![\"Odysseus](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2021\/07\/478976001.jpg\")
Odysseus and the Sirens, red-figure stamnos, ca. 480 BCE (British Museum, London)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nSections & Primary Sources<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n
- \r\n \t
- Homer, Odyssey, <\/em>9<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
- Homer, Odyssey, <\/em>11.385-464<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
- Homer,\u00a0Odyssey,<\/em> 12.1-453<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
- Homer,\u00a0Odyssey,<\/em> 21.1-403<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
- Homer,\u00a0Odyssey,<\/em> 23.1-299<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nThe\u00a0Nostoi<\/em> and Telegony<\/em><\/a>\r\n
- \r\n \t
- Proclus, Chrestomathia<\/em>, Book 2<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
<\/a>The Odyssey<\/em><\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2903\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1565\"]
![\"Odysseus](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2021\/07\/11835070123_f8b2ce5e8d_k-e1626554101729.jpg\")
Odysseus and his crew with Polyphemus, black-figure kylix, ca. 570 BCE (Cabinet des M\u00e9dailles, Paris)[\/caption]\r\nHomer's epic poem, the Odyssey,<\/em> tells of the ten year journey that the Achaean hero Odysseus took to return home to the island of Ithaca following the war. The poem opens nearly twenty years after Odysseus left for the Trojan War, focusing on his wife, Penelope, and his now grown-up son, Telemachus. It then turns to Odysseus who is in his last leg of his journey home. The entire poem can be read here<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2915\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2017\"]
![\"Odysseus,](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2021\/07\/DT2982-scaled.jpg\")
Odysseus and Circe, red figure krater, ca. 440 BCE (Metropolitan Museum, New York)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/a>Homer,\u00a0Odyssey,\u00a0<\/em>Book 9 (trans. A. S. Kline, adapted by L. Zhang and P. Rogak)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek epic poem, 8th century BCE<\/h4>\r\n
In Book 9 of the\u00a0Odyssey,\u00a0<\/em>Odysseus has washed ashore on the island of the Phaeacians. He is at the court of King Alcinous and Queen Arete. The blind bard Demodicus has just finished singing about the Trojan Horse and the sack of Troy. King Alcinous has now asked Odysseys to tell them of his adventures up to that point.<\/div>\r\n[content warning for the following source: graphic description of death and violence (256-306, 360-412)]<\/h5>\r\n[1-62] Resourceful [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] answered the king, saying: \u2018Lord [pb_glossary id=\"1999\"]Alcinous[\/pb_glossary], most illustrious of men, it is a fine thing, in truth, to hear a bard such as this, with a godlike voice. I say myself there is nothing more delightful than when all the people feel this joy, and the banqueters sit in their rows, listening to the minstrel in the hall, tables in front of them laden with meat and bread, while the steward pours wine from the bowl, and carries it round and fills the cups. It seems the loveliest thing of all to me.\r\n\r\nBut your heart prompts you to ask of my sad troubles, and make me weep and groan even more. How will I start and end my tale? First, let me give you my name, so you all know, and if I escape from pitiless fate later, I will be your host, though I live far off. I am [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"1496\"]Laertes[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 son, known to all for my stratagems, and my fame has reached the heavens. My home is under Ithaca\u2019s clear skies: our Mount Neriton, clothed with whispering forest is visible from afar: and clustered round it are many isles, Dulichium and Same and wooded Zacynthus. Ithaca itself lies low in the sea, furthest towards the west, while the others are separate, towards the dawn and the rising sun. It\u2019s a rugged land, but nurtures fine young men: and speaking for myself I know nothing sweeter than one\u2019s own country. [pb_glossary id=\"2037\"]Calypso[\/pb_glossary], the lovely goddess, kept me there in her echoing caves, because she wished me for her husband, and in the same way [pb_glossary id=\"1958\"]Circe[\/pb_glossary], the Aeaean witch, detained me in her palace, longing to make me hers: but they failed to move my heart. Surely nothing is sweeter than a man\u2019s own parents and country, even though he lives in a wealthy house, in a foreign land far from those parents. But let me tell you of my sad voyage back from [pb_glossary id=\"4673\"]Troy[\/pb_glossary], that [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] had willed.\r\n\r\nThe wind carried me from [pb_glossary id=\"4673\"]Ilium[\/pb_glossary] to Ismarus, city of the [pb_glossary id=\"2170\"]Cicones[\/pb_glossary]. I sacked the city and slew the men, and the women and riches we split between us, so that as far as I could determine no man lacked an equal share. Then as you might imagine I ordered us to slip away quickly, but my foolish followers wouldn\u2019t listen. They drank the wine, and slaughtered many sheep and shambling cattle with twisted horns. Meanwhile the [pb_glossary id=\"2170\"]Cicones[\/pb_glossary] rounded up others, their neighbours further inland, more numerous and braver, men skilled at fighting their enemies from chariots and on foot, as needed. At dawn they came, as many as the leaves and flowers of the spring: and disaster sent by [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] overtook us, doomed, as we were, to endless trouble. Drawing up their ranks by the swift ships, they fought us, each side hurling bronze-tipped spears at the other. Through that morning, while the sacred light grew stronger, we held our ground and kept their greater force at bay. But as the sun fell, at the time when oxen are unyoked, the [pb_glossary id=\"2170\"]Cicones[\/pb_glossary] succeeded in routing the Acheans, and six of my well-armoured comrades died from each ship, but the rest of us cheated death and evil fate.\u2019\r\n\r\n[63-104] \u2018From Ismarus we sailed, with heavy hearts for the loyal friends lost, though happy to have escaped death ourselves: nor would I let the curved ships leave until we had called three times in ritual to each of our luckless comrades, who died there on the plain, at the hands of the [pb_glossary id=\"2170\"]Cicones[\/pb_glossary]. But [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], the Cloud-Gatherer, stirred the north wind against our ships, in a blinding tempest, hiding the land and sea alike in cloud, while darkness swept from the sky. Headlong the ships were driven, sails torn to shreds by the force of the gale. In terror of death we lowered the masts on deck, and rowed the vessels wildly towards land.\r\n\r\nThere we stayed for two days and nights, troubled at heart with weariness and grief. But when [pb_glossary id=\"215\"]Dawn[\/pb_glossary] of the lovely tresses gave birth to the third day, we upped masts, hoisted the white sails, and took our seats aboard, and the wind and helmsman kept us on course. Now I would have reached home safely, but as I was rounding Cape Malea, the north wind and waves and the ocean currents beat me away, off course, past Cythera.\r\n\r\nFor nine days I was driven by fierce winds over the rolling sea: but on the tenth we set foot on the shores of the [pb_glossary id=\"2038\"]Lotus-eaters[\/pb_glossary], who eat its flowery food. On land we drew water, and my friends ate by the ships. Once we had tasted food and drink, I sent some of the men inland to discover what kind of human beings lived there: selecting two and sending a third as herald. They left at once and came upon the [pb_glossary id=\"2038\"]Lotus-eaters[\/pb_glossary], who had no thought of killing my comrades, but gave them lotus to eat. Those who ate the honey-sweet lotus fruit no longer wished to bring back word to us, or sail for home. They wanted to stay with the [pb_glossary id=\"2038\"]Lotus-eaters[\/pb_glossary], eating the lotus, forgetting all thoughts of return. I dragged those men back to the shore myself by force, while they wept, and bound them tight in the hollow ships, pushing them under the benches. Then I ordered my men to embark quickly on the fast craft, fearing that others would eat the lotus and forget their homes. They boarded swiftly and took their place on the benches then sitting in their rows struck the grey water with their oars.\u2019\r\n\r\n[105-151] \u2018From there we sailed with heavy hearts, and came to the land of the [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclopes[\/pb_glossary], a lawless, aggressive people, who never lift their hands to plant or plough, but rely on the immortal gods. Wheat, barley, and vines with their richly clustered grapes, grow there without ploughing or sowing, and rain from [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] makes them flourish. The [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclopes[\/pb_glossary] have no council meetings, no code of law, but live in echoing caves on the mountain slopes, and each man lays down the law to his wives and children, and disregards his neighbours.\r\n\r\nA fertile island lies diagonally outside the [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclopes[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 harbour, well wooded and neither close to nor far from shore. Countless wild goats inhabit it, since there is nothing to stop them, no hunters to suffer the hardship of beating a path through its woods, or to roam its mountaintops. There are no flocks, and no ploughed fields: but always unsown, and untilled it is free of mankind and nurtures only bleating goats. The [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclopes[\/pb_glossary] have no vessels with crimson-painted prows, no shipwrights to build sound boats with oars, to meet their need and let them travel to other men\u2019s cities, as other races visit each other over the sea in ships, no craftsmen that is who might also have turned it into a fine colony.[footnote]During the Iron Age, Greece formed colonies around the Mediterranean. Homer here appeals to the colonialist Greek mindset of the time.[\/footnote] For this island is by no means poor, but would carry any crop in due season. There are rich well-watered meadows there, along the shore of the grey sea, where vines would never fail. There is level land for the plough with soil so rich they could reap a dense harvest in season. And there\u2019s a safe harbour where there\u2019s no need for moorings, neither anchor stones nor mooring lines: you can beach your ship and wait until the wind is fair and the spirit moves you to sail.\r\n\r\nNow, at the head of the harbour a stream of bright water flows out from a cave ringed by poplars. We entered, and some god must have guided us through the murky night, since it was too dark to see, a mist shrouded the ships, and the moon covered with cloud gave not a gleam of light. No one could see the land, or the long, powerful waves striking the beach, until we had run our oared ships aground. Once they were beached we lowered sail and went on shore, then we lay down where we were to sleep, and waited for the light of dawn.