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Early Theories of Foreignness (Kennedy, RECW Ch 1 Pp

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Clas 122 2017 Mon Oct 2: Homer and Hesiod: Early Theories of Foreignness (Kennedy, RECW Ch 1 pp. 3-13) Overview of Homer's Odyssey -- a map of the world imagined by speakers of Greek The poem itself invites its audience to think about: What is a good society? What is a good leader? As readers here and now, we can also ask critical Questions: What are the poem's blind spots? How does the poem encourage its audience to think and behave? Do the poem's ideas about a good society and a good leader have meaning today? The images below come from a series of collages and paintings by Romare Bearden (1911-1988). The Smithsonian Institution organized a bautiful exhibit of the series recently, and there is a good free app (showing many of the works and adding audio commentary) available for I phone and android; search for "A Black Odyssey" where you get apps. As our story begins ..... During his journey back to his home in Ithaca after the war at Troy, Odysseus is on the island of Calypso. Athena asks Zeus if Odysseus can come home to Ithaca. Zeus says yes, and sends Hermes to tell Calypso that Odysseus needs to come home. Calypso lets Odysseus build a raft and he departs. This is only possible because .... RECW 1.1 Od. 1.22-26: Poseidon, the god of the sea, is visiting the Ethiopians, and thus is not watching Odysseus. Poseidon had been thwarting the homecoming because of the way that Odysseus treated the Cyclops Polyphemus, who was descended from Poseidon. Ethiopians have a special position because the gods are thought to visit with them (a memory of robust trading networks during the Mycenaean period? a dream of agricultural prosperity very different from the rocky landscapes of Greece?) Meanwhile, in Ithaca, Odysseus' wife Penelope is being bothered by men who want to marry her (they are often called 'the suitors'). Her and Odysseus' son Telemachus, with the help of Athena, gets organized to seek news of Odysseus. Telemachus goes to Sparta to visit with .... RECW 1.2. Menelaus, who describes how on his return from Troy he travelled by way of Cyprus, Phoenicia, Egyptians, Sidonians, Erembi, Libya. Got beautiful, valuable gifts from them: exceptionally good xenia (code of guest friendship) RECW 1.3. Odyssey 4: Menelaus is married to Helen, and the whole Trojan war was fought to get Helen back after she was abducted by the Trojan prince named Paris. Helen brings out a drug she got from the Polydamna, wife of Thon, a woman from Egypt (in some versions of the story she was in Egypt the whole time, not in Troy) (Greek recognition of Egyptian expertise in drugs) Meanwhile .... RECW 1.4. After Odysseus builds the raft he sails away from Calypso's island, and washes up after a storm on Nausicaa's island, Phaeacia, also called Scheria. The Phaeacians have superb craftsmanship and luxuries in the palace. Almost too good to be true. Perhaps a permanent festival atmosphere. Poseidon made Phaeacian ships swift. Phaeacians don't like foreigners (because they can just go everywhere themselves?). Women as good at weaving as men are at sailing ships . Fruit at all seasons. When the Phaeacians ask him to tell his own story, Odysseus tells of his adventures sailing away from Troy Fall of Troy the storm (Athena angry at Greeks for rape and capture of Cassandra) Cicones Odysseus and his men behave like pirates, attacking Ciconian men and capturing Ciconian women. Odysseus' men ignore his directive to leave. More Ciconian men arrive and attack them. Lotus Eaters -- so pleasant it is hard to get the men to leave RECW 1.5 Cyclops (Polyphemus) - xenia gone wrong. Cyclopes have herding and cheesemaking, but not sailing or society. Odysseus blinds Polyphemus. Because Polyphemus is a descendant of Poseidon, Poseidon wants revenge on Odysseus and keeps trying to prevent him from returning home. RECW 1.6 Aeolia Aeolus - xenia: gives Odysseus as a present a huge bag of winds (men think it is wealth, open it, and the winds escape). Aeolus won't help when Odysseus returns with the empty bag. (an excess of xenia, more than Odysseus' men can handle?) RECW 1.6 Laistrygonians - princess greets Odysseus and his men, but the Laestrygonians then kill some of his men Circe - (her name is related to the Greek work for 'hawk') a beautiful witch goddess; turns Odysseus' men into pigs. Odysseus is able to withstand her magic because Hermes gave him the magic plant (moly), and he insists on getting men returned to human form. A false homecoming because living with her would just be a life of pleasure. Circe