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Homer
The Man
Lived in Pre-Classical Period of Greek
History and Culture
 Wrote of myth and folklore passed down
through the oral tradition, beginning eight
to ten centuries before his own birth.
 Herodotus estimated that he lived around
850 B.C.E.
 Thought to be blind, but describes events
as a man of sight
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The Greek World of Homer
Greek Society of Homer’S World
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The political and economic systems of Homeric Greece were far
less developed than in the later well-known Classical period of
ancient Greece.
Greece was not Greece.
No one nation of Greeks. They did not refer to themselves as
Greeks.
InThe Iliad and in The Odyssey Homer denominates this group of
distinct people as Achaeans, Argives, and Danaans. These people
were only linked to each other by the relationships of the citystates that shared the same language--with varying dialects.
Homeric Greece was a tribal society controlled by a ruling class
known as basileis, whose responsibilities constituted those of a
king, general, and judge, with certain religious duties as well.
Oral Tradition to Written Tradition
Epic Poetry was sung by Rhapsodes in
oral form in more complete versions up
until 725 B.C.E.
 In 750 B.C.E., the Greek alphabet is
established and epic poems are written
down.
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-Epic Poetry and the Cycle of Ethics (later lost) are written
under the umbrella of the Trojan War.
-Nine Epics or the “Epic Cycle” describe heroes, Greek
tradition, and the history of the Trojan War. Seven are lost.
-Historian / Philosopher Proclus summarized the lost epics.
The Odyssey and The Oresteia are both the most important.
They are Nostoi Myths – returns
Characteristics of the Hero
The hero is introduced in the midst of
turmoil
 The hero was a warrior, leader,
and/or speaker
 Must undertake a long, perilous
journey
 Journey usually takes the hero into
the Neukeia or the Greek
Underworld.
 Test of courage, cunning, endurance
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Characteristics of the Hero
Continued
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Often has group of followers,
commitatus
He alone among them will attempt
a task none other will undertake.
 Three key heroes were Achilles,
Odysseus, and the Trojan Aeneis
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Epic Hero – Moral Exemplar
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Possesses qualities most valued by his race
In epic poetry, hero has stock phrases that
exemplify his best qualities:
-Resourceful
Odysseus
-Swift-footed
Achilles
-Pious Aeneas
The Iliad
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Comprised of 53 Days
Unifying Theme – Code of the Warrior
Homer writes it as a negative reaction to Warrior Culture
When a warrior is wounded a story is then given on them
and their exploits
Honor - how does one achieve it?
Achilles gets angry because he loses honor, fights to achieve
it, and be rewarded in this lifetime.
Killing Priam’s son, avenges best friend’s death; gets nothing
and then realizes he did it for honor. Realizes by Priam’s
entreaty over his dead son that he is closer to humanity
than divine.
What is honor (external) to something you feel inside
(internal) – end of The Iliad
The Odyssey
Starts out with religious reference, cementing place of
Greek Pantheon of Gods, place in Greek life
 Gods mirror mortals (in appearance, values, emotions)
 All life is suffering, then you gain knowledge
 Shame Culture shown through Odysseus’ return and
the sins that are committed by mortals against the
Gods.
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The Odyssey
Religious in tone, sins committed by mortals show
irreverence toward the Gods
 Fame / Glory is what all Heroes seek, Odysseus is
primary in example
 Patriarchical society, on every level always a reference
to the father
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Important Themes of The Odyssey
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Religion – Pantheon of Olympian Gods rules over the world; everything
comes from the Gods. All peoples worshiped the Pantheon.
Hospitality – throughout Greek world any guest in your home you are
bound by tradition and convention to feed, clothe, and house them
Dike -“expresses a fundamental, natural principle, enforced by necessity,
on the grandest possible scale. The principle is balance, and its
enforcement takes the form of retribution to redress imbalance.”
Glory – all Greek heroes and people in general sought to achieve glory
in a mortal life. Win fame by achievement in war CULTURAL MAXIM
Honor - internal/external concept; expected externally usually through
battle, discovered internally through victory, moral action
Fates/Furies - Chthonic forces coming from the earth seeking kindred
blood;
Knowledge through Suffering
Chthonic /
Olympian
Chthonic Forces are embodied in
The Odyssey through the Furies like
the Cyclops (and perhaps the Lotus Eaters).
 They are the spirits of the underworld left over
from the Pre-Olympian World ruled by the
Titans.
