The Odyssey: Books 1-6
Episode 24
Travel back in time to ancient Greece with Professor Pipes as she starts a new series on Homer's the Odyssey!
Transcript
Introduction:
Hello and welcome to Piper’s Paraphrases! I’m Professor Pipes, and today I’m heading back in time… all the way to Ancient Greece! So get ready because we’re going on a major odyssey. Homer’s The Odyssey, to be precise.
Characters:
Ok, before we jump into characters, I just have to let you know that you might hear these pronounced differently because - guess what - I wasn’t alive when they were first used (surprise surprise). So if you’re a judgmental time traveler from ancient Greece, let me know. Otherwise, I’m going to do my best! And also, why time travel here? And now?
First up we have our main man Odysseus, king of Ithaca and a hero of the Trojan War. After leaving for the war, which lasted ten years, he ended up getting lost at sea and has been bouncing around from island to island for another 10 years. Dang. Heck of a crazy vacation. He’s strong and tough and super smart. Just not smart enough to invent Google Maps.
Next we have Odysseus’ son, Telemachus, and his wife, Penelope. His son was a baby when Odysseus left and is now 20 years old and super in need of his dad. His wife has been faithful to him, despite having to raise their son as a single mom for the past 20 years and being bombarded with suitors who are trying to harass her into marrying them.
Athena is the goddess of wisdom, and she is Odysseus’ biggest fan. In fact, she helps him a bunch on his journey home. She also kind of serves as a symbol for Odysseus’ best qualities, like his honor and wisdom.
Poseidon is the god of the sea, and because of some stuff that we’ll get to a little later on, he is NOT a fan of Odysseus. In fact, he kind of tries to kill him a bunch, or at least to make his journey home super hard. He also kind of serves as a symbol for Odysseus’ worst qualities, like his anger and wrath.
And… umm… I should probably mention Zeus, god of the sky and also king of the gods because, well, if I don’t, he might kill me with a lightning bolt…
There are also lots of monsters and villains, bunches of suitors who want to marry Penelope, and also crewmates, but we’ll get to them when we get to them.
Summary:
The Odyssey is separated into “books” which are basically just chapters, but sound a lot longer, and the first one starts with the narrator invoking a muse, to help him tell the tale of Odysseus, who still hasn’t returned from the Trojan war. Then we meet up with all the gods - except Poseidon - and Athena tells daddio Zeus that they should Odysseus out, and he agrees, even though Poseidon is still mad at him for blinding his son... Don’t worry guys, we’ll get there. Athena heads on down to Ithaca where Telemachus is all upset because a bunch of dudes are eating him out of house and home while they try to court his mom. Awkward! Athena takes the form of an old friend of Odysseus and he… well, SHE, tells Telemachus that she heard Odysseus is still alive. She also advises him to try to get rid of these suitors and also to visit Nestor and Menelaus, two other big names in the Trojan War, to see if they have any info about his dad. Then she heads on out and he heads home to see his mom, realizing that the mysterious person was probably a god... Anyways, Penelope is all upset that a bard is singing a sad song, and Telemachus kind of gives her a talking to and tells her to go do woman stuff because he’s the man of the house. Umm… rude! Then he talks to the suitors and tells them to get the Hades out of his house, but they turn it around and blame Penelope for them being there, claiming she’s just a big ol’ flirt who won’t just pick one of them already. Talk about victim blaming! They even say she should go back to her dad’s house so he can pick a new husband for her. The book ends with the suitors still partying and Telemachus planning to head out to see Nestor.
In Book 2, Telemachus calls an assembly and again rebukes the suitors, but, once again, they blame and insult Penelope. Telemachus warns them that Zeus will punish them for their bad behavior. Just then, they saw some eagles, and a prophet says they’re a sign that Odysseus would soon return! Buuuuuut they don’t listen. Well, except for the aptly named Mentor, who basically says Telemachus is right and everyone else sucks. Soooo once the group breaks up, Athena takes the form of Mentor and encourages Telemachus to go to Pylos and Sparta and says she’ll gather a good crew for him, which she does. So at the end of the book, they’re off at sea!
In Book 3, Athena, still in the form of Mentor, gives Telemachus advise about talking to King Nestor, and pretty soon they meet him in the midst of sacrificing a whole bunch of cattle to Poseidon when they arrive at Pylos. Dang. Talk about a big barbecue! After praying to Poseidon, they tell Nestor who they are and ask for info about Odysseus. Unfortunately, he hasn’t seen him since they parted ways at Troy, with Odysseus staying behind with Agamemnon. He also mentions that Agamemnon was killed when he returned home by his cheating wife’s lover, but that the lover was then killed by Agamemnon’s son, and he encourages Telemachus to make a name for himself by fighting the suitors and warns him not to stay away from home for too long. As they head to bed, Athena turns into an eagle, revealing that she was a goddess all along! Oooh! The next day, after a bunch of sacrifices and stuff, Telemachus and one of Nestor’s sons leave for Sparta on a chariot to visit Menelaus.
