The Typical and Connotative Character of Xeinoi Situations Across the Apologue

The Typical and Connotative Character of Xeinoi Situations across the Apologue: Three Studies in Repetition Hamish Williams/WLLHAM001 A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Classics (SLL 6050W) Town School of Languages andCape Literatures Faculty of ofthe Humanities University of Cape Town Submitted Monday the 28th of November 2016 University COMPULSORY DECLARATION This work has not been previously submitted in whole, or in part, for the award of any degree. It is my own work. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in, this dissertation from the work, or works, of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced. - 1 - The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town Financial Acknowledgments I hereby acknowledge the following financial assistance received for completion of this dissertation and degree: 1) The National Research Foundation: NRF Innovation Doctoral Scholarship (2013-2015), NRF Travel Grant (2013-2014). Disclaimer: “The financial assistance of the National Research Foundation (NRF) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the author and not necessarily to be attributed to the NRF.” 2) The University of Cape Town: Doctoral Research Scholarship (2013-2015), UCT Travel Conference Grant (2014), UCT Scholarship for International Travel (2015). 3) The Classical Association of South Africa: The Ursula Vogel Trust Award (2013-2014). 4) The Oppenheimer Memorial Trust: OMT Scholarship (2015- 2016). - 2 - Table of Contents Abstract 5 Chapter 1 Introduction 7 1.1 Xeinoi Situations in the Apologue 7 1.2 Interpretations of Xeinoi Situations in the Apologue 10 1.2.1 The Apologue Entails Inversions of Normal Guest-Host 11 Interactions in a Hospitality Scene 1.2.2 Xeinoi Situations in the Apologue Are Reflective of 17 the Stranger’s Stratagem 1.2.3 Xeinoi Situations in the Apologue Capture the Greek Traveller’s 27 or Colonist’s Experience in Primitive Lands 1.2.4 Xeinoi Situations in the Apologue Entail Encounters 36 with Feminized Inhabitants or in a Feminized Milieu 1.2.5 Concluding Remarks 43 1.3 Studying Repetitions and Their Connotations 44 in the Homeric Poems Chapter 2 Mountains and Isolation 62 2.1 Overview 62 2.2 Space in the Homeric Poems 64 2.2.1 Scholarship on Space in the Homeric Poems 64 2.2.2 Connoting Other Spatial Units in the Apologue 72 2.3 The Typicality of Mountains in the Apologue 83 2.3.1 Reference List for Mountains in the Apologue 85 - 3 - 2.3.2 Summary 87 2.4 A Connotative Interpretation of Mountains in the Apologue 87 2.5 Conclusions 150 Chapter 3 Eating and Danger 152 3.1 Overview 152 3.2 Eating in the Odyssey 152 3.3 The Typicality of Eating in the Apologue 161 3.3.1 Reference List for Eating in the Apologue 164 3.3.2 Summary 166 3.4 A Connotative Interpretation of Eating in the Apologue 167 3.5 Conclusions 214 Chapter 4 Tricks and Success 216 4.1 Overview 216 4.2 Trickery in the Odyssey 216 4.3 The Typicality of Tricks in the Apologue 228 4.3.1 Reference List for Tricks in the Apologue 229 4.3.2 Summary 231 4.4 A Connotative Interpretation of Tricks in the Apologue 232 4.5 Conclusions 277 Chapter 5 The Importance of the Apologue 281 Reference, Format, and Name Guide 288 List of References 293 - 4 - Abstract This dissertation engages in a close reading and analysis of the Apologue of Homer’s Odyssey; specifically, I am concerned with characterizing the nature of xeinoi situations or interactions in these books—that is, the relationship between the Ithacan travellers and the various inhabitants whom they encounter in these four books. There is a significant amount of scholarship on the nature of these encounters in the Apologue, and as my first chapter explores, many of these are often hinged upon certain polarities: hospitality versus inhospitality, civilized versus savage, masculine versus feminine. My study is greatly indebted to these; however, this dissertation explores new avenues of interpreting these encounters. I have adopted an approach to the Odyssey, which is based upon the importance of repetitions and their connotations, what has been termed ‘traditional referentiality’. The Homeric poems are defined by an aesthetic of repetition: certain ‘units’ (which may be isolated words, phrases, actions, scenes, etc.) are given prominence in the narrative through their frequency; when these units are examined with respect to their contexts, the particular units gain associative or ‘connotative’ meaning from their implementation. In my second, third, and fourth chapters, I explore how the xeinoi situations in the Apologue are pervaded by certain typical units—namely, (i) mountains, (ii) acts