CCIV 110 WOMEN IN ANCIENT
GREECE
SPRING 2000
BACKGROUND NOTES
HOMER, ODYSSEY
Suggestions for Study
For each class, I suggest that you first read
the assigned text "cold," using only the notes. Just go
through it and let yourself be confused, if that happens.
(None of the readings is all that long: most of them are
under 20 pages; the few that are longer are easier reading.)
Second, read the supplementary material, if any is
assigned (passages from the "Introduction" and the like).
Third, read the Background Material on this site.
Fourth, reread the assigned text. Now you should
understand it better and you should have answers to some of
the questions that will have arisen in the course of your
initial reading. Fifth, consult the Illustration and
Study Questions site on the Web, and spend some time
thinking about the issues raised there.
As a general rule, for each class hour at Wesleyan, you are
expected to spend three hours of preparation time. Thus, for
each of our classes, which meet for an hour and 20 minutes,
you should plan to spend about four hours in preparation
time. For many classes, you will not need this much time.
When you have time left over, you should spend it thinking
about your paper, beginning a draft, and/or commenting on
other students' papers.
Contents
(Sections):
Homer, Odyssey
Book
1: Theme and Plot
Book
1: Aegisthus
Book
1: Clytemnestra
Book
1: "Godlike Polyphemus"
Book
1: The Suitors
Book
2: The Assembly
Book
6: Plot Situation (the fate of Odysseus)
Book
6: Plot Situation (the plot against Telemachus)
Book
6: Plot Situation (from Ogygia to Phaeacia)
Books
3 and 4: The Orestes-Story
Book
16: Plot Situation (Odysseus' Wanderings)
Book
16: Plot Situation (Three Threads Converge)
Book
18: Plot Situation (News of
Odysseus)
Book
19: Odysseus' Scar
Book
21: Plot Situation
Book
21: The Bow Contest
Book
23: Plot Situation
Book
23: The Penelope Tradition
Book
1: Theme and Plot
The theme of the Odyssey is
"the man of twists and turns," announced in the first line
of the poem. "Twists and turns" should be understood
figuratively (Odysseus' cleverness) as well as literally
(his various wanderings).
The plot of the Odyssey encompasses only a few weeks
in the last year of the ten-year period of Odysseus'
wanderings, and the week or so culminating in his
homecoming; in this respect it is like the Iliad, and
Aristotle admired the Odyssey too for this feature of
its structure. (See Aristotle, Poetics,
Chapter
8.)
Also like the Iliad, the Odyssey includes
prior events retrospectively. In the Odyssey,
however, these do not appear as part of the ongoing plot,
but as the stories Odysseus tells about his past.
Thus, in Books 9-12 Odysseus narrates the story of his
adventures since leaving Troy, including some that are
referred to in Book 1:
the devouring of the Cattle of the Sun (Book 1, line 9,
narrated in Book 12), for which all of Odysseus' companions
died;
the blinding of the Cyclops Polyphemus (Book 1, line 83;
narrated in Book 9), for which Odysseus incurred the wrath
of Poseidon (Book 1, lines 23-24).
But while the action of the Iliad is a more or less
straight shot from Book I to Book XXIV, the plot of the
Odyssey is more convoluted. It encompasses four
primary episodes:
Odysseus' sojourn with the nymph Calypso, daughter of the
Titan Atlas (Books 1, 5)
The adventures of Telemachus (Books 3, 4)
Odysseus' sojourn in Scheria, with the Phaeacians (Books
6-8, 13, including the narrative of his adventures in Books
9-12)
The action on Ithaca and Odysseus' homecoming (Books 1, 2,
13-24)
(Link here to a detailed
summary of the plot of the
Odyssey.)
In this course, we read most of those books having to do
with the situation on Ithaca and Odysseus' homecoming (Books
1, 2, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23) and with his sojourn on Phaeacia
(Books 6-8)--a little less than half of the
Odyssey.
Return to
Contents
Book
1: Aegisthus
In Book 1, line 34, Zeus remembers
"handsome Aegisthus," who was killed by Orestes. The story
is alluded to several times in the Odyssey, at
critical points in the development of the narrative, and it
forms the plot of Aeschylus' Oresteia.
