Ancient Cultures notes.docx

Table of Contents {#table-of-contents.TOCHeading} ================= [Introduction to Graeco-Roman Eras 2](#introduction-to-graeco-roman-eras) [Oral and Literary Cultures 3](#oral-and-literary-cultures) [Homer: The Trojan War 4](#homer-the-trojan-war) [Themes of the Iliad 9](#themes-of-the-iliad)...

Table of Contents {#table-of-contents.TOCHeading} ================= [Introduction to Graeco-Roman Eras 2](#introduction-to-graeco-roman-eras) [Oral and Literary Cultures 3](#oral-and-literary-cultures) [Homer: The Trojan War 4](#homer-the-trojan-war) [Themes of the Iliad 9](#themes-of-the-iliad) [Direct Study: Book 22-24 11](#direct-study-book-22-24) [Book 22: The Story 12](#book-22-the-story) [Introduction to the Odyssey 13](#introduction-to-the-odyssey) [Women of Greece 14](#women-of-greece) [Nekyia: Book 11 (Book of the Dead) 17](#nekyia-book-11-book-of-the-dead) [The Return to Ithaca: Book 13-24 18](#the-return-to-ithaca-book-13-24) [Reunions: Book 16-20 19](#reunions-book-16-20) [Revenge and the Hero 20](#revenge-and-the-hero) [Important points of Reception: O Brother Where Art Thou 21](#important-points-of-reception-o-brother-where-art-thou) **[Introduction to Graeco-Roman Eras]** =================================================== **[Climate and Environment]** - Cities often built on hills around citadels - Isolated from one another, autonomous city states - War seasons in summer - Wine vineyards in Italy and Greece - Aegean Sea (from Greece to Asia Minor) - Asia Minor- everything to the east - Cycladic Islands and Crete - Peloponnesus: Olympia, Argos, Sparta - Athens, Thermopolis, Ithaca - Macedonia to the north (where the Olympus mountain is) **[Chronology:]** - **[Bronze Age: 3000-1100 BCE]** - Cycladic (Cycladic islands), Minoan (Crete) and Mycenaean (Mainland Greece) - Age of Heroes where Homer's epics are set - The Fall of Troy - Seafarers, architecturally proficient and artistic - Mycenaean oral epics - **[Dark Period: 1100-800 BCE]** - Homer lived and composed - Oral poetry and culture - Migrations, war, famine - Large scale stone structures disappeared, art and writing too - **[Archaic Period: 800-480 BCE]** - Rise of Sparta in Peloponnesus - Writing is reintroduced but Spartans were suspicious of writing - Sparta: strict constitution with warlike training from young ages - Rise of Polis city state - Expansion and colonisation - Persian Wars: Persia invaded Greece and the Grecian city states united and successfully pushed them back - Homers epics were compiled and edited- [Peisistratus] - A 'tyrant' who took power in Athens via a coup. He nurtured art, tech and building - **[Classical Period: 500-323 BCE]** - Rise of the Athens and the conflicts with Sparta as powers - Athenians had a strong, dominant navy in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas - Made other city states pay to a treasury for protection but did not let them leave once there was no threat - Persian wars continued - Cultural flourishing - Temples to Athena, the patron goddess of Athens - Homeric poems became important figures - Peloponnesian wars: Athenian Democracy vs peoples agendas - Pericles- demagogues - Ostracism brought in- exiled people who were voted out of Greece (democratically expelling 'dangerous' people) - **[Hellenistic Period: 330-30 BCE]** - Alexander the great and his conquests- defeat of Persia - Diadochi- rivals of Alexander who fought for power after his death - **Homers poems were re-edited**, commentaries made and studied under the Ptolemaic periods **[Oral and Literary Cultures]** -------------------------------------------- **Greek Words:** 1. *Mēnis:* unfathomable rage. Odysseus vs Achilles in execution. There are some limits to its acceptability (aka not despoiling the body). 2. *Kleos:* glory and honour of a hero. The heroes ultimate goal. To have *kleos* is to have a glorious death (not wanting to die of old age, would rather die in battle). 3. *Aristeia:* The story told by Odysseus to the Phaeacians of his wanderings. It essentially is another type scene to describe the heroes finest moments/achievements. 4. *Nekyia:* The book of the dead (In the Odyssey, this is the book where he visits the underworld). 5. *Oikos:* The household which includes the wife, the servants and the resources. It can be the management of the household, such as Penelope guarding it from the suitors pillaging 6. *Nostos:* A strenuous journey- the one taken by Odysseus in The Odyssey. 7. *Arete:* The excellence of a hero. It is the encapsulation of kleos, beauty, strength and respect that a hero must have to be considered excellent. 