WEBVTT - The Odyssey: Ithaca 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:13.000 Welcome to the Hillsdale College Online Courses podcast. I'm Jeremiah Regan. 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:16.279 And I'm Juan Davalos. We are on to a new 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:19.360 course today, The Odyssey. We're going to be covering lecture 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:23.240 one today, Ithaca. And I'm going to start by making 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:27.680 a confession here, which is that unlike Jeremiah, I know 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:32.600 very little about Homer's Odyssey for now. That's right. So 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:36.280 I am going to be actually just a student of 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:38.760 this course, and I'm really excited about it because it's 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:43.080 one of those things that I've always wanted to dive into. 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:47.360 And I started obviously watching with lecture one, and I'm 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.800 really excited because it's a beautiful course and Jeremiah can 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:52.240 tell us a little bit more about it. 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:55.720 The Odyssey is an epic poem that was, we would 0:00:55.720 --> 0:01:00.000 say authored, but really because it was transmitted verbally, was 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:03.720 created by the poet Homer, who was also the author 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:07.160 of The Iliad. And the Odyssey takes place after the Iliad. 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.920 The Iliad is mostly about the last few days of 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:12.200 the Trojan War. It's about the rage of Achilles and 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:17.600 the will of Zeus. The Odyssey is named after its protagonist, Odysseus, 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:21.039 and Odyssey, in our modern parlance, has come to mean 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:24.440 like a long journey. And that's because that's what Odysseus 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:28.240 undertakes in The Odyssey. He's been in Troy, fighting the 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:31.600 Trojan War for ten years. It takes him ten more 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:35.400 years to journey home through many twists and turns, through 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:38.720 many travails and temptations. But he makes his way back 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:41.399 to his home, where he is a king and will 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:44.160 have to re-establish his kingdom. 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:47.360 So I know that Doctor Whalen is going to go 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:51.160 into more detail on this, but why should we? Obviously, 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:53.240 this is a great story. It has survived the test 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:56.440 of time. But why should we care about a story 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:57.080 like this one? 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:01.070 It's for several reasons. One is that it's beautiful. Homer 0:02:01.070 --> 0:02:06.270 is an outstanding poet. He writes memorable nuggets, but also 0:02:06.510 --> 0:02:08.910 this is a very long extended poem. So he's the 0:02:08.910 --> 0:02:12.190 master of the short and the long. It's about ancient 0:02:12.190 --> 0:02:18.230 Greeks and Greek mythology. But Homer taps into the universal 0:02:18.270 --> 0:02:21.910 human condition, and he tells us something about all men 0:02:21.910 --> 0:02:25.150 at all times, the types of virtues and vices that 0:02:25.150 --> 0:02:28.750 men have, the temptations they face. So Odysseus, for example, 0:02:28.750 --> 0:02:32.150 does not have necessarily, though he is an accomplished warrior, 0:02:32.430 --> 0:02:37.070 the same martial skill as Achilles, the greatest warrior. Odysseus 0:02:37.070 --> 0:02:40.310 has other traits, though he's very cunning, prudent. That means 0:02:40.310 --> 0:02:43.990 he's able to look at circumstances and determine what actions 0:02:43.990 --> 0:02:47.470 will lead to the most good. But he's also a 0:02:47.510 --> 0:02:51.270 character who undergoes development and improvement. Throughout the course of 0:02:51.270 --> 0:02:54.989 the poem, we watch as he learns lessons about hubris 0:02:54.990 --> 0:02:59.790 or arrogance that he later Applies to great success. The 0:02:59.830 --> 0:03:04.270 hubris early in the poem causes many problems for him 0:03:04.270 --> 0:03:07.150 and his men. Later in the poem, he is more 0:03:07.150 --> 0:03:09.910 humble and he's wiser, and he's able to avoid the 0:03:09.910 --> 0:03:12.910 types of disasters that could befall him had he not 0:03:12.910 --> 0:03:16.669 learned his lesson. So it's a great historical work, and 0:03:16.669 --> 0:03:20.070 it's a great human work. It's as relevant today for 0:03:20.070 --> 0:03:23.030 human beings who are examining themselves as it was for 0:03:23.030 --> 0:03:27.470 the Greek listeners 2500 years or more ago. But on 0:03:27.470 --> 0:03:30.510 top of that, it's filled with colorful characters, adventures, all 0:03:30.510 --> 0:03:32.630 kinds of things that make a story great. 0:03:32.630 --> 0:03:36.030 If this is your first time jumping into this amazing story, 0:03:36.030 --> 0:03:41.990 I encourage you to go to hillsdale.edu/course and pick up 0:03:41.990 --> 0:03:47.670 a copy of the book. That's hillsdale.edu/course. At the top, 0:03:47.670 --> 0:03:50.390 you'll see the tab that says books, and you can 0:03:50.390 --> 0:03:53.830 buy a copy of The Odyssey. The translation is by 0:03:53.830 --> 0:03:57.580 Robert Fagles. That's Edu forward slash course. 