In the Oresteia, Agamemnon was murdered upon his
return from the Trojan War by his wife Clytemnestra and her
lover Aegisthus, who was also Agamemnon's cousin and the
usurper of his throne. In retaliation, Orestes, Agamemnon's
son, killed both Aegisthus and his mother Clytemnestra.
Aegisthus and Agamemnon were related through a common
grandfather, Pelops, son of Tantalus
and father of Atreus and Thyestes.
(This link will take you to the story of the
origin of the curse on the house of
Atreus.)
Consider what Athena disguised as Mentes says to Telemachus
in Book 1, lines 342ff. about Orestes. What is the relevance
of the analogy to Telemachus' situation?
(You might wish to consult also the section below on the
Orestes-Story.)
Return to
Contents
Book
1: Clytemnestra
Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, and
Penelope were related through their fathers, who were
brothers. Tyndareus, Clytemnestra's father, was the brother
of Ikarius, Penelope's father. And in legends not mentioned
in the Odyssey, Tyndareus was also the mortal father of
Helen. You can see the relationship by consulting their
family
tree.
Why do you think the details of these relationships are
largely suppressed in the Odyssey?
Return to Contents
Book
1:"Godlike Polyphemus"
In Book 1, lines 81ff., Zeus explains
that Odysseus is kept from his homecoming because Poseidon
is angry on account of the Cyclops, Polyphemus, who is
Poseidon's son and whom Odysseus blinded. This famous story
is related in Book 9, which we do not read in this course.
It is worth perusing; or you might consult the
detailed
summary of Book 9 of the
Odyssey. You can see one
representation of this
episode on a vase in Perseus, which comes from the late
fifth century, and another on an earlier
vase. Neither of these shows
the more grisly details of the episode, but in
another
representation, the Cyclops
is holding the lower legs of a companion whose upper body
has already been devoured.
Return to Contents
Book
1: The Suitors
In Book 1, lines 285ff., Telemachus
explains his "other miseries" to Athena disguised as Mentes.
These are Penelope's suitors, who are laying waste to
Telemachus' house while courting his mother. Telemachus says
that they comprise "all the nobles who rule the islands
round about [Ithaca] and some from Ithaca
itself.
In Book 16 (one we don't read), when Odysseus has returned
and has revealed himself to Telemachus, the two of them make
plans to recover their household. At that point, Telemachus
spells out for Odysseus the number of suitors (108 plus 6
servants [124] and their islands.
Link here to this
passage and a map showing the relevant
islands.
Telemachus does not list the suitors by name, and in the
Odyssey only some of them are named. Link here to see
a list
of suitors given by the late
mythographer Apollodorus, who totals them out at 136.
Return to
Contents
Book
2: The Assembly
At the assembly on Ithaca, we meet a
variety of characters, some of whom are sympathetic to
Odysseus and Telemachus, and some of whom are not:
Aegyptius, who speaks first, has four sons: one of them,
Eurynomus, is a suitor who appears later in the poem;
another son had sailed away with Odysseus and was eaten by
the Cyclops; the other two sons work their father's
farm.
Antinous (page 96) has already appeared in Book 1 (page 90),
as has Eurymachus (page 99; page 90), and they are the two
chief suitors, who do most of the talking and formulate most
of the suitors' plans of action.
Halitherses (page 98) is a prophet who is sympathetic to
Odysseus and his house.
Mentor (page 100), like Halitherses, is sympathetic to
Odysseus and his house. On page 101 Leocritus, another
suitor, calls the two of them Telemachus's "father's
doddering friends since time began" (line 285).
Distinguish Mentor from Mentes, whose guise
Athena assumes in Book 1. (Athena also assumes the guise of
Mentor in Book 2, in order to serve as Telemachus's
companion and guide.)
