A key theme of the Odyssey is that of a fantastic journey. Still, the epic portrays more than just exciting adventures. Odysseus faced challenges throughout his journey. Women that he met tempted him to stay with them and abandon his wife, Penelope. Also, Odysseus had to fight against the lure of staying where life was easy and luxurious. If he had given in to the lure of luxury, he never would have completed his journey home to his wife and family. Thus, his odyssey became a journey of personal growth.
In this epic, Homer drew a parallel between the Odyssey and all of life. Humans face challenges throughout their lifetimes. Evil and good exist alongside of each other. People can make mistakes and yet be forgiven. They can learn from their errors. Hence, the Odyssey is not just a myth of entertainment. It is an epic for education.
The Odyssey particularly influenced Irish writer James Joyce (1882–1941). In several handwritten notebooks, Joyce patterned his novel Ulysses after the Odyssey. He created several characters who parallel those of Homer’s epic. He also used similar themes, such as a son’s search for his father and the interference of the gods in the lives of the characters. His novel, however, is set in Ireland in the early 1900s.
In the Odyssey, Odysseus retold his adventures at a banquet at the court of King Alcinoüs, ruler of the kindly Phaeacians. Odysseus had washed ashore on their island. One of the first tales Odysseus told the Phaeacians was about the Lotus-Eaters.
The Lotus-Eaters
After the Greeks won the Trojan War, they celebrated wildly. Unfortunately, they forgot that the gods expected honor and praise for their part in the victory. As the Greeks celebrated, they dragged Cassandra, a priestess of Athena, out of her temple. Athena was furious at the disrespect the Greeks showed to her priestess. She convinced Poseidon to cause terrible storms to destroy the Greek ships as they sailed for home. Agamemnon lost almost all of his ships, while storms forced Menelaus all the way to Egypt.
Odysseus did not die, but his voyage was long and dangerous. Before he left for Troy, Odysseus had known that it would be twenty years before he would return home to the island of Ithaca. The war would last ten years, while his return voyage would take another ten years. At times, Odysseus wondered whether he would ever see his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus, again.
Odysseus and the crewmen of his twelve ships started their voyage home, but they hoped to capture more treasure on the way. Then without warning, Zeus, who commanded the storm clouds, hit the ships with a howling gale that tore the sails to rags. Mightily, the sailors rowed to the nearest shoreline, where they rested for two days and two nights. But when the ships set out anew, the raging winds blew again for nine more days. The winds drove the ships far off course to an unknown, foreign land. The sailors beached the ships and charged ashore, desperate for food and water.
“Eat and drink now, men, for we do not know what we shall face in this land,” said Odysseus. Always curious, Odysseus sent three men ahead to scout out their surroundings. “Search out this land and find out who might live here. When you have learned any helpful information, one of you should come back and report to me.”
The scouts soon came to a small hut where they found several men lounging around a basket of fragrant fruit. “Greetings, sailors, welcome to the land of the Lotus-Eaters. Try some of our lotus,” said one of the men, with a friendly, dreamy smile.
“I have never seen fruit like this,” said one of the sailors. “What does it taste like?”
“It is sweet like honey,” answered the Lotus-Eaters. “There is nothing like it anywhere.”
At first, the sailors took small bites, but they were hungry after sailing for so many days in stormy weather. Soon, they snatched at every lotus fruit they could reach. Honey-sweet juices flowed down their chins. As the men ate, they fell in love with the land of the Lotus-Eaters, for whoever ate a lotus lost all memory of his past life and never wanted to return home again.
After several hours, Odysseus realized that something was wrong. Fearing that his soldiers might have been killed, he gathered a search party. Quickly, the search party set off through the woods. They soon found their comrades, eating lotus and smiling dreamy smiles. One of the happy sailors handed a fruit to Odysseus. “Try a lotus. They are the most wonderful fruit on earth!”
Odysseus refused the fruit. “Come, men,” he said. “It is time to resume our journey to our home and our families.”