0:03:57.620 --> 0:04:00.339 Now, let's turn to Professor Whalen with lecture one of 0:04:00.340 --> 0:04:01.900 the Odyssey. Ithaca. 0:04:07.540 --> 0:04:11.260 This is an epic poem from archaic Greece, composed perhaps 0:04:11.260 --> 0:04:15.020 around the year 750 BC, but set in a heroic 0:04:15.060 --> 0:04:18.850 age even more distant than that around maybe 1100 or 0:04:18.850 --> 0:04:21.980 1200 BC at the end of the late Bronze Age. 0:04:22.580 --> 0:04:25.180 We know nothing about the author of this poem. We 0:04:25.180 --> 0:04:28.700 call him Homer. Other than the tradition that he was blind, 0:04:29.020 --> 0:04:34.220 he was, though undoubtedly a master storyteller and poet. I 0:04:34.220 --> 0:04:36.700 want to dive into the poem. But first, a word 0:04:36.700 --> 0:04:40.860 of encouragement. Nothing I say can replace or stand as 0:04:40.860 --> 0:04:45.620 a substitute for the reading of Homer's Odyssey here at Hillsdale. 0:04:45.740 --> 0:04:48.860 We like our students to encounter the primary works, to 0:04:48.900 --> 0:04:51.900 read the great books. We don't want our students just 0:04:51.900 --> 0:04:54.940 to read about them or to just know about the story, 0:04:54.980 --> 0:04:58.140 but to actually hear Homer's voice. And in case you 0:04:58.140 --> 0:05:01.700 are intimidated by the thought of reading a nearly 3000 0:05:01.700 --> 0:05:05.180 year old poem, I want to encourage you. You will 0:05:05.180 --> 0:05:09.820 be surprised at how readable, accessible, and even downright delightful 0:05:09.820 --> 0:05:14.020 Homer's story is. We are working with Robert Fagles translation 0:05:14.020 --> 0:05:17.300 of The Odyssey, which is quite easy to understand and 0:05:17.300 --> 0:05:21.300 quite readable. It's gripping and striking in many ways. So 0:05:21.300 --> 0:05:25.700 don't be intimidated. Grab a copy, crack it open. You'll 0:05:25.700 --> 0:05:28.940 find it as readable as any contemporary novel, and it's 0:05:28.940 --> 0:05:33.460 one of the greatest works of Western literature. Hello, I'm 0:05:33.460 --> 0:05:37.140 Benedict Whalen, professor of English at Hillsdale College, and I'm 0:05:37.140 --> 0:05:39.620 delighted to have you join me as we read through 0:05:39.660 --> 0:05:45.420 Homer's The Odyssey. Book one of the Odyssey starts with 0:05:45.420 --> 0:05:48.660 these words sing to me of the man muse, the 0:05:48.660 --> 0:05:52.940 man of twists and turns, driven time and again off course. 0:05:53.260 --> 0:05:56.810 Once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy. Many 0:05:56.810 --> 0:05:59.969 cities of men. He saw and learned their minds many pains. 0:05:59.970 --> 0:06:03.450 He suffered. Heartsick on the open sea, fighting to save 0:06:03.450 --> 0:06:06.770 his life and bring his comrades home. But he could 0:06:06.770 --> 0:06:10.250 not save them from disaster. Hard as he strove, the 0:06:10.250 --> 0:06:14.210 recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all the blind fools. 0:06:14.570 --> 0:06:16.890 They devoured the cattle of the sun and the sun. 0:06:16.890 --> 0:06:20.570 God wiped from sight. The day of their return. Launch 0:06:20.610 --> 0:06:24.450 out on his story. Muse, daughter of Zeus. Start from 0:06:24.450 --> 0:06:29.330 where you will sing. For our time to buy. Now 0:06:29.529 --> 0:06:33.250 all the survivors, all who avoided headlong death. Were safe 0:06:33.250 --> 0:06:37.930 at home. Escaped the wars and waves. But one man alone. 0:06:38.370 --> 0:06:42.370 His heart set on his wife and his return. Calypso, 0:06:42.410 --> 0:06:46.250 the bewitching nymph, the lustrous goddess, held him back deep 0:06:46.250 --> 0:06:50.610 in her arching caverns, craving him for a husband. But then, 0:06:50.610 --> 0:06:53.929 when the wheeling seasons brought the year around, that year 0:06:54.050 --> 0:06:57.490 spun out by the gods when he should reach his home. Ithaca. 0:06:57.970 --> 0:07:00.290 Though not even there would he be free of trials, 0:07:00.290 --> 0:07:04.250 even among his loved ones. Then every God took pity. 0:07:04.570 --> 0:07:08.930 All except Poseidon. He raged on, seething against the great. 0:07:08.970 --> 0:07:13.330 Odysseus till he reached his native land. Now the first 0:07:13.330 --> 0:07:17.370 12 lines here are what we now call or describe 0:07:17.370 --> 0:07:20.530 as the epic invocation. It's the part at the beginning 0:07:20.530 --> 0:07:23.210 of a great epic poem where the poet raises a 0:07:23.210 --> 0:07:27.890 prayer to the goddess, the muse, for inspiration. This becomes 0:07:27.890 --> 0:07:31.930 a convention in epic literature, following Homer, Virgil, Dante and 0:07:31.930 --> 0:07:35.810 following epic poets all offer invocations in a similar style. 0:07:36.370 --> 0:07:40.650 The epic invocation also establishes the subject of the poem. Here, 0:07:40.850 --> 0:07:44.250 the man of twists and turns. Now, to know more 0:07:44.250 --> 0:07:46.570 about this man, we need to establish a little bit 0:07:46.570 --> 0:07:50.850 of our background. What was this Troy that Odysseus plundered? 0:07:51.530 --> 0:07:54.080 To learn more about Troy, We would need to turn 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:57.880 to Homer's earlier epic poem, The Iliad. That epic poem 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:02.000 is about a great war fought over a woman named Helen. Helen, 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.440 the daughter of Zeus, the chief of the gods, was 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:06.880 the most beautiful woman in the world. And when she 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:09.840 was young, all of the greatest men, princes and kings 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:13.160 of Greece, came courting her as they were trying to 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:16.080 win her hand. They made an agreement. They swore an 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:19.760 oath that they would all band together and support and 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:23.560 defend and protect the marriage of whomever Helen ended up with. 