\u2019\r\n\r\n[152-192] \u2018As soon as rosy-fingered [pb_glossary id=\"215\"]Dawn[\/pb_glossary] appeared, we explored the island, marveling at what we saw. The [pb_glossary id=\"217\"]Nymphs[\/pb_glossary], daughters of [pb_glossary id=\"168\"]aegis[\/pb_glossary]-bearing [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], disturbed the mountain goats, driving them towards my hungry comrades. Quickly we brought our curved bows and long spears from the ships, and splitting three ways began to hunt them, and the god soon gave us a fine enough kill. Nine goats were given to each of the twelve ships in my command, and there were ten left for me.\r\n\r\nSo all day long until the sun set we sat and feasted on copious meat and mellow wine,[footnote]The Greeks typically mixed their wine with water to make it less strong, and drinking too much wine (especially undiluted wine) was often associated with foreigners, such as the Centaurs and Cyclopes.[\/footnote] since each of the crews had drawn off a large supply in jars when we took the [pb_glossary id=\"2170\"]Cicones[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 sacred citadel, and some of the red was left. Looking across to the land of the neighbouring [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclopes[\/pb_glossary], we could see smoke and hear their voices, and the sound of their sheep and goats. Sun set and darkness fell, and we settled to our rest on the shore.\r\n\r\nAs soon as rosy-fingered [pb_glossary id=\"215\"]Dawn[\/pb_glossary] appeared, I gathered my men together, saying: \u201cThe rest of you loyal friends stay here, while I and my crew take ship and try and find out who these men are, whether they are cruel, savage and lawless, or good to strangers, and in their hearts fear the gods.\u201d\r\n\r\nWith this I went aboard and ordered my crew to follow and loose the cables. They boarded swiftly and took their place on the benches then sitting in their rows struck the grey water with their oars. When we had reached the nearby shore, we saw a deep cave overhung with laurels at the cliff\u2019s edge close to the sea. Large herds of sheep and goats were penned there at night, and round it was a raised yard walled by deep-set stones, tall pines and high-crowned oaks. There a giant spent the night, one that grazed his herds far off, alone, and keeping clear of others, lived in lawless solitude. He was born a monster and a wonder, not like any ordinary human, but like some wooded peak of the high mountains, that stands there isolated to our gaze.\u2019\r\n\r\n[193-255] \u2018Then I ordered the rest of my loyal friends to stay there and guard the ship, while I selected the twelve best men and went forward. I took with me a goatskin filled with dark sweet wine that Maron, son of Euanthes, priest of [pb_glossary id=\"183\"]Apollo[\/pb_glossary] guardian god of Ismarus, had given me, because out of respect we protected him, his wife, and his child. He offered me splendid gifts, seven talents of well-wrought gold, and a silver mixing-bowl: and wine, twelve jars in all, sweet unmixed wine, a divine draught. None of his serving-men and maids knew of this store, only he and his loyal wife, and one housekeeper. When they drank that honeyed red wine, he would pour a full cup into twenty of water, and the bouquet that rose from the mixing bowl was wonderfully sweet: in truth no one could hold back. I filled a large goatskin with the wine, and took it along, with some food in a bag, since my instincts told me the giant would come at us quickly, a savage being with huge strength, knowing nothing of right or law.\r\n\r\nSoon we came to the cave, and found him absent, he was grazing his well-fed flocks in the fields. So we went inside and marveled at its contents. There were baskets full of cheeses, and pens crowded with lambs and kids, each flock with its firstlings, later ones, and newborn separated. The pails and bowls for milking, all solidly made, were swimming with whey. At first my men begged me to take some cheeses and go, then to drive the lambs and kids from the pens down to the swift ship and set sail. But I would not listen, though it would have been best, wishing to see the giant himself, and test his hospitality. When he did appear, he proved no joy to my men.\r\n\r\nSo we lit a fire and made an offering, and helped ourselves to the cheese, and sat in the cave eating, waiting for him to return, shepherding his flocks. He arrived carrying a huge weight of dry wood to burn at suppertime, and he flung it down inside the cave with a crash. Gripped by terror we shrank back into a deep corner. He drove his well-fed flocks into the wide cave, the ones he milked, leaving the rams and he-goats outside in the broad courtyard. Then he lifted his door, a huge stone, and set it in place. Twenty-two four-wheeled wagons could not have carried it, yet such was the great rocky mass he used for a door. Then he sat and milked the ewes, and bleating goats in order, putting her young to each. Next he curdled half of the white milk, and stored the whey in wicker baskets, leaving the rest in pails for him to drink for his supper. When he had busied himself at his tasks, and kindled a fire, he suddenly saw us, and said: \u201cStrangers, who are you? Where do you sail from over the sea-roads? Are you on business, or do you roam at random, like pirates who chance their lives to bring evil to others?\u201d\u2019\r\n\r\n[256-306] \u2018Our spirits fell at his words, in terror at his loud voice and monstrous size. Nevertheless I answered him, saying; \u201cWe are [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Achaeans[\/pb_glossary], returning from [pb_glossary id=\"4673\"]Troy[\/pb_glossary], driven over the ocean depths by every wind that blows. Heading for home we were forced to take another route, a different course, as [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], I suppose, intended. We are followers of [pb_glossary id=\"1561\"]Agamemnon[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"1562\"]Atreus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 son, whose fame spreads widest on earth, so great was that city he sacked and host he slew. But we, for our part, come as suppliant to your knees, hoping for hospitality, and the kindness that is due to strangers. Good sir, do not refuse us: respect the gods. We are suppliants and [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] protects visitors and suppliants, [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] the god of guests, who follows the steps of sacred travelers.\u201d[footnote]The concept of xenia<\/em>, or hospitality, was highly valued and formalized in ancient Greece. Zeus was the patron of guests, ensuring that guests and hosts treated each other with respect. Here, Homer emphasizes the un-Greek nature of the Cyclopes, as Polyphemus rejects the important Greek value of xenia<\/em>.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nHis answer was devoid of pity. \u201cStranger, you are a foreigner or a fool, telling me to fear and revere the gods, since the [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclopes[\/pb_glossary] care nothing for [pb_glossary id=\"168\"]aegis[\/pb_glossary]-bearing [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary]: we are greater than they. I would spare neither you nor your friends, to evade [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 anger, but only as my own heart prompted.\r\n\r\nBut tell me, now, where you moored your fine ship, when you landed. Was it somewhere nearby, or further off? I\u2019d like to know.\u201d\r\n\r\nHis words were designed to fool me, but failed. I was too wise for that, and answered him with cunning words: \u201c[pb_glossary id=\"182\"]Poseidon[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"2039\"]Earth-Shaker[\/pb_glossary], smashed my ship to pieces, wrecking her on the rocks that edge your island, driving her close to the headland so the wind threw her onshore. But I and my men here escaped destruction.\u201d\r\n\r\nDevoid of pity, he was silent in response, but leapt up and laid hands on my crew. Two he seized and dashed to the ground like whelps, and their brains ran out and stained the earth. He tore them limb from limb for his supper, eating the flesh and entrails, bone and marrow, like a mountain lion, leaving nothing. Helplessly we watched these cruel acts, raising our hands to heaven and weeping. When the [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclops[\/pb_glossary] had filled his huge stomach with human flesh, and had drunk pure milk, he lay down in the cave, stretched out among his flocks. Then I formed a courageous plan to steal up to him, draw my sharp sword, and feeling for the place where the midriff supports the liver, stab him there. But the next thought checked me. Trapped in the cave we would certainly die, since we\u2019d have no way to move the great stone from the wide entrance. So, sighing, we waited for bright day.\u2019\r\n\r\n[307-359] \u2018As soon as rosy-fingered [pb_glossary id=\"215\"]Dawn[\/pb_glossary] appeared, [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclops[\/pb_glossary] relit the fire. Then he milked the ewes, and bleating goats in order, putting her young to each. When he had busied himself at his tasks, he again seized two of my men and began to eat them. When he had finished he drove his well-fed flocks from the cave, effortlessly lifting the huge door stone, and replacing it again like the cap on a quiver. Then whistling loudly he turned his flocks out on to the mountain slopes, leaving me with murder in my heart searching for a way to take vengeance on him, if [pb_glossary id=\"173\"]Athena[\/pb_glossary] would grant me inspiration. The best plan seemed to be this:\r\n\r\nThe [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclops[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 huge club, a trunk of green olive wood he had cut to take with him as soon as it was seasoned, lay next to a sheep pen. It was so large and thick that it looked to us like the mast of a twenty-oared black ship, a broad-beamed merchant vessel that sails the deep ocean. Approaching it, I cut off a six-foot length, gave it to my men and told them to smooth the wood. Then standing by it I sharpened the end to a point, and hardened the point in the blazing fire, after which I hid it carefully in a one of the heaps of dung that lay around the cave. I ordered the men to cast lots as to which of them should dare to help me raise the stake and twist it into the [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclops[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 eye when sweet sleep took him. The lot fell on the very ones I would have chosen, four of them, with myself making a fifth.