Chapter 22 Lecture One of Two The Return

Chapter 22 Lecture One of Two The Return of Odysseus © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

The Return of Odysseus • More folktale patterns than the Iliad • Ends happily, hence it was compared with comedy, not tragedy (as was the Iliad) © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Ulysses PERSPECTIVE 22. 1 © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Ulysses • Odysseus is often seen in Western literature as an anti-hero and villain. • This tradition begins with the Greeks themselves, and is continued by the Roman poet, Vergil. • The Christian writer, Dante, condemns him to hell. • He is rehabilitated in Tennyson's poem "Ulysses, ” and reworked by James Joyce in the novel Ulysses. © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

The Cicones and the Lotus Eaters ODYSSEUS' JOURNEY FROM TROY © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

The Cicones and the Lotus Eaters • The great adventures we most remember from the Odyssey are told by Odysseus while he's taking refuge on the island of the Phaecians. • Close to Troy, they are cut off at Ismarus while stealing cattle, and several of his men are killed by the Cicones. © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

The Cicones and the Lotus Eaters • His men next come under the forgetful influence of a drug used by the Lotus Eaters and must be forced marched off the island. © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Polyphemus ODYSSEUS' JOURNEY FROM TROY © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Polyphemus • The book reproduces an extended passage narrating Odysseus' famous adventure with Polyphemus. • Odysseus escapes by outwitting Polyphemus; thus Odysseus is a the trickster, folkhero, despite his nobility. © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Fig. 22. 1 Blinding of Polyphemus Archaeological Museum, Eleusis; Erich Lessing/Art Resource, New York © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Aeolus, the Laestrygonians, and Circê ODYSSEUS' JOURNEY FROM TROY © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Aeolus, the Laestrygonians, and Circê • Aeolus, the god of the winds, gives Odysseus a bag with favorable winds, but his men, thinking there is treasure inside, open it when Odysseus is asleep with disastrous results. • At the island of the cannibals, the Laestrygonians, all his men are lost except for those on Odysseus' ship. © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Aeolus, the Laestrygonians, and Circê • On Circê's island, Odysseus is protected from the spell she place on his men by a magic herb. • Odysseus remains on the island as her lover for a year, until his men remind him of his true purpose: to return home. • Circê consents to let him go and gives him advice and instructions to the underworld. © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Fig. 22. 2 Circê and the Pigs Photograph © 2011 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, the Cattle of Helius, and Calypso ODYSSEUS' JOURNEY FROM TROY © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

After Circê's Island • Odysseus hears the song of the Sirens. • They survive the passage between the Scylla and Charybdis. • The rest of his men are downed after they eat the forbidden cattle of the Sun. • Odysseus alone is washed up on the island of the Phaeacians, where he is rescued by Nausicaä, the daughter of the king and queen. © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

(© Trustees of the British Museum/Art Resource, New York Fig. 22. 3 Odysseus and the Sirens © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Historical and Mythical Travel OBSERVATIONS © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Historical and Mythical Travel • The Odyssey was composed and written on the island of Euboea, which was in the forefront of extended sea travel in the 800 century B. C. • It was both inspired by and meant to be heard by sailors and wanderers of the Archaic Period. © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

End of Book Summary An Appendix Follows © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

An Overview of Odysseus' Life Not in the text, but perhaps useful to set the context © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Overview of Odysseus' Life • The Odyssey begins in the 20 th year after the beginning of the war • The first half of the epic is embedded memories; songs within songs • The great adventures of the Odyssey are memories © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Overview of Odysseus' Life • Laertes, king of Ithaca and son of Autolycus, marries Anticleia • Their household slave is Eurycleia • Son, Odysseus • Odysseus has a dog, Argus and a special hunting bow © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Overview of Odysseus' Life • Odysseus marries Penelope, daughter of the Spartan King Icarius • Builds a bed build around a tree • Odysseus joins the expedition after their son Telemachus is born • His advice to Penelope: “If I don’t return, remarry when Telemachus comes of age. ” © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Overview of Odysseus' Life • After the war, for years, he is blown around the Mediterranean – Cicones, Lotus-Eaters, Cyclops Polyphemus, Aeolus, Laestrygonians, Circe • The underworld • Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, the cattle of the Sun, Ogygia and Calypso © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Overview of Odysseus' Life • In the 17 th year of his absence, 108 suitors begin coming to Odysseus’s palace • The Odyssey begins in the 20 th year • The gods decide it is time for Odysseus to go home © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Outline of the Odyssey • Begins when the gods decide Odysseus should return and when events in Ithaca have reached a crisis point. © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Books 1– 4 “Telemacheia” • Stirred by Athena, Telemachus fails to rally the men of Ithaca against the suitors • Then, accompanied by Athena disguised as Mentor, he goes to find news of his father • Nestor in Pylos; Menelaus in Sparta • The suitors learn he is away and plan an ambush when he returns © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Outline of the Odyssey • Book 5: Calypso releases Odysseus, but he is nearly killed by Poseidon • Books 6– 7: Odysseus lands on Scherie, the island of the Phaeacians – saved by Nausicaa, the daughter of the king, and taken to the palace • Books 8– 12: Odysseus finally says who he is, and relates the tales of his adventures at Troy © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Outline of the Odyssey • Books 13– 21: Odysseus arrives in Ithaca, but disguises himself as a beggar, undergoing various forms of abuse at the hands of the suitors and others • Books 21– 2: the contest and the slaughter of the suitors © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Outline of the Odyssey • Book 23– 4: Odysseus proves to Penelope that he is Odysseus, ghosts of the suitors in the underworld; battle between Odysseus and his allies and the relatives of the suitors; Zeus and Athena intervene; Odysseus makes a symbolic end to his travels. © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

End © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.