The Odyssey Book 2: lines 96-102

Antinous (Photo credit: █ Slices of Light █▀ ▀ ▀)

The speech of Antinous, the leader of the suitors, continues in these lines, as it will in the lines of the Odyssey that follow. What stands out in this passage is first that Antinous seeks to speak badly of Penelope so that the audience should be asking again why he and the other suitors wish to marry her then. The theme that the suitors are rebels against the kingship of Odysseus in Ithaca who are trying to usurp a position that is simply beyond them continues. One should always bear in mind that Penelope is just as much a hero, in the sense of Greek religion, as are either Odysseus or Telemachus. As a queen, especially as a ruling queen, she makes decisions which have a major impact of the lives of everyone in the kingdom. She is a hero too, namely a demi-god. The suitors are all too flawed and human. They are not up to ruling a kingdom.

Gold ring representing Penelope waiting for Odysseus. Syria, last quarter of the 5th century BC. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Meanwhile, Penelope shows herself to be the feminine counterpart of Odysseus as well as his faithful wife. The heroic trait which defines Odysseus is his craftiness, especially that he is a consummate liar who gets away with it. He was after all, the person who thought of the stratagem of using the Trojan horse. So, here from the mouth of the chief suitor, we the audience hear that Penelope deceived the suitors by claiming to accept that Odysseus is dead and that she should marry one of the suitors and then saying that the wedding would have to wait until after we finished weaving the burial shroud of Laertes, Odysseus’ father; of course, she would weave it during the day and then unweave it again at night. She managed to continue this for four years. We the audience are not told exactly how Penelope has continued to rule alone for the other six years but she has. The obvious implication is that she used her intellect and outsmarted the suitors.

Of course, the Greek attitude towards women (which is often downright misogynistic) should also be borne in mind in this passage. Being outsmarted by a “mere” woman would bring the suitors’ manhood into question. Likewise, an ancient Greek listener would be likely to wonder how Antinous and the other suitors expect to rule a kingdom if they cannot even control its queen.

Looking though at the Odyssey as a product of the Mycenaean Greek of Greek history, I suspect that this unflattering interpretation developed latter in the proto-Classical period. Personally I doubt that the people from whom the stories that later became the Iliad and the Odyssey originated shared the disparaging attitudes toward women that their cultural descendants did. Penelope is a woman one can and should respect and admire. Again, like the men in her family, she too is a hero and hence a cut above other people. She is in every way Odysseus’ equal and the suitors’ superior.

Related articles

• Concluding Thoughts/ Connection to The Odyssey (apreads.wordpress.com)

Link to a course

My beloved wife saw an announcement of an on-line course about Greek heroes and thought it might be of interest to readers here. I agree.

As for what’s happening with the blog, I’m hoping to get back to it soon. Both work and family issues are overwhelming my time still.

Notice to readers

As many will have noted, I have not contributed to this blog in some while. By intention, I have not abandoned this blog but my personal life leaves little time for blogging at the moment. I do hope to return to the blog when I can in future though.

The Odyssey Book 2: lines 85-95

Image via Wikipedia

Since Telemachus has just given his speech swaying the people, now Antinous chooses to address his fellow suitors instead.

Before getting to the speech itself, one should realize just how this tactic wold appear to the ancient Greek audience. Especially right after the episode of Telemachus acting like an adult and indeed a hero (literally and figuratively) the marked contrast between the behavior of Telemachus and Antinous suggests that the former was a boy acting like a man and the latter is a man acting like a child. Antinous makes no attempt to address the people, which even if he failed would be respectable conduct. Instead he ironically speaks of Telemachus’ words dishonoring the suitors– rather than their own behavior.