\r\n\r\nHe returned at evening, shepherding his well-fed flocks. He herded them swiftly, every one, into the deep cave, leaving none in the broad yard, commanded to do so by a god, or because of some premonition. Then he lifted the huge door stone and set it in place, and sat down to milk the ewes and bleating goats in order, putting her young to each. But when he had busied himself at his tasks, he again seized two of my men and began to eat them. That was when I went up to him, holding an ivy-wood bowl full of dark wine, and said: \u201cHere, [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclops[\/pb_glossary], have some wine to follow your meal of human flesh, so you can taste the sort of drink we carried in our ship. I was bringing the drink to you as a gift, hoping you might pity me and help me on my homeward path: but your savagery is past bearing. Cruel man, why would anyone on earth ever visit you again, when you behave so badly?\u201d\r\n\r\nAt this, he took the cup and drained it, and found the sweet drink so delightful he asked for another draught: \u201cGive me more, freely, then quickly tell me your name so I may give you a guest gift, one that will please you. Among us [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclopes[\/pb_glossary] the fertile earth produces rich grape clusters, and [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 rain swells them: but this is a taste from a stream of ambrosia and nectar.\u201d\u2019\r\n\r\n[360-412] \u2018As he finished speaking I handed him the bright wine. Three times I poured and gave it to him, and three times, foolishly, he drained it. When the wine had muddled his wits, I tried him with subtle words: \u201c[pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclops[\/pb_glossary], you asked my name, and I will tell it: give me afterwards a guest gift as you promised. My name is Nobody. Nobody, my father, mother, and friends call me.\u201d\r\n\r\nThose were my words, and this his cruel answer: \u201cThen, my gift is this. I will eat Nobody last of all his company, and all the others before him\u201d.\r\n\r\nAs he spoke, he reeled and toppled over on his back, his thick neck twisted to one side, and all-conquering sleep overpowered him. In his drunken slumber he vomited wine and pieces of human flesh. Then I thrust the stake into the depth of the ashes to heat it, and inspired my men with encouraging words, so none would hang back from fear. When the olivewood stake was glowing hot, and ready to catch fire despite its greenness, I drew it from the coals, then my men stood round me, and a god breathed courage into us. They held the sharpened olivewood stake, and thrust it into his eye, while I threw my weight on the end, and twisted it round and round, as a man bores the timbers of a ship with a drill that others twirl lower down with a strap held at both ends, and so keep the drill continuously moving. We took the red-hot stake and twisted it round and round like that in his eye, and the blood poured out despite the heat. His lids and brows were scorched by flame from the burning eyeball, and its roots crackled with fire. As a great axe or adze causes a vast hissing when the smith dips it in cool water to temper it, strengthening the iron, so his eye hissed against the olivewood stake. Then he screamed, terribly, and the rock echoed. Seized by terror we shrank back, as he wrenched the stake, wet with blood, from his eye. He flung it away in frenzy, and called to the [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclopes[\/pb_glossary], his neighbours who lived in caves on the windy heights. They heard his cry, and crowding in from every side they stood by the cave mouth and asked what was wrong: \u201c[pb_glossary id=\"1713\"]Polyphemus[\/pb_glossary], what terrible pain is this that makes you call through deathless night, and wake us? Is a mortal stealing your flocks, or trying to kill you by violence or treachery?\u201d\r\n\r\nOut of the cave came mighty [pb_glossary id=\"1713\"]Polyphemus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 voice: \u201cNobody, my friends, is trying to kill me by violence or treachery.\u201d\r\n\r\nTo this they replied with winged words: \u201cIf you are alone, and nobody does you violence, it\u2019s an inescapable sickness that comes from [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary]: pray to the Lord [pb_glossary id=\"182\"]Poseidon[\/pb_glossary], our father.\u201d\r\n\r\n[413-479] \u2018Off they went, while I laughed to myself at how the name and the clever scheme had deceived him. Meanwhile the [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclops[\/pb_glossary], groaning and in pain, groped around and laboured to lift the stone from the door. Then he sat in the entrance, arms outstretched, to catch anyone stealing past among his sheep. That was how foolish he must have thought I was. I considered the best way of escaping, and saving myself, and my men from death. I dreamed up all sorts of tricks and schemes, as a man will in a life or death matter: it was an evil situation. This was the plan that seemed best. The rams were fat with thick fleeces, fine large beasts with deep black wool. These I silently tied together in threes, with twists of willow on which that lawless monster, [pb_glossary id=\"1713\"]Polyphemus[\/pb_glossary], slept. The middle one was to carry one of my men, with the other two on either side to protect him. So there was a man to every three sheep. As for me I took the pick of the flock, and curled below his shaggy belly, gripped his back and lay there face upwards, patiently gripping his fine fleece tight in my hands. Then, sighing, we waited for the light.\r\n\r\nAs soon as rosy-fingered [pb_glossary id=\"215\"]Dawn[\/pb_glossary] appeared, the males rushed out to graze, while the un-milked females\u2019 udders bursting bleated in the pens. Their master, tormented by agonies of pain, felt the backs of the sheep as they passed him, but foolishly failed to see my men tied under the rams\u2019 bellies. My ram went last, burdened by the weight of his fleece, and me and my teeming thoughts. And as he felt its back, mighty [pb_glossary id=\"1713\"]Polyphemus[\/pb_glossary] spoke to him:\r\n\r\n\u201cMy fine ram, why leave the cave like this last of the flock? You have never lagged behind before, always the first to step out proudly and graze on the tender grass shoots, always first to reach the flowing river, and first to show your wish to return at evening to the fold. Today you are last of all. You must surely be grieving over your master\u2019s eye, blinded by an evil man and his wicked friends, when my wits were fuddled with wine: Nobody, I say, has not yet escaped death. If you only had senses like me, and the power of speech to tell me where he hides himself from my anger, then I\u2019d strike him down, his brains would be sprinkled all over the floor of the cave, and my heart would be eased of the pain that nothing, Nobody, has brought me.\u201d\r\n\r\nWith this he drove the ram away from him out of doors, and I detached myself when the ram was a little way from the cave, then untied my men. Swiftly, keeping an eye behind us, we shepherded those long-limbed sheep, rich and fat, down to the ship. And a welcome sight, indeed, to our dear friends were we, escapees from death, though they wept and sighed for the others we lost. I would not let them weep though, but stopped them all with a nod and a frown. I told them to haul the host of fine-fleeced sheep on board and put to sea. They boarded swiftly and took their place on the benches then sitting in their rows struck the grey water with their oars. When we were almost out of earshot, I shouted to the [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclops[\/pb_glossary], mocking him: \u201cIt seems he was not such a weakling, then, [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclops[\/pb_glossary], that man whose friends you meant to tear apart and eat in your echoing cave. Stubborn brute not shrinking from murdering your guests in your own house, your evil deeds were bound for sure to fall on your own head. [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] and the other gods have had their revenge on you.\u201d\u2019\r\n\r\n[480-525] \u2018He was enraged all the more by my words, and shattering the crest of a tall cliff, he hurled it at us, so that it fell seaward of our blue-prowed vessel, and almost struck the steering oar. The water surged beneath the stone as it fell and the backwash, like a tidal swell from the open sea, carried the ship landward and drove it onto the shore. But seizing a long pole in my hands, I pushed the boat off, and rousing my men ordered them with urgent signs to bend to the oars and save us from disaster. They bent to their oars and rowed, but as soon as we had put water behind us and doubled our distance I began shouting to the [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclops[\/pb_glossary], though the men round me called out on every side, trying to deter me with their appeals: \u201cWhy provoke the savage to anger in this stubborn way? The rock he threw into the sea just now drove the ship back on shore, and we thought we were done for. If he had been able to hear us speak but a word, he would have hurled another jagged stone, and crushed our heads and the ship\u2019s timbers with the power of his throw.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo they argued, but could not daunt my ardent spirit, and I shouted to him again in anger: \u201c[pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclops[\/pb_glossary], if any man asks how you came by your blindness, say that [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], sacker of cities, [pb_glossary id=\"1496\"]Laertes[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 son, a native of Ithaca, maimed you.\u201d\r\n\r\nAt this he groaned, and said in answer: \u201cAlas! The truth of that prophecy spoken long ago is fulfilled! Telemus, the seer, son of Eurymus, a tall fine man, lived here once, the greatest of prophets, and grew old here as soothsayer among the [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclopes[\/pb_glossary]. He told me that all of this would come to pass one day, and I would lose my sight at [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 hands. But I always expected some tall fine man, one of great strength, and now a puny good-for-nothing weakling blinds my eye, after plying me with wine. Come here, [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], nevertheless, so that I might grant you guest gifts, and urge the great [pb_glossary id=\"2039\"]Earth-Shaker[\/pb_glossary] to see you home, since I am his son, and he says he is my father, and he, of his will, can heal me, where no other of the blessed gods or men can.\u201d\r\n\r\nI replied, saying: \u201cI wish I could rob you of life and spirit, and send you to the House of [pb_glossary id=\"211\"]Hades[\/pb_glossary], as surely as the [pb_glossary id=\"2039\"]Earth-Shaker[\/pb_glossary] will fail to heal your eye.