Sydney's Blog

For our final post of the semester, write about anything having to do with the Odyssey about which you have not yet written. I have not yet had a chance to just talk about how great Telemachus is! Odysseus, his father, disappeared when Telemachus was an infant. Penelope, his mother, was so sad and depressed at the thought of her lost husband. He had this life for 20 years. He grew up like this, went through his teen years like this. He was the prince of Ithaca, and the king had gone out to war and was then lost at sea nowhere to be found. Telemachus comes to the realization that his father could be alive, and he has never met him. So, why not go on a secret life-threatening quest to find him? He knows his home is in chaos, with all these men, (who are only a little bit older than him) taking advantage of them and trying to marry his mom. He also knows his dad can fix all of this, so he decides to go and bring him home. He finds Odysseus, who is at first disguised as a beggar. S...

In book 19, why do think Odysseus is so harsh on Eurycleia after she recognized him? When Eurycleia discovers the beggar is actually Odysseus, (because of the scar on his foot), she is filled with joy. She looked towards Penelope, who didn’t even realize she was in the presence of her own husband. Athena diverted Penelope’s attention away so she wouldn’t realize it was Odysseus. He grabbed her by the throat and threatened to kill her if she didn’t keep her mouth shut. “I’ll tell you this and I swear I’ll do it: If, with heaven’s help, I subdue the suitors, I will not spare you-even if you are my nurse-When I kill the other women in the hall” (Homer 305). He is trying to have his plan play out exactly how he wants, and he is worried her telling someone will ruin it. However, he knows the gods let her learn the truth for a reason, and he trusts the gods. Eurycleia understands he doesn’t know who to trust being gone for 20 years, so she calmly says, “I’ll tell you this and you remem...

    Find 3 examples of formulaic language and explain how you might think these might have been helpful when singing or speaking the Odyssey in oral tradition. “Assuming this girl’s form, the owl-eyed goddess spoke” (pg. 85) - Athena being one of the main goddesses in the Odyssey, she had many names. They all had to do with eyes, gray, or owls. Because the Odyssey was passed on orally, it was important for people to be able to understand who the characters were. So Athena having a nickname signified she was an important person in the story, versus someone who was just called by their greek name because they weren't as big of a roll in the story. “Dawn spread her roselight over the sky.” (pg. 106) - In a story, the beginning of a new day is always important because it gives a frame of reference to the audience on the amount of time passing in the story. Dawn is referring to the sun coming out in the morning. So instead of saying, “On the next day” they made it flow more wit...