Mentor is a man of Odysseus's age or older to whom the hero
"committed his household" (line 282) when he sailed for
Troy. Mentor is thus a character like the bard whom
Agamemnon had set to watch over Clytemnestra, as we find out
in Book 3 (pages 115-16, lines 288-310). Note that it was
only after Aegisthus had gotten the bard out of the way that
he was able to seduce Clytemnestra.
Return to Contents
Book
6: Plot Situation (the fate of Odysseus)
At the end of Book 2, Telemachus sets
out upon his voyage, and in Books 3 and 4 he follows the
itinerary
suggested to him by Athena:
"First go down to Pylos, question old King Nestor,
then cross over to Sparta, to red-haired Menelaus...." (page
86, lines 327-28).
Telemachus spends Book 3 at the palace of Nestor on Pylos,
and Book 4 with Menelaus and Helen in Sparta.
At Pylos, Telemachus can find out nothing about his father,
since, as Nestor explains:
"And so, dear boy, I made it home from Troy,
in total ignorance, knowing noting of their fates,
the ones who stayed behind." (page 113, lines 206-8)
At Sparta, Menelaus tells Telemachus that he heard about
Odysseus from the Old Man of the Sea, who reported:
"Laertes' son, who makes his home in Ithaca...
I saw him once on an island, weeping live warm tears
in the nymph Calypso's house--she holds him there by
force.
He has no way to voyage home to his own native land,
no trim ships in reach, no crew to ply the oars
and send him scudding over the sea's broad back." (page 142,
lines 623-30)
Return to Contents
Book
6: Plot Situation (the plot against Telemachus)
At the end of Book 4, when Telemachus
is still in Sparta, the scene of the narrative shifts back
to Ithaca (on page 144, line 698).
There, the suitors discover from Noomon (who had lent a ship
for Telemachus in Book 2 [page 105, lines 426-27]),
that, to their surprise, Telemachus actually undertook the
voyage he had envisioned.
At the suggestion of Antinous, the suitors form a plot to
ambush Telemachus on his way home (page 145, lines
741ff.)
At the close of Book 4, Penelope is told about the plot "to
cut Telemachus down with bronze swords / on his way home"
(page 146, lines 788-9).
Return to Contents
Book
6: Plot Situation (from Ogygia to Phaeacia)
In Book 5, the scene shifts back to
Calypso's island, Ogygia.
Athena extracts from Zeus permission to start Odysseus on
his way home, and Zeus sends the messenger-god Hermes to
Calypso, with instructions to help him depart.
Odysseus eventually sails off in a raft, and is buffetted by
storms aroused by Poseidon, who is on his way home from
visiting the Ethiopians (cf. Book 1, page 78, lines
25ff.).
At the end of Book 5, Odysseus reaches land
(Phaeacia);
he had completed the last part of the voyage by shedding his
clothes and swimming to shore. This explains why he is naked
when he is aroused from sleep by Nausicaa and her companions
in Book 6.
Return to Contents
Books
3 and 4: The Orestes-Story (Background for Book 16)
In Pylos, Nestor mentions Agamemnon's
fate and Orestes' revenge (page 113, lines 219-25), and this
leads Telemachus to ask for further details.
Athena in the guise of Mentor breaks into
the conversation and says that she would rather
"sail through years of trouble and labor home
and see that blessed day, than hurry home
to die at my own hearth like Agamemnon,
killed by Aegisthus' cunning--by his own wife." (page 115,
lines 264-67)
When Telemachus requests further details,
Nestor fills him in (pages 115-17, lines 289-352),
explaining that Clytemnestra resisted at first but
eventually gave in, and that when Orestes returned he killed
Aegisthus, and then held a funeral feast at which he buried
"his hated mother, craven Aegisthus too" (line
350).
Notice that the murder of Clytemnestra is
never specifically mentioned, only the fact that Orestes
buried her. What significance do you attach to this
omission?
In Book 4, when Telemachus is in Sparta,
he hears another version of the Orestes-story from Menelaus,
who reports what he heard from the old man of the sea.
Menelaus' account (pages 140-41; cf. page 143 top) includes
only the crimes of Aegisthus.