of eating, and (iii) acts of trickery—and then, importantly, how these units garner connotative senses of, respectively, (i) isolation, (ii) danger, and (iii) success, which characterize the relationships in these four books. While some of these typical units have received scholarly treatment in the Odyssey as a whole, their specific importance to the Apologue has not been studied extensively, nor have the connotative resonances of these repeated units been fully explored. The importance of these connotations is elaborated on in the conclusion, where I examine - 5 - how the meaning derived from these xeinoi encounters interplays with the surrounding story of the Odyssey. - 6 - Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Xeinoi Situations in the Apologue The Apologue, the secondary narrative of Odysseus from Books 9 to 12 of the Odyssey,1 describes a number of different interactions between xeinoi—‘foreigners’, ‘strangers’, or ‘guests’ (LfgrE 2004: 464-469)—and the various local inhabitants whom they encounter at land and at sea during their wanderings. In almost all of these cases the xeinoi are Odysseus and his crew of Ithacan sailors, while the inhabitants they meet include the Cicones, the Lotus Eaters and Polyphemus in Book 9, Aeolus, the Laestrygonians, and Circe in Book 10, Teiresias and the various shades of the Underworld in Book 11, and the Sirens, Scylla, Charybdis, and Helios’ cattle in Book 12. Each of these situations involving xeinoi and indigenous inhabitants (which I shall henceforth title xeinoi situations or xeinoi interactions in this dissertation) is in some respect unique. One can track these individual elements, for example, across the setting of the story, the orientation of characters, or the scale of treatment. Thus the setting of these interactions varies from primitive caves (Od. 9.182, 12.84), to more respectable dōmata (Od. 10.10, 210), to open landscapes without any marked domicile (in the case of the Lotus Eaters, the Sirens, and Helios’ Thrinacia), and even to the Underworld itself!2 1 Under the designation of the Apologue I exclude a minor introduction to Odysseus’ narration by the primary narrator (Od. 9.1), and a brief interruption in Book 11 (lines 333-377) by his Phaeacian audience. The Apologue, depending on the scholar’s choice of nomenclature, can also been referred to as the Apologoi or the ‘Wanderings’. 2 The Underworld might also be considered a ‘home’, the domos of Hades and Persephone (Od. 10.491, 512), a royal dwelling comparable to that of Menelaus and Helen, Alcinous and Arete, and Odysseus and Penelope (Bassi 1999: 418-419). - 7 - Secondly, with respect to the orientation of the native inhabitants, there are sharp distinctions to be viewed in their treatment of the xeinoi: while the most malevolent characters, such as Polyphemus and the Laestrygonians, turn the travellers into food (Od. 9.288-293, 10.116), there are some characters who seem to harbour no ill will to Odysseus and his men, such as the Lotus Eaters (Od. 9.92-93), and others who change from initial friendliness to outright hostility, in the case of Aeolus (cf. Od. 10.14-22, 67-69), or malevolence to friendliness, in the case of Circe, whose role in the story changes from that of a witch to a guide. Thirdly, as to the scale of narrative treatment, it has been observed by critics that the episodes in the land of the Cyclopes and in Aeaea are far more prominent than other scenes, and that the shorter episodes tend to act as prefaces to the major ones: the Cicones and the Lotus Eaters to Polyphemus (Book 9); Aeolus and the Laestrygonians to Circe (Book 10); the Sirens and Scylla to Thrinacia (Book 12) (Belmont 1962: 127, Most 1989b: 21, Redfield 1983: 236). In contrast to the unique character of each xeinoi situation, this dissertation endeavours to locate points of tangency between these interactions—similar characteristics which can be found across the Apologue (cf. de Jong 2004a: 222-223, Niles 1978: 46-47). These similar characteristics will be identified on both a structural level (‘typicality’) and on the level of meaning (‘connotations’). In this respect, my dissertation is indebted to a legion of scholars, who have provided insights into the structure and meaning of Odysseus’ wanderings. I do not view my analysis as antagonistic towards these earlier studies, although I shall provide a few points of criticism, but rather complementary and cumulative. It is my goal in this dissertation to build upon previous works of scholarship with fresh insights so as to enhance how we understand the various xeinoi interactions which pervade the Apologue.

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