When I think of well versed bards reciting The Odyssey to a crowd of people many, many years ago, it makes me realize a number of things about stories. On the one hand, not much has changed at all. I suppose Homer came about in the early days of epic journey tales, and he seems to have set the stage for many more recent books with similar themes. I spent a good portion of the novel waiting for Odysseus to arrive at Mt. Doom or meet an Orc army, so striking were the parallels between this and the work of Tolkein. I did however, come across a number of things that caused me to raise an eyebrow or feel vaguely uncomfortable; things I wasn’t used to. One of the first was the superficial nature of the characters, immortal or not. I sort of cringed every time Athena would make Odysseus tall, muscular, and handsome so that he would get some respect, or when a character would exclaim something along the lines of “Well, that chap is good looking and has an ephemeral glow, he must have good blood. Pour him some drinks!” Perhaps it’s the element of truth that disconcerts me.

There is a black and white sense of morality in this book. Distinctly old fashioned, as of course is appropriate for a poem written in 8th century BC. Grisly acts of murder and torture are accepted as rational and heroic, as long as they are justified. The whole text reads as an “eye for an eye” battle, but it did make me think a lot about the concept of right and wrong, and how different people might interpret it.

The Gods seem to be obsessed with material goods. A greek soldier could be as kind and loving as any, but if he forgets to burn some sheep thighs or pour out some libations to the Gods, he will have a rough go of it. I’m told this is just the way of the Greek Gods, but it is rather fun to point out their puerility. To be honest it’s actually really refreshing. You hear so much about the untouchable perfection of Gods that reading about them argue like teenagers and thinking about “revenge” is kind or nice. Homer portrays them as being very accessible. You can’t get away from the Gods, that’s for sure.

My last great mystery was what felt like an unfinished ending. Odysseus never made peace with Poseiden, never did what he was told to do in the prophecy. It just ended. I hear that the Odyssey has a lost sequel, explaining some of the suddenness of the ending; its a shame.

In summary, it was brilliant. What I originally saw as a very traditional, classic piece of text made me think about character far more then I thought I would. It snuck up on me, so to speak.

As I began reading The Odyssey it quickly became apparent to me that I was supposed to be listening to it, preferably from someone with a soothingly epic voice and a large enough lung capacity to only need to take one deep breath every chapter (or book, as they call it) before diving right back into their literary serenade. I say this because, as I went through this book at a somewhat forced pace, I was constantly irked by various oddities in the writing structure that continuously broke the flow of words running frantically through my head. Of course, I’m probably just reading it wrong and/or judging it through inappropriate criteria, but one thing that really irritated me was the repetition of the exact same few speeches in multiple parts of the book, more often than not by a different character than the original speaker. Something that sounds great when you’re listening to it, I’m sure, but when reading I tend to just skip the offending copy-and-paste dialogue entirely.

Rambling aside, the story of The Odyssey was a complete though not altogether unexpected culture shock for me, with the attitudes and actions of many if not all of the characters coming across as incomprehensible for my narrow 21^st century mind. The culture depicted in this book is one that is completely at the mercy of social exchange theory which is most commonly shown with the guest mentality that virtually all the characters have, giving heaps of precious treasure to any strangers who happen to knock on their door, ask rather arrogantly for their automatically entitled hospitality, and actually succeed (with some exceptions). The willing hosts won’t hesitate to tax their people to pay for those treasures either, which comes across to me as particularly selfish (tyrannical, perhaps?). Of course, everything changes when Gods come into the picture, but I have no intention of writing thousands of words about that. Not now, anyway.

