In hindsight I could have read the Odyssey after the Iliad since it chronologically takes place following the events of the latter by some 10 years. Regardless, the two tales, although different in scope, plot, and style, are threaded together through references and allusions to the Iliad’s Trojan War events, scattered throughout the Odyssey tale.  In both tales, the world they exist in feels roughly equivalent - at least in tonal disposition.  And in both, we are transported to the ancient lands of what is now modern day Greece and Turkey, where gods and humans engage in alliances, deceptions, disputes, and affairs, (carnal and platonic).  This world is not a fair one, in the normal sense we expect today, (maybe in part since what we expect now has evolved over time, and includes our modern day indoctrination into the western legal traditions, and metaphysical social substrates, many of which come from the Judeo-Christian tradition), but rather a world of divine fate, wherein the best people can do is adhere to some kind of inherent honor code and humility practiced in the eyes of the gods, in order to balance out the excessive egoism and hubris which ultimately lead to the downfall of peoples and societies.  But even this underlying code is not always enough when gods often choose favorites and mortal futures at a whim - whatever their inclination and whenever their mood may stray.          

 

We begin our adventure in Odysseus’s homeland of Ithaca where his loyal wife Penelope is involuntarily hosting suitors intent on winning her heart and marrying into property and title.  Odysseus's son Telemachus is persuaded by the goddess Athena to leave his mother Penelope and seek out information regarding his father’s fate, following the closure of the Trojan War.  Telemachus sails to Sparta and meets Nestor and the king of Sparta, Menelaus.  By now, the Trojan War is over by many years, and Menelaus has returned to Sparta with his wife Helen - the same woman abducted by Paris, an event that years earlier triggered the Trojan War.  Here, we learn of the fates of two famed heroes from the Iliad.  Locrian Ajax (brother of Telamonian Ajax), has since drowned by the hand of the god Poseidon.   Poseidon, upon hearing the taunts of Ajax “In the teeth of the gods….I have escaped the ocean’s sheer abyss", takes action against him in typical angry ocean-god fashion, “Poseidon heard that frantic vaunt and struck the Gyraean headland, hacked the rock in two, and the giant stump stood fast but the jagged spur where Ajax perched at first, the raving madman - toppling into the sea, it plunged him down, down in the vast, seething depths.  And so he died, having drunk his fill of brine.”  We learn of Agamemnon's fate as well - one of premeditated deception and treachery by his own men in his own hall wherein he’s cut down by the heartless Aegisthus, upon his return from war.  As we will see in coming passages, the fates of men in Homer’s ancient Greece more often end in tragedy, suffering, and violence; and on occasion, but much less often, with honor and glory.  What fate shall our hero Odysseus meet in the end?   

 

Odysseus is introduced to us on the island of Ogygia, the home of the nymph Calypso.  Odysseus has been "enslaved", (more like sex slaved), on the island for 10 years by Calypso.  I suppose being stuck on an island with a goddess and a lifetime supply of ambrosia would get old eventually.  Personally, I'd probably be able to handle 10 years with no complaints.  Regardless, the gods have other plans for Odysseus as Hermes instructs Calypso to "Release him at once, just so.  Steer clear of the rage of Zeus!"

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He sails toward Ithaca, with the help of the gods, only to be thwarted by the wrath of Poseidon, (Poseidon really doesn't like Odysseus).  Instead, Odysseus crashes onto the shores of Phaeacia, leagues away from his beloved home.  With the help of Athena he makes it into the great halls of Alcinous, king of Phaeacia.  After feasting and contests sponsored by the king, Odysseus tells the Phaeacians his story... 

 

Following the conclusion of the Trojan War in Ilium (Troy), Odysseus sets home only to be blown off course to Ismarus, the stronghold of the Cicones, somewhere along the coast of Thrace.  Odysseus and crew promptly "...sacked the city, killed the men, but as for the wives and plunder, that rich haul we dragged away from the place - we shared it round so no one, not on my account, would go deprived of his fair share of spoils."  Already we have a glimpse of the mercy and compassion possessed by the Royal Son of Laertes. /s