\u201d\u2019\r\n\r\n[526-566] \u2018At my words, he stretched out his hands to the starry heavens, and prayed to the Lord [pb_glossary id=\"182\"]Poseidon[\/pb_glossary]: \u2018Hear me, [pb_glossary id=\"182\"]Poseidon[\/pb_glossary], dark-tressed Earth-Bearer, if I am your son, if you say you are my father, let [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], sacker of cities and son of [pb_glossary id=\"1496\"]Laertes[\/pb_glossary], never reach his home on Ithaca: yet if he is destined to see his friends and his fine house in his own country, may he come there late and in sore distress, in another\u2019s ship, losing all comrades, and let him find great trouble in his house.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo he prayed, and the dark-tressed god heard him. Then the [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclops[\/pb_glossary] lifted an even larger rock, swung it in the air, and hurled it, with all his strength. It fell not far behind our blue-prowed ship, narrowly missing the tip of the steering oar, and the sea surged up around the falling stone, and its wave carried the ship forward and drove it to the far shore.\r\n\r\nSo we reached the island where our other oared ships lay, with our friends round them, watching for us, and weeping. There we beached our vessel, and went on shore. We landed the [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclops[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 flocks from the hold and divided them among us, so that as far as I could determine no man lacked an equal share. The ram my comrades in arms granted to me, as a separate gift, and when the flocks had been divided there on the shore I sacrificed to [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] of the dark clouds, son of [pb_glossary id=\"169\"]Cronus[\/pb_glossary], lord of all, and I burned the thigh pieces. But he ignored my sacrifice, planning instead the destruction of my oared ships and my faithful friends.\r\n\r\nAll day long until sunset we sat feasting on our plentiful supplies of meat and sweet wine, and when the sun was down and darkness fell we settled to sleep on the sand. As soon as rosy-fingered [pb_glossary id=\"215\"]Dawn[\/pb_glossary] appeared, I roused my men, and ordered them to embark and loose the hawsers. They boarded swiftly and took their place on the benches then sitting in their rows struck the grey water with their oars.\r\n\r\nSo we sailed on, with heavy hearts for the loyal friends lost, though happy to have escaped death ourselves.\u2019\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: https:\/\/www.poetryintranslation.com\/PITBR\/Greek\/Odyssey9.php<\/a>\r\n
Translated by A. S. Kline \u00a9\u00a0Copyright<\/a>\u00a02004 All Rights Reserved<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n
\r\n<\/a>Homer,\u00a0Odyssey,\u00a0<\/em>Book 11 (trans. A. S. Kline, adapted by L. Zhang and P. Rogak)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek epic poem, 8th century BCE<\/h4>\r\n
In Book 11 of the\u00a0Odyssey<\/em>, Odysseus has traveled down to the underworld to speak to the seer Tiresias so that he can figure out how to get home. While in Hades, he encounters some of his fellow Greeks who died in the Trojan War or after. In this selection, he meets with Agamemnon and learns about his death following the war, at the hands of his wife Clytemnestra. For all of Book 11, see chapter 41<\/a>.<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n[385-464][footnote]For full context and book, see chapter 31<\/a>[\/footnote] I wept when I saw him, and pitied him, and spoke to him with winged words: \u201c[pb_glossary id=\"1561\"]Agamemnon[\/pb_glossary], king of men, glorious son of [pb_glossary id=\"1562\"]Atreus[\/pb_glossary], what pitiless stroke of fate destroyed you? Did [pb_glossary id=\"182\"]Poseidon[\/pb_glossary] stir the cruel winds to a raging tempest, and swamp your ships? Or perhaps you were attacked in enemy country, while you were driving off their cattle and fine flocks, or fighting to take their city and its women?\u201d\r\n\r\nHe answered my words swiftly: \u201c[pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] of many resources, scion of [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], son of [pb_glossary id=\"1496\"]Laertes[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"182\"]Poseidon[\/pb_glossary] stirred no cruel winds to raging tempest, nor swamped my ships, nor was I attacked in enemy country. It was [pb_glossary id=\"2022\"]Aegisthus[\/pb_glossary] who engineered my fate, inviting me to his palace for a feast, murdering me with my accursed wife\u2019s help, as you might kill an ox in its stall. I died wretchedly, and around me my companions were slaughtered ruthlessly, like white-tusked swine for a wedding banquet in the hall of some rich and powerful man, or at a communal meal, or a great drinking session. You yourself have witnessed the killing of men, in single combat or in the thick of the fight, but you would have felt the deepest pity at that sight, the floor swimming with blood where our corpses lay, by the mixing bowl and the heavily-laden tables. But the most pitiful cry of all came from [pb_glossary id=\"2075\"]Cassandra[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"614\"]Priam[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s daughter, whom treacherous [pb_glossary id=\"1672\"]Clytemnestra[\/pb_glossary] killed as she clung to me. Brought low by [pb_glossary id=\"2022\"]Aegisthus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 sword I tried to lift my arms in dying, but bitch that she was my wife turned away, and though I was going to Hades\u2019 Halls she disdained even to close my eyelids or my mouth. Truly there is nothing more terrible or shameless than a woman who can contemplate such acts, planning and executing a husband\u2019s murder. I had thought to be welcomed by my house and children, but she with her mind intent on that final horror has brought shame on herself and all future women, even those who are virtuous.\u201d\r\n\r\nTo this I answered: \u201cIndeed, from the very beginning, [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] the Thunderer has tormented the race of [pb_glossary id=\"1562\"]Atreus[\/pb_glossary], through women\u2019s machinations! So many men died for [pb_glossary id=\"1663\"]Helen[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s sake while [pb_glossary id=\"1672\"]Clytemnestra[\/pb_glossary] plotted in your absence.\u201d I spoke, and he made answer swiftly: \u201cSo don\u2019t be too open with your own wife, don\u2019t tell her every thought in your mind, reveal a part, keep the rest to yourself. Not that death will come to you from wise [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary], Icarius\u2019 daughter, she who is so tender-hearted, and cautious. A newly wedded bride she was when we left for the war, with a baby son at her breast who must be a man now and prospering. His loving father will see him when he returns, and he will kiss his father as is right and proper. But that wife of mine did not even allow me to set eyes on my son before she killed me. Let me say this too, and take my words to heart, don\u2019t bring your ship to anchor openly, when you reach home, but do it secretly, since women can no longer be trusted.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: https:\/\/www.poetryintranslation.com\/PITBR\/Greek\/Odyssey11.php<\/a>\r\nTranslated by A. S. Kline \u00a9\u00a0Copyright<\/a> 2004 All Rights Reserved<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n
\r\n<\/a>Homer,\u00a0Odyssey,\u00a0<\/em>Book 12 (trans. A. S. Kline, adapted by L. Zhang and P. Rogak)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek epic poem, 8th century BCE<\/h4>\r\n
Book 12 of the\u00a0Odyssey<\/em> is the last one in which Odysseus is telling his adventures to King Alcinous and the court of the Phaeacians. At the start of the book, Odysseus has just returned from his trip to the underworld (Hades) and he and his men prepare to leave the island of Aeaea where they have been staying at the home of the witch Circe.<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n[1-35] \u2018Leaving the River of [pb_glossary id=\"216\"]Ocean[\/pb_glossary], and crossing the wide sea waves, we came again to the Isle of Aeaea, where [pb_glossary id=\"215\"]Eos[\/pb_glossary] the Dawn has her House and Dancing Floor: to the place where the sun rises. There we beached our ship on the sand and leapt to the shore, and there we slept until bright day.\r\n\r\nAs soon as rosy-fingered [pb_glossary id=\"215\"]Dawn[\/pb_glossary] appeared, I sent my men to [pb_glossary id=\"1958\"]Circe[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s house to recover [pb_glossary id=\"2045\"]Elpenor[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s corpse. Then swiftly cutting logs of wood we performed the funeral rites, grieving and in tears, on the furthest point of the headland. When the body had burnt, and with it the dead man\u2019s armour, we heaped a mound, and raised a stone on top, and at the summit we fixed his well-shaped oar.\r\n\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"1958\"]Circe[\/pb_glossary] was well aware of our return from [pb_glossary id=\"211\"]Hades[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 House, and while we were busy with our tasks she adorned herself and hurried out to us, her handmaids bringing plenty of bread and meat, and glowing red wine. She stood there in the centre, and addressed us: \u201cResolute men, to have gone down living to [pb_glossary id=\"211\"]Hades[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 House, you who will meet death twice, while others die only once. Eat then and drink here today, but when [pb_glossary id=\"215\"]Dawn[\/pb_glossary] comes set sail, and I will show the way and explain the course so you can avoid pain and suffering on sea or land for lack of a decent plan.\u201d\r\n\r\nTo this our proud hearts yielded, and all day long until the sun set we feasted on plentiful meat and wine. When the sun went down and darkness fell, my men lay down to sleep by the ships\u2019 cables, but [pb_glossary id=\"1958\"]Circe[\/pb_glossary] took my hand and led me apart from my friends, and made me sit down and tell the tale, as she lay there beside me. I related it all in proper sequence.\u2019\r\n\r\n[36-110] \u2018Then royal [pb_glossary id=\"1958\"]Circe[\/pb_glossary] said: \u201cSo, it all came to pass. Well listen now to what I tell you, and let some god remind you of it. Next you will come to the [pb_glossary id=\"343\"]Sirens[\/pb_glossary] who beguile all men that approach them. Whoever encounters them unawares and listens to their voices will never joy at reaching home, his wife and children to greet him. Instead the [pb_glossary id=\"343\"]Sirens[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 tempt him with their melodious song, as they sit there in the meadow with a vast heap of rotting corpses, bones on which hangs the shriveled skin. Plug your comrades\u2019 ears with softened beeswax so they do not listen, and row swiftly past. And if you must hear, then let them first tie you hand and foot and stand you upright in the mast housing, and fasten the rope ends round the mast itself, so you can delight in hearing the [pb_glossary id=\"343\"]Sirens[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 voices. And should you beg your crew to free you, let them only bind you more tightly.