HADES: In Greek mythology, Hades (the god) was lord of Hades (the place), a murky, indistinct landscape where the souls of the deceased lost their substance over time. With the advent of Christianity, Hades (the god) became identified with Lucifer, or Satan, the first of the fallen angels, who presides over Hell. Likewise, Hades (the place) became identified with Hell (Dante’s Inferno), the place of eternal punishment for the damned.
HARPY: A winged deity, notoriously filthy and horrible to look at, part bird and part human. The name means “snatcher” in Greek. Harpies are closely related to Sirens, though of a lower order.
HELEN: Said to be the daughter of Zeus himself, Helen was the most beautiful woman who ever lived. Her seduction by Paris was the cause of the entire Trojan War.
HELL: See HADES.
HOMER: The eighth-century-B.C. author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Alexander Pope wrote of him that “Homer is universally allowed to have had the greatest invention of any writer whatever.” Popular legend held (and still holds) that Homer was blind. He was almost certainly illiterate and thus composed both poems orally, reciting what he knew from memory.
HORNED DEVILS: The common representation of devils with horns, tails, and whips originated in canto 18 of Dante’s Inferno, where the panderers and seducers are tormented. Dante names these vicious devils the frustratori.
IGNATIUS: Latin for “fiery”.
IGNOTUS: Latin for “unknown”.
ITHACA: The homeland of Odysseus; a small island on the west coast of Greece.
KLEOS: Literally, “what people hear of you”. Kleos is the Greek word for “fame”, though it can also be translated as “renown”, “honor”, or “glory”. For the Homeric Greek, one’s sense of self-worth was entirely dependent on what others said of him.
LAERTES: The father of Odysseus.
LOTUS EATERS: Described in Homer’s Odyssey, these people inhabited an island off the coast of Africa, drugging themselves (and their guests) on lotus blossoms.
MALEBRANCHE: The name means “evil claws”. These devils appear as a sort of comic relief at the eighth level of Dante’s Inferno, where they guard the barrators and grafters. Malicious, clever, and violent, the Malebranche delight in vulgarity, imitating all the worst habits of humans, whom they envy for their physical nature.
MEDUSA: See GORGON. Another creature appropriated by Dante from Greek mythology, the Medusa was the only mortal Gorgon.
MENELAOS: An Achaean lord; the husband of Helen and younger brother of Agamemnon.
MINOTAUR: Half man and half bull, the Minotaur is known from Greek legend as the monster that inhabited King Minos’ maze. Dante, however, confuses the king with the creature, and assigns him the task of greeting condemned souls at the entrance to Hell. The Minotaur appears again just outside the Centaurs’ camp.
ODYSSEUS: The “man of twists and turns”, Odysseus was the chief strategist of the Achaean army though held in some suspicion by his peers. He was rarely seen on the front line but fought bravely when his turn came. It was his idea that all the Achaean lords should take vows to protect Helen. This led directly to the Trojan War, which Odysseus tried to avoid by feigning insanity. It was also his idea to build the infamous Trojan horse, which won the war for the Greeks. His name also means “man who brings suffering”.
O MOI EGO!: Greek expletive. O i moi! and Aimi! are variants. Literally, “O me, myself!”, though “Oh gosh!”, “Oh Hell!”, “Oh my!”, or even “Wow!” would serve as an English equivalent.
ORTHOS: See GERYON.
OUTIS: Odysseus’ nickname. It is also the Greek word for “nobody”.
O ZEO!: Greek expletive. Literally, “O Zeus!”, though “O God!” is the closest modern equivalent.
PARTHENOS: “Virgin”; another name for Athena. Early Christians equated the cult of Athena with the cultus of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
PENELOPE: The wife of Odysseus; famous for her intelligence, beauty, and faithfulness.
PRIAM: The old king of Troy; father of Hector and Paris.
PROTEUS: The shape-shifting “Old Man of the Sea”. A son of Oceanus himself, Proteus was notable for his many wives and his prophetic powers.
SIREN: Although similar in form to the Harpy (half woman, half bird), the Siren is of a higher order of deity. According to Greek legend, there were three Sirens whose singing lured sailors to their deaths.