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Sailing from Ismarus with their plunder, Odysseus and crew endure a storm brought forth by Zeus.  They sail off course for 10 days and soon reach the land of the Lotus-eaters.  Some of his crew succumb to the potent lotus fruit, and lose their memory and desire to sail home.  Odysseus gathers the affected men and they sail on, accidentally - I'm assuming - to the land of the Cyclops.  This is the land of the one-eyed giants with "...no meeting place for council, no law either, no, up on the mountain peaks they live in arching caverns - each a law to himself, ruling his wives and children, not a care in the world for any neighbor."  His men short on food, they sneak into one of the caves while a resident Cyclops is out tending his flock of sheep, and they help themselves to some fresh cheese.  The Cyclops returns, blocks the entrance with a large boulder, and, without knowing, blocks Odysseus and his men inside.  He soon discovers them, and promptly "...snatching two at once, rapping them on the ground he knocked them dead like pups - their brains gushed out all over, soaked the floor- and ripping them limb from limb to fix his meal he bolted them down like a mountain-lion, left no scrap, devoured entrails, flesh and bones, marrow and all!"  The following evening he pulls the old 'rinse and repeat' - devouring two more men.  Seeing the futility of the situation at hand, Odysseus coordinates a plan with his men:  pour the Cyclops wine until he passes out, then stab his singular eye with a burning olive stake.  With the Cyclops asleep from excess wine, Odysseus then "...thrust our stake in a bed of embers to get it red-hot and rallied all my comrades...", and then "So we seized our stake with its fiery tip and bored it round and round in the giant's eye till blood came boiling up around that smoking shaft and the hot blast singed his brow and eyelids round the core and the broiling eyeball burst - its crackling roots blazed and hissed - as a blacksmith plunges a glowing ax or adze in an ice-cold bath and the metal screeches steam and its temper hardens - that's the iron's strength - so the eye of the Cyclops sizzled round that stake!"  The following morning the Cyclops, now blind and in severe pain, opens his cave entrance to let his flock out.  With his 'cunning', Odysseus convinces his men to clutch the underside of the Cyclops's sheep, as they begin their march out of the cave.  The Cyclops touches each sheep as they pass underneath him; the men sneak through the cave entrance holding the sheep undersides.  Odysseus, and what remains of his crew, return to their ships and set sail.  Ever the humble type, Odysseus can't resist a final taunt directed at the Cyclops, "Would to god I could strip you of life and breath and ship you down to the House of Death as surely as no one will ever heal your eye, not even your earthquake god [Poseidon] himself!"  Oh Odysseus, your cunning is surely matched by your hubris.  His taunts against the gods and the sons of gods (like Cyclops), do him no favors.  The Cyclops follows up with a prayer to his father, Poseidon, then tosses a boulder from his cave entrance that nearly smashes one of the ships.  Poseidon is pissed now too.  Words of advice: don't talk shit to the gods, bruh.

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After the near boulder hit, the crew leave in haste and make there way to a floating island, home to the god Aeolus.  He gives Odysseus a sac filled with air, to assist his journey home.  His crew, unbeknownst of the internal contents of the sac, open it while Odysseus sleeps.  The air explodes out and sends them wildly off course.  They return to Aeolus and he tells them to eat poo poo, more or less, since they disrespected his gift, so they row away directionless, into the land of the Laestrygonians.  The crew approach their palace with caution only to find out the Laestrygonians are giants who eat men.  The giants promptly eat a couple crew-mates, pandemonium ensues, and the crew escape to their ships - a couple more men short.  

 

Next stop is the land of the bewitching queen Circe.  Hoping for a little respite from their difficult journey, the crew approach her palace - optimistic, but ever cautious.  Eurylochus senses a trap, and stays outside her palace with the ships.  Smart man.  She feeds the crew, then 'blam', magic wand - turns them into swine.  Eurylochus tells Odysseus of their fate, and Odysseus turns toward Circe's gates.  Before Odysseus enters, Hermes intervenes and gives him a potion to counter Circe's spells.  Soon after Odysseus enters Circe's palace, she attempts to transform Odysseus into a pig, only to be thwarted by his potion.  She falls to his knees in distress and confusion at the impotence of her magic.  Odysseus demands that all his crew be turned back into men; and soon thereafter Circe returns them to their original form, has them bathed in oil, clothed, and fed.  Now in better regard with the crew, Circe insists the crew embark on a side journey to the House of Death to consult with Tiresias.  Odysseus agrees, and they sail off.   

