Trojan War and Nostos: The Quest of Odysseus Annabel Orchard Odysseus, on a raft made of wine-jars, is blown by Borias, the North Wind. Boiotian, 4th C BCE. http://www.theoi.com/image/T28.5Boreas.jpg Citations and quotations from the Odyssey are from Homer, Annabel Orchard Odyssey (Fitzgerald, tr., NY, 1998) Homer, Odyssey • nostos ( pl. nostoi ) - a ‘Return’, or homecoming tale Annabel Orchard Homer, Odyssey Odyssey 4: • Nostoi of Menelaos, Ajax the Lesser Odyssey 11, 24: • Nostos of Agamemnon; • cf. No nostos for Achilleus, Ajax the Greater/ Telamonian Aias Annabel Orchard Homer, Odyssey 3 main phases: • Books 1-4: Problems in Ithaka; journey of Telemachus • Books 5-12: wanderings of Odysseus • Books 13-24: Odysseus returns, has revenge, restores order Annabel Orchard Xenia: guest-friendship In Iliad 6: • Explicit: Glaukos and Diomedes • Implicit: Paris, Helen, Menelaos In Odyssey 9: • Sacred institution • Zeus ‘Xenios’ ( 9.288-92) Annabel Orchard Xenia: guest-friendship • visitor supplicates • Host invites visitor in, feeds him • Host asks identity of visitor, visitor reveals identity • Visitor bathes, sleeps • Host offers gift to visitor • Departure, expectation of reciprocity Annabel Orchard Odyssey : background • 10 years since Trojan war • Suitors in Ithaka abusing hospitality, pressuring Penelope Annabel Orchard Odyssey : background • Odysseus leaves Kalypso’s island • washes up on Scheria, home of the Phaiakians: • Nausicaa, Alcinoos, Arete Annabel Orchard Odysseus’ tale Odysseus seeks: • xenia – ‘Guest friendship’ • Conveyance to Ithaka • Odysseus’ audience: Phaiakians • Wanderings: 1st person narrative by ‘crafty Odysseus’ Annabel Orchard The Phaiakians • Former neighbours of Cyclopes • Idealised palace culture • temples, harbours, houses, agriculture • Close to the gods • Good with ships • Value guest-friendship highly • Likes: 8.257-63 Annabel Orchard Odyssey 9 • Importance of xenia • Civilization vs. savagery? • Culture vs. nature? Annabel Orchard Odyssey 9 • Odysseus reveals identity, begins tale: • Sack of the Kikonians, battle • Lotus-Eaters • Arrive on Goat Island, “we made our feast on meat galore, and wine” (9.173) Annabel Orchard Odyssey 9 Sg. Cyclops/ pl. Cyclopes Odysseus takes men to Island of Cyclopes: why? • Curiousity (9.184ff) • Theft (9.242ff) • Guest presents (9.248-9, 288-92) Annabel Orchard The Cyclopes • Odyssey 9.113-124 • No community, no assembly • No building, craft: caves • No agriculture, viticulture • No shipbuilding (9.135-140 ff) • Eat raw flesh, drink unmixed milk (9.312-22ff) • No respect for Zeus’ laws of xenia (9.294-300) Annabel Orchard Odysseus in the cave Odysseus’ weapons of culture: • Wine: viticulture • Olive wood: agriculture • Fire: industry (9.406-28) • Metis: the trick of his name Annabel Orchard The Blinding of Polyphemos Archaic Proto-Attic Black Figure Amphora, ca 650 BCE: http://www.theoi.com/ Gallery/L8.7.html Annabel Orchard Polyphemos the shepherd • Is he so uncivilized? • Can we apply post- colonial values to an ancient text? Landscape with Polyphemus and Galatea: Roman wall painting , Imperial Villa at Boscotrecase, late 1st C BCE.: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ images/h2/h2_20.192.17.jpg Annabel Orchard The ‘Nobody’ trick: a pun Odysseus calls himself “ Outis (Nobody)” Polyphemus: “ Outis (Nobody) is killing me ” Cyclopes: “ If metis (nobody) is killing you…” • Metis = nobody • Metis = cunning intelligence Annabel Orchard Escape from the cave Odysseus bound and clinging to the underside of the ram. Bronze relief cut-out ornament from Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi, c. 540-530 BCE: http://www.utexas.edu/courses/larrymyth/images/odyssey/u-Cyclops- Ram-Bronze.jpg Annabel Orchard The name of Odysseus • A proud, vain act? • An attempt to gain kleos? • Questions of identity Annabel Orchard .