STORM SHIELD: See AEGIS.
SUICIDE: Although in Dante’s day, suicides could not receive a Christian burial, the Church today recognizes that self-murder is almost always accompanied by mental and emotional disorders, which limit the freedom—and therefore the subjective guilt—of the sinner.
TELEMACHOS: The son of Odysseus. His name means “far-shooter”.
TYDEUS: The father of Diomedes.
TIMĒ: The Greek concept of honor, though limited to a material sense. Greek warriors of the Bronze Age literally measured their timē in terms of cattle, slaves, treasures, and land. Thus, it was closely linked to one’s kleos, or honor. The ancient Greeks had no interior sense of honor—no “self-esteem” in the modern sense. Therefore, English has no direct equivalent of this term.
TI TO KAKON!: Greek expletive meaning “What a bad thing!”, though“What the Hell!” is closer to the original meaning.
VICE: From the Latin vitium, meaning “fault, defect, or blemish”. Like virtues, the vices (e.g., greed, wrath, lust, gluttony, avarice) are dispositions of the soul that can be learned, cultivated, or lost.
VIRTUE: From the Latin virtus, meaning “manliness, valor, merit, or moral perfection”. The four cardinal virtues come from Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics. They are prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude. The three theological virtues come from the letters of Saint Paul. They are faith, hope, and love. According to Thomas Aquinas, the three theological virtues were infused in man by God, but the cardinal virtues come naturally to man and may be learned. All virtues constitute a learned predisposition to the good—a good habit, so to speak. They must be practiced so as to be perfected in the soul.
“VIVIT! VIVIT! ECCE, AMICI! VENITE! HOMO VIVANS!” Translation: “He’s alive! He’s alive! Come here, guys! It’s a living man!”
NOTES
I’VE HIDDEN DOZENS of allusions and quotations in this story as Easter eggs for my students or other interested readers. Most of these are from authors who predate the twentieth century (Homer, Virgil, Spenser, Dante, Cervantes, Milton, Shakespeare, etc.), but a few are drawn from modern literature.
A Disclaimer
God’s grace reaches all people is a direct quote from The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die without Being Baptized, International Theological Commission, 2007, no. 81. (If you do the math, you will notice that Odysseus actually begins his escape from Hell on this date.)
BOOK I
Chapter 1
Out of the Depths is from the first line of Psalm 130.
Gentle Virgin is the way Odysseus addresses the lady he thinks is the virgin goddess Athena, who often came to his aid in The Iliad and The Odyssey. It is also a title of Mary, the mother of Jesus, as in the ninth-century hymn “Ave Maris Stella”.
Here I am. . . . Choose me. See Isaiah 6:8, where the prophet receives his call.
Jesus uses an expression similar to gentle as a dove and shrewd as a snake in Matthew 10:16.
Let mercy triumph over justice. See James 2:13.
The Authority is the title of God in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy.
When Odysseus hears He of the four-letter name, he thinks of Zeus, but the mysterious “goddess” is recalling the tetragrammaton YHWH, the unspeakable name of God in the Old Testament.
Chapter 2
Like the hero of Edmund Spenser’s Fairie Queene, Diomedes and Odysseus wear armor marked by a red cross (tau).
The phrase scrape of pike on pike turns up periodically in Robert Fagles’ translation of The Iliad.
Homer’s phrase with locked shields is anachronistic for it ref
ers to the phalanx, which wasn’t used in Greece until the eighth century B.C., about four hundred years after the Trojan War.
Call no man happy. This aphorism is attributed to the Athenian statesman Solon by the fifth-century Greek historian Herodotus. A Russian version of the same dictum can be found in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Oak and the Calf.
Come back with your shield, or come back on it. According to the first-century historian Plutarch, Spartan women said this to their husbands when they left for battle.
But the spear went in between his eyes, broke his teeth, and cut off his tongue at the root. See The Iliad, book 5.
Achilles calls Agamemnon dog-face in book 1 of The Iliad.
The magnificent helm matches Agamemnon’s helmet in The Iliad, book 11.