 

Upon entering the House of Death, Odysseus sees the ghosts of many familiar and mythological characters including:  Epicaste, mother of Oedipus; Agamemnon, supreme commander of the Achaeans during the battle at Troy; Achilles, the greatest warrior in the Trojan War, half-god; Ajax, arguably the 2nd greatest warrior in the Trojan War and a hulk of a man, death by suicide (fell on his sword [originally Hector's]); Patroclus, great friend and mentor to Achilles; Antilochus, son of King Nestor; Orion, the mythical hunter; Tityus, two vultures forever eating his liver while his hands fruitlessly try to beat them off; Tantalus, forever standing parched and erect in a pool but never able to drink, and trees with fruit above just out of reach; Sisyphus, caught in an endless cycle of pushing a boulder to the top of a hill only to have it roll back down near the peak; Minos, a son of Zeus holding his golden scepter and judging all the dead, and many others.  If anything can be said of the ancient Greeks, they had a vivid and interesting mythological lineage.  Also, as a side note - I wonder if the modern word "tedious" is related to Tityus?  Or how about the word "tantalising" and Tantalus?  Finally, what about "sissy" and Sisyphus?  When people can't move a large object, they may be called "sissies". The meaning of all of these words seem to relate in part to the context of these characters, respectively, above.

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Beyond the reunions with old friends, (apart from Ajax, who still loathes Odysseus after he was awarded Achilles's armor),  Odysseus comes to the House of the Dead to meet with Tiresias.  Tiresias imparts warnings fast and hard:  don't eat Helios's cattle when you sail past them or your ship and crew will be lost; and bunch of dudes are holed-up in your home in Ithaca eating your food and drinking your wine, and mostly trying to bang your distressed wife.  Oh, and don't forget to offer a sacrifice to Poseidon, otherwise shit's going down, buddy.  Odysseus and crew take note.    

 

Following a return pit-stop at Circe's palace for some last minute instructions, and a proper burial for the fallen crew-mate Elpenor, they bid adieu, and sail out toward Thrinacia, the land of Helios.  On their way toward the island with Helios's cattle, they first pass the island of the Sirens, a group of half-woman, half-bird (or such) beings, that sing enticing songs no man can resist.  Each crew member inserts beeswax into their ears to deafen the Sirens' song, except Odysseus.  Earlier, Circe tells Odysseus that he alone can hear the Sirens, but his crew will have to tie him securely to his ship mast, lest he jump off-board toward the Sirens.  As they sail pass, the Sirens hear the ship oars and begin their song, "Never has any sailor passed our shores in his black craft until he has heard the honeyed voices pouring from our lips, and once he hears to his heart's content sails on, a wiser man." 

 

In a related note, professor Emily Wilson, at the University of Pennsylvania, has an interesting take on the above passage, and a slightly different interpretation in her recent translation:  "Now stop your ship and listen to our voices. All those who pass this way hear honeyed song poured from our mouths. The music brings them joy, and they go on their way with greater knowledge."  The important difference here, is the word "lips" with the word "mouths".  The popular translation I read is by Robert Fagles - other translations include the word "lips" as well.  Wilson argues that ancient Greek has a clear word for "mouths" that was included in the original passage, but has been modified and perpetuated over time to be "lips".  I think the important point here, is, whereas the storied Greek nymphs were often depicted as young, sexy, and fertile, the emphasis with the Sirens is more related to some kind of higher wisdom, rather than something sexy or sensual.  Using "lips" as a descriptor rather than "mouths" may detract from the emphasis of 'wisdom through song', or 'wisdom from sound', which is the offering of the Sirens.  Further, to me, this knowledge is depicted as something reserved for the gods alone, and because of its power, mortals go insane when they hear it, (thus, the need for beeswax).  Also of note, Odysseus is the only one allowed to hear it, by way of Circe's instructions.  There is an interesting relationship between Odysseus, intelligence/wisdom, and Athena, the goddess of wisdom.  This passage reinforces this relationship.  Two final thoughts:  are these Sirens related to the Judeo-Christian angels?  Is the song of the Sirens cousin to the forbidden knowledge in the Garden of Eden?  Surely, it seems, there is a historic or cultural connection. 

 