The three sailors looked confused. “Home? Families? Who would want to live anywhere other than this island?”
Odysseus wondered what had caused his sailors’ forgetfulness. He reached down and picked up one of the lotus fruits. As soon as he sniffed it, he immediately felt a wave of forgetfulness. Fearing that he, too, would lose all desire to journey home, Odysseus quickly dropped the lotus fruit. “Tie up these three men,” Odysseus commanded his search party. “Make haste to return to our ships. We cannot take a chance on any more of our crew eating the lotus fruit.”
The search party grabbed hold of the scouting party, and the three scouts began to weep. They were having such a wonderful time eating the lotus that they had no desire at all to return to their ships.
“Haul them to the rowing benches,” Odysseus ordered his search party. “Lash them fast so that they cannot escape.”
All the remaining sailors jumped aboard at once. They grabbed their oars and churned up the water to white foam with stroke after stroke of the oars.
“Quickly, men, we have no time to lose!” Odysseus urged them on. “That’s the way. We must make haste to leave the land of the Lotus-Eaters far behind us.”
Little did Odysseus know that another adventure awaited him.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: What did the Greeks do after winning the Trojan War?
A: They celebrated wildly, dragging Cassandra, a priestess of Athena, out of Athena’s temple.
Q: How did Athena punish the Greeks for their treatment of Cassandra?
A: She convinced Poseidon to cause terrible storms that destroyed or knocked off course the ships of the Greeks.
Q: How long was Odysseus gone from his home?
A: He fought in the Trojan War for ten years and his journey home took another ten years.
Q: When Odysseus and his crewmen started their voyage home, what did Zeus do?
A: He caused winds to blow them off course.
Q: What did Odysseus do when he and his men first landed on the island of the Lotus-Eaters?
A: He sent out a scouting party of three men.
Q: What happened to these men?
A: They ate the lotus fruit, which made them lose memory of their past lives and instead want to remain on the island.
Q: What did Odysseus do when his scouting party did not return?
A: He and a search party found them, sitting and eating lotus. Odysseus and his search party dragged the missing men back to the ships.
Q: How did the scouting party react when they could no longer eat the lotus?
A: They wept, because they had no desire to return to their ships.
EXPERT COMMENTARY
According to Professor Barry B. Powell:
The figure of Odysseus, the Roman Ulysses, has always fascinated the imagination of the West. Although many meanings have been given to him, he is always cast in one of two categories: either glorified as the seeker of truth, the restless clever intelligence penetrating the secrets of the world, or damned as the treacherous deceiver, the exalter of intellect above the demands of the heart. Homer’s Odysseus belongs to the first category, but the anti-Odysseus tradition appears as early as Sophocles’ Philoctetes (409 B.C.) and is then refined by Euripides, Virgil, and others.3
Powell noted that the Romans held a particularly negative view of Odysseus:
The Romans especially developed the tradition hostile to Odysseus because they claimed Aeneas, a Trojan, as their founder. In his Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) follows this tradition, for he saw legitimate political power in his o
wn world as descending from the Roman state. Dante’s is the first important portrayal of Odysseus in a nonclassical language.4
The positive viewpoint of Odysseus did not resurface until the nineteenth century:
The pro-Odysseus tradition reappears in Ulysses of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1902), the most famous English poet of the Victorian age, who glorifies the very qualities Dante condemns. The poem is set on Ithaca. Ulysses has grown old, but is determined to leave home again in pursuit of fresh adventure.... 5
To Homer and the Greeks, Odysseus was a real character in a real world. An important part of both of Homer’s epics is plot and character:
Homer realized the need for a plot in a story describing a struggle that has a beginning, middle, and end. As far as we know, the device of a plot was Homer’s invention: subsequent long poems, drama, novels, and feature films are indebted to him.... Homer is also the inventor of character (“imprint”) in literature, although his methods of portraying character are different from a modern novelist’s. He never describes to us the inner life of his characters, but places them directly in the midst of events where they speak and act. He gives the sense that we are witnessing the lives of real men and women living in a real, though stylized, world.6
6
THE CYCLOPS
INTRODUCTION
After leaving the land of the Lotus-Eaters, Odysseus and his men set out to sea again. They came to an island where the Cyclops named Polyphemus lived. Cyclops means “round-eye” and refers to the terrible single eye that the monster had in the center of his forehead. Polyphemus, whose name means “much-renowned,” was the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea. Polyphemus was a simple shepherd who lived in a dark cave with his sheep. He and the other Cyclopes who lived on the island did not have any form of organized government, nor were they intelligent.
