Nilgün Bayraktar
October 21, 2013
The Odyssey
Travel and Hospitality
lecture outline
• I- Homeric epic and the myth of the Trojan
War (the mythic background of the the Iliad
and the Odyssey)
• II- The Odyssey: the proem and narrative
structure
• III- Travel, cross-cultural encounter and
hospitality - Phaeacians vs. Cyclopes
Homeric Epic
• Epic: Long narrative poems dealing with
gods and heroes, and often associated
with either war or adventure.
• The Iliad and the Odyssey were
developed as oral poems and
transmitted orally trough several
generations before they were written
down.
• Both poems are set against the mythic
background of the Trojan War. Stories
about the Trojan War survived orally for
basic timeline
•
•
•
•
•
The Mycenaean Age (1600-1200 BCE)
Trojan War (1184 BCE)
The "Dark Age" of Greece (1100s700s)
First use of the Phoenician alphabet in
Greece (700s-600s)
The Homeric epics— The Iliad and The
Odyssey—were first written down in
late 700s-early 600.
The Iliad and The
Odyssey
• The Iliad focuses on events that
happened during a short period in the
last year of the Trojan War.
• The Odyssey tells the story of
Odysseus’s 10-year journey from Troy
to his home on Ithaca.
Homeric epics as cultural texts
• They were primary cultural texts for
classical Greek civilization
• They served as educational tools, as
moral frameworks; provided examples
of proper and improper behavior
• They provided a reference point for the
entire culture to use in its everyday
existence
The Myth of the Trojan (Truva) War
The Story of the Trojan War
(1184 BCE)
• Helen, daughter of the great god Zeus
and wife of the Greek Menelaus, was
abducted by the Trojan prince Paris.
•
Under the command of Agamemnon
(brother of Menelaus), the Greeks
decided to fight for Helen’s return.
...
• The war against Troy lasted for10
years.
• The greatest Trojan warrior, Hector,
was killed by the greatest Greek
warrior, Achilles, who was himself killed
by Paris.
• The Greeks resorted to trickery. Using
the famous trick of the Trojan Horse,
invented by Odysseus, they entered the
city of Troy and destroyed it by night.
From the 2004 movie Troy
The Trojan Horse
The ILIAD
The Iliad focuses on the greatest fighter of the Greeks,
Achilles, and describes a crucial period in the last year of
the war.
•
•
Achilles quarrels with the Greek commander Agamemnon
and refuses to fight any longer. He then changes course
and returns to the battle-field to kill the greatest Trojan
warrior, Hector.
This episode is decisive (the death of Hector assures
Troy’s fall). The poem looks back to the beginning of the
war. It also looks forward, both to the defeat of Troy and
to Achilles’s own death in the battle.
Achilles vs. Hector
The Odyssey
• The Odyssey mainly centers on the
Greek hero Odysseus and his journey
home after the fall of Troy.
• It takes Odysseus 10 years to reach
Ithaca after the 10-year Trojan War.
• In his absence, it is assumed he has
died, and his wife Penelope and son
Telemachus must deal with a group of
suitors, who compete to marry
Penelope.
Iliad vs. Odyssey
• The Iliad is about glory (kleos) and warfare;
The Odyssey is about homecoming (nostos)
and adventure.
• Kleos (Greek: κλέος): Imperishable glory.
A
Greek hero earns kleos through
accomplishing great deeds, often through
battle.
• Nostos (Greek: νόστος): Homecoming or
return; the idea of returning home from a long
journey.
Iliad vs. Odyssey II
• Achilles makes his name with sword
and spear on the battlefield; the hero
Odysseus is a careful planner and
strategist.
• In the Odyssey, the concentrated focus
of the Iliad becomes more dispersed,
both temporally and geographically. We
follow Odysseus around the
Mediterranean for 10 years.
Proem to the Odyssey
Sing me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy.
Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds,
many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea,
fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home.
But he could not save them from disaster, hard as he
strove —
the recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all (...)
Launch out on his story, Muse, daughter of Zeus,
start from where you will — sing for our time too.
Proem continued...
By now, all the survivors, all who avoided headlong death
were safe at home, escaped the wars and waves.
But one man alone...
his heart sat on his wife and his return—Calypso,
the bewitching nymph, the lustrous goddess, held him back,
deep in her arching caverns, craving him for a husband.But
then, when the wheeling seasons brought the year around,
that year spun out by the gods when he should reach his
home,
Ithaca — though not even there would he be free of trials,
even among his loved ones — then every god took pity,
all except Poseidon. He raged on, seething against
the great Odysseus till he reached his native land.
Translated by Robert Fagles (1996)
“Odysseus and Calypso” by Arnold Böcklin (1883)
Odysseus has been trapped for 7 years on the
island of the goddess Calypso on his way from Troy
Proem to the Iliad
Rage — Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless
losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy
souls,
great fighters’ souls, but made their bodies carrion,
feasts for the dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.
Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,
Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles. . . .
Translated by Robert Fagles (1990)
Odysseus
•
•
•
•
“A man of many twists and turns”
Polutropos: many turns, many
ways
Polumetis: many-wiles, a
great cunning intelligence
Polutlas: of much suffering,
much enduring
The repetition of the prefix
“polu” suggests that our hero
is very resourceful and
flexible.
the narrative structure of
the Odyssey
•
•
•
•
Books 1-4: the story of Odysseus’s son, Telemachus,
at home in Ithaca.
Books 5-8: Odysseus’s journey to Phaeacia, land of
the Phaeacians, a people who will help him return
home to Ithaca.
Books 9-12: Odysseus’ first person flashback
narrative of his wanderings from the time he left Troy
until arriving in Phaeacia.
Books 13-24: Odysseus’ arrival in his home, Ithaca,
his slaughter of the suitors for his wife, Penelope, and
his eventual reunion with his family.
the wanderings of Odysseus
definition of the word odyssey
• a long journey full of adventures
• a series of experiences that give
knowledge or understanding to
someone
(merriam-webster dictionary)
Travel, Colonization and
Cultural Encounters
• From the 8th century to 6th century BCE, the
Greeks established many colonies from the
Black Sea to the coast of Spain.
• Increased population, the transformation of
major economic institutions, overseas
expansion and the development of polis (a city
state with its own law code, army, and system
of government).
• Technological innovations in shipping
produced faster, safer ships.
Odysseus
The hero of the colonial and commercial
age
• Odysseus travels to places that are
foreign, far away, and fantastic:
cannibal Cyclopes, women who turn
men into swine, etc.
• These encounters with unknown worlds
and peoples highlight what it meant to
be Greek: crafty, handsome, curious,
proud, resourceful, articulate, and
skilled with handling a ship.
Phaeacians (Book
VIII) vs. Cyclopes
• Phaeacians
and their XI)
relatives the
(Book
Cyclopes (the one-eyed giants) are
both descendants of Poseidon (the god
of the sea).
• The Phaeacians represent an idealized
world. They are civilized and welcome
strangers with generous hospitality.
• Their cannibalistic relatives, Cyclopes,
are uncivilized and lawless.
Odysseus at the palace of Alcinous, the king of
Phaeacia
Painting by Francesco Hayez (1815)
The Cyclops Polyphemus
Maritime activities, social
structure and hospitality
•
•
•
Phaeacians are famous for their ships and
maritime expertise whereas the Cyclopes have
no experience with ships and overseas travel.
Phaeacians have great agricultural skills (sign
of an advanced civilization). The absence of
cultivation in the land of Cyclopes
characterizes a primitive landscape.
The Phaeacian society has rules, customs,
and a political structure. The Cyclopes have
no such rules or practices.
Xenia: guest-host
relationship
• Xenia: hospitality; a reciprocal
relationship between one xenos and
another.
• Xenos: guest, host, stranger, friend,
and foreigner
• Xenia is a divine obligation, protected
by Zeus himself. One of his titles is
“Zeus Xenios”, the god of xenia.
different models of
xenia
• The Phaeacians are dedicated to xenia
and they provide transportation to any
shipwrecked travelers who land upon
their island (Odysseus is bathed, clothed,
seated in the place of honor, feasted,
entertained by the songs of a poet, and
given guest gifts and personally escorted
home)
•
The Cyclops Polyphemus does not follow
the rules of xenia. He eats six of
Odysseus’ men!
Odysseus at the palace of Alcinous, the king of
Phaeacia
Painting by Francesco Hayez (1815)
Odysseus and his men in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus
Odysseus: “Hoping you will be generous to usAnd
give us the gifts that are due to strangers.
Respect the gods, Sir. We are your suppliants,
And Zeus guards strangers and suppliants,
Zeus, god of strangers, who walks at their side.”
Polyphemus: “You are dumb, stranger, or from far
away,
if you ask me to fear the gods. Cyclopes
Don’t care about Zeus or his aegis
Or the blessed gods, since we are much stronger.
I wouldn’t spare you or your men
Out of fear of Zeus.” (Book 9, pg. 132)
Alcinous: “Hear me Phaeacian lords and counselors, So I
may speak what is in my heart. This stranger has come to my
houseIn his wanderings. I don’t know who he is,Or if he has
come from the east or the west.He asks for a passage home,
and asks us to setA firm time for departure. Let us speed
himOn his way, as we have always done. (…)We have a feast
to prepare, and I will provide well for all!Those are my orders
for the younger men.But you others, all the sceptered
kings,Come to my palace and help me entertain The stranger
in the hall. Let no one refuse. And summon the godlike singer
of tales,Demodocus. For the god has given him, Beyond all
others, song that delights However his heart urges him to sing.
(Book 8, pg. 106-7).