8. *Xenia*: Guest friendship. A type scene involving reciprocal gifts, basic necessities, respect and all of a temporary nature. Important to Greek world view. **[Homer: The Poet, The Myth]** - Blind oral poet- Mythologised with a river father and nymph mother - Wrote **didactic** poetry- the **correct moral behaviour** of man - Gods are erratic, spiteful and hard to please - Critiqued by Plato and Xenophanes due to the fact many characters are immoral - Poems are inconsistent, leading to question of his singular existence - From Ionia, off coast of western turkey - Athens, Argos, Chios, Salamis and Colophon also claimed him - Important figure: on coins, artwork - Apotheosis of Homer: deified him by Chronos (Time), Ilias (The Iliad), Odysseia (The Odyssey), Oikoumene (Living World) **[Iliad and Odyssey]** - Composite texts: compiled from poets performing at festivals - Written and rewritten over the centuries- different languages - Influence of the debate of homer as one poet/compiler - *Personal perspective***:** Dictation of authors to scribes: potential room for error or scribes putting their own twist (depending on level literacy of the authors) - Begins with an **invocation to the Muse**: gives the poem an authentic spirit of inspiration- Divine authority of the invocation enhances the stature of the poem - Began as sung oral epics - The poems were defined by their style and musical meter - Sung for a mass audience- aural reception - Poems were composed and performed at festivals - Authors would dictate to scribes rather than write themselves - Homeric question of whether Homer was a real singular man or a group of poets - Unclear whether the poems were fiction, myth or true stories. There are contradictions - Set before, during and after Trojan War: **ideas about fate, free will and responsibility** - **Myths** - Things delivered by word of mouth- speeches to an assembly or conversations - Tale, story or narrative that is usually untrue - Linked to religion to justify the system and its rituals - Polytheistic- many gods with a Pantheon - Theogony/Cosmogony- how the gods came to be - Consisted of gods and monsters, heroes and heroines (demigods) and humans - Belief system of Titans leading into Olympians **[Homer: The Trojan War]** ======================================= **[Writing:]** - 12 poems written but Odyssey and Iliad are only survivors - Epic cycle in 8^th^-6^th^ centuries - Roman poets like Virgil and Livy were obsessed with the story - A string of well-known Graeco-Roman legends and tales populated by Homer **Epithets and Similes** - Epithets used to characterise heroes, gods and groups - Also used to maintain oral poetry meter - Repetition helps relieve the strain of creativity - Evokes a tradition - Swift Footed Achilles - Apollo Who Strikes from Afar - Owl Eyed Athena - Noble, Godlike Odysseus - Similes are used to describe characters actions or events in a lyrical model. It helps to maintain the oral poetry meter - They are also used to heighten/elongate tension in battle scenes or to emphasise certain things - [Lyre Simile]: The suitors are in a feast of Apollo (god of Vengeance and music- the lyre as his identifier) when Odysseus massacres them - [Lion Simile]: Menelaus' duel with Paris has him being compared to a lion, illustrating his bravery, strength and the kind of warrior he is (compared to Paris- his cowardly victim) - [Wolves Simile]: Achilles and the Myrmidons preparing to go back and join the Trojan War, led by Patroklos. Their ravenous energy in the battle emphasises their strength and ferocity - [Sailor Simile]: Odysseus' crew having to battle the storms and set sail against Poseidon's dangerous waves. It communicates their strength and determination - [Ship Mast Simile]: to emphasise the size of the Cyclops club **Type Scenes** 1. Preparing for a journey 2. Giving and Receiving hospitality: ***Xenia*** 3. Heroes arming themselves- repeats with the same movement - Formulaic and a way for the poet to remember consistency - Sign posters for tension **Xenia Scene:** - The Host will receive the stranger/guest and provide food, water (sometimes clothing) and shelter, not asking about their whereabouts - The Stranger will provide respect and humility - The stranger is then asked about the outside world/their journey and expected to provide a story - Odysseus tells lying tales, but he is still providing a story to his hosts - Good *Xenia*: Phaeacians, Eumaios, Nestor, Menelaus - Bad *Xenia*: Polyphemus the Cyclops, The Suitors, technically Calypso (refuses to let Odysseus leave) **[Why: 'Historical' Reason of the war]** - War on sexual jealousy and anger - Paris 'stole' Helen of Sparta (Menelaos' wife) - Helen's suitors held an oath to protect her at all costs- united to retrieve her from Troy - Taking Helen was an insult to the Greeks, thereby destroying troy was considered justified - Agamemnon tried to negotiate but troy refused to return Helen, hence the start of the war **[Why: Mythical Reason of the war]** - On mount Olympus, Zeus and Poseidon wanted to be with Thetis - Prophecy of Thetis: her son would be greater than his father - She went on to marry Peleus and have Achilles. At the wedding, Eros- goddess of strife- wasn't invited, so she produced a golden apple 'for the fairest goddess' - Aphrodite, Hera and Athena tried to claim the apple - Zeus sent them to mount Ida, to have Paris choose the fairest goddess - Prophecy