Behold the man are the words of Pontius Pilate in John 19:5.
She’s a god. She makes the rules. It took the Greeks a long time to arrive at the notion of a universal set of moral laws. Socrates was the first to start thinking in these terms.
Chapter 3
In book 10 of The Iliad, Dolon is a Trojan spy captured by Odysseus and Diomedes. Hoping to save his life, Dolon reveals Trojan secrets, but Diomedes kills him anyway.
According to Greek legend, Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, had to be sacrificed before the Greeks could set sail for Troy.
Virgil’s Aeneid, book 2, tells the story of Diomedes and Odysseus stealing the Palladium (an ancient wooden image of Pallas Athena), which was protecting the city of Troy.
You remember the bag of winds? In book 10 of The Odyssey, the wizard king Aeolus bound up the four winds in a bag, which he gave to Odysseus; but the bag was opened prematurely, and the winds blew him far off course.
The pelican is an ancient Christian symbol for Jesus. It was thought to pierce its own breast with its beak in order to feed its young.
The seven arrows represent the seven virtues. In the Purgatorio, Dante describes the virtues as seven dancing girls: Faith dressed in white, Hope dressed in green, Love dressed in red, and the four cardinal virtues dressed in purple.
It was like reading . . . in a dream. The giant’s face can be seen only when one is not looking directly at him. This imagery is from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass.
C. S. Lewis’ Narnian characters address male human beings as Sons of Adam.
Despair and die! is from Shakespeare’s Richard III, act 5, scene 3.
Chapter 4
The guest-friend event is from book 6 of The Iliad and exemplifies the importance to Bronze Age Greeks of xenia (guest-friendship).
It’s a vacuum. Odysseus unwittingly sums up Saint Augustine’s theology of Original Sin.
I remember once. Homer’s account of this fight is in book 11 of The Iliad.
A live dog is better than a dead lion. See Ecclesiastes 9:4.
Chapter 6
The giant raised both hands over his head. This gesture is from Tom Wolfe, who uses the ball-over-the-head image repeatedly in Bonfire of the Vanities and I Am Charlotte Simmons.
Chapter 7
A deeper magic is borrowed from C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
The only good is knowledge. The saying is attributed to Socrates by Diogenes Laertius in his Lives of Eminent Philosophers.
I come here after many trials. See The Odyssey, book 7, when Odysseus addresses Queen Arete.
He was a little fellow. See Tom Wolfe’s description of Detective Martin in Bonfire of the Vanities.
Majesty, shining among your people is similar to the way Odysseus addresses King Alcinous in book 6 of The Odyssey.
Chapter 10
A pear tree also plays a significant role in book 2 of Saint Augustine’s Confessions.
Then I told him. Dante’s version of Odysseus’ death has him shipwrecked at the edge of the world.
Chapter 12
Do not search for the answers which could not be given to you now. Much of Homer’s advice is drawn from Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet.
Chapter 13
You who come to this sanctuary of pain, beware! See Minos’ discouraging words in canto 5 of Dante’s Inferno, as translated by Anthony Esolen.
Chapter 14
Every man saw something different in her. In The Iliad, Homer never describes Helen in much detail. Most critics agree that this is on purpose.
Why do you keep company with those dogs? Odysseus says something very similar in book 11 of The Odyssey, when he encounters Achilles in the underworld.
Chapter 16
Like the dragon in Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene, demons and other foul creatures in Hell bleed black blood.
Chapter 19
A Light in the Darkness is taken from Psalm 112:4. See also Isaiah 9:2.
BOOK II
Chapter 1
Memories, Dreams, Regrets echoes the title of Karl Jung’s psychological autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections.
I sing of arms and the man. These verses mimic the beginning of Virgil’s Aeneid.
Sing, heavenly Muse. These verses are like the opening lines of Milton’s Paradise Lost.
One realm lies behind him. These verses recall the ring’s inscription read by Gandalf in book I, chapter 2, of The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien.
In W.B. Yeats’ translation of Oedipus Rex, the hero’s wife (and mother) rebukes him for seeking his roots: “Alas, alas, miserable man!”