Polyphemus represented one of Odysseus’ worst enemies. He stood for everything that the Achaean civilization despised. He showed no respect for the gods and was not hospitable to strangers. In fact, he ate human flesh. He drank too much wine. He did not even get along with his fellow Cyclopes. Polyphemus symbolized the savagery that can take over all men who do not live in a civilized society.
Gigantic creatures like Polyphemus are commonly found in mythology. The Norse frost giant Ymir is such a monster. Because of their sheer size, these creatures are frightening. But they are often portrayed as stupid and easy to outwit, as was Polyphemus.
Legend has it that the cave of Polyphemus is in eastern Sicily, where there are seven rocks called the “Scogli de Cyclopi” in Italian.1 They represent the rocks which Polyphemus threw at Odysseus after the hero escaped in his ship.
An important theme of the Odyssey is Odysseus’ victory over death, which threatened him on so many occasions. In this story, Polyphemus’ cave represented darkness and death.2 The number of men in his crew, twelve sailors and himself, totaled the unlucky number thirteen. Water also presented a threat of death in the person of the sea god, Poseidon, who sought revenge against Odysseus for his treatment of Polyphemus.
The Cyclops
After the adventure in the land of the Lotus-Eaters, Odysseus unknowingly sailed his ships to an island where an even more terrible fate awaited his sailors. Odysseus went ashore with a dozen of his finest fighters, carrying a skin full of wine. He left the rest of the crew to guard his ship.
Odysseus soon discovered a cave with a gigantic stone rolled to one side of the entrance. “Come, comrades, let us explore this cavern. Perhaps we will find rich treasure hidden inside.”
Quickly, the men strode through the rough entrance. Large, flat racks stored stacks of cheeses. Pails brimming with sheep’s milk stood nearby. Lambs bleated in their corrals.
“Well, I had in mind treasures of gold and jewels to fill our ships. But treasures of rich food will stand us well on our journey,” said Odysseus. He and his men offered the best of the cheeses in thanks to the gods, and then began to eat.
Just then, in stomped the shepherd who owned the cave, herding his sheep before him. High overhead, he hoisted a massive slab of rock and wedged it in front of the door to his cave. This was no ordinary shepherd—it was the Cyclops Polyphemus, a gigantic one-eyed monster, son of Poseidon, god of the sea. Polyphemus was terrible to look at, with straggling hair, a wild beard, and a single, bulging eye.
“Strangers!” the monster roared. “Where have you sailed from? Why do you steal my food?”
Even mighty Odysseus found himself trembling in fear at the sight of the monster, but he gathered courage and answered. “We are men of Achaea, bound for home after our victory at Troy. Warring winds drove us far off course. Please welcome us as guests, as Zeus commands.”
“You must think me a fool,” retorted Polyphemus. “I never trouble myself over what the gods want. I have no fear of Zeus.” Then he reached down and grabbed two of Odysseus’ men and swallowed them. After a few bites, he washed down his feast with some sheep’s milk. Giving a mighty yawn, Polyphemus staggered over to the corner of the cave, wrapped himself in a sheepskin blanket, and fell asleep.
Odysseus whispered to his remaining men, “I am tempted to stab the creature in the heart with my sword. But if I do, we will be trapped in this cave. Although we are strong, we cannot roll away the vast stone from the door.”
When morning came, the Cyclops ate two more of Odysseus’ men. Then, he drove his sheep out of the cave and easily slipped the gigantic door-slab back in place.
