Table of Content
But the homecoming is not so easy, for they have to struggle with their fate and the wrath of the Olympian gods they incurred. This is greater so for Odysseus, the greek warrior from Ithaca who played a key role in the Trojan War. His fate assures his return but his sudden incurring the wrath of Poseidon makes that returning almost perilous. Odysseus faces many adventures on his journey home which tests his strength and courage, and on his return, finds his household in greater calamity. It is this tale of Odysseus that Homer recounts in The Odyssey.
We would read poetry, dance and act out avant-garde plays in our dilapidated little theater. For a modest charge people could come in and watch for as long as they wanted. What I have realized now is that The Odyssey is really about this Homecoming. Odysseus as the bard chanting his own stories in the court of the Phaeacians.
History
Crowded with characters, both human and non-human, and bursting with action, the epic tales detail the fabled Trojan War and the adventures of Odysseus as he struggles to return home. Homer’s epics have inspired countless books and works of art throughout their long history. Odysseus’ travels are full of great summer blockbuster-like entertainment and at the same time explore all manner of Greek daily life as well as touching on many of their beliefs and traditions. Odysseus even takes a jaunt to the underworld where he speaks to Achilles and gets to listen to dead king Agamemnon go on an anti-marriage rant because his conniving wife poisoned him to death.
That is not to say that it was an epic adventure with no dull moments. The characters repeat themselves in dialogue and in attitude, all major dramatic points are revealed in advance as prophesy and every important story event is told again at various points by various characters. I read the Fagles translation, which was enjoyable and often lovely, though some modern idioms did slip in here and there. The Knox intro rehashes a lot of the introduction to The Iliad, but it's still very useful.
Full Book Summary
Odysseus builds a raft and is given clothing, food, and drink by Calypso. When Poseidon learns that Odysseus has escaped, he wrecks the raft, but helped by a veil given by the sea nymph Ino, Odysseus swims ashore on Scherie, the island of the Phaeacians. Naked and exhausted, he hides in a pile of leaves and falls asleep. My husband would go away and I would forget to feed Homer or clean the fish tank until one morning I’d wake to find the latest Homer face up on top of the water. I’d scoop up his corpse with my green net, carry him to the yard, and add him to the ever growing mound of Homers buried beneath my shuttered window.
Scholars may have begun to write commentaries on the poems as early as the time of Aristotle in the 4th century BCE. In the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, scholars affiliated with the Library of Alexandria—particularly Zenodotus and Aristarchus of Samothrace—edited the Homeric poems, wrote commentaries on them, and helped establish the canonical texts. Dating is similarly complicated by the fact that the Homeric poems, or sections of them, were performed regularly by rhapsodes for several hundred years. The Odyssey as it exists today is likely not significantly different. Aside from minor differences, the Homeric poems gained a canonical place in the institutions of ancient Athens by the 6th century. In 566 BCE, Peisistratos instituted a civic and religious festival called the Panathenaia, which featured performances of Homeric poems.
Preview — Homer's Odyssey
Thanks to Bruce Katz for recommending Emily Wilson's translation. Alas, I’m better now and am pleased to finally get a chance to “review” this beauty! Don't read this book simply because it is old, influential, and considered great. Read it because it is exciting and approachable and thoughtful. Even without all the reputation, it can stand on its own.
Zeus caused a storm that prevented them from leaving, causing them to deplete the food given to them by Circe. While Odysseus was away praying, his men ignored the warnings of Tiresias and Circe and hunted the sacred cattle. Helios insisted that Zeus punish the men for this sacrilege.
More than anything, for me, ‘The Odyssey’ is just a rollicking good adventure! Loyalty and faithfulness, in all their forms are a big one and nobody embodies these more than Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, the soul of loyalty! Despite Odysseus advising her to wed the man she likes as soon as she sees hair on, their son, Telemachus’ face, she holds out for 20 years despite 108 oily degenerates attempting to court her when it is presumed Odysseus dies at Troy.
Even though I still like the Iliad more, I certainly loved immersing myself in the world of the Odyssey and learning a lot from it. Five stars for everyone's introductions (especially Wilson's), three stars for the story , and 3.5 stars as my final rating. She claims to look at the Odyssey through a female lens and she tries hard to make a case for the female characters . While I appreciate her effort, I still fail to think of the Odyssey as anything but misogynistic.
Many of the second copies kept by pastors still exist. Frequently, the clergy possessed superior penmanship, at least during the first half of the century. Sometimes a pastor would alter a Jewish-sounding given name to a more German form in his copy. Mostly, however, the column categories and their order are somewhat idiosyncratic, reflecting local customs and the record keepers’ preferences.
They suffered a shipwreck, and all but Odysseus drowned as he clung to a fig tree. Washed ashore on Ogygia, he remained there as Calypso's lover. As they escaped, however, Odysseus taunted Polyphemus and revealed himself.
Regardless, I found this book more entertaining pound for pound than the Iliad or the Aeneid and I hope you will too. Its language is not as elevated as Lattimore; it's still very eloquent and poetic, but in a very readable and fluid way. It doesn't make the poem too difficult or incomprehensive, but I still like the beauty and lyricism that it provides. Its rhythm is more noticeable than Wilson's attempted iambic pentameter, and on a few occasions , it actually rhymes.
20 years after the Trojan war, the Gods have decided it is time for Odysseus to return to Ithaca, before his wife Penelope is forced to marry again. But angry Poseidon is seeking revenge for the murder of his son, and Odysseus has many perilous storms and treacherous landfalls ahead of him if he is to be reunited with Penelope. Unlike vital records and name adoption lists that document specific events, the Matrikel , another document of value to genealogists, recorded a family’s composition at a certain point in time or, sometimes, over extended periods. Later entries frequently were added to family books. The Iliad and the Odyssey were widely copied and used as school texts in lands where the Greek language was spoken throughout antiquity.
Full search options are on the right side and top of the page. The formative influence of the Homeric epics in shaping Greek culture was widely recognized, and Homer was described as the teacher of Greece. Homer's works, which are about fifty percent speeches, provided models in persuasive speaking and writing that were emulated throughout the ancient and medieval Greek worlds. Fragments of Homer account for nearly half of all identifiable Greek literary papyrus finds.
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