Week 10

My Thursday started with calculus in the morning for an hour where we continued on with new material. After class was Greek Lit where we began with a quiz on the recent chapters we have read for Homer’s Odyssey. We were asked questions like who did Telemachus go to see and what happened while he was there. I got a few questions wrong because I didn’t read the questions carefully enough but I did know what the correct answers were so I am not worried about the next reading quiz. We then went on to talk about the previous books in the story along with certain events that occurred. We brought back up the topic of the complicated relationship between Menelaus and Helen. Odysseus throughout book 5 seemed the same to me, a man exhausted from war. He is seen in many moments complaining. He mentioned at one point that he’d rather have died in Troy than by the sea. All the guy wants to do is relax and now he is about to be killed just when he thinks he can go home. At the very end of his sea battle, he takes a nap. The divine aid Odysseus receives saves him from many problems he faces, but his intelligence shows that he is no hero to be messed with. After class, I read book six of the Odyssey. Athena goes to the Island where Odysseus crash lands and takes the form of Nausikaa’s friend and urges her to wash her linens by the river. Odysseus hears Nausikaa and her friends approaching and wakes up with no clothes on. All the women run except for Nausikaa because Athena gives her strength. Odysseus then decided to use his persuasive skills to convince her to help. Nausikaa falls in love with Odysseus and then he is escorted to the kingdom to meet the rest of the Phaeacians. She introduces Odysseus to the kingdom then takes him to meet the Queen where he must beg her to aid his cause. At the end, he prays to Athena for luck and she hears his prayer. The next day I read book 7. Here Odysseus is taken to the palace and Athena, this time disguised as a young girl. She informs Odysseus about the current king and queen then takes him where Queen Arete is. Odysseus drops to her knees and makes his plea. Everyone present is stunned until they then immediately begin to serve Odysseus. Alkinoos makes one of the princes give up his seat for Odysseus and announced that there will be a feast in his name the following day. The queen notices that Odysseus is wearing Nausikaa’s clothes so he decides to tell them what happened from Kalypso’s Island until that point. The audience is moved and Odysseus is offered Nausikaa’s hand in marriage, but he declines and is satisfied with the ship and crew to make it home. Book 8 begins with a disguised Athena telling the town that there will be a feast help for the stranger who had arrived. The king invites his blind bard Demokodos to tell a story. He decides to talk about a quarrel between Achilles and Odysseus. During that part, Odysseus conceals his face and begins to cry, and the king notices those tears. Odysseus continued to hide his true identity while the king ordered for the games to begin. Laodamas urges Odysseus to participate but he would rather observe, that is until a competitor said he was too weak. Odysseus hurled a discuss the greatest distance compared to the rest i]of the men and was prepared to fight anyone until the king ordered for more singing. He told a story of how Ares had an affair with Aphrodite who is married to Hephaestus. The husband caught the two in the act with a net and brought them captured two in front of the rest of the gods to be shamed. Odysseus is given gifts and then asks the bard to tell the story of Odysseus and the Trojan War, which causes him to cry again. The king stops the music now and asks who his guest is which ends the assignment due for class Tuesday. One thing that was common in the descriptions of Penelope, Kalypso, and Nausikaa is that they were all described as beautiful women. The poet would go into detail about the beauty of these women. This kind of very beautiful but passive character type is used in a lot of movies and tv shows. In Tuesday’s class, we began by talking about the upcoming election and who has voted. After that, we spent the majority of class time talking about important passages relating to Odysseus. My group was told to annotate passage two which was “

OD.7.146 Arete, daughter of godlike Rhexenor,

OD.7.147 I’ve suffered much and come upon my knees to you, your husband,

OD.7.148 and these diners — may the gods grant them prosperity

OD.7.149 in life, and may each pass to his children

OD.7.150 the property in his palace and whatever honor the people have given.

OD.7.151 Urge for me an escort, so I can reach my fatherland

OD.7.152 faster, since, a long time away from loved ones, I suffer misery.”

OD.7.153 So saying, he sat down at the hearth, in the dust

OD.7.154 beside the fire. All then became silent in silence.

OD.7.155 At last, an old man spoke, the hero Echeneus,

OD.7.156 who was by far the elder of Phaeacian men

OD.7.157 and excelled in speaking, knowing things many and old.

OD.7.158 With good intent, he spoke and said to them:

OD.7.159 “Alcinous, this is neither fine nor fitting,

OD.7.160 that a stranger sit at the hearth, on the ground, in the dust.

OD.7.161 These here await in eager expectation your command.

OD.7.162 But come, get the stranger to stand and have him sit upon

OD.7.163 a seat studded with silver, then bid the heralds

OD.7.164 mix the wine with water, so we can make libation to Zeus,

OD.7.165 the thunderbolt hurler, whose favor goes with venerable supplicants.

OD.7.166 Let the housekeeper give the stranger dinner from what there is inside.”

In this passage, the most noticeable trait of Odysseus is his persuasiveness. He uses words that please the king and queen which will easily turn them in his favor. Pathos is the basis of Odysseus’ argument which works and the queen decides to aid him. He hugs the feet of the queen and sheds tears which completely wins over the crowd and they don’t have an idea of who he is yet. From the other passages, you can come to understand the pain Odysseus feels as well. Odysseus is exhausted from the battle and traveling and it’s been years since he has returned home. Odysseus wants nothing more than to see his family. We then ended class talking about how Odysseus and Penelope’s relationship is more important and stronger than that of Achilles and Patroclus. Book 9 was the last thing I did in preparation for class Thursday. In book 9 Odysseus begins by introducing himself and describing his home of Ithaka. He also states that Kalypso’s curse did not affect him and she couldn’t make Odysseus truly fall in love with her. After leaving Troy, Odysseus and his men go to the Kikonans where they plundered and looted the village. They were then stuck on the land for 10 days because a god sent a storm their way due to their actions. They then sail to the island of the Lotus Eaters where whoever eats one will lose the memory of home and want to stay on the island forever. Odysseus gathers his men along with the few who ate the flower and they set sail. The group ends up on Cyclops Island next, where the men want to loot a deserted cave. Odysseus instead convinces them to burn an offering and wait for the monster’s return. The Cyclops eats a few men and asks where Odysseus’ ship is, where he quickly lies and said Poseidon shipwrecked him and his crew. the Cyclops sleeps and the men realize they can’t kill the Cyclops because then no one can move the boulder. Polyphemus wakes and eats more of Odysseus’ men before tending to his flock. Odysseus told Polyphemus his name was nobody and offered him wine. The cyclops got drunk and the men stabbed him in the eye with a wooden pole they had been carving. The other cyclopses ask what has happened but Polyphemus shouts that “Nobody has tricked me” so the others ignore him. Polyphemus removes the pole from his eye and Odysseus comes up with part two of his escape plan. Each man was tied under The cyclops’ ram and as Polyphemus felt the top of his flock to check for escaped prisoners, he would feel nothing. As they escape, Odysseus taunts Polyphemus and tells him his true identity which is a bad move. Polyphemus asks his father to curse Odysseus and his crew. Odysseus would never return home, but if he did, it would be without his crew. Odysseus attempted to make a sacrifice to Zeus, but it was rejected. That is the end of book 9 and my favorite part is when Odysseus decides to be a clown and taunt Polyphemus. I like this particular scene because of the irony. Odysseus concealed his identity from his enemy but doesn’t know his enemy did the same thing and in the end was able to curse Odysseus, because Odysseus didn’t stick to his own plan of being secretive.