Odyssey presentation

1. Odyssey
Homer

2. BACKGROUND
– Written by Homer of Greece
– Born sometime between the 12th (when they were set) and 8th centuries BC,
somewhere on the coast of Asia Minor/eastern Greek World.
– Believed by many to have been blind due to the blind poet/minstrel called
Demodokos
– Earliest references to Homer we have available are from the 6th Century BC
– Written in Homeric Greek (a dialect of Ancient Greek mostly consisting of Ionic
and Aeolic)
– The “Homeric Question”

3. Historical Context
– Probably composed between 750 and 650 BC
– Set in Mycenaean Greece in 12th century BC during the Bronze Age
– Likely written during the Iron Age
– Feudal structure calls more of his time than that of the 12th century
– Takes place after the Trojan War and fall of Troy

4. Genre
– One of two Greek Epic poems that Homer wrote (the sequel to his Iliad, which
was altogether a very different poem)
– An epic poem is a long, narrative poem usually about heroic deeds and events
that are important to the culture at hand and generally tell of epic journeys and
adventures

5. Basic Plot Outline
– Odyssey’s 10 year journey home
– Odysseus trapped by Calypso as suitors devour his estate and court his wife Penelope
– Eventually released and meets up with his son Telemachus
– Father and son return to the palace and murder the suitors and Odysseus reclaims his
spot as King of Ithaca

6. Deeper Plot Outline
– Odysseus trapped, Suitors stay at his house, Telemachus embarks for his rescue
– Agamemnon murdered then avenged
– Spartan king tells of Odysseus dressing as begger/Trojan horse
– Athena gets Zeus to free Odysseus
– Telemachus’ and Odysseus’ respective adventures (Pylos, Sparta, Cyclops, Circe, Sirens)
– Odysseus and Telemachus reunite in Ithaca
– Odysseus and Telemachus hatch plan
– Arrow contest
– Battle
– Odysseus pursued by nobles
– Reclaims kingdom through Athena

7. Themes/Motifs

8. Trickery/Cunning and Diguises
– “Tell me, O Muse, of the man of many devices, who wandered full many ways after he had
sacked the sacred citadel of Troy
– Trojan Horse
– Telemachus sneaks away
– Proteus can transform into anything he pleases
– Circe can transform others, such as Odyssey’s crew into pigs
– Odysseus disguises himself as a beggar both to get into Troy and to get into the palace
– Odysseus tells a Cyclops his name is “Nobody” and is saved by it
– Odysseus punished for revealing his name to Polyphemos and almost drowned by Poseidons
– Athena’s many forms from Mentor

9. Vengeance
– Orestes against Aigisthos and Klytaimestra
– Poseidon and the Cyclops
– Zeus' lightning bolts against Odysseus and his men
– Odysseus to the suitors
– Prophet argues for their deaths
– Odysseus to the maids

10. Hospitality
– Xenia
– Calypso
– Cyclops
– Eumaios
– Amphînomos and the other Suitors

11. Love/Devotion and Infidelity
– Odysseus’ affairs with Circe and Calypso in contrast to Penelope’s two decades
of faithfulness
– “You gods are unbearable, in your jealousy: you stand aghast at goddesses who
openly sleep with men, if ever one of them wants to make a man her bedmate.”
– Calypso

12. Marriage
– Oikos for men
– Companionship for women
– Courtship of Penelope
– Penelope’s devotion
– Competition

13. Seductresses
– Calypso, Circe, Sirens, Penelope
– All have power and get things through their use of sexuality
– All still subject to divine will and love
– Klytaimnestra and Aigisthos
– Helen of Troy and the Trojan War

14. Gender Differences
– Mortal Men generally hold the positions of power, but women are often able to hold their own through
intelligence like Penelope
– Men are expected to be warriors and their deaths to be from invasions and and raids
– Women irrelevant in the Iliad, but central in the Odyssey
– “weaving and spinning are the concerns of women” – Telemachus at several points
– Men wage war, write and appreciate poetry, sing and dance
– Women are of the house, men are of the land
– Men serve meat/wine, women serve bread
– Female goddess actually have to work
– Men shared sacrificial meal at Pylos, while women remain in background and raise ritual cry at death of a bull
– Penelope compared to a king and Odysseus to a female slave
– Odysseus cheating as compared to the cheating of the maids and potential cheating of Penelope

15. Gender Roles
– Women have dimensions and redeeming qualities
– Athena’s guiding hand
– Women offer legitimacy to rulers
– Irete protects Odysseus
– Men are head of the household
– The dominance and independence of Circe and Calypso and the effect that it
has on Odysseus

16. Class Differences
– Worse than slaves are free-men without land
– Work and workers are respected, but not idealized as the wealthiest and holiest
enjoy feasts

17. Conclusion