The simile face like a strained flag is drawn directly from William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily.
Chapter 2
Gates of Fire is the title of Steven Pressfield’s historical novel about Thermopylae.
Have you been with me this long? Compare with the question Jesus asks in John 14:9.
The testudo (tortoise) was a military formation invented by the Romans.
A pi, an upsilon, two lambdas . . . a mu begin to spell out “Pullman”. As Mr. Pullman gave me the idea for this book, I felt he should make an appearance. I figured he would be most comfortable among the heretics.
Chapter 4
Who is that? The Centaur Nessos makes the same threat in Inferno, canto 12.
Scratching his beard with an arrow is Dante’s own depiction of the Centaur.
Diomedes did not sack seven cities, but was one of seven who sacked a single city: Thebes.
Chapter 5
He was dressed in light. In Christian iconography, the archangel Gabriel is often depicted in this manner.
The earthquake describes the harrowing of Hell by Christ.
He calmed his anger. Forgot his rage. See Psalm 37.
Chapter 9
Like a green log in a fire matches the description of a tree in canto 13 of Inferno.
Chapter 10
He took an arrow to the forehead once. An exceedingly thick skull and slow speech are symptoms of acromegaly, also known as gigantism.
Chapter 13
Wine-dark sky echoes Homer’s famous “wine-dark sea”.
He had a bluish, cadaverous face. Proteus’ physical appearance and mannerisms are drawn from Charles Dickens’ description of Uriah Heep, the villain of David Copperfield.
BOOK III
Chapter 1
Odysseus and friends make their way to the third realm the same way Dante and Virgil do in canto 17 of Inferno—on the back of Geryon.
Cyclopean is a style of Bronze Age Greek architecture that fits enormous limestone rocks together without mortar.
Chapter 2
The Laestrygonians were a tribe of cannibal giants in book 10 of The Odyssey.
Tooth-licker is the literal translation of the Greek word for toothpick (οδοντογλυφίδα).
Chapter 3
Ancient Greeks used tar to waterproof their black-hulled ships.
The brilliant idea refers to the system of bidirectional traffic invented in Dante’s lifetime by Pope Boniface VIII, which is probably why Dante makes such a big deal of it in Inferno.
Chapter 6
Two Paths Diverge is from the first line of Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken”.
Chapter 9
Raphèl mai amècche zabi almi! The giant’s rant comes directly from Inferno, canto 31. No one knows what it means.
Chapter 11
I would have expected you to be taller. This line is from Tom Holt’s fantasy novel Expecting Someone Taller, a humorous sequel to Richard Wagner’s opera The Ring of the Nibelung.
Chapter 13
Ask me anything . . . up to half my kingdom. This extravagant offer is made twice in the Bible: Esther 5:3 and Mark 6:23. In each case, it is an empty pledge, for everything belongs to God—even Hell.
All you must do is worship me. Satan’s words to Jesus in Matthew 4:9.
Ask, and you shall receive. See Matthew 7:7. Even the devil can quote Scripture for his purpose.
Surely you would rather rule in Hades. See book 1 of John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
Chapter 15
Odysseus identifies himself by the epithet Father of in The Iliad. He is the only Homeric hero who does so.
I lunged under and up. The battle tactic is common in The Iliad, due to the gap in the armor.
Chapter 18
Doubt clutched their hearts. See book 6, chapter 4, of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King.
Chapter 20
Then I strapped my grieves. Every major fight in The Iliad begins with an arming scene.
The smile faded . . . like breath off a razor is from Mark Twain’s short story “Jim Baker’s Bluejay Yarn”.
You are a worm, not a man. See Psalm 22:6.
Epilogue
Down, down, down. See Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, chapter 1.
Like windows into heaven—the stars. Dante’s Inferno also ends with the narrator gazing up at the stars.
More from Ignatius Press
The Death of a Pope by Piers Paul Read
The Flying Inn by G. K. Chesterton
You May Also Be Interested In . . .
The Spear by Louis de Wohl
Terrapin by T. M. Doran
The Eighth Arrow Page 34