\r\n\r\nOnce your comrades have rowed you beyond those creatures, I cannot advise you of the best course to take. I will tell you the choice, but you must decide. One leads to sheer cliffs, against which green-eyed [pb_glossary id=\"1547\"]Amphitrite[\/pb_glossary] hurls her vast roaring breakers, the blessed gods call them the [pb_glossary id=\"2046\"]Wandering Rocks[\/pb_glossary]. Not even birds can pass between them unscathed, not even the timorous rock-doves that bring ambrosia to Father [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary]. The slippery rock always takes one, and [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] must send another to complete their number. Crews that reach the rocks can never escape, instead ships\u2019 timbers and human corpses are tossed by the waves or in gushers of cruel fire. Only one ocean-going vessel has passed between them, the celebrated [pb_glossary id=\"1823\"]Argo<\/em>[\/pb_glossary] fleeing from [pb_glossary id=\"1828\"]Aeetes[\/pb_glossary], and the waves would have quickly broken her on the massive crags, if [pb_glossary id=\"185\"]Hera[\/pb_glossary] had not seen her through, because of her care for [pb_glossary id=\"1825\"]Jason[\/pb_glossary].\r\n\r\nThe other course leads to two cliffs, one whose sharp peak towers to the wide heavens. A dark cloud caps it that never vanishes to leave clear skies, even in summer or at harvest. No mortal could climb it and set foot on the summit, not though he had twenty hands and feet: the rock is smooth as if it were polished. In the centre of this cliff-face is a dark cave, facing West towards [pb_glossary id=\"886\"]Erebus[\/pb_glossary], on the path your hollow ship will take, glorious [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], if you listen to my advice. Even a man of great strength could not shoot an arrow from your vessel as far as that arching cavern. [pb_glossary id=\"1832\"]Scylla[\/pb_glossary] lives there, whose yelp it is true is only that of a new-born whelp, yet she is a foul monster whom not even a god could gaze at with pleasure. She has twelve flailing legs and six long thin necks, each ending in a savage head with a triple row of close-set teeth masking death\u2019s black void. She is sunk to her waist in the echoing cave, but extends her jaws from that menacing chasm, and there she fishes, groping eagerly round the cliff for her catch, dolphins and seals or one of the greater creatures that [pb_glossary id=\"1547\"]Amphitrite[\/pb_glossary] breeds in countless numbers in the moaning depths. No crew passing by in their ship can boast it has ever escaped her unscathed, since each head snatches a man, lifting him from his dark-prowed vessel.\r\n\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], you will notice the other cliff is lower, only a bow-shot away, and a great fig-tree with dense leaves grows there. Under it divine [pb_glossary id=\"1833\"]Charybdis[\/pb_glossary] swallows the black waters. Three times a day, she spews them out, and three times darkly sucks them back again. No one, not even [pb_glossary id=\"182\"]Poseidon[\/pb_glossary], could save you from destruction if you are there when she swallows. Hug [pb_glossary id=\"1832\"]Scylla[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s cliff instead, and row your ship past swiftly, since it it's better to mourn six men than your whole crew.\u201d\u2019\r\n\r\n[111-164] \u2018So she spoke, but I replied: \u201cGoddess, I beg you to tell me truly why I cannot both escape deadly [pb_glossary id=\"1833\"]Charybdis[\/pb_glossary] and yet defeat [pb_glossary id=\"1832\"]Scylla[\/pb_glossary] when she tries to attack my crew?\u201d To this the Goddess answered: \u201cResolute man, is your heart set again on the toils of battle? Will you not even bow to the deathless gods? [pb_glossary id=\"1832\"]Scylla[\/pb_glossary] is not mortal. She is immortal evil: a dire, ferocious thing of dread. You cannot fight her, there is no defence: the only course is flight. If you pause by the rock to arm yourselves, I fear she will dart out and strike you with all six heads again, and seize as many men as at first. Row past at full speed instead, and call out to Cratais, [pb_glossary id=\"1832\"]Scylla[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s mother, who bore her to be the bane of mortal men. She might keep her from darting out once more.\r\n\r\nJourneying on you will reach the island of Thrinacia, where the [pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Sun-god[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s cattle and rich flocks graze: seven herds of cattle and as many herds of sheep, with fifty head per herd. They bear no young, but never die, and the goddesses with lovely tresses, the [pb_glossary id=\"217\"]nymphs[\/pb_glossary] Phaethusa and Lampetia, the daughters of Neaera and [pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Helios Hyperion[\/pb_glossary], are their shepherdesses. When noble Neaera had borne and nursed them, she sent them to remote Thrinacia, to tend their father\u2019s sheep and spiral-horned cattle. If you avoid harming the herds, and head straight for home you will suffer yet still see Ithaca. But if you harm them, I prophecy shipwreck for you and your friends, and even if you yourself escape, you will come unexpectedly to your home, in sore distress, losing all comrades.\u201d\r\n\r\nAs she finished speaking, golden-throned [pb_glossary id=\"215\"]Dawn[\/pb_glossary] appeared. Then the lovely goddess left for home, but I went to the ship and roused my men, and ordered them to embark and loose the hawsers. They boarded swiftly and took their place on the benches then sitting in their rows struck the grey water with their oars. [pb_glossary id=\"1958\"]Circe[\/pb_glossary] of the lovely tresses, dread goddess with a human voice, sent us a good companion to help us, a fresh wind from astern of our dark-prowed ship to fill the sail. And when we had set the tackle in order fore and aft, we sat down, and let the wind and the helmsman keep her course.\r\n\r\nThen, troubled at heart, I spoke to the crew: \u201cFriends, it is not right that only one or two of us should know the prophecies of the lovely goddess, [pb_glossary id=\"1958\"]Circe[\/pb_glossary]. I will tell all, so that escaping fate and death or no, at least you are forewarned. First she advised us to evade the voices of the marvelous Sirens in their flowering meadow. She commanded me alone to listen. You are to tie me hand and foot and stand me upright in the mast housing, and fasten the rope ends round the mast itself, and if I beg you to free me, bind me yet more tightly.\u201d\u2019\r\n\r\n[165-200] \u2018So I explained everything to my friends, while our well-built vessel, pushed by a gentle breeze, quickly neared the island of the [pb_glossary id=\"343\"]Sirens[\/pb_glossary]. Suddenly the wind dropped, and a breathless calm followed, as some god soothed the waves. My comrades rose and furled the sail, then stowed it, then sat to their oars and thrashed the water with the blades of polished pine. I, in the meantime, sliced a large cake of beeswax with my sword-edge, and kneaded the slivers in my strong hands until the pressure and the rays of Lord [pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Helios Hyperion[\/pb_glossary] heated it. Then I plugged the ears of each of my friends, and they tied me hand and foot and stood me upright in the mast housing, and fastened the rope ends round the mast itself. Then sitting down again, they struck the grey water with their oars.\r\n\r\nWe drove past swiftly, but when we were within hail of the shore, the [pb_glossary id=\"343\"]Sirens[\/pb_glossary] could not fail to see our speeding vessel, and began their clear singing: \u201cFamous [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], great glory of Achaea, draw near, and bring your ship to rest, and listen to our voices. No man rows past this isle in his dark ship without hearing the honeysweet sound from our lips. He delights in it and goes his way a wiser man. We know all the suffering the [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Argives[\/pb_glossary] and the Trojans endured, by the gods\u2019 will, on the wide plains of [pb_glossary id=\"4673\"]Troy[\/pb_glossary]. We know everything that comes to pass on the fertile [pb_glossary id=\"358\"]Earth[\/pb_glossary].\u201d\r\n\r\nThis was the haunting song the [pb_glossary id=\"343\"]Sirens[\/pb_glossary] sang, and I longed to listen, commanding my crew by my expression to set me free. But they bent to their oars and rowed harder, while Perimedes and [pb_glossary id=\"2050\"]Eurylochus[\/pb_glossary] rose and tightened my bonds and added more rope. Not until they had rowed beyond the [pb_glossary id=\"343\"]Sirens[\/pb_glossary], so we no longer heard their voices and song, did my loyal friends clear the wax that plugged their ears, and untie me.\u2019\r\n\r\n[201-259] \u2018No sooner had we left the isle behind than I saw spray, and huge waves, and heard their thunder. The oars springing from my crew\u2019s grasp in their terror slid into the sea, and the ship lost its heading without my comrades\u2019 arms tugging at the tapered blades. Still I paced up and down the deck encouraging them with calm words, speaking to every man in turn: \u201cFriends, we are not unused to trouble: and this hardship is no worse than when the [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclops[\/pb_glossary] used brute strength to trap us in his echoing cave. I used my courage, intelligence and tactics, to get us out of there, and someday these dangers too will be only a memory. Now listen to my orders and all obey. Stick to your oars and smite the deep sea breakers, and pray that [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] may allow us to run from death. Steersman, here are my orders, and take them to heart, since the hollow ship\u2019s steering oar is in your control. Keep the ship out of the surf and spray, and hug the cliff, or before you know it the ship will veer to the far side, and plunge us to destruction.\u201d\r\n\r\nThey quickly responded to my words. I chose not to speak of the intractable problem of [pb_glossary id=\"1832\"]Scylla[\/pb_glossary], in case gripped by terror they left the oars to huddle in the hold. And now I forgot [pb_glossary id=\"1958\"]Circe[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s stern command not to arm myself, instead I donned my splendid armour and grasped two long spears in my hand. Then I ran to the foredeck, expecting to see rock-bound [pb_glossary id=\"1832\"]Scylla[\/pb_glossary] first from there bringing disaster to my comrades. But I could not sight her and my eyes grew weary searching the mist-draped cliff face.