Lecture 10 Flashcards
1
Q
Odyssey vs. The Iliad
A
- starts off with invocation of muses
- talks about specific gods (Zeus in the Iliad, Hyperion in the Odyssey)
- starts with negative note of description of death
- tells us exactly what will happen in the beginning
- starts toward the end of the war. (medias res)
2
Q
Beginning (Athena)
A
- Athena causes a storm because she’s angry that Ajax raped Cassandra in her temple and scatters all the Greeks and this is how Odysseus first gets lost
- when he gets back she’s no longer angry with him and she becomes his major supporter in getting him home
3
Q
Zeus on nostos
A
- gods aren’t responsible for all of mortals’ issues
- mortals cause their own issues
- story of Aegisthus who marries Agamemnon’s wife and then murders Agamemnon. Later Aegisthus is murdered. Shows homecomings aren’t always good and mortals bring their bad luck upon themselves
4
Q
Penelope in Ithica
A
- want to marry her off because that will give the suitors a step ahead in obtaining the kingship
- Telemachus (his son) resents the suitors trying to marry his mom
- they’re taking advantage of xenia
5
Q
Meeting Odysseus
A
- crying because he wants to go home but Calypso has trapped him and won’t let him leave
- trapped for 7 years
6
Q
Odysseus compared to common greek heroes
A
- crying (lots of heroes do this)
- conflict with female force common to Greek heroes
7
Q
Hermes and Calypso
A
- really wants to return home
- only allowed to leave when Hermes comes down to tell Calypso that she has to let Odysseus go
- She complains that any time a goddess has a human lover the gods take him away but it’s totally fine for the gods to have dozens
8
Q
Odysseus’ intro vs. Achilles
A
- Achilles is full of rage and whole story is about that while Odysseus is full of sorrow
- both poems involve angry god (Calypso and Apollo)
- both struggle with loss of something (Achilles with Chreseas and Odysseus with lack of free will to return home)
- Odysseus is very passive and Achilles is full force going head to head
9
Q
Nausicaa
A
- Odysseus meets her when he ends up on a new island after leaving Calypso’s
- she is washing her clothes in the river
- she invites him back to the palace but doesn’t say who he is
- blind bard sings of the fall of Troy and the Trojan horse (Odysseus’ plan) and this makes him cry and reveal who he is.
10
Q
Polyphemus
A
- Son of Poseidon, cyclops
- Odysseus and his men get trapped in his cave and he eats them
- comes up with a plan to escape
- told cyclops his name was Noman
11
Q
Odysseus’ plan
A
- get cyclops drunk and sleepy
- stab him in the eye
- hide on underbelly of sheep to escape the cave because he’s sitting by the entrance feeling around and letting his sheep out to pasture
- they escape and Odysseus taunts cyclops
12
Q
Odysseus’ taunts
A
- “Odysseus the marauder did it” and where he’s from
- lapes in judgment cause cyclops is Poseidon’s bb.
- gives into his pride to taunt
- Cyclops prays to poseidon asking that Odysseus never gets home but if he has to only after a very long time, on another ship, without any men, and that he arrives to troubles at home