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:28.280 Helen ended up marrying the king of Sparta, Menelaus. Several 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.360 years after their marriage, however, a young prince from the 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:35.320 city of Troy. His name was Paris. He came and 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:39.160 according to different traditions, he either seduced or abducted Helen 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:42.079 and carried her off to the city of Troy. In 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.480 keeping with the oath that they had all sworn, all 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:47.800 of the great princes and men of Greece gathered their 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:52.600 subjects together and joined Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon as 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:56.559 they sailed to Troy to win back Helen. While there 0:08:56.600 --> 0:09:00.560 the great hero of the Greeks, Achilles fought, and after 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.520 the close of the epic, finally died. He is the 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:09.840 primary character of the Iliad. While at Troy, Achilles and 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:13.680 the other great princes of the Achaeans fought to regain Helen. 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:16.920 But they also fought to gain glory. Or, to use 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:22.560 the Greek phrase kleos kleos means glory, or fame, or 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.360 that which is heard about a person. It is the 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:29.480 thing that heroes strove for as well as victory. Now 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:33.160 different things can denote kleos, the armour of an enemy 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:35.880 whom one has defeated the prizes one wins in a 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:39.480 contest with one's peers, or even the songs that bards 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:42.920 sing about, one that carry one's renown and fame, or 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:47.360 kleos abroad to the larger Greek population. Now, in the Iliad, 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.480 Achilles is given a unique choice. He hears a prophecy 0:09:50.590 --> 0:09:54.110 regarding his death. He can either fight and die at 0:09:54.110 --> 0:09:59.310 Troy while gaining undying Cleo's undying glory, or he can 0:09:59.309 --> 0:10:02.390 live through the war and return home. But he returns 0:10:02.390 --> 0:10:05.630 home in obscurity and won't have the kleos that he 0:10:05.670 --> 0:10:09.030 fights for now in the Iliad. Achilles is uncertain as 0:10:09.030 --> 0:10:12.550 to what he'll really do until his friend Patroclus joins 0:10:12.550 --> 0:10:16.110 the combat and his friend dies at Hector's hands, and 0:10:16.110 --> 0:10:19.510 Achilles desire to avenge his friend's death leads him into 0:10:19.510 --> 0:10:23.429 the battle and finally to his own death. Now, in 0:10:23.429 --> 0:10:27.470 the larger mythology, after the close of Homer's Iliad, the Greeks, 0:10:27.510 --> 0:10:30.990 the Achaeans do finally sack Troy. They do this through 0:10:30.990 --> 0:10:35.590 the plot of the Trojan Horse, Odysseus's idea. Odysseus counsels 0:10:35.590 --> 0:10:38.670 his fellows to build a giant, hollow wooden horse that 0:10:38.670 --> 0:10:42.030 they leave behind as a trophy for the Trojans. The 0:10:42.030 --> 0:10:44.470 fleet should sail away and the horse should be left 0:10:44.470 --> 0:10:47.470 there on the shore. They follow this plot, but they 0:10:47.470 --> 0:10:50.470 fill the horse with all the greatest warriors of the Achaeans. 0:10:50.750 --> 0:10:53.630 The Trojans thinking they've won the war, bring the horse 0:10:53.630 --> 0:10:57.270 into their walls, and at night the Greek warriors burst 0:10:57.270 --> 0:10:59.350 out of the horse. They open the gates to the 0:10:59.350 --> 0:11:01.630 army that has returned in the night, and they sack 0:11:01.670 --> 0:11:05.310 the citadel. Now, this story is a famous instance of 0:11:05.309 --> 0:11:09.309 Odysseus cunning, or to use the Greek word, his mates. 0:11:09.510 --> 0:11:14.150 Odysseus was famous, renowned throughout the Achaean forces for his cunning, 0:11:14.190 --> 0:11:18.790 for his wisdom, for his practical intelligence. But in the 0:11:18.790 --> 0:11:23.030 sacking of Troy, many atrocities are done, different rapes and 0:11:23.030 --> 0:11:26.470 pillages happen, and certain temples of the gods are desecrated. 0:11:26.750 --> 0:11:29.550 This offends various of the gods of Olympus, and so 0:11:29.550 --> 0:11:32.910 the gods then punish the triumphant Greek warriors as they 0:11:32.910 --> 0:11:37.510 attempt to return home. Now, a triumphant homecoming or a 0:11:37.510 --> 0:11:40.910 return home was known among the Greeks as a nostos, 0:11:41.150 --> 0:11:44.510 and this was also very valued, very sought after by 0:11:44.510 --> 0:11:47.310 the Greeks. If, on the one hand, the Achaean warriors 0:11:47.350 --> 0:11:51.100 wanted Kleos, they also want to do accomplish a nostos 0:11:51.140 --> 0:12:04.580 a triumphant return home. The gods, angered by the behavior 0:12:04.580 --> 0:12:07.020 of many of the Achaeans during the sack of Troy, 0:12:07.179 --> 0:12:11.260 decide to punish the Greeks and interfere with their triumphant homecomings, 0:12:11.260 --> 0:12:15.059 their nostos. Some are struck down by the gods, some 0:12:15.059 --> 0:12:19.540 are blown all over the Mediterranean, and Menelaus brother Agamemnon, 0:12:19.740 --> 0:12:23.060 the leader of all the Achaean forces, as he returns home, 0:12:23.220 --> 0:12:26.420 is murdered by his wife Clytemnestra, who had taken up 0:12:26.420 --> 0:12:29.180 a lover Aegisthus, while he was gone in the ten 0:12:29.179 --> 0:12:34.100 years at Troy. Eventually, their son Orestes comes and avenges 0:12:34.100 --> 0:12:39.020 his father's death by murdering his mother, Clytemnestra. Orestes will 0:12:39.020 --> 0:12:42.179 prove