The Sirens successfully in their wake, the men continue their passage past a man-eating monster Scylla, dwelling on a cliff-side, and Charybdis, a sea dwelling monster nearby who's mouth creates a giant whirlpool.  More men are lost after Scylla snatches some from their boats and eats them, as they pass by.  At the least, they avoid Charybdis, and make it to the land of Helios and his cattle.  Odysseus's men had earlier sworn an oath not to eat Helios's cattle, but with their rations running dry, and with south blowing winds keeping their boats unsailable, they give in to hunger and slaughter some cattle.  With bellies full, the west wind picks up and they sail out to sea.  But Helios had already pleaded with Zeus, "Father Zeus! the rest of you blissful gods who never die - punish them all, that crew of Laertes' son Odysseus - what an outrage!...Unless they pay me back in blood for the butchery of my herds, down I go to the House of Death and blaze among the dead!"  Zeus hears his appeal and promises to strike their ship when they are sailing on the 'wine-dark sea'.  Soon after, he follows through and the crew are met with a thunderstorm.  Zeus sends lightning bolts against the ship, sending the crew into the sea, all but Odysseus never to be seen again.  Thinking fast in the water, Odysseus lashes the floating mast and keel into a makeshift raft.  He climbs aboard.  The winds change and send him doubling back toward Scylla and Charybdis.  His raft heading into the mouth of Charybdis, Odysseus grasps a tree overhanging from the nearby sidewall, underneath the lair of Scylla.  He holds tight and waits and soon Charybdis spits up his raft.  He releases his grasp and swims toward the raft, mounts it, then rows, "I rowed hard with my hands right through the straits...And the father of men and gods did not let Scylla see me, else I'd have died on the spot - no escape from death."  For 10 nights he drifts until landing on the island of Ogygia, home of the goddess Calypso.  He remains on the island for another ten years, a slave. 

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Alcinous and the Phaeacians are moved by his tale and put on a great feast in honor.  They provide him with gifts and a ship, and he finally sails to Ithaca.   Athena appears once again to assist with the final stretch - for him to return home without his men, and against the suitors would be disastrous.  After they land on Ithaca (Athena covers it in midst to hide Odysseus), she transforms his face, "She shriveled the supple skin on his lithe limbs, stripped the russet curls from his head, covered his body top to toe with the wrinkled hide of an old man and dimmed the fire in his eyes, so shining once."  She then leads him to a swineherd's place where he's invited in for food and shelter.  Odysseus keeps his true identity concealed.  

 

After Telemachus returns home from searching for his father, he reunites with him at the swineherd's lodge.  With help from Athena, Odysseus temporarily transforms in to his younger self, to the disbelief of Telemachus who promptly, "...threw his arms around his great father, sobbing uncontrollably as the deep desire for tears welled up in both."  They discuss their strategy to reclaim his home - Telemachus is to return to the city with no news of his father, and Odysseus is to enter the city as an old beggar, with the help of the swineherd.  From there, they will reclaim his home. 

 

Eventually, Odysseus as a beggar, reunites with Penelope in his home.  She is ignorant of his true identity, but nonetheless they build rapport.  Odysseus provides her with a portent following her description of a dream, "Dear women...twist it however you like, your dream can only mean one thing.  Odysseus told you himself - he'll make it come to pass.  Destruction is clear for each and every suitor; not a soul escapes his death and doom."  Doubtful at the thought, Penelope responds to him with her plans for a suitors trial for her hand in marriage.  Whoever can string a bow and shoot an arrow through twelve ax handles, she will marry, and end the stand-off. 

 

Later, the suitors gather in the great hall for the trial, and they try their luck at stringing the bow - all futile attempts.  One-by-one, they give up in disappointment and anger.  Odysseus, still looking like an old beggar, steps up to try his luck, to the ridicule of the suitors, "Sly old fox - maybe he's got bows like it, stored in his house", one of the men bursts out.  Of course, Odysseus strings the bow, to the suitors' horror, then he promptly shoots an arrow through all twelve ax heads. 

 

Next, he strings an arrow and fires one at Antinous, the leader of the suitors, "But Odysseus aimed and shot Antinous square in the throat and the point went stabbing clean through the soft neck and out - and off to the side he pitched, the cup dropped from his grasp as the shaft sank home, and the man's life-blood came spurting from his nostrils - thick red jets - a sudden thrust of his foot - he kicked away at the table - food showered across the floor, the bread and meats soaked in a swirl of bloody filth."  Ohhhh, what a lovely feast.  Earlier, loyal men Eumaeus (the swineherd who provided Odysseus with shelter and food), and Philoitios (a cowherd), locked the hall doors from the outside, keeping all men within.  Telemachus gathers some weapons and armor from a back room, and along with his father, they slaughter the remainder of the men stuck in the hall.  With the majority of threats now taken out, Odysseus turns his attention to his prior servants - they have been disloyal during his time of absence.  One of his servant priests falls to Odysseus's knees and begs, "I hug your knees, Odysseus - mercy! spare my life!...my hands are clean - and I'm to die their death!  Look at the hands I get for years of service!"  Odysseus is not impressed with the man's plea and follows, "Only a priest, a prophet for this mob, you say?  How hard you must have prayed in my own house that the heady day of my return would never dawn - my dear wife would be yours, would bear your children!  For that there's no escape from grueling death -you die!"  And so Odysseus picks up a sword on the ground and, "...hacked the prophet square across the neck and the praying head went tumbling in the dust."  