of Paris: Cassandra claimed he would be a problem for Troy so he was sent away, but rescued by herdsmen - He chose Aphrodite who offered to wed him to the most beautiful woman in exchange **[Who:]** - **Greeks** - Danaans, Argives, Myrmidon tribes = **Achaians** collectively - (Ancient Greeks were called Hellenes) - **Agammemon**: King of Mycenae, Commander in Chief - **Menelaos**: King of Sparta, Helen's husband - **Achilles**: Son of Peleus and Thetis, King of Myrmidons, Invincible warrior with an exposed heel. Origin in Phthia - **Patroklos**: Achilles' boyfriend - **Odysseus**: King of Ithaka, Laertes as his father - **Diomedes** - **Nestor and Ajax** - [Athena]: Lost Paris' Favor - [Hera]: Lost Paris' Favor - [Poseidon]: Troy's friend, but he was angry with Laomedon's lack of payment - [Hephaestus] and [Hermes] - [Thetis]: Achilles' mother - **Trojans** - Lykians and Dardanian tribes, indigenous Anatolians - **Priam**: Aging king of Troy - **Hektor**: Prince and leader of the trojan forces, highly respected - **Sarpedon**: son of Zeus - **Aineias** - **Paris** (Alexandros): Son of Priam, Took Helen - **Glaukos** - **Andromache**: Hectors wife - **Astyanax**: Hectors infant son - **Hekuba**: Priam's wife - **Helen technically:** debate over love for Paris vs yearning for Menelaus **Divine Supporters** - [Aphrodite]: Won Paris' Favor, gave him Helen - [Ares]: Aphrodite's lover - [Apollo]: Friend to troy - [Artemis]: sister of Apollo - [Scamander]: River of Troad, fights Hephaestus - [Leto]: Mother of Apollo and Artemis - **Helen of Troy** - Considered most beautiful woman, wife of Menelaos and originally from Sparta - Her suitors swore an oath to her father that regardless of who she marries, they must unite to protect her from harm - Paris abducts Helen, takes Menelaos' riches and goes back to troy - Helen: Unclear if she loved Paris vs was abducted - The abuse of Menelaos' hospitality by Paris resulted in the Greek outrage **[Process of Going to War]** - Agamemnon and Menelaus go to Ithaka to persuade Odysseus to join - Odysseus is reluctant, and the men put his son in front of a plough to blackmail him into going - Journey to Skyros to retrieve Achilles who is hiding as a daughter of Lycomedes - **[Achilles Prophecy]**: He will be the downfall of Troy, and he will die in battle - They gather at Aulis but they can't sail without any wind - **Agamemnon must sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to secure wind** - They trick her into thinking she is marrying Achilles and then sacrifice her (Artemis rescues her in one version) - Due to this action, **Clymnestra- Agamemnon's wife plots to murder him when he returns** **[War Itself: 10 years]** - Greeks struggle to advance until they send Patroclus to wear Achilles' armour to strike fear in the trojan forces - Patroclus vs Hector and Patroclus is killed - Achilles kills hector and disrespects his body - Achilles is shot by Paris with an arrow guided by Apollo - Troy falls when Odysseus comes up with the wooden trojan horse- Athena's help - City is sacked and Helen is retrieved - Menelaos wants to kill Helen but because of her beauty, he doesn't and takes her home **[The Duels:]** 1. **Paris vs Menelaus** - The stakes: the winner will take Helen and her possessions and leave. The Achaians and Trojans will cease fighting and be friendly - Greeks are highly ritualistic- perform sacrifice before the duel - **Orthopractic**- they are more interested in ritual than the belief system - The separate sides take lots to see who will throw their spear first between the two - The duelling is stylised - Paris has to borrow armour- shame as a warrior, he has no armour of his own - Menelaus was going to win but his sword breaks, the helmet he was choking Paris with breaks and Aphrodite ultimately takes Paris away and leaves him in his bedchamber, sending Helen to tend to him - The duel is off and the fighting continues - [Paris:] - Weak, cowardly, panicking at the sight of Menelaus - He wants to evade the fate of death, yet he is the cause of the Trojan war - Hector, his older brother, harshly scolds him, telling him that he is not heroic and a shame on the Trojans - His beauty is the only thing he has, he is a hero only for physical beauty - Seducer of women and a shameful fighter despite being a good archer - [Menelaus ] - Lion simile: Brave, strong and a physical warrior - Grieved and insulted- meaning extreme anger - He should have secured victory but Aphrodite's intervention prevents Paris' death and thus the end of the War 2. **Patroclus vs Hector** - Achilles has withdrawn from battle so Patroclus goes to convince him to let the Myrmidons fight - He will wear Achilles' armour to make the trojans afraid in the name of Achilles - **Extended simile** of a crying child: Patroclus creates pathos and mockery from Achilles - Achilles' instructions: Patroclus will win Achilles glory, bring him back Briseis and other loot and go back to Achilles, leaving Hector to be killed by Achilles - Achilles and