Return to
Contents
Book
16: Plot Situation (Odysseus' Wanderings)
When we last saw Odysseus, at the end
of Book 8, he had just been asked by King Alcinous to
identify himself. He does so at the beginning of Book 9
(page 212), and then launches into the tale of "the voyage
fraught with hardship / Zeus inflicted on me, homeward bound
from Troy..." (page 21, lines 43-44).
Below is a summary account of Odysseus' adventures, which is
repeated on a site showing a map
of the voyages. In the
ancient world, there were three main schools of thought
about the account of Odysseus' adventures in the
Odyssey; all are based on the notion that the earth
is a flat disk and that it is surrounded by water and floats
upon it. (This site shows the voyages
from the perspective of this notion of the earth's
geography.)
1. The geographer Eratosthenes (3rd century bce) thought the
voyages were entirely fictitious but that "Homer intended to
put the wanderings of Odysseus in the western regions"
(i.e., along the coasts and islands of the Ionian, Libyan,
Sicilian and Tyrrhenian Seas).
2. The geographer Crates (2nd century bce) thought the
voyages were located in the outer Ocean beyond the Straits
of Gibralter.
3. The geographer Strabo (late 1st century bce/early 1st
century ce) thought that the voyages were real, for, as he
said: "it is not Homer's way to present a mere recital of
marvels in no way related to reality." Strabo thought the
adventures were located in the western basin of the
Mediterranean, around South Italy and Sicily.
And although a number of modern scholars have attempted
reconstructions of the wanderings (and some have done so by
sailing the hypothetical route), Larry Gonick's
cartoon
version of the adventures may
be closer to the mark....
The Wanderings of Odysseus (numbers refer to
locations
on the map):
In Book 9, Odysseus begins the recitation of his voyages
(page 212), and explains that he was driven by the winds
first to Ismarus, the land of the Kikones (1), where he and
his men sacked the stronghold but were subsequently
attacked.
From there he sailed on, but ran into a storm as he rounded
Cape Malea and was driven past Cythera (2) for nine days
(page 214).
He reached the land of the Lotus-Eaters (3) on the tenth
day, where those men who ate the lotus lost "all memory of
the journey home" (page 214).
The rest of them sailed on to the land of the Cyclops (4),
where, although some men were eaten by the monster, Odysseus
and others escaped after blinding the Cyclops. The Cylops
prayed to his father Poseidon to be avenged upon Odysseus:
"grant that Odysseus...never reaches home. Or if he's fated
to see / his people once again and reach his well-built
house / and his own native country, let him come home late /
and come a broken man--all shipmates lost, / alone in a
stranger's ship-- / and let him find a world of pain at
home" (page 228). Poseidon grants the Cyclops' prayer, and
this is the origin of the curse upon Odysseus that we read
about in the poem's opening lines.
Next, Odysseus and his remaining crew reach the island of
Aeolus (5), where the hero is given a bag of winds to aid
him in his voyage home. His shipmates, however, suspicious
that he is carrying treasures, open the bag of winds just as
they are in sight of Ithaca, and are blown off course once
again (pages 231-32).
Next, they reach the land of the Laestrygonians (6), another
group of giants, who attack the men. More men are lost, and
the remnant sails on to reach the island of Aeaea, home of
Circe (7). The "bewitching queen" turns some of the men into
swine and other animals, but Odysseus, protected by a magic
herb that Hermes brings him, is immune to her spells.
Circe releases the companions from her spell and gives
Odysseus instructions on how to reach home. First, she tells
him, he must journey to the land of the dead, the Underworld
(page 246). In Book 11, the journey to the Kingdom of the
Dead (8) is undertaken, and Odysseus learns from the prophet
Tiresias the outlines of the rest of his voyage (pages
252-53).
Afterwards, Odysseus and his men return afterwards to
Circe's island (7; page 271), and receive from her further
instructions about the journey home. They start out, passing
first the island of the Sirens (9), where Odysseus, lashed
to the mast by his companions, is able to resist their
allure (page 277).
Then, they encounter Scylla and Charbydis (10), and six men
are lost to Scylla (pages 278-79).