 Zeus and his brother Poseidon ( Odysseus‘ chief
nemesis) wrested control of the world from
them, thus sit atop of the Olympian order of
Gods and the Greek World
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Homer – The Narrator
Simile characterizes Homeric Art
 Never takes sides
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A reluctant narrator, uses myth and folklore
and has characters drive the narrative
Odysseus
Fought in the Trojan War
Tests People, uses Trickery
Invented the idea of the Trojan Horse
A large horse that he and his men built and use to infiltrate
and take Troy, hiding themselves inside of it
 The Greek Fleet left the beaches in front of Troy, the Trojans
believed it was an offering from the Gods and brought inside
the city
 After a day and night of feasting, believing they had won the
10 year war; the Greeks snuck out of the large wooden
horse, opened the gates to the city letting in the Greek army,
which subsequently destroyed the city, and enslaved the
Trojan people.
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Odysseus
Polytropos – Man of Many Ways
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Gods (both Zeus and Poseidon) are angry with the Greeks
“’Oh for shame, how the mortals put the blame upon us/
gods, for they say evils come from us, but it is they, rather,/
who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is
given” (32-35) [Fallibility of Humankind / Role of Fate]
Specifics Zeus Speaks of follow:
Sacking of Troy
Death of his Companions
Death of Helio’s Cattle
“But when in the circling of the years that very year came/ in
which the gods had spun for him in his time of homecoming/
to Ithaka
Nostoi – The Odyssey
The Return of Odysseus
Book I
Poseidon
The Dispersion establishes the link between the gods and
mortals.
 Establishes the religious tone of the poem.
 Shows the mirror that exists between the Pantheon of Gods and
humankind.
 Gods have human emotions / motivations [Anger-Revenge]
 Briefly summarizes Odysseus is in the middle of his return
home from the war. Currently, imprisoned for years on the
island of Calypso.
 Poseidon is the god most angry therefore making him his
principal enemy preventing him from returning to Ithaca.
 Athena intervenes on Odysseus’ behalf
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Nostoi – The Odyssey
The Return of Odysseus
Book I
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Athena is sympathetic to his trials and tribulations, “’Son
of Kronos, our father,
On Ithaca, suitors for the hand of Penelope, Odysseus’
wife, have taken over his household. They seek to win her
hand in marriage after she accepts that he has died/is not
coming home.
Son Telemachos tries to assert his place as head of
household. Gods feel what suitors are doing in wrong.
First six books of The Odyssey are often called the
Telemahia
Identity Statements – Book 1
“far and near / friends knew this house; for he whose home
it was / had much acquaintance in the world.” (215-217)
 “Well, I forecast for you, as the gods / put the strong feeling
in me – I see it all, / and I’m no prophet, no adept in bird–
signs./ He will not, now, be long away from Ithaka,/ his
father’s dear land; though he be in chains/ he’ll scheme a way
to come; he can do anything.” ( 244-259)
 “Were his death known, I could not feel such pain-- / if he
had died of wounds in Trojan country / or in the arms of
friends, after the war./ They would have made a tomb for him,
the Akhaians,/ and I should have all honor as his son./ Instead,
the whirlwinds got him, and no glory/ He’s gone, no sign, no
word for him; and I inherit/ trouble and tears - - and not for
him alone,/ the gods have laid such other burdens on me.
(281-289)
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Book II
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Athena speaks to Telemachos.
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Prophesizes Odysseus’ return.
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“Hear me, Ithakans! Hear what I have to say,/ and may I hope to open the suitors’ eyes / to the black
towering above them. Odysseus / will not be absent from his family long:/ he is already near, carrying
in him/ a bloody doom for all these men, and sorrow/ for many more on our high seamark, Ithaka.
(170-176)
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Telemachos develops plan to venture to Pylos to find word of his father, Odysseus from Nestor.
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Suitors develop a plan to kill Telemachos but fail.
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Athena intervenes disguising herself as Telemachos, gathers sailors to crew a ship for his voyage.
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Athena puts the suitors to sleep so Telemachos and his crew can make their escape by his “black ship.”
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“Now they made all secure in the fast ship,/ and, setting out the winebowls all a-brim,/ they made
libation to the gods,’/ The udying, the ever-new,/ most of all to the grey-eyed daughter of Zeus.”
(457-469)
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Throughout the poem, Odysseus and Telemakhos are compared. This is the basis of the father/son
archetype.
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“You’ll never be fainthearted or a fool,/ Telemakhos, if you have your father’s spirit;” (286-287)
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“The son is rare who measures with his father,/ and one in a thousand is a better man,/ but you will
have the sap and wit/ and prudence– for you get that from Odysseus–” (292-295)
Book III
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Nestor tells of the aftermath of the Trojan War
Half want to stay, half want to go.
