The sacrifice of bulls reminded me of Taliesen. In that book, they were all heathens. Then some of the heathens died with Atlantis, but some of them went to Arthurian England, and there they became Christians. Being a Christian is good. Those were good books. It's too bad they're all heathens in The Odyssey.
Then Telemachus acts shy about asking Nestor about his father. Athena yells at him about it, and I quite agree. If he's there to discover Odysseus, and quickly so he can return to his mother and protect her from the suitors, why is he suddenly scared? Perhaps there should be more character development. Does Telemachus have a habit of getting cold feet? From where does that phrase even come?
Athena prayed to Poseidon. Is that allowed? Can gods pray to other gods? If he can be far away and miss it when he is tricked, how does he hear the prayers? Jesus prayed to God, but that's different, because he's omni-everything. This Greek god situation needs to be straightened out.
It really doesn't make sense for Telemachus to leave his mother and his home. I agree with his housekeeper from the second book: the suitors will plot and plan in his absence. He could have easily sent out a messenger on a boat (♪) to discover those same things which he wants to find out. Maybe the messenger would not have had the same response as 'godlike Telemachus.'
Upon some thought, though, it was rather kind of him not to tell his mother. When she does find out, she's heartbroken and she collapses. He obviously cares about her well-being, and it seems to make more sense that Telemachus stay at home to protect her. Or perhaps, since she's a stranger to somebody, Zeus has got it covered.
3.314: squadron
Clytemnestra. I read the name--do you know anything about her? The name sounds familiar.
Athena wants the best for Telemachus, but then she turns into an eagle and leaves. There's quite a bit of eagling going on here... stay tuned.
Pretty true to the title of the book, King Nestor remembered. Now I know what happens in The Iliad, not that the introduction and even the few previous books didn't give that away, either. There's little to be wondered with Homer's fame and his habit of repetition.
a) Eagling: it's an omen, a sign, a "happening in nature that means something for your life and story and is about your FATE." Hence the Air-Eagle-Fight from the last book, and the eagle thing from here. It's one way the gods can give you a tip about what's going to happen.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad we don't have to look at eagle fights for what God tells us. BUT back then, that was a normal thing. OBVIOUSLY the suitors wouldn't have understood the foreshadowing (except for that one guy who kinda did, and got a little freaked. remember him?)
b) Telemachus goesto find out about his dad because HE HAS TO KNOW. Remember how important your heritage was in the ancient understanding of identity? (name/heritage/home) Well if he doesn't know about Odysseus, he doesn't know who he is. It's a crisis of identity.
That sounds a bit silly to us Americans, because we're used to the idea of being "self made men." We think that everything we are comes from within us, and anyone who says otherwise is trying to enslave us. That's only partially true. The ancient greeks picked up on something from the way God made nature: you come from your parents, and the contributes to who you are. You're at least 1/2 mom, and 1/2 dad, genetically. Deal.
That's why Telemachus needs to know... to know who HE is, and what the fate of his HOME will be. Penelope lets him go because, well, she kinda wants to know what's going on with Odysseus too. The suitors aren't going to kill her, and they're already stealing all her stuff (eating it all), so it can't get much worse.
c) "Clytemnestra" is from ....somewhere else. We'll read Oedipus Rex eventually, and she's in there...ish.
BACKSTORY MONTAGE: Agamemnon is greedy, and wants to declare war on Troy to get their stuff. He bullies all the other greek cities (like Ithika) into going with him to war. Clytemnestra is his wife, and she doesn't want him to go.
But he wants to go, and in order to get good winds from the gods for sailing to Troy, he sacrifices their daughter, Iphigenia. Obviously, Clytemnestra is a bit pissed about this. So when Agamemnon gets home from the war, she draws him a bath, waits until he's closed his eyes and soaking his lil' toesies, and then slits his throat. Tell Tem: Don't kill your daughter to get fair winds to go to war.
This was a big deal to, well, everyone. Agamemnon was more or less king of the playground at that point, but when he went home the gods saw fit to have him slain. Odysseus would be wondering what sort of welcome awaited him in Ithika with Penelope. Would she be a good host and welcome him back? Would she have remarried, and slit his throat on their return? Would there BE an Ithika when he got back?
...some important greek words/concepts to think about:
ReplyDelete"kleos" (clay-oss) - it means "glory." or "good reputation" or "fame" or "like a boss." You don't get kleos unless you have, in fact, bombed the russians. This is the kind of fame that Odysseus has for being clever and winning at the Trojan war.
"nostos" (noss-toss) - I think this is the word for it. It means "homecoming" or "homesickness" or "longing and longing for home and trying to get back and a yearning to be back where you belong." It's the kind of thing Odysseus has for Ithika and Penelope. It's the kind of thing Christians have for heaven. It's the kind of thing you get when you leave home for college and miss your friends and home back...home. That's where you're supposed to be, that's where you're fully YOU, cos you're not yourself unless you're at home. Homesickness.
"arete" ( AR ay tay) - - means "excellence" or "virtue." It means you're good at stuff. If you have this quality, you'll be good at stuff you try to do. If you have arete and try to be a bricklayer, you'll be the best durn bricklayer this side of the thames. if you have arete and try to be a thief, you'll be really good at being a thief. If you have arete and try to be a king, you'll be as good a king as your arete-level allows you to be.
ReplyDeleteriver tam has lots of this. eustace scrubb doesn't. get it? She's good at everything, he's good at nothing.
This totally avoids the question: "what should we try to be good at?" We'll get there later. Right now, for the greeks, it's important to be good at stuff.
a) well apparently. that's handy. WELL i guess some of the prophets had weird things they saw, liek that wheel, so i guess this would be the greek version. and more visible. and less God-sent.
ReplyDeleteb) OH YEAH THAT'S RIGHT. that sucks. but it still doesn't seem wise for him to go. also, Penelope didn't let him go. she didn't know he went, which seems a little dishonest. BUT I GUESS THAT MAKES SENSE.
c) UM SACRIFICE. WHAT THE HECK. Agamemnon. really.
kleos: arena.
p.s. i find all of your thoughts and facts really interesting, but sometimes i don't have anything to say back. sorry.