June / Greece Reading: "Odyssey" by Homer

[NickAdams]

Scheherazade : sounds about right.

I wonder if the ancient Greeks thought of this tale in a religious context. I wonder what someone might learn from the text. What conduct does this story teach, what are the virtues? Is this this a stoic philosophy?

[bej6s]

Ok, I'm already on Book 2, reading the Fagles translation. (Thanks for the translation recommendations, guys.)

I was wondering, is there somewhere online or some text that can go as a supplement to the Odyssey, like how Shakespeare texts can come with notes on the opposing page. It's just been a long time since I took Latin or Greek and I can't remember much of the mythology, so the references to other characters go right over my head.

[JBI]

Is there no list in the back? I know for the Fagles Aeneid there was a great extensive glossary, does your edition not have one for the Odyssey?

[NickAdams]

Ok, I'm already on Book 2, reading the Fagles translation. (Thanks for the translation recommendations, guys.)

I was wondering, is there somewhere online or some text that can go as a supplement to the Odyssey, like how Shakespeare texts can come with notes on the opposing page. It's just been a long time since I took Latin or Greek and I can't remember much of the mythology, so the references to other characters go right over my head.

Pantheon.org
I'm not too familiar with the mythology either, so I'm creating my own index: names, relations, actions, omens.

[ggeneraux]

I was hoping to get the Iliad finished (I'm on Book 13) before beginning The Odyssey, but it looks like I need to go ahead and start, putting Iliad on the back-burner, lest the discussion get too far along for me to catch up and participate.

Also, earlier in this thread there was a thread mentioned on Aeneid, which I haven't been able to find. Is that thread still active, or simply buried hopelessly to the point where my searching is in vain?

[NickAdams]

I was hoping to get the Iliad finished (I'm on Book 13) before beginning The Odyssey, but it looks like I need to go ahead and start, putting Iliad on the back-burner, lest the discussion get too far along for me to catch up and participate.

Also, earlier in this thread there was a thread mentioned on Aeneid, which I haven't been able to find. Is that thread still active, or simply buried hopelessly to the point where my searching is in vain?

It's still active and can be found here: http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=31392

[Virgil]

Alright. Now it's time to find my book.

[Weisinheimer]

Ok, I'm going to try it. Got a copy of the Fagles translation from the library. I have a feeling I'll be hopelessly lost, but I'll give it a shot.

[bej6s]

Is there no list in the back? I know for the Fagles Aeneid there was a great extensive glossary, does your edition not have one for the Odyssey?

You are right. I just assumed since there weren't footnotes or superscript numbers throughout the text that there wouldn't be any notes in the book. Thanks!

[DapperDrake]

Well, I'm just about to start on the Fagles translation; I have the penguin "Deluxe" edition replete with chewed page edges

Anyway I finished the adaptation today that I referred to in the poll thread, a very readable dramatisation - blew through it in two evenings, though its only half the size of the translation, very enjoyable, plenty of British Idioms and colloquialisms but I understand it was produced for Radio four.

[Virgil]

I don't know if anyone has given an outline of The Odyssey. First it is an epic, an epic of a journey home. Odysseus has just fought ten years at the Trojan war and is returning home. But the gods have taken a disliking to him (I think he showed some disrespect to Poesidon) and have disrupted his return voyage. Ultimately it akes him another ten years to get home. The story begins in the last year of his ten year return. In the meantime, over the twenty years of his absence at home, life on his island kingdom has degenerated. His son, Telemachus, who Odysseus has only seen as an infant is being threatened by men who want to take over the kingdom, and Odysseus' wife Penelope is being pressured into marrying one of the men. Penelope has been using many tricks to stall the men in the hopes that her husband will return. Telemachus goes away to visit some of his father's mates from the war to try to get any news of his father. The epic starts with Telemachus and his search. The first four books are usualy refered to as the Telemachia.

Interesting how the quest of Telemachus is a sort of inverse of his father's quest to return home. Instead of the journey in, as Odysseus travels, Telemachus has a journey out.

[NickAdams]

I just finished book 3; I've been neglecting my nomination, but it's time to breath some life into this thread.

Does anybody know the significance of hair and gray, both used as an adjective or synecdoche(?), in the ancient Greek culture?

So Telemachos-macho-man, the oversize child which I liken to Baby Huey, sets off to kiss some neighboring backside.



Telemyphone knows Mentor is the Gray-eyed Goddess, but says Athene has forgotten Odysseus and he wines of how the God neglect him. I suggest he sees a therapist, he clearly has abandonment issues.

There is an interesting segment about the Gods not being able to stop death. The humans demand so much of them and they do all they can, but death is more powerful. This is interesting when one thinks about the personification of death. Man stops asking God(s) and deals with death directly (stay away from chess and twister, because he is a master of both).

[NickAdams]

It seems a curse to be a god; do they have any other purpose than to serve mankind? They are forced to choose sides in battle and as a result end up opposing another olympian. Man is highly dependent upon the gods. They seem afraid and even angered to face life on their own. They resent the gods for not being powerful enough to overcome death.

Aias claims that, "in spite of the gods he escaped the great gulf,"(502) and the text says Athene and Poseidon is angered at his defiance and as a result Poseidon attacks him. I don't think they were angered by his defiance so much as his ungratefulness. With every command that man makes, the gods only ask for a steer or two as an offering, I prefer wage. The gods seem like disgruntled employees.

"Show me the way to lie in wait for this divine ancient,/ for fear he may somehow see me first and be warned and avoid me." (395 & 396)

[sofia82]

Hey, I missed this thread ... I want to read this though I read many years ago and not remember the details at all. Wait for me

It seems a curse to be a god; do they have any other purpose than to serve mankind? They are forced to choose sides in battle and as a result end up opposing another olympian. Man is highly dependent upon the gods. They seem afraid and even angered to face life on their own. They resent the gods for not being powerful enough to overcome death.

Aias claims that, "in spite of the gods he escaped the great gulf,"(502) and the text says Athene and Poseidon is angered at his defiance and as a result Poseidon attacks him. I don't think they were angered by his defiance so much as his ungratefulness. With every command that man makes, the gods only ask for a steer or two as an offering, I prefer wage. The gods seem like disgruntled employees.

"Show me the way to lie in wait for this divine ancient,/ for fear he may somehow see me first and be warned and avoid me." (395 & 396)

I really don't know what to do with these gods and goddesses, but they are the ideal representation of we, human beings a little bit ideal than us . I've just finished Henry VI part 3, and reading your comment, this comes into my mind that these Lords and Dukes do the same. (What a comparison? )

[NickAdams]

Hey, I missed this thread ... I want to read this though I read many years ago and not remember the details at all. Wait for me



I really don't know what to do with these gods and goddesses, but they are the ideal representation of we, human beings a little bit ideal than us . I've just finished Henry VI part 3, and reading your comment, this comes into my mind that these Lords and Dukes do the same. (What a comparison? )

Very interesting. :::strokes beard::: I'll have to read Mr. Henry, because I'm very intrigued by this theme.