an important role model that characters in The Odyssey 0:12:42.220 --> 0:12:45.660 will think about. Now, all of that is important background 0:12:45.660 --> 0:12:48.699 information for us. But if we look at this poem, 0:12:48.740 --> 0:12:52.179 Homer's epic invocation for the Odyssey, we learn several other 0:12:52.179 --> 0:12:57.020 interesting things. For instance, we learn that much time has 0:12:57.020 --> 0:13:00.100 passed since the sack of Troy, since the fall of 0:13:00.140 --> 0:13:04.220 that great city, before this poem opens. In fact, so 0:13:04.220 --> 0:13:07.340 much time has passed that all of Odysseus's men have died. 0:13:08.020 --> 0:13:11.220 The passage of this time leads us to the convention 0:13:11.220 --> 0:13:15.220 that epic poets follow after Homer, which is. They start 0:13:15.220 --> 0:13:17.940 their poems in the middle of things, or, to use 0:13:17.940 --> 0:13:22.300 the Latin phrase in media res, the Iliad for Homer 0:13:22.300 --> 0:13:26.900 started nine years into the war against Troy. The Odyssey 0:13:26.940 --> 0:13:31.260 starts nine years into Odysseus attempt to get home. Now, 0:13:31.260 --> 0:13:33.900 the very first word in the Greek of the Odyssey 0:13:34.059 --> 0:13:37.820 is the word andra, which means man. And in the 0:13:37.820 --> 0:13:40.340 first line of the Odyssey in Greek, we have one 0:13:40.340 --> 0:13:45.100 important adjective that describes the man named there, and that 0:13:45.100 --> 0:13:50.730 is poly tropin, a form of that adjective is rendered 0:13:50.730 --> 0:13:55.250 here in Fagles translation as the man of twists and turns. 0:13:55.690 --> 0:14:02.130 Other translators render polytrope as crafty, or of roundabout ways, 0:14:02.130 --> 0:14:07.010 or of resourceful or of many ways. This is one 0:14:07.010 --> 0:14:10.010 of the most important attributes of the man that our 0:14:10.010 --> 0:14:13.210 poem is going to be about. Now, on one level, 0:14:13.250 --> 0:14:15.690 he is of many twists and turns of many ways 0:14:15.690 --> 0:14:18.850 because he has been driven time and again off course. 0:14:19.050 --> 0:14:21.970 That is physically in his journey. He has had twists 0:14:21.970 --> 0:14:25.690 and turns. But on a deeper level, metaphorically and about 0:14:25.730 --> 0:14:28.930 Odysseus's character, he's a man of twists and turns in 0:14:28.970 --> 0:14:32.850 that he doesn't quite follow a straight line. He's a 0:14:32.850 --> 0:14:34.970 deep man. He's a man who's hard to grasp, a 0:14:34.970 --> 0:14:37.690 man who's hard to pin down. He will be a 0:14:37.690 --> 0:14:44.610 challenge for us to understand. This characteristic of Odysseus as 0:14:44.650 --> 0:14:47.890 a polytropic, tropin as a man of twists and turns 0:14:47.890 --> 0:14:50.770 is related to that earlier term. I already mentioned that 0:14:50.770 --> 0:14:54.370 Odysseus has Mattis. He has cunning. If he is a 0:14:54.370 --> 0:14:57.530 man of twists and turns of poly tropin, he is 0:14:57.530 --> 0:15:01.290 also a man of cunning and intelligence in many ways 0:15:01.530 --> 0:15:05.410 a man of poly moieties. That is, he has many 0:15:05.410 --> 0:15:09.850 different forms of understanding and thought. Poly moieties is one 0:15:09.850 --> 0:15:14.530 of Odysseus primary epithets. An epithet in ancient Greek literature 0:15:14.530 --> 0:15:19.570 is repeatedly used. Descriptive phrase Homer attaches many different epithets 0:15:19.570 --> 0:15:22.530 to his different characters. As you're reading this epic, you'll 0:15:22.530 --> 0:15:26.130 notice that Athena might be described as the sparkling eyed 0:15:26.170 --> 0:15:30.890 goddess or grey eyed Athena. We hear of weary Penelope 0:15:30.890 --> 0:15:35.410 or cautious Penelope. We even get epithets describing inanimate things 0:15:35.410 --> 0:15:40.570 like rosy fingered dawn before Odysseus. His most important and 0:15:40.570 --> 0:15:44.770 most commonly used epithet is Poly Mattis. It's related to 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.160 his being of twists and turns. He's a man of 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:52.000 many different forms of thought. Now, one of the ways 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:54.600 in which Odysseus is a man of twists and turns 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.160 and is hard to pin down, is reflected in the 0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:01.320 very poetry of this beginning. That is, we actually don't 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:05.840 get Odysseus name until 24 lines in. In Fagles translation 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:08.280 in the original Greek. We don't get the name of 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:12.560 Odysseus until 21 lines in. So we hear, sing to 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:15.239 me of the man muse, the man of twists and turns. 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:18.920 But even his name escapes us for nearly 25 lines. 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:23.760 This delay increases the dramatic nature, the quality. It emphasizes 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:26.640 the man. He is slow to reveal himself to us. 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:30.000 He is slow to come into vision for us. This 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:34.120 is in contrast to Achilles, the main character of the Iliad. 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:36.920 Achilles and his wrath is named in the very first 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:40.480 line of that poem. Here Odysseus, with his very name, 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:43.720 waits and lingers in the background. And when he does 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:46.000 come before us, he will be a challenge for us 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:51.960 to understand. Now, Odysseus's name itself is also an interesting one. 