Patroclus' love and companionship balances the violence and death - Patroclus gets an arming scene - **The simile of wolves** for the Myrmidons while Achilles rallies them to battle - Sarpedon- son of Zeus- is killed by Patroclus and the Trojans grieve while Apollo takes Sarpedon's body away before it can be despoiled so he may instead get the proper funeral rites - Patroclus then ignores Achilles' instructions and advances on troy - Apollo keeps Patroclus from getting into Troy - Apollo and Zeus destabilise Patroclus, instil courage in Hector and allow for Hector to kill Patroclus after mocking him with Achilles' love - Patroclus' death sparks the start of the end for Hector and the Trojans **[Themes of the Iliad]** =========================================================== 1. Anger and conflicts 2. Beauty and sexual jealousy 3. Heroism and Honour - Timocratic society: theft of prestige item is an insult, breaking hospitality customs launch war and retaliation 1. **Anger: a Justification for War** - Apollo, Achilles, Agamemnon and Menelaus - Achilles anger creates Greek devastation - Divine machinery: fate of the heroes - Gods themselves are spiteful and advance their own agendas - **Agamemnon vs Achilles** - Achilles and Agamemnon had concubines as spoils of war - [Achilles: Briseis ] - [Agamemnon: Chryseis], daughter of Chryses- a priest of Apollo - Agamemnon refuses to return the girl out of pride despite Chryses offering other gifts in exchange - The Priest makes a prayer to Apollo who sends pestilence to the Greeks - Agamemnon will take Achilles' concubine in exchange for sending Chryseis home to save the Greeks from pestilence - Achilles' honour is damaged and so he pulls out from the war 2. **Beauty of Helen** - Helen's beauty causes the anger of the men - Briseis, Chryseis and Helen are prominent women of the Iliad - Briseis And Chryseis are war prizes for Achilles and Agamemnon, the subject of their fight - Ultimately culminated in Patroklos (Patroclus) going into battle and being killed, then Achilles killing and dishonouring Hector - **Women** - Items to be exchanged- prizes - Signs of reputation for men to acquire women: if a hero loses his war prize, it's a loss of reputation and honour- thus anger and retaliation - **prestige items of property** - Veiled in public: must be chaperoned, modest - Secluded, weaving on her own- no contributions to society - Speech is dictated by men, used for child care, birth boys as a priority - **Androcentric** society- male society - **An ideal wife: Penelope** (faithful, a waiter, weaves, a bit of cunning and intelligence, Loyal) - **A Faithless wife: Clytemnestra** (kills Agamemnon with her lover, avenges her daughter that he sacrificed- Iphigenia) - **A Whorish woman: Helen** (leaves Sparta with Paris, starts the Trojan War, betrayer and disloyal) - **Helen and her Reception** - Trophy wife of Menelaus, daughter of Zeus, prize for Paris - No agency, she is hated by Greeks and Trojans for the devastation of men - Beauty is considered dangerous- an ability to manipulate man - Helens beauty is the ideal form for men and women - ***Book Three*** - Appears at the Scaean Gates of Troy- veiled- to watch Paris and Menelaus duel for her life and possessions - Iris approaches her and instils regret and longing for her home in Sparta - Helen gives Priam information on the Greek heroes- showing her intelligence and observation - Everyone in Troy hates her for the loss of their men - Priam shows her kindness, blaming the fate of the gods instead of her - She is glorious among women yet nobody trusts her - She feels shame for leaving her daughter and her homeland, yet this is the work of a goddess influencing her emotions - In the Odyssey, she is 'reformed' and continues to feel the shame - Helen respects Priam 3. **Heroes and Honour** - Homeric hero are religious figures, worshipped in cults - Have sanctuaries and votives of them - Transactional religion: prayers/sacrifice in exchange for fulfilment - Heroes have characterising features: Lion helmet, a club etc - Nudity in artwork is a sign of excellence - Heroes pride honour, glory and a glorified death over life itself - **Status Warriors: honour and fame (**Kleos**)** - In the Iliad, they are desiring to be excellent, pre-eminent and highly competitive, individual gain - **Traits of a good Hero** 1. Physical beauty 2. Strength 3. Killing 4. The first to kill 5. The most men killed - **Odysseus vs Achilles- TEST NB** - [Odysseus] is rational, long suffering, quick witted and intelligent. Justifiable anger by removing threaten to family, level of self-control. Exceptionally beautiful. - [Achilles] is unreasonable. His suffering is self-inflicted, causes death of heroes. Out of mind with anger, mutilation of corpse and refusal to return body. Exceptionally beautiful - **Themes of anger** unite the two heroes- righteous and ferocious fury- only one hero rises above his fury (Mēnis) and that is not Odysseus (Achilles returns the body to Priam but Odysseus slaughters the