"Musing" about Genre

Some general background: Fitzgerald, p. 499: "The ODYSSEY is about a man who cared for his wife and wanted to rejoin her." Why read hundreds of pages to discover the answer to that? What is the difference between the ODYSSEY and a Hollywood film?
Ancient Epic. How is it defined most simply? What is it? How is it like a film? a novel? How is it different. Orality vs. Literacy. Was there one Homer? Many Homers. The problem of unity. Who performed such works? RHAPSODES. What are the dangers of oral performance in a pre-literate society? An illiterate society?

Trojan War

General Background

Priam, Hekuba [Hecuba], Hektor [Hector], Paris (Contest: HERA [Juno], APHRODITE [Venus], ATHENA [Minerva])

Agamemnon, Klytaimnestra [Clytaemnestra], Orestes, Iphigenia

Menelaos [Menelaus], Helen

Akhilleus [Achilles], Aias [Ajax], Nestor

Odysseus [Ulixes or, less correctly (but in English certainly more commonly), Ulysses]

What happened?

Who was Homer? What is the dispute regarding his identity? What are the two major works he is credited with composing?
Homer's Odyssey reflects a state of society from what era? When, however, was it composed?

Telemacheia

Book 1: Poseidon, Odysseus, Ogygia, Kalypso [Calypso], Athena, Ithaka, Telemakhos (Telemachus). Suitors (esp. Antinoos and Eurymakhus [Antinous & Eurymachus]). Pylos & Nestor. Sparta & Menelaos. Penelope. Eurykleia [Eurycleia].
Book 2: Assembly. Omen of eagles.

Book 3: Third day. Arrival at Pylos & Nestor's.

Book 4: Arrival at Sparta & Menelaus'.

Enter Odysseus

Book 5: Shift to Ogygia. Hermes, Kalypso, Ino (aka Leukothea), Skheria (Scheria), Phaiakia (Phaeacia).
Book 6: Nausikaa [Nausicaa], daughter of Alkinoos [Alcinoous] and Arete.

Book 7: Dinner with the Phaiakians [Phaeacians].

Book 8: Phaiakia [Phaeacia]. Songs of Demodokos [Demodocus].

Themes in greater detail

Some Introductory Odyssean Themes
- Epithets:
  - summoner of cloud
  - grey-eyed
- Role of the gods & religion, especially:
  - Odd behavior of gods.
  - Do they care about humans?
  - omens.
  - Prayer.
  - birds
  - sacrifice. MEALS, COMMUNION and COMMUNITY.
  - libations-- another form of communion with gods.
  - Dreams
  - How does one tell GODS from human beings? And vice versa?
- Agamamenon's fate: Agamemnon, Klytaimnestra (Clytaemnestra), Aigisthos (Aegisthus), Orestes: Who was Agamemnon and why is his fate a running theme, a leitmotif?
- Property rights: who owns what and whom? Who protects property? Why do T. and P. not have control? What does this tell us about law, if not morality?
- Community vs. Individual.
- State of Society. Organization. State of Civilization. Why are the suitors able to hold sway in Odysseus' house?
- Place of women.
  - Penelope.
  - Eurycleia.
  - Athena.
  - Klytaimnestra.
  - Helen.
  - Calypso.
  - Ino.
  - Nausikaa, Arete.
  - Aphrodite (Ares & Hephaistos) in story of Demodokos
  - Why does Odysseus prefer Penelope to Calypso and Nausikaa?
- Slavery -- maidservants: Eurykleia.
- Bathing.
- Meals (a running commentary on what constitutes civlilization versus barbarism). Notable meals include (but are not limited to)
- Hospitality.
- Moral conduct: what constitutes proper behavior in a given situation.
- What is the greatest sin?
- What by way of contrast is Odysseus' great virtue?
- FATHER / SON DRAMA -- coming of age: how does T. come to know his father, whom he has never met and himself in the process? His father's friends Nestor and Menelaus tell him about O. We come to know O. too before he appears. Master of strategem and intelligence.
- How do the gods intervene in the action of the story?Of what means do they avail themselves in order to communicate?
- What is Odysseus' emotional state on Ogygia?
- Why might the poet have delayed the entrance of Odysseus into the story for four books?