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:56.239 There's some scholarly debate about the exact roots, the linguistic 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:59.440 origins of Odysseus's name. We certainly think that it is 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:03.600 perhaps related to words meaning to be angry at, but 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:06.240 it also seems to be associated with a verb that 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:11.320 can mean who suffers pain or also, conversely, inflicts pain. 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:14.920 And I actually like this duality in Odysseus's name. That is, 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:19.080 he is one who suffers pain and one who inflicts pain. Now, 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:21.640 a few other important details that we get here in 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.920 these opening lines is that we hear Odysseus, many cities 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.959 of men. He saw and learned their minds. It's a 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:30.880 sort of a curious phrase. Here. We have emphasis here 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:35.199 again on Odysseus intellectual qualities. That is, he sees cities, 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:38.639 and he doesn't just know their architecture or their religion 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:42.880 or their cuisine, but he understands their intellectual makeup. He 0:17:42.950 --> 0:17:47.350 learns their minds. Odysseus is a penetrating and deep thinker. 0:17:47.869 --> 0:17:51.310 We also learn that Odysseus has survived something that destroyed 0:17:51.310 --> 0:17:54.470 all of the rest of his men. There is something grizzled, 0:17:54.470 --> 0:17:58.670 something hardened, something of the survivor. In Odysseus. He survives 0:17:58.670 --> 0:18:03.030 where others die. Then also interestingly, we learn that Odysseus 0:18:03.230 --> 0:18:08.070 is beloved by goddesses. There's this nymph Calypso, who loves him, 0:18:08.070 --> 0:18:10.630 who wants him as a husband. But then he's also 0:18:10.630 --> 0:18:14.469 hated by other gods. Poseidon, the brother of Zeus, a 0:18:14.470 --> 0:18:19.270 very powerful god, is bent on Odysseus destruction. So Odysseus 0:18:19.270 --> 0:18:22.270 has this funny quality where he's beloved of some gods 0:18:22.270 --> 0:18:25.350 and hated by others. And despite it all, he manages 0:18:25.350 --> 0:18:28.990 to survive. The final, really important thing we see here 0:18:28.990 --> 0:18:32.550 in these opening lines is that Odysseus is striving to 0:18:32.550 --> 0:18:35.230 get home. He wants to get home to his wife, 0:18:35.350 --> 0:18:38.390 his heart set on his wife and his return. But 0:18:38.390 --> 0:18:43.510 this nymph, this goddess Calypso, wants him as her husband. That, 0:18:43.510 --> 0:18:45.669 as we see right at the beginning of this epic, 0:18:45.670 --> 0:18:49.109 that there is a threat to Odysseus marriage. Now, if 0:18:49.109 --> 0:18:51.550 we recall in the Iliad, we can think of a 0:18:51.550 --> 0:18:55.350 whole political order, a whole city of men brought to 0:18:55.390 --> 0:18:59.109 its destruction because it committed itself to the violation of 0:18:59.109 --> 0:19:02.909 the marriage of Helen and Menelaus. Here in the Odyssey 0:19:02.950 --> 0:19:06.389 we are immediately informed of a threat to Odysseus marriage. 0:19:06.550 --> 0:19:09.750 And we should, after reading the Iliad, also wonder about 0:19:09.750 --> 0:19:13.709 the political order that that marriage supports. We will discuss 0:19:13.710 --> 0:19:16.830 this more as our narrative unfolds. But marriage and its 0:19:16.830 --> 0:19:23.270 relation to the political order is of primary importance for Homer. Now, 0:19:23.270 --> 0:19:27.710 after this opening invocation, Homer takes us to Mount Olympus, 0:19:27.750 --> 0:19:30.190 the home of the gods, where we hear an interesting 0:19:30.190 --> 0:19:34.310 conversation between several of them. The very first spoken words 0:19:34.310 --> 0:19:37.109 of this epic are spoken by Zeus, the king of 0:19:37.109 --> 0:19:39.830 all the gods, and he has this complaint to make. 0:19:41.310 --> 0:19:44.470 But the other gods at home in Olympian Zeus halls 0:19:44.470 --> 0:19:47.190 met for full assembly there, and among them. Now the 0:19:47.190 --> 0:19:51.350 father of men and gods was first to speak, sorely troubled, 0:19:51.550 --> 0:19:57.149 remembering handsome Aegisthus, the man Agamemnon's son, renowned Orestes, killed. 0:19:57.590 --> 0:20:02.910 Recalling Aegisthus, Zeus harangued the immortal powers. Ah, how shameless 0:20:03.150 --> 0:20:06.710 the way these mortals blame the gods from us alone, 0:20:06.710 --> 0:20:10.469 they say, come all their miseries. Yes, but they themselves, 0:20:10.470 --> 0:20:13.590 with their own reckless ways, compound their pains beyond their 0:20:13.590 --> 0:20:18.790 proper share. Look at Aegisthus now. Above and beyond his share. 0:20:18.950 --> 0:20:23.030 He stole Atreides wife. He murdered the warlord coming home 0:20:23.030 --> 0:20:26.550 from Troy. Though he knew it meant his own total ruin. 0:20:27.109 --> 0:20:31.230 Far in advance. We told him so ourselves. Dispatching the guide. 0:20:31.230 --> 0:20:34.909 The giant killer. Hermes. Don't murder the man, he said. 0:20:34.910 --> 0:20:39.669 Don't court his wife. Beware. Revenge will come from Orestes, 0:20:39.780 --> 0:20:42.940 Agamemnon's son, that day. He comes of age and longs 0:20:42.940 --> 0:20:46.780 for his native land. So Hermes warned with all the 0:20:46.780 --> 0:20:50.939 goodwill in the world. But would Aegisthus hardened heart give way? 0:20:51.500 --> 0:20:54.899 Now he pays the price all at a single stroke, 0:20:55.980 --> 0:20:59.940 and sparkling eyed Athena drove the matter home. Father, son 0:20:59.940 --> 0:21:03.260 of Cronus, our high and mighty king. Surely he goes 0:21:03.260 --> 0:21:05.820 down to a death he earned in full. Let them 0:21:05.820 --> 0:21:09.740 all die so all who do such things. But my 0:21:09.740 --> 0:21:13.660 heart breaks for Odysseus, that seasoned veteran cursed by fate 0:21:13.660 --> 0:21:19.540 so long, far from his loved ones. Still he suffers torments. Now, 0:21:19.540 --> 0:21:23.180 this opening conversation is very interesting. On the one hand, 0:21:23.180 --> 0:21:25.700 we return to the theme of a threat to marriage. 