suitors without mercy) - Both share a deep love for the people they care for: Odysseus fights for Penelope, Achilles goes against the Greek world view in his grief for Patroklos **[Direct Study: Book 22-24]** ================================================================ **[Aristeia]** - Best, most excellent - Extended type scene of exceptional valour and excellence, describing a warrior in pursuit of glory in battle - Diomedes, Agamemnon, hector, Patroklos and Achilles all have a scene - Patroklos: Arming scene- initial one on one combat- killing streak successes- setback- divine intervention (Apollo intervenes)- return to battle- wounding and death of the warrior (Patroklos) (can also be the other combatant)- boastful speeches- dying speeches- fight over the body **Perception of death and afterlife** - Choice of Achilles- book 9: - Either go and die in battle with glory vs if he leaves, death of his glory/pride in cowardice but his death will be long and torturous- he will become insignificant - No Journey home, glory never dies - Pride, glory dies if you don't go to battle - **Sarpedon to Glaucus** - Death is inevitable - If ageless and immortal- maybe we wouldn't fight this hard - No mortal can escape a death even if there are many fates of death - Rather fight gloriously and have a legacy than die old and unknown **Homeric world view- book 24** - Life is difficult - Zeus allots difficult life and happiness- one jar Zeus can put a mixture of good and bad and in the other, just put bad, but no option for just happiness - What is Hades? - It is an endless, shadowy place - An eternity in soulless place - Death is dark, gloomy, swampy- shadows of the former selves - Elysian fields: no promise of getting there - **Goal of hero** - Because afterlife sucks, should have glory in legacy - A way of living on as your eternal self - Glorious immortality in fame - War gives men glory - If one hero has more honour, the other has less - Honour and reputation is what all heroes want - Status - ***Arete***- excellence - Competitive spirit - Zero sum equation- gain for one side is a loss for the other side, nobody can be equal heroes **[Book 22: The Story]** ------------------------------------ - Achilles has returned because Patroclus has been killed by Hector - Kills Hector and desecrates his body - His *Aristeia* starts a few books prior- elongated - **Hectors soliloquy** - Hector has moment of doubt before facing Achilles - heroism vs shame - Conflict between interests of the group and individual desires - **Motif of mourning** - Priam and Hekabe: hectors parents on his death - Beating head- mourning motif - Mourning even before the death- death is imminent - **Chase around the walls of Troy** - Achilles is chasing Hector, boasting and showing his heroic status - Zeus and Athena discuss hectors fate - Apollo supports saving Hector - Zeus says they aren't supposed to intervene even though Zeus wants to save Hector - Fate vs gods: even Zeus is wavering on saving Hector despite fate - **Pyschostasia:** - Weighing up the death days of heroes- Zeus - Divine intervention of Zeus to decide hectors fated death day - **Process** - Apollo keeps Hector running fast - Eventually, Apollo leaves him and Athena tricks him to meet Achilles **What is the role of deception?** - Perfectly normal in war- an acceptable practice to the Greeks if for good reason - Not always morally wrong - **Achilles vs Hector battle/chase** - Heroic fame and reputation - Physical strength - Bravery- stand the ground vs running away (Hector eventually faces Achilles) - Achilles fastens the body to his chariot and drags Hector's corpse at the walls of Troy - **Despoiling of the Body (Achilles and Hector)** - Ultimate insult- not acceptable in the Greek sense - Contrasting view: Enhances honour of the winner by diminishing their beauty and glorious death is prevented - If they don't return the mutilated body- the important burial rites cannot occur (extreme insult) **[Introduction to the Odyssey]** ==================================================================== **Xenia** **type scene**: - exchange of gifts, permanent and reciprocal - *Xenia*: guest-friendship **The Hero: Odysseus** - His fame gained through wealth, dining, horses, armour, weapons - Through acts of conspicuous consumption- stuff displayed - Fabric as status- looms and weaving women - Odysseus concerned about not coming back with his loot from troy - Conspicuous destruction- sack of troy for the sake of one prize - Kills mother- Antekleia- with her heartbreak at 'lack of homecoming' **Iliad to Odyssey** - Death of Achilles by Paris, aided by Apollo - The Trojan Horse- sacking of troy - Ilioupersis- destruction of troy - The Little Iliad also talk of it - **Menelaos** gets Helen back and doesn't kill her - Nostoi- Menelaus and Helen get back, stopping in Egypt - **Agamemnon** gets to Mycenae but is murdered by Clytemnestra and Aegisthos- adultery and murder - **Orestes**, son of Agamemnon kills his mother and her lover- he takes revenge