tells him that he won't achieve homecoming unless he sails to a place where he can access the underworld and can consult with the prophet Tiresias. RECW 1.7 Underworld Odysseus learns that he needs to travel to where people do not recognize an oar and make an offering to Poseidon. Sirens - their irresistable songs lure sailors to crash on the rocks. Odysseus has men plug their ears and only he, tied to mast, can hear the song. Scylla (dangerous rocks) and Charybdis (whirlpool) Cattle of Helios: the men cannot resist killing and eating some of the cattle -> punishment is storm at sea that destroys all of the remaining men and ships except Odysseus himself. Calypso (her name is related to the words of 'veiling' and 'hiding') false homecoming: she offers immortality if Odysseus will stay with her, but no one would know who he is if he stays on her hidden island. As noted above, when the gods agree it is time for him to return home, Zeus sends Hermes to tell Calypso to help Odysseus leave, and she gives him the tools he needs to build a boat. A storm washes over him and he lands on the island of Phaeacia. Nausicaa in Phaeacia (a place also called Scheria) (the Naus in her name is related to the greek words for sailing, and expresses the Phaecians' expertise in sailing -- in fact their ships are self-guided. She meets Odysseus at the beach. He comes to her home and meets her father Alcinoos. During the stay with Alcinoos, stories are told: The poet Demodocus tells the story of Aphrodite and Ares and how Hephaestus caught them in bed together (cleverness beats strength, just as it does in the stories of Odysseus) Demodocus, at Odysseus' request, tells the story of the Trojan horse and the fall of Troy Odysseus tells of all of his adventures since leaving Troy. Alcinoos offers Odysseus the chance to marry Nausicaa. A false homecoming. To be fully Odysseus he has to return to his wife Penelope. The Phaeacians agree to use one of their (self-guided) ships to bring him to Ithaca; they drop him off on the shore. Athena will help him from there. Poseidon takes revenge on Phaeacia by blocking its harbor with a huge mountain. No more seafaring for them! 3. Homecoming to Ithaca: The suitors - all trying to marry Penelope. They basically move into Odysseus' house and use up all of his resources. Penelope - (her name is related to the Greek word for wood duck, a bird that mates for life) a faithful and clever wife (strong contrast with Clytemnestra) has been telling the suitors she will decide which one to marry when she finishes weaving a shroud (a garment for burial) for Odysseus' elderly father. Every day she weaves and every night she unweaves it. Telemachus -nearly grown up. He finds the suitors intolerable, and Athena helps him go on a trip to see if he can get any news of Odysseus. Part of Odysseus being recognized as Odysseus is that Telemachus will grow up to have qualities similar to his father. Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, is recognized gradually RECW 1.8 -by the swineherd Eumaeus (do Eumaeus' life experiences contribute to what the poem says about a good society and a good leader?) -by his dog Argos - by his old nanny/nurse Euryclea (she recognizes a scar on his thigh) -By Penelope? she sets up an archery contest using the bow and arrows of Odysseus -by Penelope? after O kills the suitors she tells him he can sleep in the hall. "No other woman would harden her heart as you and stand apart from her husband who after desperate suffering had come to her in the twentieth year, to his native land." (p. 602) Penelope says, ok, we'll move your bed that you built out into the hall: "yet come Euryclea, strew for him the stout bedstead outside the well-built bridal chamber which he himself made. Bring the stout bedstead from there and cast on bedding, fleece and shining coverlets'. She spoke, testing her husband. Odysseus replies sharply -- how can you move my bed -- I built it out of an olive tree that grows actually in the bedroom! "but of men no mortal alive, no matter how young and how strong, could easily pry it from its place, for a great token is set in the well-built bed, and it was I who built it and no one else. A long-leafed olive grew in the court, strong, vigorous, thick and round like a pillar. In the final book of the Odyssey (book 24) the relatives of the suitors come to get revenge, and it seems that a terrible cycle of violence is just about to begin again. But Athena asks Zeus what he wants to have happen and he says "let Odysseus be king by a sworn pact forever and we, for our part, will blot out the memory of sons and brothers slain.
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