Agamemnon as “shepherd of the people” keeps half, Odysseus and
Menelaos depart with the other half.
Odysseus disagrees with Menelaos and returns to Agamemnon.
Nestor with the other half of Agamemnon’s men and Menelaos
made their safe return home.
Nestor tells Telemakhos avenging his father against suitors for
Penelope is the proper course of action.
Sequence at the end of the book emphasizes the proper method of
making sacrifice to the gods, but shows Odysseus made this
sacrifice and Agamemnon did not
Nestor’s son Peisistratos departs with Telemachos
They set out for Menelaos’ palace in Sparta.
Book III – Nestor Speaks
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“Think: we were there nine years, and we tried
everything,/ all stratagems against them,/ up to
the bitter end that Zeus begrudged us./ And as to
stratagems, no man would claim/ Odysseus’ gift
for those. He had no rivals,/ your father, at the
tricks of war./ Your father?/ Well, I must say I
marvel at the sight of you:/ your manner of
speech couldn’t be more like his;/ one would say
No; no boy could speak so well./ And all that time
at Ilion, he and I/ were never at odds in council or
assembly-- ” (126-137)
Book III – Nestor Speaks
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“my dear friend, now that you speak of it,/ I hear
a crowd of suitors for your mother/ lives with
you, uninvited, making trouble./ Now tell me how
you take this. Do the people/ side against you,
hearkening to some oracle?/…If grey-eyed Athena
loved you/ the way she did Odysseus in the old
days,/ in Troy country,/ where we all went through
so much– / never have I seen the gods help any
man/ as openly as Athena did your father–/ well,
as I say, if she cared for you that way,/ there
would be those to quit this marriage game.” (228241)
Book III – Nestor Speaks
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“That day Lord Menelaos of the great war cry/
made port with all the gold his ships could carry./
And this should give you pause, my son:/ don’t
stay too long away from home, leaving/ your
treasure there, and brazen suitors near;/ they’ll
squander all you have or take it from you,/ and
then how will your journey serve?/ I urge you
though, to call on Menelaos,/ he being but lately
home from distant parts/ in the wide world./ A
man could well despair/ of getting home at all, if
the winds blew him/ over the Great South Sea–
the weary waste, even the wintering birds delay”
(338-348)
Book IV
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Stops the flow of the narrative to make it more interesting.
Menelaos has sent his daughter Hermione to be married to Achilles.
Menelaos recognizes Peisistratos and Telemachos as the “breed of Zeus.”
Their physical stature reveals their inner quality.
Menelaos tells of his own wanderings during his return (Nostoi).
Menelaos weeps for Odysseus, his father Laertes and wife Penelope.
Menelaos’ wife Helen joins the feast putting heartsease into everyone’s wine to
make them forget sorrow.
She then relates how Odysseus snuck into Troy as a beggar in disguise and he
disclosed to her the Argives purpose. Myth #1 Helen switches sides.
Myth #2 Helen walked around the Trojan horse and called out. Menelaos and the
son of Tydeus almost went out but Odysseus held both back and the Trojan Horse
was a success; it won the war for the Argives.
Book IV
Telemachos tells Menelaos of the suitors and his dilemma on Ithaca.
 Menelaos tells Telemachos all he knows from his Nostoi and his own
odyssey.
 Proteus, a shape-shifter , Poseidon’s underling (reflection of the
audience), is captured by Menelaos and his men with the aid of
Eidothea, his daughter.
 Proteus tells Menelaos:
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◦ to return to Egypt and make hecatombs (sacrifices)
for the gods and then he may return home.
◦ that Aias cursed Athena and was killed by Poseidon.
◦ that Odysseus is being held by Kalypso.
The suitors learn of Telemachos’ voyage.
 Medon the herald tells Penelope of the suitors’
plans to kill Telemachos upon his return.
 Athene appears in a dark dream to Penelope and gives her
confidence that Odysseus will return.
 Book ends with Suitors waiting in ambush. Action is continued in
Book 13
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Book IV – Menelaos Speaks
“young friends, no mortal man can vie with Zeus./
His home and all his treasures are foe ever./ But
as for me, it may be the few/ have more than I.