but gets pursued by Furies (parallel to Odysseus- the potential ending when he gets home to Penelope) **Scope** - First half is Telemachos and Odysseus' wanderings - Second half occurs in Ithaca - The wanderings are told by Odysseus while he is on his way home - Iconography: woolly beard, short cloak, traveller vibes - Men wore the skirts/tunics **Heroism of Odysseus** - Antihero in deception - Selfish, mean, disguises and deceit - Prisoner in some areas- Calypso's island **Structure is Hellenistic** - 24 books - Shorter than Iliad - Book 1-12: things happened while Odysseus was away, and his returning to Ithaca - Book 13-24: things happening when he is in Ithaca **Council of the Gods** - **Athena is on Odysseus' side**, plays a role in getting him home: patron deity - **Poseidon is angry** from the Cyclops- Polyphemus is Poseidon's son - Polyphemus is a shepherd- he has his sheep, kind to his sheep - Fate dictates he will get home but Poseidon will just make it suck - **Story of Aigisthos** is mentioned by Zeus- lover of Clytemnestra - Gods decide to send **Hermes to tell Calypso to let him go** - **Athena** will go and stir up **Telemachus, send him to Pylos and Sparta** - *Clytemnestra* - Foreshadows the suitors being murdered - How Telemachus doesn't do anything in the beginning but inspired by Orestes **[Early Books: Story Points]** - **Suitors** are uncivil, greedy, arrogant and disrespectful: deserve punishment - Penelope- sad, modest, faithful wife - Assembly, Penelope's trick of the weaving web - **Telemachus can't control the assembly**, he's young and inexperienced and emotional, unfamed - **Pylos**: to visit Nestor, stark Greek hero of troy - ***Xenia***- guest friendships, binds society, prevents conflict, hospitality - **Menelaus and Helen**- hosting a wedding - Helen- reformed, happy to be there, talks about troy - Telemachus is being educated on his journey, exposure to Greek values and stories of Odysseus - Now understands the chaos of home, returns with new sense of purpose - He wants to build a patrilineal bond to get to know Odysseus, setting up reunion - **Athena appears to Telemachus as Mentes**- gods tend to disguise themselves - Chaos, but Telemachus sees Mentes and gives him hospitality **[Women of Greece]** ======================================================== [Portrayed: Opposites: ] - Defined according to - Modesty vs sexual predator - Civilised values vs lack hospitality - Protection of oikos (household) vs disloyal - Beauty vs ugliness - Helpfulness vs Barrier to progress of hero - **Human = male** - **Fantasy** and male fantasy of **danger and dangerous pleasures** = female **[Types]** 1. **Loyal, virtuous to household** - Practice *xenia* - Modesty- accompanied, veiled, reserved - Helen to an extent and Penelope 2. **Supernatural femme fatale** - Sexuality as a danger - Calypso, Circe, sirens, Helen to an extent - Supernatural magic and sorcery 3. **Monsters** - Large, ugly and terrifying - Appetite for humans - Scylla and Charybdis 4. **Ambiguous** - Helen: virtuous but dangerous **[Function of Females]** - **Define Odysseus distinctive identity**, evaluate his authority as a narrator - Constitute his identity and authority - Challenge readers to view Odysseus 1. **Calypso:** made to sleep with her but he does enjoy some of it- duality - Longing for Penelope - Calypso keeps him concealed- he wants heroism of a nostos instead of ambiguity of Calypso's husband - Choice to receive glory rather than return to a place with no glory 2. **Penelope:** as protector of the oikos/household- supervise servants, weaving shroud for Laertes. - Refuses to marry, keeps the suitors from growing angry vs marrying her - Uses the female activity to preserve household and deceive suitors\\ - The ideal: give birth to male child, weave, supervise, protect household **[Reality: ]** - more negative perception of what women actually were - Women were **deficient men** biologically - weaving- cloth is important because it demonstrates household productivity, valuable shows wealth, women's true nature- trying to contain it through activity of weaving - **Women's true nature (Aristotle)** - women more compassionate and emotional, more argumentative, subject to depression and despair- males are more ready to help because they are braver - naturally weak - degenerate and corruptible - fight against own nature in order to behave well - erratic and unpredictable **[Two Origins of Women ]** 1. **[Divinely Created Nature]** - pandoras origin story - evil for men created by Zeus because Prometheus stole fire - pandora created as a version of eve - women as a beautiful evil 2. **[Women's Biological Nature]** - Women's bodies are in opposition to male bodies - Cold and wet and spongy vs men's dry and dense and warm - Inferior to male body - Women's bodies are pathological, need a cure - Must be pregnant to be perfect body - **Hysteria- womb disease** - Wandering womb : erratic, womb is an animal within an animal, nobody knows where it is, it can apparently move - hysteria cures- fragrant smells, aversion to bad smells - beautiful, intelligent, run house, well born, fertile, virtuous, passive, modest, submissive, silent **[Nekyia: Book 11 (Book of the Dead)]** ==================================================== **[Death, Life and the Supernatural]** - Necromancy: speaking to the dead for prophecy/information - Orthopraxy: focus on the ritual not the belief system - Polytheistic - Generational gods: Titans under Kronos Olympians under Zeus - Festivals could be redone if the ritual goes wrong - Women are responsible for religious practice and avoidance of miasma - **Festivals** - 120 per year - **Panathena**: Athena - **Dionysia**: Theatre, Dionysus - **Adonia**: women only for Adonis and Aphrodite - **Thesmophoria**: Demeter and Persephone - **Amphidromia**: private at-home festival to name a 10 day old child - Outside temples culminating in a sacrifice - Temple: the house of the god, storehouse and cult statue, occasional state treasury **Ritual Practice** - Animal sacrifices - Libations and drink offerings - Votives - Oracles: Delphi for prophecies - Divination to read signs and omens - Augury: Flight of birds - Extipicy: animal entrails - Necromancy - Different practices for the gods above and underworld gods - [Olympian Sky Gods] - Sacrificed animals in sunlight on an alter - Pointed the throat up, burning bones and the thigh, fat for the god and ate meat themselves - Music, good spirits and festivities - Libations- pour portion out to the god and drank the rest - [Chthonic Gods: Underworld] - Dark coloured animals sacrificed by night over hearth/pit - Consumed by god, worshipers taste nothing - No liquid offerings- liquid poured in entirety - Drinks: wine, honey, milk, oil, barley - Statues offered - Sacred deposits: buried the offerings **[The Return to Ithaca: Book 13-24]** ========================================================================= - Book 13: Athena and Odysseus plan the downfall of the suitors and hide the loot from the Phaeacians - Book 13-16: before the palace - Book 17-20: inside the palace, leading up to confrontation - Book 21-22: revenge - Book 23-24: reunion and aftermath **Core Themes and Values** - Disguise, identity and recognition - Odysseus is disguised as an ugly, decrepit old man to reduce his heroic beauty - He is recognised by the handmaiden Eurykleia who sees his scar - Penelope and Odysseus talk while she does not know who he is - Deceit and truth: The Lying Tales - Athena lies to Odysseus, he lies to her right back - Odysseus lies to Eumaios about his origins - Odysseus lies to the suitors - Reunions - Odysseus and Eumaios - Odysseus and Telemachus - Odysseus and Penelope- one unrecognised, one recognised - Revenge and tribute - A just measure against the suitors who violate Xenia **Book 13 Story:** - Phaeacians- sea faring peoples- give Odysseus safe passage - Provide him with gifts to take home - Poseidon and Zeus: Poseidon turns the Phaeacians ship to stone as punishment for their kindness to Odysseus - **Conflicting values of Xenia** - Odysseus doesn't know he is on Ithaca until Athena appears to help him hide the loot and plot revenge - Acts of conspicuous consumption- hide the loot from thieves **Eumaios** - A slave from the slave trade - Swine herd with deep loyalty to Odysseus - Reliable, loyal and practices Xenia - **Slavery in Greece** - Natural- Aristotle - Property, lack rights, could be emancipated and rise socially - Acquired through debt, slave trade (piracy), prisoners of war, birth - Household, nursemaids, farmers, prostitution or personal/state slaves **[Reunions: Book 16-20]** ------------------------------------------------------------- - All orchestrated by Athena 1. **Eumaios and Odysseus** - Xenia to Odysseus disguised as a beggar 2. **Telemachus and Eumaios** - Father-son idealised relationship - Foreshadowing Odysseus' return - Tender and heartfelt 3. **Telemachus and Odysseus** - Pathos, heartwarming 4. **Odysseus and Argos the Dog** - Dog treated ill by the suitors - Dies on a dung pile from neglect - Odysseus is unable to approach his beloved dog - Extreme pathos - Odysseus receives similar bad treatment from the suitors: Footstool thrown at him, fights beggar Iros 5. **Odysseus and Eurykleia** - She cleans his feet in an act of Xenia - Recognises him by a scar on his foot from a boar hunt incident in his youth - He warns her to not reveal him 6. **Odysseus and Penelope** - She doesn't recognise him but asks about who he is - He tells her not to enquire about these things but tells her Odysseus will be home soon **Penelope's Role** - Chastises the suitors for bad behaviour - Odysseus recognises that she is loyal and like-minded (homophyrosyne) - He compares her to a noble chief: has managed to keep the kingdom from falling to ruin but not in the way a male king would - She could stop change but not run or initiate city growth - Uses weapons of the mind- cunning and tricks to stall suitors - Women are still valued in society even if they aren't