Transcript Odyssey 3 - UW Canvas

Odyssey 3
Books 12-24
Book 12
• Circe’s instructions: pp. 353-355
• Sirens: what do they sing to Odysseus? How do they compare to
Muses? (p. 357)
• Scylla. What kind of monster is this, what elements is she
composed of?
• Charybdis
• Thrinacia and cattle of Helios: unlawful and perverted sacrifice and
rampant meat-eating (pp. 362-363), “recklessness” (moral and
ritual transgression) of crew (cf. with suitors’ consumption of meat
and “reckless” behavior); cattle are immortal but do not reproduce,
not replaceable.
• Portents associated with unlawful meat-eating pp. 363-364; cf.
portents seen by suitors in connection with meat
Odysseus and the Sirens. 5th c. BCE
Athenian red figure vase
White-ground lekythos by
the Edinburgh Painter, late
6th century BCE. Odysseus
and the Sirens. Athens,
1130. From Eretria.
Scylla. Detail from side A from a Boeotian redfigure bell-crater, 450–425 BC.
The Cattle of the Sun depicted on a 6thcentury BCE vase from Cerveteri
Book 13
• Odysseus returned to Ithaca by Phaeacians in
magical ships; note death-like sleep of
Odysseus p.368, death and rebirth theme of
Odyssey
• Encounter with Athena and mutual testing
and recriminations (Odysseus’ “Cretan Tale”):
pp. 370-371, 372-374
• Decision to use disguise as beggar
Odysseus and Athena pp. 372-373
“Only a master thief, a real con artist
Could match your tricks—even a god
Might come up short. You wily bastard,
You cunning, elusive, habitual liar!
…..
Never mind about that though. Here we are.
The two shrewdest minds in the universe,
You far and away the best man on earth
In plotting strategies, and I famed among the gods
For my clever schemes. Not even you
Recognized Pallas Athena, Zeus’ daughter,
I who stand by you in all your troubles…”
[Book 19 – we did not get to this in
class so not on final]
• Encounter between Penelope and Odysseus
(in disguise as beggar)
• Each uses coded speech to test the other out
• Detail of brooch in Odysseus’ lying speech
• Penelope’s dream of twenty geese
• Eurycleia recognizes Odysseus by hunting scar
on thigh
[Odyssey 21 – we did not get to this in
class – so not on final]
• Contest of the bow and axes as a way of
choosing husband for Penelope, who suggests
the contest.
• Cf. bow test organized in Indian epic
Ramayana by King Janaka for daughter Sita:
institution of svayamvara (“self-choice”). Hero
Rama is the only one to string the bow.
• Comparison of Odysseus stringing bow like
musician stringing lyre p. 435
[Odyssey p. 435 - we did not get to this
in class – so not on final]
Odysseus, deep in thought,
Was looking at his bow. And then, effortlessly,
Like a musician stretching a string
Over a new peg on his lyre, and making
The twisted sheep-gut fast at either end,
Odysseus strung the great bow. Lifting it up,
He plucked the string, and it sang beautifully
Under his touch, with a note like a swallow’s.
The suitors were aghast. The color drained
From their faces, and Zeus thundered loud,
Showing his portents and cheering the heart
Of the long-enduring, godlike Odysseus.
Apollo with bow and lyre
Two reconstructions of the bow test
Odysseus strings the bow
[Odyssey 22 we did not get to this in
class – so not on final]
• Killing of the suitors: note animal similes (p. 446
vultures after smaller birds, p.449 fish in nets)
• Aftermath: p. 450 Odysseus as bloodied lion
(familiar?), his words to Eurycleia about exulting
over the dead (p. 450); cf. Clytemnestra over
corpse of Agamemnon
• Killing of unfaithful maidservants: Odysseus’
instructions (p. 451); Telemachus’ change of plan
(p. 452) and simile of birds in a snare
[Odyssey 23 we did not get to this in
class – so not on final]
• Penelope continues to test Odysseus: the bed
test (pp. 459-460)
• Final reunion, simile of survivors at sea (p.
461)
[Odyssey 24 - we did not get to this in
class – so not on final]
• Souls of suitors conducted to underworld by
Hermes
• Problem of counter-vengeance by families of
suitors
• Only intervention of Zeus and Athena prevents
further vengeance (pp. 480-482). Appearance of
Athena in form of Mentor (cf. Mentes, who
appears to Telemachus, and men- root)
• What other reconciliation brokered by Athena
have we come across?