They reach the island of the Sun (Thrinakia, 11), which they
had been instructed to avoid; but the men mutiny and
slaughter some of the cattle of the Sun-god (pages 282-83).
This seals their doom: the ships are hit by a storm sent by
Zeus (page 283); the remainder of the men are drowned: "the
god cut short their journey home forever" (page 284, line
452).
Odysseus himself is carried back to Scylla and Charybdis,
escapes, and is cast up on Ogygia, Calypso's island (13:
Sardinia or Malta?). This is where we find him when Book 1
of the Odyssey opens.
He leaves Calypso's island in Book 5 and lands on Scheria
(14), home of the Phaeacians, at the end of the
book.
Return to Contents
Book
16: Plot Situation (Three Threads Converge)
In Book 16, for the first time in the
narrative, the three principal plot lines of the
Odyssey converge:
The Adventures of Odysseus
The Adventures of Telemachus
The Action on Ithaca
The Adventures of Odysseus
Odysseus, whom we last saw at the end of Book 8 in the halls
of King Alcinous in Phaeacia, has now returned to Ithaca.
After narrating his adventures in Books 9-12, he was taken
home to Ithaca by the Phaeacians and left asleep on the
shores of his homeland at the beginning of Book 13. In Book
14, disguised as a wandering stranger, he makes his way to
the hut of his faithful swineherd Eumaeus and is received
hospitably.
The
Adventures of Telemachus
We last saw Telemachus at the end of Book 2, when he was
setting out on his own voyage to Pylos and Sparta. (See
above, Book
6: Plot Situation [The Fate of
Odysseus].) At the
beginning of Book 15, he is still in Sparta.
In the course of Book 15, Telemachus returns to Pylos and,
from there sets sail for home. (See the second part of
Telemachus' itinerary.)
At the end of Book 15, Telemachus lands safely on Ithaca
(page 335). He, too, makes his way first to Eumaeus' hut
(page 337), and reaches it just as Book 16 opens.
The Action on Ithaca
At the end of Book 4, the suitors contrive a plan to kill
Telemachus upon his return from his voyage. (See
above,
Book 6: Plot Situation [the plot against
Telemachus].) In the
course of Book 16, the suitors discover that Telemachus has
slipped past them, and embark upon a new plan to kill him
(pages 348-51, lines 357-452). Also in Book 16, Penelope,
who had heard about the plot to kill Telemachus at the end
of Book 4 (page 146, lines 788-9), now acts on this new
knowledge (pages 351-52 lines 453ff.)
Return to
Contents
Book
18: Plot Situation (News of Odysseus)
At the end of Book 16, Telemachus and
the disguised Odysseus are still in Eumaeus' hut.
At the beginning of Book 17, a new day dawns, and this day
is not brought to a close until the end of Book 19--an
important detail to keep in mind when you are considering
the implications of the events of Books 17, 18, and 19.
In the course of Book 17, Telemachus make his way back to
the palace and greets Penelope. When asked for news of
Odysseus, he reports to his mother (on pages 358-59) only
what he had learned in Books 3 and 4 (see above,
Book
6: Plot Situation [the fate of
Odysseus]).
The seer Theoclymenus, however, who had returned with
Telemachus on his voyage from Pylos, offers Penelope a
prophecy: "I swear Odysseus is on native soil, here and
now!" and substantiates his prophecy with reports of a
bird-sign (page 359, lines 161-76).
Later in the book, Eumaeus brings Odysseus, disguised as a
beggar, to the palace, and Odysseus endures insults and
violence at the hands of Antinous (pages 369-70).
Just afterwards, Penelope sends for Eumaeus and tells him to
bring the stranger to her so that she can question him about
Odysseus (page 371, lines 562-67).
Eumaeus warns Penelope that the stranger has seductive
stories to tell: specifically, that he had heard that
Odysseus was nearby, in Thesprotia, and that he was on his
way home. (Thesprotia
is located on the mainland just opposite Corfu, and not very
far from Ithaca.)
(This is the story that the disguised Odysseus had told
Eumaeus in Book 14, lines 173-91 [page 306], and
that he repeated with added details later, at Book 14, lines
357-77 [pages 311-12].)