typical Homeric heroes - Penelope's cunning: Ways to avoid/exploit the suitors - Weaving of the funerary shroud - When Telemachus grows a beard, she can finally take a suitor - Asked suitors to bring gifts- replenish wealth they have plundered - The suitor who successfully strings and shoots Odysseus' special bow will be the husband **[Revenge and the Hero]** ====================================== **Shooting of the bow: Book 21** - As a beggar- Odysseus strings the difficult magical bow and shoot through handles of the axes- he claims back Penelope - Telemachus and Odysseus massacre of the suitors afterward - The bow- special- difficult to string the bow (Composite bow) - Similar to spear of Achilles- it is personal (huge and difficult to use) - Weapon specific to the hero **Supplication** - Approach of suppliant to an individual or place - Distinctive gesture- grabbing of knees - Verbal request and response of *supplicandus* (the individual) to accept or reject the request - **Unfaithful maids** : members of the household and required to be faithful to Penelope and Odysseus - Basic social and economic unit of the *polis*/house - *Kyrios*/Master over: wife, children, slaves and animals/property - Women are the **chastity** of the household - Behaviour of females in household- affect the honour of their superiors. Sexual fidelity is - required to maintain social order- disregard requires male head to take action and restore honour - **[Revenge is just- conspicuous Justice]** - Expected justifiable anger- how far does one take it: the boundaries of justice - What stops society from lawlessness - Agamemnon's death vs Achilles death (Agamemnon- revenge of Clytemnestra for him sacrificing their daughter vs Achilles who dies from disrespecting Hector's body) **Odysseus and Penelope Final Reunion** - he's been made to look like a god - Penelope tests him by asking Eurycleia to bring the bed out (it is immovable and he should know this- meaning he is the real Odysseus and not a mind trick) - Odysseus and Laertes reunion after this **[Resolution:]** - Relatives of the suitors fetch their dead to mourn them and plan revenge against Odysseus but Athena stops them - Gods arrange peace **[Important points of Reception: O Brother Where Art Thou]** ========================================================================= **Overview:** - Vaguely takes inspiration from the Wanderings of Odysseus but does not necessarily follow it closely - Intertextuality: it sets up a relation between the ancient text and the modern perspective - Uses references, allusions, parody and takes influence from the text - Set in 1937, Deep South of USA with 3 convicts escaping a chain gang (jail) and going on a fake quest for treasure (in reality, Ulysses- main character- is seeking to get back to his wife Penny) - Main characters: Ulysses Everett (Odysseus), Pete and Delmar (The Crew) - The movie begins with the same invocation to the muse that the text does - It takes influences from The Odyssey, Ulysses (The Latin Version) and Huckleberry Finn - Also USA 1930s politics, American Folk History and Music - [Structure:] - Episodic Vignettes stitched together to create a whole - Entertaining subplots along the way - Rifts of continuity between episodes - [Themes:] 1. Journey rife with difficulties and adventure (Wanderings of men) - Constant sorrow: linked to the song they sing at the end of the film 2. Identity and disguise alongside Transformations (Ulysses disguises himself as an old man when he sings) - Physicality: the attention to beauty (Ulysses' hair) - Pursuit of the Law (Pursuit of Poseidon's wrath) 3. Music and song: the boys singing (Ulysses becomes the bard), the maidens at the water (sirens/Nausicaa of the Phaeacians) - [Penny: Penelope in The Odyssey] - She is to marry a new 'suitor' and Ulysses is adventuring to stop this - Has The Wharvey Girls' who are their daughters that sing for the town- a form of Odysseus' Household - Tests Ulysses with the ring (Penelope tests Odysseus with the bed) - [Ulysses Everett: Odysseus] - Intelligent and quick witted - Smooth talking charmer - He has a special interest in his hair (Dapper Dan Product) which links to Homer's attention to the beauty of the hero - He's a brilliant liar and tells many during the journey, starting with telling his friends they are seeking treasure **Episodes** 1. [The Baptists] (Lotus Eaters- looking for pleasure, religion as opium of the masses, salvation) 2. [Women by the river] (sirens, Nausicaa and Circe- washing as domestic 'women's place,' sexually threatening and turn Pete into a horny toad) 3. [Big Dan Teague] (Polyphemus- conman, no hospitality, blinded by the KKK Cross) 4. Blind rail worker (Tiresias tells the future- they will travel and find a different form of treasure- friendship) 5. [Pete in the Movie House] (The Underworld- a warning to the travellers) 6. [Tommy]: black man 'sold his soul at the crossroads' which links to the Underworld 7. [George Nelson killer of Livestock/murder]: (Cattle of Hyperion)