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The Odyssey Bks. 13-14
Xenia
Lies and Deception
Xenophobia
The Importance of the Sea
Tie-ins with 5th Century Greece
Xenia or “What Can Strangers
Do For You”
Xenia – one of, if not the, most
important rules of the Homeric world
 Greeks expected to follow its rules
- wine and dine
- bath and clothes
- questions after dinner

Xenia in Action

Alkinoos to Odysseus
– “gold in various shaping of adornment…let
each man add his tripod” etc.

A Ship and Crew
– Xenia had many physical forms

Xenia even when known to be wrong
– Pg. 235: Alkinoos’ father predicted the
destruction of the ship, yet Odysseus taken in
anyway
Xenia in Action II

Eumaios to Odysseus
- Proper manner of xenia?

Does Odysseus act properly?
- “polutropos” again
 Zeus again, as guardian of all wayfarers,
strangers, and guests
– Pg. 261 “Zeus grants us this and that, or else
refrains from granting, as he wills; all things
are in his power”
Hesiod Works & Days 1-10

“Muses of Pieria who give glory through
song, come hither, tell of Zeus your father
and chant his praise. Through him all
mortal men are famed or unfamed, sung or
unsung alike, and easily he brings the
strong man low; easily he humbles the
proud and raises the obscure, and easily
he straightens the crooked and blasts the
proud, Zeus who thunders aloft and has
his dwelling most high.”
Odysseus Liarus

Fact: Odysseus lies
– Is everyone else doing it?
– If so, why?

Fact: Odysseus lies A LOT
–
–
–
–

“I’m from Krete.” (common motif) – Aeneas
“Nobody.”
“I’ve been to Egypt.”
“No, I didn’t eat the moly.”
Question: Is who you are really important?
– Gods + disguises + feelings = xenia
Lies versus Deception

Is there a difference between lying and
deceiving?
Who Lies: Odysseus, Penelope, Athena
Who Deceives: Odysseus, Penelope,
Athena, Eurykleia, Kirke
Xenophobia

xenos = “stranger” + phobos = “fear”

People
 Phaiakians represent turning point in
Greek thought
 no more Mr. Nice Guy (pg. 235)
 why does Zeus allow the destruction of
the Phaiakians’ ship?
– Is the harmony of the gods more important
than xenia?
The Importance of the Sea

Almost all of Bk. 13 involves water
- Phaiakian ship w/ Odysseus
- Anger of Poseidon
- Telemachus is still across the sea
- the cove of Phorkys
 Greeks have a special relationship to the
sea
 CYA Summer 2005: class on Paros
The Importance of the Sea II

Mastery of the sea VERY important
– Lack of winds gets Agamemnon killed
– Sea god angry, you don’t get home
– Menelaus to Egypt, Ajax on the rocks,
Aiolus totally blows

Mastery of the sea STILL very
important to Athenians and modern
Greeks
AS OF JUNE 2003

3,355 Greek-owned
cargo ships
 171,600,000 metric
tons
 18.3% of all world
shipping
 48% of all EU
shipping

50,949 sq. miles
(with 2000 islands)
 roughly the size of
Alabama
 population of 10.6
million (or that of
Michigan)
 .002% of the
world’s population
The Sea in the

th
5
Century
Battle of Salamis
– Greeks messed up them Persians real good

Athens gets an empire
– Supreme fleet allows expansion, trade, and
political influence all over the Aegean

Athens and Sparta bound to tie (at first)
– Athens can’t blockade Sparta, Sparta can’t
blockade Athens

Athens can go anywhere at any time
– Thessaly, Sicily, Crete, Africa, Asia Minor
The Athenian Empire
The Major Players
The Battles (Quick View)
Xenia in the
th
5
Century
-The unity of the Persian Wars is gone
-Sparta has gone even more isolationist
-Athens has a multi-national empire
- “might makes right”
- Zeus’ answer to Poseidon (pg. 234):
“But if some mortal captain, overcome by his
own pride of strength, cuts or defies you,
are you not always free to take reprisal?
Act as your wrath requires and as you will.”