The Odyssey Intro Notes
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Homer- lived around 850-750 BCE
Legend has it he was blind
Homer did not write The Odyssey- it was handed down orally during the preliterate Greek era
TO was sung and was composed in verse
Each time TO was recited, the poet was expected to change it to show his skill
Homer’s version is the one written down
Iliad and Odyssey- first epics
Originally, an epic was just a poem written in dactylic hexameter
Later, it meant narrative poems dealing with gods, heroes, war, or adventure
Handed down culture from generation to generation
One of the most influential works besides the Bible and Shakespeare
Its survival is no accident. For instance, Sophocles wrote 120 works, only seven of which survive. Only the greatest texts
were copied by hand and preserved.
Though TO is as much about what makes us all human, their culture is very foreign to ours
It is patriarchal, slave-holding, monarchical, polytheistic
Considered one of the first epics
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hero has imposing stature and is of national and historical importance
setting is vast
deeds of great valor and courage
supernatural forces intervene
begins in medias res (in the middle of the action)
Be aware of the following motifs
Both main characters go on odysseys
Rite of passage defines odyssey
Necessity of deception and disguise
Homecoming
Chronological variety/flashbacks
Hospitality code
Fate vs. free will
Be aware of epithets and formulas (wine-dark sea, dark prowed ship, etc.)
Background- Trojan War (12th century BCE)
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Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world and the wife of Greek king Menelaus, was abducted by the Trojan prince
Paris.
Greeks, led by king’s brother Agamemnon, go to Troy.
Evenly matched war lasted 10 years.
Greatest Trojan warrior, Hector was killed by the greatest Greek warrior, Achilles, who was later killed by Paris.
Greeks win war with Odysseus’ great idea, the Trojan Horse, to infiltrate Troy’s walls.
Greeks committed many atrocities: killing King Priam at his household altar, the murder of Hector’s baby son by throwing
him from the city’s walls, and the rape of Priam’s daughter in the temple of the virgin goddess Athena.
This angered the gods leading to many Greek hardships, including the murder of Agamemnon by his wife when he
returned home.
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Odyssey- nostos epic (homecoming)
Variant of nostos appears three times in first 21 lines.
Begins ten years after the end of the Trojan War
Odysseus does not appear until book 5
We see how much his family and his society need him NOW!
Structure is very complex
Books 1-2: Telemachus at home
Books 3-4: Telemachus visiting Nestor and Menelaus
Books 5-8: Odysseus leaves Calypso’s island on his way home
Books 9-12: Flashback to Odysseus’ adventures from time he left Troy to arrival at Calypso’s island.
Books 13-24: Chronological