\r\n\r\nSo we sailed on through the narrow straits, crying aloud for fear of [pb_glossary id=\"1832\"]Scylla[\/pb_glossary] on the one hand while divine [pb_glossary id=\"1833\"]Charybdis[\/pb_glossary] sucked the sea in terribly on the other. Whenever she spewed it out again, it bubbled and seethed in turmoil like a cauldron on a vast fire, and high overhead the spray rained down on the crags on either side. When she swallowed the seas, her inner vortex could be seen, and the rock echoed savagely all around, while below the seabed showed its dark-blue sand. My crew turned pale as we gazed at her, fearing destruction, but even as we did so [pb_glossary id=\"1832\"]Scylla[\/pb_glossary] seized six of my strongest and ablest men from the deck. As I looked along the swift ship towards my friends I saw their arms and legs dangling above me. In anguish they cried my name aloud one last time, then each of [pb_glossary id=\"1832\"]Scylla[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s heads dragged a man writhing towards the rock, as a fisherman on a jutting crag casts his bait to lure small fish, lowers an ox-horn on a long pole into the sea, and catching a fish flings it ashore. There at the entrance to her cave she devoured them, as they shrieked and reached out their hands to me in their last dreadful throes. It was the most pitiable sight of all I saw exploring the pathways of the sea.\u2019\r\n\r\n[260-319] \u2018When we had left the cliffs behind, and [pb_glossary id=\"1832\"]Scylla[\/pb_glossary] and [pb_glossary id=\"1833\"]Charybdis[\/pb_glossary], we came swiftly to [pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Helios Hyperion[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s lovely island, where the sun-god grazed his fine broad-browed cattle, and his flocks of sturdy sheep. I could hear the lowing of cattle as they were stalled and the bleating of sheep from my black ship while I was still at sea, and the blind seer Theban [pb_glossary id=\"929\"]Teiresias[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 words came to mind, with those of Aeaean [pb_glossary id=\"1958\"]Circe[\/pb_glossary], who both warned me to avoid the isle of [pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Helios[\/pb_glossary] who gives mortals comfort. Then troubled at heart I spoke to my men: \u201cListen, Friends, to words that will distress you. Let me tell you the prophecies of [pb_glossary id=\"929\"]Teiresias[\/pb_glossary] and Aeaean [pb_glossary id=\"1958\"]Circe[\/pb_glossary]. They clearly warned me to avoid the isle of [pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Helios[\/pb_glossary], who comforts mortals: here the greatest danger would lie. So, row the black ship on past the island.\u201d\r\n\r\nMy men\u2019s spirits fell at this, and [pb_glossary id=\"2050\"]Eurylochus[\/pb_glossary] replied at once, with fateful words: \u201c[pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], you are stronger than us all, with limbs that never weary. It seems you are made of iron and would prevent your friends, exhausted with their efforts and lack of sleep, from landing and making a decent meal on this sea-encircled isle. Instead you order us to travel on through advancing night, driven from this island into the misty deep. Night bears the fierce winds that wreck ships. How would we escape total destruction if a southerly or a fierce westerly gale sprang up, those that most often sink vessels despite the omnipotent gods? No, let us give way to dark night, and take our supper on shore by the swift ship, then embark in the morning, and put out once more into the wide waters.\u201d\r\n\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"2050\"]Eurylochus[\/pb_glossary] spoke, and the rest of my crew concurred. Then I knew some god was set on working harm, and I replied with winged words: \u201cIndeed, you have conquered my lone voice, [pb_glossary id=\"2050\"]Eurylochus[\/pb_glossary]. But let all of you swear me a solemn oath that none of you, his mind clouded with error, will kill a cow or sheep of any herd of cattle or flock we find, but only eat the food deathless [pb_glossary id=\"1958\"]Circe[\/pb_glossary] gave us.\u201d\r\n\r\nThey quickly swore they would do as I commanded. And when they had sworn their oath, we moored our fine ship in a deep cove with a spring of sweet water, and the crew went ashore and swiftly prepared a meal. When they had quenched their hunger and thirst, they began to grieve for their dear friends whom [pb_glossary id=\"1832\"]Scylla[\/pb_glossary] snatched from the hollow ship and devoured, and as they grieved sweet sleep came upon them. But in the third watch of night, when the stars had begun their descent, [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] the cloud-gatherer stirred a tempestuous wind, and veiled the land and sea with cloud, and all was darkness. As soon as rosy-fingered [pb_glossary id=\"215\"]Dawn[\/pb_glossary] appeared, we hauled up our ship and made her fast in a flooded cave, where the [pb_glossary id=\"217\"]Nymphs[\/pb_glossary] had their seats and a dancing place. Then I gathered the men together and addressed them.\u2019\r\n\r\n[320-373] \u2018\u201cFriends, since we have food and drink on board our swift ship let us keep our hands off those cattle lest we come to grief. They are the sturdy sheep and cows of [pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Helios[\/pb_glossary], a great god, who sees and hears everything.\u201d\r\n\r\nTheir proud hearts agreed to this. But a southerly wind blew for a whole month, and then every breeze was from the east or south. As long as my crew still had bread and red wine they kept their hands from the cattle, valuing their lives. But when all the ship\u2019s stores had gone and they had to hunt for whatever game they could find, even fishing with curved hooks, their hunger gnawed at them so: then I went inland alone to pray to the gods, hoping that one would show us how to leave. And when I was far enough away from my crew, I cleaned my hands in a place on the island sheltered from the wind, and prayed to all the gods of [pb_glossary id=\"628\"]Olympus[\/pb_glossary]. But they shed sweet sleep over my eyelids, while behind me [pb_glossary id=\"2050\"]Eurylochus[\/pb_glossary] was giving my comrades bad advice. \u201cListen to me, comrades in distress\u201d, he said. \u201cEvery form of death is vile to us wretched mortals, but the most wretched way to die is by starvation. So, let us cut out the finest of [pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Helios[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 cattle, and sacrifice to the gods of the wide heavens. And if we return to Ithaca, our own land, let us build a fine temple to [pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Helios Hyperion[\/pb_glossary], and fill it with precious gifts. And if he is angered at the loss of his long-horned cattle and chooses to wreck our ship, the other gods\u2019 agreeing, well for myself I would rather die quickly in the waves, than waste away slowly on a desert island.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe rest of my crew agreed with [pb_glossary id=\"2050\"]Eurylochus[\/pb_glossary]. They swiftly corralled the best of [pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Helios[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 cattle since the fine spiral-horned broad-browed cows were grazing not far from our blue-prowed ship. They gathered round them, and prayed to the gods, scattering the new leaves of a tall oak, since they had no white barley left aboard the oared vessel. And, after they had prayed, they slit the cows\u2019 throats, flayed them and cut out pieces of thigh which they wrapped in a double layer of fat, laying raw meat on top. As they had no wine to pour on the burning sacrifice, they made libations with water, roasting the entrails on the fire. When the thighs were burnt, and they had tasted the inner parts, they carved the rest and spitted it on skewers.\r\n\r\nOnly then did sweet sleep leave my eyes, and I headed back to the swift ship and the shore, but as I drew near the curved vessel the rich scent of hot fat wafted to me, and I groaned aloud and called to the deathless gods: \u201cFather [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], and you other gods, immortally blessed, you lulled me with cruel sleep to bring about my ruin, so my friends left behind could plan this monstrous crime.\u201d\u2019\r\n\r\n[374-453] \u2018Now Lampetia of the trailing robes sped swiftly to [pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Helios Hyperion[\/pb_glossary] with the news we had killed his cattle, and deeply angered he complained to the immortals: \u201cFather [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] and you other gods, immortally blessed, take vengeance on the followers of [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"1496\"]Laertes[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 son. In their insolence, they have killed my cattle: creatures I loved to see when I climbed the starry sky, and when I turned back towards earth again from heaven. If they do not atone for their killing, I will go down to [pb_glossary id=\"211\"]Hades[\/pb_glossary] and shine for the dead instead.\u201d\r\n\r\nAt that [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], the cloud-gatherer, answered: \u201c[pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Helios[\/pb_glossary], don\u2019t stop shining for us immortals, or for mortal men on the fertile [pb_glossary id=\"358\"]Earth[\/pb_glossary]. As for those culprits I will quickly strike their swift ship with my bright lightning bolt, and shatter it to pieces out on the wine-dark sea.\u201d This is what I heard from [pb_glossary id=\"2037\"]Calypso[\/pb_glossary] of the lovely tresses, who said that she herself had heard it from [pb_glossary id=\"210\"]Hermes[\/pb_glossary] the Messenger.\r\n\r\nWhen I reached the ship and the shore, I rebuked my men one by one, but things were beyond repair, the cattle were already dead. The gods at once showed my men dark omens. The ox-hides crawled about, raw meat and roast bellowed on the spit, and all around sounded the noise of lowing cattle. Nevertheless my faithful comrades feasted for six days on the pick of [pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Helios[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 cattle they had stolen. And when [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"169\"]Cronus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 son, brought the seventh day on us, the tempest ceased, and we embarked, and, raising the mast and hoisting the white sail, we put out into open water.\r\n\r\nIt was not until the island was behind us, and we were out of sight of all but sky and sea, that [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] anchored a black cloud above our hollow ship, and the waves beneath were dark. She [the ship] had not run on for long before there came a howling gale, a tempest out of the west, and the first squall snapped both our forestays [front mast support cables], so that the mast toppled backwards and the rigging fell into the hold, while the tip of the mast hitting the stern struck the steersman\u2019s skull and crushed the bones. He plunged like a diver from the deck, and his brave spirit fled the bones.