0:21:25.859 --> 0:21:28.020 And here we see the threat to marriage from the 0:21:28.020 --> 0:21:32.540 other side that is, Aegisthus courted the hero's wife while 0:21:32.540 --> 0:21:36.140 the hero was away at Troy. This, in fact, represents 0:21:36.180 --> 0:21:40.020 something that we will see with Odysseus's wife, Penelope on Ithaca. 0:21:40.300 --> 0:21:43.100 Not only is Calypso a threat to the marriage in 0:21:43.100 --> 0:21:46.220 her pursuit of Odysseus, but there are suitors who are 0:21:46.220 --> 0:21:50.940 courting Odysseus's wife, Penelope. So we see possible threats to marriage, 0:21:50.940 --> 0:21:55.100 both with the man and with the wife. But more largely, 0:21:55.140 --> 0:21:58.580 Zeus's complaint here is that men blame the gods for 0:21:58.580 --> 0:22:02.220 the suffering that they bring on themselves. This raises another 0:22:02.220 --> 0:22:05.660 important theme for the Odyssey as a whole. What are 0:22:05.660 --> 0:22:10.580 the sources, the causes of the suffering that mankind endures? 0:22:11.300 --> 0:22:14.340 Are the gods the source of our suffering? Is it 0:22:14.340 --> 0:22:18.619 chance or is it the actions of men themselves? Homer 0:22:18.619 --> 0:22:21.700 will look closely at this in the following narrative. Now, 0:22:21.700 --> 0:22:24.980 as the story continues, Athena convinces Zeus to let them 0:22:24.980 --> 0:22:29.020 dispatch Hermes, the messenger god to Calypso, telling her she 0:22:29.020 --> 0:22:32.060 has to let Odysseus off her island, and she herself 0:22:32.060 --> 0:22:35.660 decides to go down to Ithaca. Odysseus. Home island to 0:22:35.700 --> 0:22:39.970 inspire his son Telemachus. Telemachus was an infant when Odysseus 0:22:40.010 --> 0:22:42.690 left for Troy, but the war took ten years, and 0:22:42.690 --> 0:22:46.570 Odysseus has been traveling for nine years. So Telemachus is 0:22:46.609 --> 0:22:49.449 about 19 years old, about 20 years old. At the 0:22:49.450 --> 0:22:52.210 opening of this work, and Athena decides to go down 0:22:52.210 --> 0:22:56.930 to inspire Telemachus to start to move him, to prepare 0:22:56.930 --> 0:23:02.889 for his father's return. And so Homer tells us. And 0:23:02.890 --> 0:23:06.250 down she swept from Olympus, craggy peaks and lit on Ithaca, 0:23:06.490 --> 0:23:10.370 standing tall at Odysseus gates, the threshold of his court 0:23:10.850 --> 0:23:13.410 gripping her bronze spear, she looked for all the world 0:23:13.410 --> 0:23:16.970 like a stranger now like mentees. Lord of the Taphians. 0:23:17.490 --> 0:23:21.210 There she found the swaggering suitors just then amusing themselves 0:23:21.210 --> 0:23:25.250 with rolling dice before the doors, lounging on hides of oxen. 0:23:25.250 --> 0:23:29.650 They had killed themselves, while heralds and brisk attendants bustled 0:23:29.650 --> 0:23:32.970 round them, some at the mixing bowls, mulling wine and water, 0:23:33.130 --> 0:23:36.690 others wiping the tables down with sopping sponges, setting them 0:23:36.690 --> 0:23:40.250 out in place. Still other servants jointed and carved the 0:23:40.250 --> 0:23:43.850 great sides of meat. First by far to see her 0:23:43.850 --> 0:23:48.169 was Prince Telemachus sitting among the suitors, heart obsessed with grief, 0:23:48.450 --> 0:23:52.010 he could almost see his magnificent father here in the 0:23:52.010 --> 0:23:55.129 mind's eye. If only he might drop from the clouds 0:23:55.130 --> 0:23:57.850 and drive the suitors, all in a rout throughout the 0:23:57.850 --> 0:24:00.770 halls and regain his pride of place and rule his 0:24:00.770 --> 0:24:05.570 own domains. Daydreaming. So as he sat among the suitors, 0:24:05.730 --> 0:24:09.170 he glimpsed Athena now and straight to the porch he went, 0:24:09.170 --> 0:24:12.570 mortified that a guest might still be standing at the doors, 0:24:13.010 --> 0:24:16.570 pausing beside her. There he clasped her right hand and, 0:24:16.570 --> 0:24:19.369 relieving her at once of her long bronze spear, met 0:24:19.369 --> 0:24:23.330 her with winged words. Greetings, stranger. Here in our house 0:24:23.330 --> 0:24:27.010 you'll find a royal welcome. Have supper first, then tell 0:24:27.010 --> 0:24:29.449 us what you need. He led the way in Pallas. 0:24:29.450 --> 0:24:32.930 Athena followed. Once in a high roofed hall. He took 0:24:32.930 --> 0:24:35.650 her lance and fixed it firm in a burnished rack 0:24:35.760 --> 0:24:39.080 against a sturdy pillar there, where a row on row 0:24:39.080 --> 0:24:43.880 of spears, embattled Odysseus spears stood stacked and waiting. Then 0:24:43.880 --> 0:24:46.760 he escorted her to a high, elaborate chair of honour. 0:24:47.119 --> 0:24:49.560 Over it draped a cloth, and here he placed his 0:24:49.560 --> 0:24:53.040 guest with a stool to rest her feet. But for himself, 0:24:53.040 --> 0:24:56.440 he drew up a low reclining chair beside her, richly 0:24:56.440 --> 0:25:00.840 painted clear of the press of suitors concerned. His guest, 0:25:01.000 --> 0:25:04.639 offended by their uproar, might shrink from food in the 0:25:04.640 --> 0:25:07.119 midst of such a mob. He hoped once more to 0:25:07.160 --> 0:25:10.960 ask her about his long lost father. A maid brought water. Soon, 0:25:10.960 --> 0:25:14.120 in a graceful golden pitcher and over a silver basin, 0:25:14.119 --> 0:25:17.119 tipped it out so they might rinse their hands, then 0:25:17.119 --> 0:25:20.880 pulled a gleaming table to their side. A staid housekeeper 0:25:20.880 --> 0:25:25.040 brought on bread to serve them, appetizers aplenty too lavish 0:25:25.040 --> 0:25:29.040 with her bounty. A carver lifted platters of meat toward them, 0:25:29.160 --> 0:25:32.639 meats of every sort and set beside them golden cups. 0:25:32.640 --> 0:25:35.480 And time and again a page came round and poured 0:25:35.480 --> 0:25:40.240 them wine. Now we see here several important things. Of course, 0:25:40.280 --> 0:25:43.840 Telemachus is here as a young man yearning for his 0:25:43.840 --> 0:25:47.320 father's return. We see his great desire for his father. 0:25:47.960 --> 0:25:51.480 We also see the presumptive and offensive behavior of the suitors. 