In Book 4 they meet up with Menelaus who totally name drops Odysseus before they even bring him up, mentioning how awesome he is and how sad his family must be. Spot on, man! Soon his wife Helen comes in and recognizes Telemachus because he looks just like his dad and then everyone talks about how awesome Odysseus is. Popular guy, I guess. Helen mentions how smart he was when he snuck into Troy during the war disguised as a beggar, and Menelaus talks about how smart and brave he was when they were all sneaking into Troy in the belly of the wooden Trojan Horse. Ever heard of it? The next day, Menalaus tells Telemachus that he had gotten stranded in Egypt for years on his journey back home, but he eventually captured an old immortal man who lived in the sea, you know, as one does. He gave them advice on how to get home and told them about what had gone on with some of his old military buddies, like Ajax, who died, and Agamemnon, who also died. But he mentioned that Odysseus is surprisingly still alive and is trapped on the island of Calypso, a goddess. Telemachus thanks him and gets ready to head home. Meanwhile, things are not looking good in Ithaca because the suitors are plotting. Antinous, the jerkiest jerk of the bunch comes up with a plan to kill Telemachus when he returns home. One of the servants hears the scheme and tells Penelope, who is now extra upset, but Athena comes to her in a dream in the form of her sister and assures her that Telemachus will make it home safely, but she won’t tell her is Odysseus is alive or dead. Dun dun DUNNN!
In Book 5, we drop by the gods again, and Athena is telling her dad to help Odysseus leave Calypso’s island. But Zeus is a big, important god with big, important stuff to do, so he sends Hermes. Hermes flies on down to Calypso’s island and tells her she’s gotta give up Odysseus. She basically says, dude, you gods are sexist jerks who take all the ladies you want but won’t let us goddesses imprison even a single man. You go girl! Well, actually not. You kind of still suck. She agrees to let him go and then we FINALLY meet the star of this epic: Odysseus! Only took 4 and a half books to get there. Calypso tells Odysseus that she’s going to let him leave, but also kind of tries to guilt trip him and says there’s no way Penelope can be as beautiful and generally amazing as she is. But, he leaves anyway. Unfortunately, while he’s riding along on his brand new raft, Poseidon sees him and is still super mad at him, so he stirs up a hurricane, which almost drowns Odysseus. Luckily for him, a nearby goddess and Athena rescued him, allowing him to swim to the land of the Phaecians, where he hid himself in some woods to sleep.
In today’s last book, some ladies once again come to the rescue. Specifically, Athena gets the local princess, Nah-see-KAH to go do some laundry in the woods, and she stumbles upon Odysseus, whom, I should mention, is actually naked, but don’t you DARE show that, Cooper. We’re kid friendly...ish… here on Piper’s Paraphrases! Anyways, Odysseus compliments the heck out of Nah-see-KAH, so she takes him on home.
Analysis:
Literature doesn’t exist in a bubble, so the themes, or lessons, of different stories are absolutely related to the life and society of the authors. In this case, that means ancient Greece! That’s part of what makes this story extra cool - we not only get a glimpse of what life was like in the really distant past, but we also get to see what virtues and morals were of importance to this group of people!
With that in mind, let’s jump on into Honor. Honor was a really important tenet of ancient Greek society, and we see it in a lot of places in these chapters, and it’s notably lacking in others. First, we see a lot of people honoring the gods. Nestor and his people are sacrificing giant groups of cattle, all to honor Poseidon. We also see Telemachus, Nestor, Menelaus, and Odysseus all pray to the gods, and their honor and respect are rewarded! Telemachus gets Athena on his side to help guide and protect him, Menelaus was given information on how to get home, and Odysseus got a whole heck of a lot of help from pretty much all the gods - except Poseidon, of course. However, Telemachus and a few others call the suitors out for their lack of respect. They have no honor for the king who ruled over them, whose wife they’re trying to steal, and no respect even for an omen from the gods. Do you think they’re going to be punished for this? Oh heck yeah!
Next, we have Xenia, or hospitality, and this one is probably a bit more foreign to us. I know what you’re thinking - but I’m nice to people! Well maybe so, but that ain’t got nothin’ on these folks. Nestor, Menelaus, and Nah-see-KAH all welcome and help their guests, and the first two even feed them, before they even ask for their names or any explanation of why they’re there. Didn’t their parents ever teach them not to talk to strangers??? Well, no, they didn’t, because it was super important to be kind to strangers, since you never know if one of them could be a god or goddess in disguise. After all, one of them was! Athena keeps on sneaking around hiding out in the form of a bunch of different dudes, so I guess they really were onto something.
Finally, I want to mention Faithfulness. I know that’s similar to honor, but we see it in a different way here. Specifically, we see that Odysseus and Penelope are each faithful to their spouse. I mean, sure, Odysseus “lays” with Calypso each night, but the story makes it clear that he is kind of forced into it, and he spends the whole day crying out of homesickness. And Penelope? She definitely is faithful to her husband, despite the fact that he’s been gone for twenty years! Oh, and boy is that chick smart about it, too! The suitors all get mad at her for how she cleverly tricked them into thinking she’d finally choose one of them to marry after making a burial shroud, but then she’s undo her work every night. For three years she did this, and the dummies never even figured it out until a servant tattled. So, basically, she’s gone to some pretty great lengths, and continues to deal with these obnoxious jerks every day, just so she can stay faithful to Odysseus. Best wife ever!
Food for Thought:
Before my epic ends for the day, I’d like to leave you with some food for thought.
First, why do you think Athena keeps disguising herself, even when Telemachus clearly knows he’s been talking with a god?
Second, why do you think the gods specifically say that Odysseus must make the journey on his own and cannot just be transported home by the gods?
Third, what are the gender dynamics between men and women in this story, and by gods and goddesses for that matter? What are the expectations of each gender, and do all the characters fit into those expectations?
Fourth, Antinous and Eurymachus are two of the most outspoken suitors. What do you think about them and their claims about Odysseus and Penelope? Are their words justified in any way?
Finally, what is the benefit of starting this story near the end of Odysseus’s absence, when he’s already lost all his companions but is about to make it home? Why not just start from when he left the Trojan War?