The speech also contains a good bit of humorous elements. For example, the root meaning of the verb αἰσχύνω which is used within a genitive absolute here to mean dishonor is to disfigure or make ugly. The usage is reminiscent of the idiomatic use of words καλός for good and κακός for bad in ancient Greek which literally mean beautiful and ugly, although those meanings are lost in modern Greek. Yet the scene does also connote Antinous complaining that he and his fellow suitors have been made to look ugly in front of Penelope; thus the ancient Greek audience would react to this speech much as the modern audience might view the scene if Antinous were talking about having a bad hair day.

The rest of the speech spells out the greed and selfishness (not to mention sheer gluttony) which motivates the suitors. Here again we have the contrast of Telemachus’ noble motives. If Telemachus has been set up as the hero, Antinous has been set up as the villain.

The Odyssey: Book 2 lines 80-84

Image via Wikipedia

We see now the reaction of the people to Telemachus‘ speech. If one views the story of Telemachus within the Odyssey as a narrative, it is very much a coming of age story. Namely, Telemachus in Book 1 is a boy. In Book 2, he begins to think and act (according to Greek cultural notions) as a man, i.e., as an adult member of his society and specifically as an adult of his social status as a member of the royal family. Yet Telemachus cannot be just any ordinary adult male Greek; he must be a hero– a man who shapes events in a nearly godlike manner, given the Greek conception of a god (as discussed in the introduction to this blog).

A modern reader might miss the significance in this narrative of Telemachus swaying the people of Ithaca through his oratory. Yet in ancient Greek society, the means of power is ultimately persuasion of the people λαός. A hero was fundamentally a ruler. These short few lines show for the first time Telemachus acting as a hero, a leader of men. He’ll need od more to cement that status, but what we see here is the beginning.

Related articles

• In Defense of Plato (thephilosophyofscience.wordpress.com)

The Odyssey: Book 2 lines 40-79

I have for various reasons been away from blogging for a while. Yet after a long hiatus, I am continuing.

NowTelemachus addresses the assembly. He initially addresses himself to Aegyptius, the old warrior who called the assembly together. One should note that the word γέρων, meaning literally old man, as a form of address (since it is in the vocative case) is not disrespectful as it would be in English; on the contrary it was seen as very respectful.

Immediately Telemachus launches into the heart of the matter. Namely he proclaims that he intends to bring back his father Odysseus and specifically to bring him back to rule over Ithaca (and thus the assembled people) as king. One must always bear in mind that the suitors‘ bid for Penelope is first and foremost a political rebellion by the suitors and an attempt by those suitors to usurp the kingship while cloaking it with a level of legitimacy. After all, anyone married to Penelope would thereby become part of the royal family.

The more cynically inclined may point out that Telemachus, by championing his father’s cause, was also in effect championing his own. After all, any suitor who became king would inevitably oust the former heir apparent. Yet in the minds of the Greek audience, Telemachus was advocating a policy of legitimacy in government. That he would also personally benefit was beside the point because no one would promote a policy which did not in some way serve his own interests. The assembly serves to reaffirm the legitimacy of Odysseus’ kingship because already in the minds of the Greek audience at this stage of their history legitimate power derives from the collective will of the polis– who are after all assembled as a body.

We the audience also see here Telemachus exercising one one the qualities of a leader, according to ancient Greek expectations; he is using rhetoric to sway the people in his favor. Thus, Telemachus by championing legitimate royal authority and using accepted and recognized proper means to do so is also building his credentials as a hero and a leader– a man worthy to be heir to the throne of Ithaca.

With use of words like ἄριστοι, which means literally the best, from which our word aristocracy derives, Telemachus is pointing up the lack of legitimacy of the suitors. This speech is tantamount to an open declaration of war against the suitors and it is taken as such.

A short note

I’m a bit preoccupied today to do a proper blog-post lest it not be to my usual standards. Nevertheless I wanted to take the opportunity to mention that I am also in the process of adding pages to this blog which can be used for reference for the various languages in which works I discuss, now and in future, have been written.

More pages should be appearing in future, but for now one can browse the reference materials as they are added. Just mouse over philological synopses on this or any other page of this blog.