0:25:51.640 --> 0:25:54.480 And in fact, Telemachus is worried that this guest, this 0:25:54.480 --> 0:25:57.680 stranger to his house, might be offended by the bad 0:25:57.720 --> 0:26:01.639 behavior of the suitors. We also see Telemachus attention to 0:26:01.680 --> 0:26:05.040 this guest. And this introduces another motif or theme that 0:26:05.040 --> 0:26:07.720 is quite important for Homer's work as a whole. And 0:26:07.720 --> 0:26:11.800 that is the theme of hospitality, or Xenia in Greek. 0:26:12.119 --> 0:26:15.280 Hospitality was very important in this culture for many reasons. 0:26:15.640 --> 0:26:18.439 First of all, of course, travel was very difficult at 0:26:18.480 --> 0:26:21.880 that time, and so strangers, travelers from distant lands had 0:26:21.880 --> 0:26:25.840 already encountered great difficulties before arriving at your palace, at 0:26:25.840 --> 0:26:29.400 your house. But travelers were quite important because travelers could 0:26:29.440 --> 0:26:32.280 bring news of distant events, and news at that time 0:26:32.280 --> 0:26:36.750 would travel quite slowly. Travelers also could establish bonds between 0:26:36.750 --> 0:26:41.030 different cities, palaces, peoples and communities. That is, if you 0:26:41.030 --> 0:26:45.110 accept with hospitality, a traveler from distant Sparta say, then 0:26:45.109 --> 0:26:48.869 when you are traveling to Sparta, you might expect reasonably 0:26:49.070 --> 0:26:53.909 similar hospitality. So hospitality formed a sort of glue, a 0:26:53.910 --> 0:26:58.830 social bond that knit these different cities and peoples together. Travelers, 0:26:58.830 --> 0:27:01.910 in fact, were said to be sacred to Zeus. This 0:27:01.910 --> 0:27:06.350 principle of hospitality, this principle of Xenia, was a virtue 0:27:06.390 --> 0:27:09.550 that Zeus himself enforced. He said that we must be 0:27:09.550 --> 0:27:16.350 hospitable to strangers. Now, in this culture, the guest also 0:27:16.350 --> 0:27:19.830 has certain obligations. If he can expect to be fed, 0:27:19.869 --> 0:27:24.230 washed and housed, he should share news. He should entertain 0:27:24.230 --> 0:27:27.990 his hosts, tell stories, sing songs, perhaps compete with them 0:27:27.990 --> 0:27:32.270 in games, perhaps exchange gifts with the host. And he 0:27:32.270 --> 0:27:35.190 must be careful not to tread upon or violate this 0:27:35.190 --> 0:27:38.709 principle of hospitality. That is, while he can expect to 0:27:38.710 --> 0:27:42.709 be treated well, he should not over extend his welcome. 0:27:42.710 --> 0:27:45.990 He shouldn't overstay his welcome. This is part of what 0:27:45.990 --> 0:27:49.110 we see the suitors doing. They are violating the principle 0:27:49.109 --> 0:27:53.430 of hospitality by using their hosts. Now, while the suitors 0:27:53.430 --> 0:27:58.550 are carousing in Odysseus halls, Athena and Telemachus have a conversation, 0:27:58.869 --> 0:28:02.389 and Athena inspires Telemachus by assuring him that his father 0:28:02.390 --> 0:28:06.310 is still alive. Then she turns and observes the behavior 0:28:06.310 --> 0:28:10.790 of suitors. Homer tells us. Still, the clear eyed goddess 0:28:10.790 --> 0:28:13.390 reassured him, trust me, the gods have not marked out 0:28:13.390 --> 0:28:17.030 your house for such an unsung future. Not if Penelope 0:28:17.030 --> 0:28:20.270 is born a son like you. But tell me about 0:28:20.270 --> 0:28:23.470 all this and spare me nothing. What's this? Banqueting, this 0:28:23.470 --> 0:28:27.150 crowd carousing here? And what part do you play yourself? 0:28:27.390 --> 0:28:31.550 Some wedding feast, some festival. Hardly a potluck supper, I 0:28:31.550 --> 0:28:36.060 would say how obscenely they lounge and swagger here, look, 0:28:36.060 --> 0:28:39.460 gorging in your house. Why, any man of sense who 0:28:39.500 --> 0:28:44.620 chanced among them would be outraged. Seeing such behavior, Athena 0:28:44.620 --> 0:28:47.820 provokes Telemachus. With this, Telemachus goes on to complain that 0:28:47.820 --> 0:28:50.820 he doesn't have the power or the authority to dismiss 0:28:50.820 --> 0:28:54.700 the men. The men are there ignoring young Telemachus and 0:28:54.700 --> 0:28:58.780 always trying to win the favor of Penelope. Telemachus goes 0:28:58.780 --> 0:29:03.940 on to say this curious detail about his mother's behavior. Listen. 0:29:04.380 --> 0:29:07.980 All the nobles who rule the islands round about Dulichium 0:29:07.980 --> 0:29:11.780 and same and wooded Zacynthus too, and all who lord 0:29:11.780 --> 0:29:14.540 it in rocky Ithaca as well. Down to the last 0:29:14.540 --> 0:29:17.740 man they caught my mother they lay waste my house 0:29:18.180 --> 0:29:22.940 and mother. She neither rejects a marriage she despises. Nor 0:29:22.940 --> 0:29:25.540 can she bear to bring the courting to an end. 0:29:25.900 --> 0:29:29.660 While they continue to bleed my household white. Soon you wait. 0:29:29.660 --> 0:29:34.940 They'll grind me down as well. Shameful! Brimming with indignation, Pallas! 0:29:34.940 --> 0:29:38.620 Athena broke out. Now Telemachus here presents us with an 0:29:38.620 --> 0:29:43.180 interesting detail and a difficult question. Mother neither rejects a 0:29:43.180 --> 0:29:46.980 marriage she despises, nor can she bear to bring the 0:29:46.980 --> 0:29:53.340 courting to the end. Why, if Penelope despises the proposed marriages. Why? 0:29:53.340 --> 0:29:57.140 If she is not interested in these suitors, does she 0:29:57.180 --> 0:30:00.300 not bring the courting to an end? It's a very 0:30:00.300 --> 0:30:03.940 interesting question, one that Telemachus himself can't answer, and one 0:30:03.940 --> 0:30:06.620 that sits for us as a very important issue at 0:30:06.620 --> 0:30:09.780 the opening of this poem. In fact, this question is 0:30:09.780 --> 0:30:13.100 repeatedly phrased over the course of the Odyssey and becomes 0:30:13.100 --> 0:30:16.660 one of the dominant motifs or questions that we have 0:30:16.660 --> 0:30:20.260 regarding our characters. What is Penelope really up to with 0:30:20.260 --> 0:30:23.500 the suitors who are besieging her household? We'll follow this 0:30:23.500 --> 0:30:28.620 question as we go. Indeed, Penelope, like Odysseus, is going 0:30:28.620 --> 0:30:31.890 to be somewhat difficult to pin down. If Odysseus is 