there is essentially one other prominent female role, that belonging to Athena. Like what Lauren said, Penelope is both influencing and and cunning, qualities that are also displayed by Athena. In spite of all this, i believe that these two were exceptions to the norm in society. We see these different gender roles appear at the beginning of the story in book 1, at the scene where Penelope asks the bard to play another song. Telemachus takes this small opportunity to pounce on her condescendingly. After a long series or ranting, he concludes "So, mother, go back to your quarters. Tend to your own tasks, the distaff and the loom, and keep the women working hard as well. As for giving orders, men will see to that, but i most of all: i hold the reins of power in this house" (89). It is hardly imaginable to think of a situation where a young man would have power over his mother in modern society. Still, i do no think that Homer, or whoever the writer(s) of this story was, believed in sexism. Rather, i believe that he was using this harsh outburst to make commentary on the current state of Greek patriarchal society and to make the reader think whether it is right or wrong.

Penelope and Her Suitors

In The Odyssey, Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, plays and important part in the possibility of Odysseus's return. She decieves her suitors so as to keep herself from being forced to marry another man. This trickery helps to leave the position of king open for Odysseus once he were to return.

Book 2 of The Odyssey reveals Penelope's plan to delay the suitors. Antinous points out to Telemachus, " she set up a great loom in the royal halls and she began to weave, and the weaving finespun, the yarns endless, and she would lead us on: 'Young men, my suitors, now that King Odysseus is no more, go slowly, keen as you are to marry me, untili can finish off this web...'." (96) This plan of Penelope's really shows the role of powerful and influential women in ancient Greece. Women were not considered powerful and were not supposed to have any influence on affairs in Greece at the time. Any influencing that a woman did had to be sneaky and Penelope shows just how sneaky women can be when they really want to. Her cunningness ultimatly helped to keep the position of King open for her long-lost husband.