\r\n\r\nAt that same instant, [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] thundered and hurled his lightning at the ship. Struck by the bolt, she shivered from stem to stern, and filled with sulphurous smoke. Falling from the deck, my men floated like sea-gulls in the waves around the black ship. The gods had robbed them of their homecoming. But I ran up and down the ship until a wave ripped the sides from the keel, and drove her on naked, snapping the mast close to the keel. The backstay [rear mast support cable] of ox-hide rope lay across the mast, and with it I lashed the keel and mast together, and sitting astride I was carried before the driving wind.\r\n\r\nThen, would you know, the westerly wind dropped, and a southerly rose swiftly, annoying me to the heart, for risk of retracing our course to meet the whirlpool\u2019s terror. All night I was swept along, and at sunrise was back at [pb_glossary id=\"1832\"]Scylla[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s rock, and dread [pb_glossary id=\"1833\"]Charybdis[\/pb_glossary], who swallowed the water around me, but I leapt up, caught at the tall fig tree, and hung there like a bat. I could find no foothold, nor climb the tree as its roots were far below me, and its great solid branches that cast shadows on [pb_glossary id=\"1833\"]Charybdis[\/pb_glossary] were out of reach above. There I clung grimly, until she spewed out mast and keel again. She did, to my delight, but not until that time of day when a judge who handles young litigants\u2019 endless quarrels rises from court to find his supper. At that hour the timbers emerged from [pb_glossary id=\"1833\"]Charybdis[\/pb_glossary]. Then I let go with hands and feet, and plunged into the water clear of the long spars. Then clambering astride them I paddled along with my hands. The Father of men and gods [ [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] ] prevented [pb_glossary id=\"1832\"]Scylla[\/pb_glossary] noticing me, or I would never have escaped total disaster.\r\n\r\nI drifted from there for nine days, and on the tenth night the gods washed me ashore on Ogygia, the home of [pb_glossary id=\"2037\"]Calypso[\/pb_glossary] of the lovely tresses, that dread goddess with a human voice, who cared for me and loved me. But why repeat the story? Only yesterday it was I told it, here in the hall, to yourself and your noble wife. It\u2019s a tedious thing to re-tell a plain-told tale.\u201d\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: https:\/\/www.poetryintranslation.com\/PITBR\/Greek\/Odyssey12.php<\/a>\r\nTranslated by A. S. Kline \u00a9\u00a0Copyright<\/a>\u00a02004 All Rights Reserved<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n
\r\n<\/a>Homer,\u00a0Odyssey,\u00a0<\/em>Book 21 (trans. A.S. Kline, adapted by L. Zhang and P. Rogak)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek epic poem, 8th century BCE<\/h4>\r\n
In Book 21, Odysseus has finally returned to his of home of Ithaca, disguised as a stranger from Crete. As the book opens, Penelope decides to present the suitors, who have been hounding her for the last twenty years, with a challenge. Whoever is able to string and shoot Odysseus' giant bow will have her hand in marriage.<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n[1-79] Now, the goddess, bright-eyed [pb_glossary id=\"173\"]Athena[\/pb_glossary], prompted wise [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary], Icarius\u2019 daughter, to confront the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary] in [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 palace with his bow and the grey iron axes, as a challenge and a means to their destruction. [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary] climbed the high stair to her room, and with a firm hand, took up a bronze key, finely-shaped with an ivory handle. She made her way with her women to the distant storeroom, where her husband\u2019s treasure lay, gold and bronze and hammered iron. There lay the curved bow, and quiver full of fatal arrows, given him when he visited Lacedaemon, by godlike [pb_glossary id=\"1441\"]Iphitus[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"1406\"]Eurytus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 son.\r\n\r\nThey had met in Messene, at the house of wise Ortilochus. [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] was there to collect a public debt, because Messenians had stolen three hundred sheep and their shepherds too from Ithaca, loading them aboard their oared ships. [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] had been sent by his father and other elders to resolve the matter, though he was still quite young. [pb_glossary id=\"1441\"]Iphitus[\/pb_glossary] was there in search of a dozen brood mares he had lost, along with the sturdy little mules they were suckling. But his search caused his death, when he came upon [pb_glossary id=\"1591\"]Heracles[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 lion-hearted son, well-versed in mighty labours. Ruthless [pb_glossary id=\"1591\"]Heracles[\/pb_glossary] killed him, though he was a guest in his house. Careless of the gods\u2019 anger and the sanctity of the dinner-table, he killed him there and then, and hid the heavy-hoofed mares in his own stables.\r\n\r\nBut back when [pb_glossary id=\"1441\"]Iphitus[\/pb_glossary] was searching for them, he had met [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], and given him the bow that mighty [pb_glossary id=\"1406\"]Eurytus[\/pb_glossary] carried of old, and that, dying in his palace, he had left to his son. And [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] had given [pb_glossary id=\"1441\"]Iphitus[\/pb_glossary] in return a sharp sword and a fine spear as a token of the start of a loving friendship. But before they could meet again at table, [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 son had killed godlike [pb_glossary id=\"1441\"]Iphitus[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"1406\"]Eurytus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 son, the giver of the bow that noble [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] had never taken with him aboard his black ship to war, leaving it behind in his palace as a memento of a good friend, to use only at home.\r\n\r\nNow [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary], that lovely woman, reached the storeroom and set foot on the oaken sill, once skilfully planed and trued to the line by some carpenter of old, who also set the doorposts in it, and hung the gleaming doors. Quickly she unhooked the thong, slid in the key and with a sure touch shot back the bolt. With a groan like a bull bellowing in a grassy meadow, the polished doors flew open at the touch of the key. Then she mounted to the high platform loaded with chests of fragrant clothes. Here, reaching up, she lifted the bow, in the gleaming case, from its peg. Then she sat down with the case on her knees, and weeping aloud drew out her husband\u2019s bow. Yet once her tears and sighs were done, she went to the hall and the crowd of noble Suitors, carrying the curved bow and the quiver full of fatal arrows. And the maids followed with a chest full of bronze and iron won by her man. When the lovely woman reached the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary], she stood by a pillar of the great hall, with a shining veil in front of her face, and a loyal maid stood on either side. Then she issued her challenge.\r\n\r\n\u2018Noble [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary], listen to me. You have battered on this house, with its master long gone, eating and drinking endlessly, and you could find no better excuse to offer than the desire to win me as a wife. Well come now, my [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary], your prize stands here before you, clear to see. Godlike [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 mighty bow is the test. Whoever makes the best attempt at stringing the bow and shooting an arrow through the rings of a dozen axes, with that man I will go, and leave this house that saw me a bride, this lovely and luxurious house, that I will always remember in my dreams.\u2019\r\n\r\n[80-135] With this she ordered [pb_glossary id=\"2156\"]Eumaeus[\/pb_glossary] the master-swineherd to set out the bow and the axes with their handle-rings of grey iron for the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary]. [pb_glossary id=\"2156\"]Eumaeus[\/pb_glossary] was in tears as he laid them down, and the cowherd [ [pb_glossary id=\"2162\"]Philoetius[\/pb_glossary] ] wept too, at the sight of his master\u2019s bow. [pb_glossary id=\"2157\"]Antinous[\/pb_glossary] turned on them in anger: \u2018Stupid countryfolk, living in the past! Your tears, you wretches, lower your mistress\u2019 spirits, as though her heart wasn\u2019t already troubled by her husband\u2019s loss. Sit and eat in silence, or go outside and snivel, and leave the bow here to test us, her [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary]: I doubt this gleaming bow will be easy to string, since I once saw [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], and there\u2019s no man here to equal him. Yes, I remember him, though I was but a child.\u2019\r\n\r\nSuch were his words, but he nursed the hope in his heart that he himself would string the bow and shoot an arrow through the iron rings. Yet in truth he was to be the first to feel the blow of an arrow from peerless [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] whom he was now abusing in the palace, while urging on his friends to do the same.\r\n\r\nThen royal [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary] intervened: \u2018[pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] must have addled my wits, indeed! My dear mother, in her wisdom, says she will take another husband and leave this house, and I laugh like a happy idiot! Come, my lords, since your prize is here, a lady who has no equal in all Achaea, not in Pylos, Argos, or [pb_glossary id=\"4671\"]Mycenae[\/pb_glossary], nor in Ithaca itself, nor on the dark mainland. You know that yourselves, what need have I to sing my mother\u2019s praises? No excuses now: let\u2019s have no delay in stringing the bow, and then we\u2019ll see. I might even try the bow myself, later. If I can string it and shoot an arrow through the iron rings, I will not be so upset by my dear mother\u2019s departure for another house, seeing I myself will be a man capable of winning fine prizes like my father.\u2019\r\n\r\nSaying this, [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary] threw off his purple cloak, and springing up removed the sharp sword slung from his shoulder. Then he set all the axes in a long trench, in a straight line, stamping the earth in around them. The onlookers were amazed that, never having seen them before, he arranged them so correctly. Then he took up his stand on the threshold and tried the bow. Three times it quivered in his hands as he made a fierce effort to string it, and three times he had to relax his grip, though he had hoped deep down to succeed and shoot an arrow through the iron handle-rings. Now exerting all his power he might have strung it at the fourth attempt had [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] not shaken his head, and checked his eagerness.