Penelope renews her request for Eumaeus to bring the
stranger to see her, so that she can question him herself.
But Odysseus tells Eumaeus to tell Penelope to wait until
the suitors have retired for the evening (page 373, lines
634ff.)
Eumaeus does so, and then returns to his farm, as the
suitors turn to singing and dancing, and dusk begins to
fall.
At this point, Book 18 opens.
Return to
Contents
Book
19: Odysseus' Scar
As we learn in Book 19, Odysseus
acquired the scar which serves to identify him on a boar
hunt. The story of this adventure provides a rare glimpse
into the hero's childhood, and contains some interesting
features relating to Odysseus's lineage.
(See the diagram of this lineage on page 497, or
link
to it here.)
We learn that Odysseus was given his name when Autolycus,
his maternal grandfather, visited Ithaca. At that time,
Laertes must have been king and Anticleia, Odysseus' mother
and Autolycus' daughter, must have been queen.
Laertes, however, Odysseus' father and Autolycus'
son-in-law, is barely mentioned in the story. Instead, the
maternal side of Odysseus' lineage is featured, even though
Laertes was the son of Arcesius, and even though the royal
lineage of Ithaca descended from him (see Book 4, lines
151ff., page 148; Book 14, lines 209ff., page 307; Book 16,
lines 131ff., page 342).
Consider this prominence of Odysseus' maternal line in
relation to the response of Athena to Telemachus in Book 1,
when Telemachus doubts his own parentage (lines 249ff., page
84). Athena reassures him that "the gods have not marked out
your house / for such an unsung future, / not if Penelope
has borne a son like you."
The focus generally in the Odyssey--and especially in
Book 16--is on Telemachus as the son of Odysseus. But do you
think these passages suggest anything about the importance
also of a mother and her lineage to a son's character and
status?
Return to
Contents
Book
21: Plot Situation
The next day in the narrative does
not dawn until Book 20, line 102 (page 413), and it is the
day on which the bow-contest is set, the slaughter of the
suitors takes place, and the recognition between Penelope
and Odysseus occurs.
Nightfall does not occur until the end of Book 23 (page
466). The day of the bow-contest is thus almost as long in
narrative time (about 1700 lines) as the day preceding it
(about 1940 lines).
In the course of Book 20, several events occur:
The suitors stream back into the palace, and resume their
plot to kill Telemachus. Amphinomus, however, warns them
away from it, and encourages them instead to resume
feasting.
Strife breaks out between the suitors as Antinous insults
Odysseus once again, and the suitor Ctesippus throws an
oxhoof at him. Telemachus rebukes Ctesippus strongly.
Another suitor(Agelaus) seconds his words and asks
Telemachus once again to "sit with your mother, coax her /
to wed the best man here, the one who offers most, / so
you can have and hold your father's estate, / eating
and drinking here, your mind at peace / while mother plays
the wife in another's house" (page 421, lines 371-76).
Just at the end of the book, we find out that Penelope has
been sitting all the while just outside the doorway of the
great hall: "And all the while Icarius' daughter, wise
Penelope, / had placed her carved chair within earshot, at
the door, / so she cold catch each word they uttered in the
hall" (page 423, lines 431-33).
What do you think is the significance of this detail?
Penelope has never done this before in the narrative; why
does she do it now?
Return to
Contents
Book
21: The Bow Contest
A. In Book 21, Penelope
finally sets the bow-contest. How does it work?
In Book 19, she had described it to the stranger: "I mean to
announce a contest with those axes, / the ones he would
often line up here inside the hall, / twelve in a straight
unbroken row like blocks to shore a keel, / then stand well
back and whip an arrow through the lot" (page 408, lines
644-47).
But how does one shoot an arrow through axes? Scholars have
pondered the matter, and this is the most convincing
solution, which is also the one adopted by ancient
commentators:
The "axes" are actually axe-heads, stored with their wooden
helves removed. They are lined up on their sides, and the
arrow must pass through the hole or socket in which the
helve in normally fitted. The axe-heads can be fitted in the
ground, or placed in a trench. Follow this
link to see what this
arrangement might have looked like.
