The Odyssey

The Odyssey

1. Themes

   • Identity
     • 'Odysseus' - object of anger
       • 19 - etymology
       • 1 - pun
     • 9 - 'Nobody'
       • 'Sacker of cities'
     • 9 - Alcinous
       • Name is first
     • 6 - Washed up, no names
     • Beggar - lost his identity?
       • Cretan Lies
     • 24 - recognition
       • His own father needs proof
     • Polytropos
       • Shared with Hermes
     • 1 - Name is withheld
   • Storytelling
     • 21 - Cretan lies
       • Minstrel simile
         • Gentle
     • 23 - Storyteller for P
       • How much is a dream?
     • Menelaus + Nestor
     • Demodocus sings of Trojan War
     • Ag: story of his murder
       • Threat of sexual infidelity
         • Cf Helen
         • Aphrodite
       • Negative paradigm
       • Houses are unstable without men
     • Rich, mythic tradition
     • Phemius
   • Temptation
     • Flocks of Helios
     • Polyphemus
       • Desire for kleos
     • Sirens
     • Desire vs nostos
     • Food
       • Suitors are always eating
       • Lack of sophrosyne
   • Disguises
     • Athena
     • Circe
       • Crew into pigs
     • Deception
     • Beggar

2. The Iliad

   • War
     • Slaughter of suitors
       • Domestic setting
       • Unexpected
       • Fate
     • Trojan War reminders
   • Stock epithets
   • Muses
   • Differences
     • Odysseus is at centre
     • Extensive vs intensive
   • 11 - Character meeting
     • Katabasis
       • Time has stopped
       • Warning from Ag
     • Regrets of Achilles
     • Ach asks after family
     • Agamemnon and Clytemnestra
     • O is narrator
     • 8 - their quarrel
       • Shows fame
   • Odysseus
     • 10 - cunning on night raid
     • O's ship in middle

3. Metis vs bie

   • Polyphemus
   • Suitors needs both
   • Sirens
   • Scylla + Charybdis
   • Is this why he lives?
   • P shows metis
     • They are equals
     • 23 - Tests O with wedding bed
       • Unshakeable foundation of love
     • Burial shroud

4. Characters

   • Seductresses
     • Circe/Calypso
       • Helpful
     • Sirens
     • Penelope?
   • Odysseus
     • Metis
     • Manipulative
     • Kleos through nostos
       • Reclaiming oikos
         • 5 - pining
         • Doesn't recognise it
       • T thinks it's better for O to die at Troy
     • Learns from mistakes
       • Ages
   • Telemachus
     • Grows up
     • Takes control
     • 22 - Mistakes
     • Cannot string bow
   • Athena
     • Help
       • 5 - Shipwreck
       • 22 - Battle
   • Suitors
     • Break xenia
       • Cf Eumenides