0:30:31.890 --> 0:30:35.370 a man of twists and turns and of Metis Penelope two, 0:30:35.410 --> 0:30:39.690 and presents interpretive difficulties for us. What exactly does she want? 0:30:39.730 --> 0:30:43.810 What are her ends? What are her aims? Now we'll 0:30:43.810 --> 0:30:46.690 get a glimpse of Penelope in just a moment. But 0:30:46.690 --> 0:30:50.370 first Athena encourages Telemachus. She tells him he should gather 0:30:50.370 --> 0:30:52.570 all the nobles in a council the next morning to 0:30:52.610 --> 0:30:55.130 see if they will restrain the suitors. And then she says, 0:30:55.130 --> 0:30:57.489 if they won't, he should sail to the mainland of 0:30:57.490 --> 0:31:01.050 Greece to visit Nestor in the city of Pylos, and 0:31:01.050 --> 0:31:04.170 then Menelaus in the city of Sparta, visiting those two 0:31:04.170 --> 0:31:06.489 men who had been with his father at Troy. They 0:31:06.490 --> 0:31:10.010 had both returned home. Their veterans who knew Odysseus well, 0:31:10.210 --> 0:31:13.610 and Telemachus, Athena advises him, should go to those cities 0:31:13.610 --> 0:31:16.610 to see if those veterans had heard anything about his father. 0:31:17.010 --> 0:31:20.650 We can see here Athena's important role in the Odyssey 0:31:20.650 --> 0:31:24.010 in getting all of our action moving. She sends Hermes 0:31:24.010 --> 0:31:28.130 to Ogygia to free Odysseus, and she inspires Telemachus to 0:31:28.170 --> 0:31:31.010 move to the mainland of Greece. Now, at the end 0:31:31.010 --> 0:31:34.650 of this inspiring speech to Telemachus, she flies off like 0:31:34.650 --> 0:31:37.770 a bird, and Telemachus realizes that he's been speaking to 0:31:37.810 --> 0:31:41.250 one of the gods. He is heartened and and inspired 0:31:41.250 --> 0:31:45.570 by this. And then our narrative turns to Penelope. Homer 0:31:45.570 --> 0:31:50.130 tells us amidst them. Still the famous bard sang on, 0:31:50.490 --> 0:31:52.970 and they sat in silence, listening as he performed the 0:31:52.970 --> 0:31:56.690 Achaeans journey home from Troy. All the blows Athena doomed 0:31:56.690 --> 0:32:00.370 them to endure. And now, from high above, in her 0:32:00.370 --> 0:32:04.250 room and deep in thought, she caught the inspired strains. 0:32:04.570 --> 0:32:10.010 Icarius daughter Penelope, wary and reserved. And down the steep 0:32:10.010 --> 0:32:13.290 stair from her chamber she descended. Not alone. Two of 0:32:13.290 --> 0:32:18.130 her women followed close behind that radiant woman. Once she 0:32:18.130 --> 0:32:21.930 reached her suitors, drawing her glistening veil across her cheeks, 0:32:22.130 --> 0:32:25.850 paused now, where a column propped the sturdy roof with 0:32:25.850 --> 0:32:30.240 one of her loyal handmaids stationed either side, suddenly dissolving 0:32:30.240 --> 0:32:33.200 in tears and bursting through the Bard's inspired voice, she 0:32:33.200 --> 0:32:36.560 cried out, phemius! So many other songs, you know. To 0:32:36.600 --> 0:32:39.600 hold us spellbound. Works of the gods and men that 0:32:39.600 --> 0:32:42.960 singers celebrate. Sing one of those as you sit beside 0:32:42.960 --> 0:32:45.800 them here. And they drink their wine in silence. But 0:32:45.800 --> 0:32:49.520 break off this song, the unendurable song that always rends 0:32:49.520 --> 0:32:53.640 the heart inside me. The unforgettable grief. It wounds me 0:32:53.640 --> 0:32:57.800 most of all. How I long for my husband. Alive 0:32:57.800 --> 0:33:02.520 in memory. Always that great man whose fame resounds through. 0:33:02.560 --> 0:33:06.800 Hellas right to the depths of Argos. Now Telemachus, having 0:33:06.800 --> 0:33:09.440 been inspired by Athena, tries to act like the man 0:33:09.440 --> 0:33:11.400 of the house and tells his mother to go back 0:33:11.400 --> 0:33:13.720 to her chamber, and that he will deal with the suitors. 0:33:13.960 --> 0:33:17.200 But the depiction of Penelope here is quite interesting, that 0:33:17.200 --> 0:33:21.320 she is high up in her room and deep in thought, 0:33:21.440 --> 0:33:24.200 and that when she comes to the suitors, she descends 0:33:24.200 --> 0:33:29.200 to them. Penelope is high, both because her chambers above them, 0:33:29.200 --> 0:33:33.320 but also symbolically she sits above them. She is the 0:33:33.320 --> 0:33:36.680 thing the suitors are striving for. She's also the person 0:33:36.680 --> 0:33:40.880 Odysseus is striving to return to. She's also deep in thought. 0:33:40.880 --> 0:33:44.880 She resonates with Odysseus in this way. She is Matisse. 0:33:44.920 --> 0:33:49.360 She has her own cunning, her own intelligence. Here now why? 0:33:49.400 --> 0:33:51.960 Penelope will come down to the suitors and in front 0:33:51.960 --> 0:33:56.120 of them express her longing for her husband without dismissing her. 0:33:56.120 --> 0:34:00.560 Sending the suitors away again expresses this question what is 0:34:00.560 --> 0:34:03.280 it that Penelope is after? What is. What is she 0:34:03.320 --> 0:34:06.960 motivated by? What is she aiming for? We have here 0:34:06.960 --> 0:34:10.320 in book one of the Odyssey, a very interesting situation. 0:34:10.600 --> 0:34:13.680 Clearly we have a police in crisis. We have a 0:34:13.680 --> 0:34:17.279 marriage under assault, we have a lost ruler and a 0:34:17.320 --> 0:34:21.040 god setting things in motion. What Penelope is up to 0:34:21.080 --> 0:34:24.799 on Ithaca and Telemachus. Adventures on the Greek mainland are 0:34:24.800 --> 0:34:26.710 what we'll look at in our next lecture. 0:34:30.030 --> 0:34:32.710 Thank you for listening to this episode of the Hillsdale 0:34:32.710 --> 0:34:36.310 College Online Courses Podcast. If you want to continue learning, 0:34:36.310 --> 0:34:41.469 please visit hillsdale.edu/course. There you will find over 40 free 0:34:41.469 --> 0:34:46.710 online courses, including Ancient Christianity, the Genesis story, classic children's literature, 0:34:46.710 --> 0:34:50.750 and many more. The courses include additional readings, study guides, 0:34:50.750 --> 0:34:53.509 fully produced videos, and you can chat with your fellow 0:34:53.510 --> 0:34:56.790 students on a dedicated forum. Upon completing a course, you 0:34:56.830 --> 0:34:59.670 will also get a certificate. 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