B. In Book 19, Penelope presents the idea of the
bow-contest as her own. At the beginning of Book 21, the
poet says that Athena inspired her to do it.
But in Book 24, when the shades of the dead suitors are
guided down to the Underworld by Hades, they encounter the
shade of Agamemnon. Agamemnon recognizes the suitor
Amphimedon, who was an old friend, and inquires how he met
his fate.
Amphimedon explains how the suitors were entrapped:
"[Odysseus] told his wife to set / the great bow and
the gleaming iron axes out / before the suitors--all of us
doomed now-- / to test our skill and bring the slaugher on"
(page 473, lines 184-87).
What do you think of this? Does Amphimedon know something we
don't? Or is he just drawing an inference about what must
have happened? If so, why do you think it didn't actually
happen this way in the Odyssey as we have it?
Return to
Contents
Book
23: Plot Situation
At the end of Book 22, Odysseus
successfully strings the bow and shoots an arrow through the
axes. Next, he shoots an arrow at Antinous and kills him.
The suitors are enraged, although they think that Odysseus'
shot was just a lucky one.
But Odysseus announces his presence and, refusing
Eurymachus' offer of recompense for "all we ate and drank
inside your halls," he shoots him with an arrow and kills
him.
The remainder of the book relates the slaughter of all the
suitors: Eumaeus the swineherd and the faithful cowherd
Philoetius fight alongside Telemachus and Eumaeus, and
Athena comes to help in the guise of Mentor.
At the end of the book, all of the suitors are dead,
although only thirteen killings are actually related in the
poem.
At the urging of Telemachus, Odysseus spares the bard
Phemius and the herald Medon. But of the fifty
serving-women, twelve--the ones who had slept with the
suitors--are killed by hanging after they are forced to
carry the suitors' bodies outside to the courtyard.
Finally, Melanthius the vicious goatherd is killed in a
particularly brutal manner (page 453, lines 500-504).
At the end of the book, Odysseus tells Eurycleia to bring
sulfur to purify the halls, and to bring Penelope down into
the hall. This sets the stage for Book 23.
Return to
Contents
Book
23: The Penelope Tradition
A debate over Penelope's faithfulness
to Odysseus begins in antiquity and was elaborated into a
subordinate tradition that competed with the "orthodox" view
of Penelope as faithful and chaste.
One of the ancient commentators on the
Odyssey, for example, said that Odysseus did not
reveal himself to Penelope before the slaughter of the
suitors because he suspected that she might have wanted to
save some of them. How does this compare with your reading
of the meaning of Penelope's dream in Book 19?
Both the poet Pindar in the late sixth or
early fifth century bce and the
fifth-century historian
Herodotus report that
Penelope and the god Hermes were the parents of the god Pan;
the
mythographer Apollodorus
agrees with Herodotus and adds some other details about
Penelope's amorous adventures; and Pausanias
reflects a variant on the tradition, reporting some details
from a poem called Thesprotis (8.12.5-6).
Servius (a 4th century ce commentator and grammarian)
summarized a tradition that was common in antiquity: "For
when he [Odysseus] returned home to Ithaca after his
wanderings, it is said that he found among his household
gods Pan, who was reported to have been born from Penelope
and all the suitors, as the name itself Pan [="all"]
seems to indicate; although others report that he was born
from Hermes, who transformed himself into a goat and slept
with Penelope. But after Odysseus saw the deformed child, it
is said that he fled [again] to his
wanderings."
The artistic tradition, however, is
virtually uniform in presenting Penelope as the faithful
wife. Link here to a page which shows you ten
examples of artistic
representations of the
Penelope tradition. Many of them, like the terracotta relief
on the Study Questions page, show divergences from the
details of the narrative in the Odyssey.
What do you think of the traditions reported
by Herodotus and the mythographers? Did they just make the
whole thing up, or is there any warrant for their
suppositions in the text?
Return to
Contents
Last updated 17 January 2000
|