With that said, what was the point of The Odyssey? The journey of Odysseus was one fraught with dangers and distractions, perils and temptations, yet he prevailed through them all. Why? Simple, because Zeus (or whatever God it was) said so. It’s hard to feel excited about an ending (if you would call that an ending) that I knew about from the beginning, so my assumption is that the core of The Odyssey lies in the journey; what trials Odysseus faced, how he overcame them, and what kind of character he became as a result. On the last point, I have to say that I’m disappointed. Despite all the worshipping and glowing descriptions of Odysseus from his fellow man/woman, I found him as nothing more than a cunning schemer who stopped at nothing to get what he wanted. Personally, I have no problem with that kind of person, but it’s quite different from the kind-hearted and fair idol that everyone made him out to be. Sure, he’s physically strong and a skilled tactician, but he has a peculiar lack of qualities that would fit for a “kind” person, forgiveness being the clearest example in this case. A rather interesting parallel that I’ve noticed (or imagined) is the one between the slaughter of the suitors and the slaughter of Agamemnon and his comrades. Both were given a description resembling the killing, or hunting, of animals, which I suppose would be considered by the majority of the human race as an insulting way to die. One we are made to look on with disgust, while the other we are to view as glorious. I guess what’s trying to be conveyed here is that slaughtering people like animals is okay if done for the right reasons – I can’t say I buy it.

Anyway, I know for a fact that I haven’t gotten everything I can out of this book. There are still many hidden meanings and themes that I haven’t yet grasped due to my lack of experience and contextual knowledge. This blog entry is already way too long and I have anime to watch, so I’ll end with saying that I’m looking forward to Monday’s enlightening lecture. Till next time. 

My first reaction when I finished The Odyssey, was disappointment in how it ended.  I expected a longer ending that would tell what happened to Odysseus in his old age.  However, I do acknowledge the fact that since Odysseus’s odyssey is over, Homer had no reason to elaborate.  Prior to reading The Odyssey, I’ve only read abridged versions in books such as Daulaire’s book of Greek myths, which captured the essential plot of The Odyssey, but lacked in detail.  What I enjoyed the most about The Odyssey was the epic scale of it.  Homer did take me to mythological Greece, the age of monsters and heroes.   It only makes me admire Homer more for taking me, a modern human and plunking me into this saga.  What I loved most about the Odyssey was the fascinating imagery, the cast of characters, gods and creatures that all aided to create a riveting story that had me hanging at the edge of my seat at moments.  Odysseus’s journey, was a true hero’s journey.  His trials at Polydorus, Poseidon, Circe and Calypso, do inspire pity in me, but at the same time, how he handled them (or at least the effort he took to handle them) made me admire his character.  My other favorite character was Telemachus.  His intelligence, how he took charge of his house, made a name for himself and  him assisting his father, made him a very likable character.  Some things I noticed in The Odyssey was that some of the imagery and description was repeated and often re-used, this helped me to associate the correct image or title with the characters, acting like a tag.  These tags helped me a lot because the cast of The Odyssey is huge and some of the names are extraordinarily difficult to pronounce and spell. I also found reading The Odyssey enlightening to me because it showed how religion played a role in people’s beliefs in Ancient Greece.  It was quite entertaining (in a cathartic way aka glad that’s not happening to me way) reading about Poseidon throwing punishment upon punishment on Odysseus and various characters fearing that any person could be a god in disguise.

This is my second time reading The Odyssey. The first time I read it, three years ago, i felt the story was about Odysseus and the qualities he possessed that made him able to return home after years of suffering, but after reading it again, I notice just how much of a role the gods play. The title, The Odyssey, references, not only Odysseus’ journey but also the journey of the lives of all the characters. Most importantly, it’s a journey that the characters are taken on i.e not the journey they’ve chosen. In the grand scheme of things, the actions of any one character don’t change the outcome that was destined by the gods once Odysseus had been cursed by the cyclops. Odysseus returned home a broken man and all his shipmates were lost just as Poseidon decreed, the Phaeacians were shipwrecked on their way home just as the prophet said and the suitors were killed off one by one just as the omen stipulated. When things looked like they might not line up just as the gods had aligned them, Athena was there to give people courage, to send enemies into confusion, or to disguise someone so the gods’ plan remained secure. Inevitably, whatever the gods wanted to happen came to pass, and it made the actions of the characters somewhat inconsequential. Odysseus even stops trying at one point and sleeps with Circe for an entire year before his men urge him to go home again. Ultimately, each characters personal odyssey wasn’t about fighting to restore balance in their lives, but rather it was about holding on while their lives crumbled around them until that day when the gods decided they had suffered enough. By the end of the book it seemed like everything that happened in the story was all meant to be a lesson to the mortals about the gods’ ability to lift someone to great heights and also to bring them down as Athena ends the impending war with a few stern words.