How painfully I wandered/ before I brought it
home! Seven years at sea,/ Kypros, Phoinikia,
Egypt, and still farther” (84-89)
 “My dear, I see the likeness as well as you do./
Odysseus’ hands and feet were like this boy’s;/ his
head, and hair, and the glinting of his eyes./ Not
only that, but when I spoke, just now,/ of
Odysseus’ years of toil on my behalf/ and all he
had to endure– the boy broke down/ and wept in
his cloak.” (159-164)
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Book IV – Menelaos Speaks
“But now it entered Helen’s mind/ to drop in the
wine that they were drinking/ an anodyne, mild
magic of forgetfulness./ Whoever drank this
mixture in the wine bowl/ would be incapable of
tears that day/…The opiate of Zeus’s daughter
bore/ this uncanny power.” (235-244)
 “During my first try at a passage homeward/ for
the gods detained me, tied me down to Egypt--/
for I have been too scant in hekatombs,/ and gods
will have the rules each time remembered.” (377380)
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Book IV – Menelaos Speaks
“Now not much time went by before Penelope/
learned what was afoot among the suitors./ Medon
the crier told her. He had been/ outside the wall, and
heard them in the court/ conspiring. Into the house
and up the stairs/ he ran to her with the news upon
his tongue-- / but at the door Penelope met him,
crying” (723-729)
 “Meanwhile the suitors had got under way,/ planning
the death plunge for Telemakhos./ Between the Isles
of Ithaka and Same/ the sea is broken by an islet,
Asteris,/ with access to both channels from a cove./
In ambush here that night the Akhaians lay.” (888-901)
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Book V
Olympian Assembly
 Athene speaks to Zeus to intervene to bring
Odysseus home, and thwart the ambush the suitors have set for Telemachos.
 Zeus decrees that it is fate that these things will happen.
 Hermes is sent to Ogygia and tells Kalypso to let Odysseus go.
 Kalypso tells Odysseus of his fate (V. 200-215) offers him immortal life. He
refuses.
 Odysseus builds a broad raft with ax and auger that Kalypso gives him in
five days.
 Poseidon has been away in the Aithiopians’ land. When he returns he sees
Zeus’ plan, and Kallypso has released and aided Odysseus. He stirs the seas
and crushes Odysseus’ raft.
 Odysseus is first rescued by Leukothea.
 Then, guided by Athena he swims and is delivered to island of Phaiakians.
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Book V – Kalypso and the
Open sea
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“Hermes, you have much practice on our missions,/
go make it known to the softly-braided nymph/ that
we, whose will is not subject to error,/ order
Odysseus home; let him depart./ But let him have no
company, gods or men,/ only a raft that he must lash
together,/ and after twenty days, worn out at sea,/ he
shall make land upon the garden isle,/ Skheria, of our
kinsmen, the Phaiakians./ Let these men take him to
their hearts in honor/ and berth him in a ship, and
send him home,/ with gifts of garments, gold, and
bronze– / so much he had not counted on from Troy/
could he have carried home his share of plunder./ His
destiny is to see his friends again/ under his roof, in
his father’s country.” (32-47)
Book V - Kalypso and the
Open sea
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“Son of Laertes, versatile Odysseus,/ after these
years with me, you still desire/ your old home?
Even so, I wish you well./ If you could see it all,
before you go– / all the adversity you face at sea–
/ you would stay here, and guard this house, and
be/ immortal– though you wanted her forever,/
that bride for whom you pine each day./ Can I be
less desirable than she is?/ Less interesting? Less
beautiful? Can mortals/ compare with goddesses
in grace and form?” (212-222)
Book VI
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Stays a few weeks on the island of the Phaiakians
Meets second female Nausikaa daughter
of Alkinoos on island.
Establishes Patriarchical framework of Greek
World [Men - Polis / Women – Okaos]
Juxtaposes the place of power of women with
that of men.
Reemphasizes hospitality
Fortifies Odysseus despite the embarrassment
and fear he holds due to nakedness in front of
Nausikaa and her attendants.
Bid to go to a grove of poplars and pray to Zeus.
Then go to the house of Alkinoos where his
course of action will be laid out to him.
Book VII
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Athena appears to Odysseus as
a young girl and guides him to
Alkinoos’ palace
Odysseus doesn’t reveal himself to
Alkinoos and his queen Arete. Eats
dinner with them, and tells them of his
trials and tribulations but not who he is.
Alkinoos expresses adage “always
moderation is better.”
Tries, as everyone else does, to get
Odysseus to stay and marry Nausikaa.
He refuses.
Given a bed and goes to sleep.
Book VIII
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Reinforces the idea of the
Herald /prophet as blind –
internal sight exterior blindness
Odysseus is compelled to compete
in the games and excels.
Upon completion of games, Odysseus asks the herald to
tell the tale of the Argives in the Trojan War.
He cries as the tale is told.
Episode is characterization of Odysseus. Audience is
compelled to ask, “why does he cry?”
Also, “what did the Trojan War achieve? What does the
Warrior society of the age accomplish?”
◦ May be an attack on warrior culture