As soon as the Cyclops was gone, Odysseus revealed a clever plan to escape the monster. Odysseus found the giant’s olive-wood club lying beside the sheep pens. He chopped off a length and sharpened the tip to a stabbing point. He charred the point in the fire to make sure that it was hard. Then, he hid the stick and awaited the monster’s return.
With a mighty thump, the stone was rolled away from the cave’s doorway. “Where are those tasty morsels of men?” said the Cyclops, looking from side to side with his terrible eye. Odysseus’ men tried to hide, but Polyphemus reached down and grabbed two more sailors.
Odysseus found a wooden bowl in the depths of the cave, and filled it with wine that he had brought from his ship. “Please accept my gift and think kindly of us, for we are at your mercy. This is wine, a drink as sweet as ambrosia, the food of the gods. It tastes far better than sheep’s milk,” said Odysseus.
The monster seized the bowl of wine and swallowed every last drop. Odysseus poured him three more bowls, and he drank them down. The Cyclops had never before sampled wine, and he soon became drunk. “Yes, I will offer you a guest gift,” he burped. “What is your name?”
Odysseus answered, “My name is Nobody.”
“Well, Nobody,” laughed Polyphemus, “my gift to you is that I will eat you last.” With that, he fell over backward in a drunken sleep.
Quickly, Odysseus and his men carried their sharpened stick over to the giant’s fire and stuck the pointed end into the flames. Then they plunged the red-hot stick into the monster’s terrible single eye, twisting and turning it, back and forth, until they blinded the Cyclops.
The monster let loose a terrible roar that echoed off the cavern walls. He yanked the stick from his eye and blood gushed out. Crying out in pain, he tossed the stick aside. He called to his neighboring Cyclopes for help.
“What is the matter, Polyphemus?” they asked. “You have awakened all of us in the middle of the night. Who is bothering you?”
“Nobody is trying to kill me,” answered Polyphemus.
“If you are by yourself and nobody is trying to harm you, then Zeus must have sent a deadly disease to plague you,” said the Cyclopes. “You should pray to your father, Poseidon, for help.” With that, the other Cyclopes lumbered off.
Then, Odysseus told his remaining men of a plan that would save them from the monster. “In the morning, before Polyphemus lets his sheep out to graze, we will tie ourselves under the bellies of the sheep. With his blinded eye, the Cyclops will not be able to see us.”<
br />
When the new day dawned, Polyphemus opened his cave door to allow his sheep out to pasture. As the animals went out the cave door, the blinded Cyclops felt around for the men who had caused him such a terrible injury. But all he could feel were the backs of the sheep.
When the sheep reached the meadows where they grazed, Odysseus and his men let go of the woolly animals. They dashed to their boat, taking some of the sheep with them. With everyone safely on board, the ship quickly put out to sea. Odysseus called out in a loud voice, “It was no weak coward you had trapped in your cave. It was I, Odysseus, who tricked you, Polyphemus!”
Rage boiled over inside the Cyclops. He tore off the top of a mountain and heaved it so hard that it landed in front of Odysseus’ ship. A huge wave arose and nearly knocked Odysseus and his men off their boat. But the sailors rowed hard, and the ship escaped.
Polyphemus was so furious that he bellowed out to his father, Poseidon. “Hear me, father, lord of the seas. Grant that Odysseus will never reach home. Or at least make it that he arrives home late, a broken man. Let him find a world of pain at home.”
The god of the sea honored the prayer of Polyphemus, promising that Odysseus would not reach his home in Ithaca again for ten years and that he would lose all of his men on his journey.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: Describe Polyphemus.
A: He was a gigantic, one-eyed monster with straggling hair and a wild beard.
Q: To which god was Polyphemus related?
A: His father was Poseidon, god of the sea.
Q: When Polyphemus found Odysseus and his men inside his cave, what did he do?
A: He ate two of the men and rolled a large stone in front of the cave’s door, trapping Odysseus and the rest of his crew inside.
Mythology of the Iliad and the Odyssey Page 6