 

However, this is not the end to the slaughter.  Yeesh.  With the help of his elder nurse, he gathers all the maids that were disloyal to his house.  The dozen he gathers are forced to clean the hall and move the dead men outside.  Afterward, Odysseus instructs Telemachus to kill all the women with a sword, but Telemachus resists, "No clean death for the likes of them, by god!  Not from me - they showered abuse on my head, my mother's too!  You sluts - the suitors' whores!"  The women are tied up by their necks and hung en masse, "...as doves or thrushes beating their spread wings against some snare rigged up in rickets - flying in for a cozy nest but a grisly bed receives them - so the women's heads were trapped in a line..."  Apparently, being hung is worse then death by sword?  Oh, I almost forgot Melanthius - a disloyal goatherd.  After being brought to the court, they "...lopped his nose and ears with a ruthless knife, tore his genitals out for the dogs to eat raw and in manic fury hacked off his hands and feet."  Anyone else?  Can we call it good now?  Pure savagery.  The halls are then cleaned and purified with fire and fumes.  Odysseus reunites with his beloved Penelope and then he launches into the tale of his journey home.  They embrace and talk through the night.     

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Odysseus then reunites with his father, Laertes, who is overjoyed at his son's return.  After a family feast, word of the hall slaughter gets out of the city, and families of the deceased take up arms against Odysseus and company.  A battle ensues, more men die, and finally Athena steps in (in the form of Mentor, a friend of Odysseus) and shouts, "Hold back, you men of Ithaca, back from brutal war!  Break off - shed no more blood - make peace at once!"  It appears that Odysseus is on the way to victory, but he pulls back at the appeals of Athena.  We finish with Athena's pact of peace, "between both sides for all the years to come - the daughter of Zeus whose shield is storm and thunder..."   

 

I guess I'm glad that Odysseus returns home to Ithaca to purge his home of the terrible men, but I'm also a little confused as whether we are really supposed to root for the Royal Son of Laertes.  I mean, he was gone for 20 years, and no one even knew of his whereabouts.  Most of his homeboys in Ithaca probably thought he was dead from the war, or sometime after.  Can you really blame the suitors for trying to hit on his wife, or move into his home?  How long is loyalty supposed to last?  I get that ancient Greece was a different time, and the conventions of the day were a little more binding, but c'mon!  I mean, really.  Odysseus comes home and just goes...overboard.  He slaughters everyone, and then some.  Did he really need to decapitate the priest, hang the maids, or tear off Melanthius's genitals?  A little mercy perhaps?  In the end, he seems like a vengeful, somewhat sadistic man. 

 

Honor is one thing, but Jesus H. Christ, I think a little Jesus H. Christ might serve him well.  In fact, I think that's more of the track we are on here.  The ideal man.  What does it take, and who shall it be?  The Odyssey and Iliad both spellbind us with mesmerizing stories centered around the idea of honor and what it means to be an honorable man.  The men almost obsess over honor.  Both stories "tantalize" us with the notion of perfection, but it simply wasn't developed enough yet, at least the way we understand it today.  For in these stories, the apex man, the king, the leader, the ruler, wasn't the strongest brute, nor was he the most honest - and definitely not the most compassionate.  He was a hybrid of sorts,  a proto-sage, a pre-truth seeker, an almost-truth purveyor.  You see, Odysseus was revered in his time for his guile, his trickery, his foresight.  These qualities must have been in short supply at a time filled with brutish Trojans, Achaeans, and the like competing with sword and shield.  Not to discount their intelligence, because it was certainly there, but the development of strategy and intellect was still a work in progress, (to say nothing of mercy or compassion).  Odysseus was revered for his ability to outsmart others and to get an advantage for himself, for his crew, or for his family.  He was also revered for his fighting and his loyalty, but more than anything for his cunning.  These were the qualities that elevated him to the hero of his time.  This was before compassion and mercy became relevant.  This was before the truth was elevated above all else.  It won't be for some 300 years later that the ideal man takes a great leap in its evolution with Socrates - the man who questions everything and speaks the truth, only for the sake of truth, and with the willingness to sacrifice himself on that principle; and at least 800 years later when we see figures like Jesus Christ, who elevated forgiveness and compassion above wrath and vengeance.

Odysseus may not be the hero for our time, but surely he was for his.         

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Summary:  One of the great stories of all time, the Odyssey is imaginative and profound - not to mention an endless well of topics and themes to explore.  

 

Rating:  8.0

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-E.B.

2018-04-18