\r\n\r\n\u2018Alas\u2019 royal [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary] exclaimed, \u2018it seems I will always be a coward and a weakling. But perhaps I am still too young, and haven\u2019t the strength yet to defend myself against whoever picks quarrels for no reason. You then, who have more strength than I, try the bow, and settle the contest.\u2019\r\n\r\n[136-185] With this, he placed the bow on the ground, leaning it against the gleaming panels of the door, and the feathered arrow against the door-handle, and then resumed his seat. [pb_glossary id=\"2157\"]Antinous[\/pb_glossary], Eupeithes\u2019 son, called out: \u2018Come forward, all of you [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary], one by one, from left to right, beginning from where the wine-steward sits.\u2019 They welcomed his words, and the first to rise was Leodes, Oenops\u2019 son, their seer, who always sat by the huge mixing bowl in the depths of the hall: he alone despised the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 acts of wantonness, and they filled him with indignation. Now he was first to take up the feathered arrow and the bow, stride to the threshold, and try to string it. But he failed, his smooth and delicate hands quickly drained of strength. He spoke to the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary], saying: \u2018My Friends, I cannot do it: let someone else try. This bow will break the heart and spirit of many men here. Still, it is better to die trying, than live on without winning the prize that brings us here each day, in endless expectation. Many must hope and long to wed [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 wife, but when they have tried the bow, and failed, let them go woo some other [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Achaean[\/pb_glossary] woman in her lovely robe, and try and win her with their gifts. And let [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary] wed the man who offers her most, and is destined to be her husband.\u2019\r\n\r\nWith this, he set the bow aside, leaning it against the gleaming panels of the door, and the feathered arrow against the door-handle, and then resumed his seat. But [pb_glossary id=\"2157\"]Antinous[\/pb_glossary] criticised him, saying: \u2018Leodes, what dark and monstrous words have crossed your tongue! I\u2019m angered by your suggestion that \u201cthis bow will break the heart and spirit of many warriors here\u201d, merely because you failed to string it. Your dear mother didn\u2019t bear you for drawing a mighty bow, and shooting arrows, perhaps, but others of the noble [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary] will soon succeed.\u2019\r\n\r\nThen he called to the goatherd, [pb_glossary id=\"2161\"]Melanthius[\/pb_glossary]: \u2018Quick, light a fire in the hall, [pb_glossary id=\"2161\"]Melanthius[\/pb_glossary], and put a large fleece-covered chair beside it, and bring a big piece of tallow from the stores, so that we youngsters can heat the bow and grease it, before we try it and settle the contest.\u2019 [pb_glossary id=\"2161\"]Melanthius[\/pb_glossary]\u00a0swiftly obeyed. He revived the glowing fire, put the large fleece-covered chair beside it, and brought a big piece of tallow from the stores. The youths then warmed the bow and tried to string it, but those who tried were too weak to succeed.\r\n\r\n[186-244] [pb_glossary id=\"2157\"]Antinous[\/pb_glossary] and godlike [pb_glossary id=\"2159\"]Eurymachus[\/pb_glossary], however, the leaders of the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary], and the most capable, continued the contest. Meanwhile noble [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 cowherd and swineherd slipped out of the hall together, and [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] followed them. When they were beyond the courtyard gates he sounded them out carefully:\r\n\r\n\u2018Cowherd, swineherd, Can I share something with you or should I keep it to myself? My heart tells me to speak. If [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] suddenly returned, brought by some god, would you be the men to fight for him? Would you be for the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary] or [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary]? Say what your heart and spirit tell you.\u2019\r\n\r\n\u2018Father [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary],\u2019 the cowherd prayed, \u2018may that come true! May the hero return, with a god\u2019s guidance! Then you would see the strength I can still show in my hands.\u2019 And [pb_glossary id=\"2156\"]Eumaeus[\/pb_glossary] also prayed, to all the gods, that wise [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] might come home.\r\n\r\nOnce [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] was sure, he opened his mind to them, saying: \u2018Well, I am home. Here I stand before you, I myself, back in my own country in the twentieth year after many painful trials. I know that of all my servants you both welcome my return, but I\u2019ve not heard a single one of the others praying I might reach home. I\u2019ll tell you truly what I intend for you. If a god brings the noble [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary] down, I\u2019ll find you each a wife, give you goods, and build you a house near mine: and I\u2019ll always regard you as friends and brothers of [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary]. Now, so you can be certain in your hearts that it is I, let me show you a sign you\u2019ll know, the scar from the wound the white-tusked boar gave me, when I hunted Parnassus with [pb_glossary id=\"1405\"]Autolycus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 sons.\u2019\r\n\r\nSo saying, he drew his rags apart to show the long scar. When the two had examined it carefully, they clasped their arms about wise [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 neck, and weeping kissed his head and shoulders in loving recognition. [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] likewise kissed their heads and hands. And the twilight would have seen them still weeping if [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] had not restrained them: \u2018Stop wailing now, in case someone comes from the house and sees us, and tells those inside. Let\u2019s go back in, now, one after the other, not together. Follow me, and here\u2019s the signal we will act on. The others, the noble [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary], will refuse to allow me to handle the bow and quiver, but as you carry the bow round the hall, [pb_glossary id=\"2156\"]Eumaeus[\/pb_glossary], set it in my hands, and tell the women to shut their hall doors tight. Say that if any of them hear men shouting or groaning in here, they are not to rush out, but to stay there and silently carry out their tasks. And good [pb_glossary id=\"2162\"]Philoetius[\/pb_glossary], I charge you with barring the gate of the courtyard, and lashing it tight.\u2019\r\n\r\nWith this, he entered the royal palace, and resumed his seat. And the two servants followed.\r\n\r\n[245-310] The bow had reached [pb_glossary id=\"2159\"]Eurymachus[\/pb_glossary], who was turning it in his hands before the fire to warm it. But despite that he failed to string it, and groaning inwardly he said, in anger: \u2018Oh, I\u2019m not just bitter about this myself, but for all of you, too. It\u2019s not that I\u2019m bothered about the marriage, though it grieves me. There are plenty of other women in Achaea, in Ithaca\u2019s isle, and in other places. No, it\u2019s more that our strength falls so short of godlike [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 that we can\u2019t even string his bow. It\u2019s a disgrace that posterity will hear of.\u2019\r\n\r\n\u2018No, [pb_glossary id=\"2159\"]Eurymachus[\/pb_glossary],\u2019 [pb_glossary id=\"2157\"]Antinous[\/pb_glossary], Eupeithes\u2019 son, replied, \u2018that\u2019s not so, and do you know why? Today is the feast of [pb_glossary id=\"183\"]Apollo[\/pb_glossary], throughout the island, his holy day. Should we be bending bows? Set it aside, softly. As for the axes, why not leave them there? No one will steal them: not from a house owned by [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"1496\"]Laertes[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 son. Come, let the steward pour wine for libations, and put the bow down. In the morning tell the goatherd, [pb_glossary id=\"2161\"]Melanthius[\/pb_glossary], to bring us the best she-goats in the flock, so we can lay thigh-pieces on [pb_glossary id=\"183\"]Apollo[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s altar, the famous Archer, then try the bow, and decide the contest.\u2019\r\n\r\nThey all agreed with [pb_glossary id=\"2157\"]Antinous[\/pb_glossary]. So, while the squires sprinkled water over their hands, pages filled the mixing bowls and served them all, first pouring a few drops of wine for libation into each man\u2019s cup. When they had made their libations and quenched their thirst, resourceful [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] spoke with subtle intent: \u2018[pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary] of the glorious Queen, hear me, so I might express what is in my mind. I aim my plea primarily at [pb_glossary id=\"2159\"]Eurymachus[\/pb_glossary], and godlike [pb_glossary id=\"2157\"]Antinous[\/pb_glossary], who made such a good suggestion, to forget the bow for today, and leave the issue to the gods. Come morning the god will grant victory to whoever he wishes. So, lend me the polished bow, and I can see what strength is in my hands, and if I still possess the power I used to have in limbs once supple, or whether poor nourishment and endless wandering has reduced it.\u2019\r\n\r\nThe [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary] were greatly angered by his words: all afraid he might string the gleaming bow. [pb_glossary id=\"2157\"]Antinous[\/pb_glossary] addressed him with scorn: \u2018Wretched beggar, you\u2019re out of your mind. Isn\u2019t it enough for you that we allow you to dine in peace in our noble company, letting you share in what\u2019s on the table, privileged to listen to our talk, unlike other beggars and strangers. The wine, the honeyed wine, has addled your brain as it does others who gulp it down without restraint. It was wine that maddened Eurytion, the famous [pb_glossary id=\"1398\"]Centaur[\/pb_glossary], in brave [pb_glossary id=\"1742\"]Pirithous[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 palace, when he visited the Lapithae. Crazed with drink, he caused an uproar in [pb_glossary id=\"2164\"]Piirithous[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 own house. The outraged hosts leapt to their feet, and dragged him through the gate then cut off his nose and ears with the cruel bronze, leaving him to wander off, bearing the burden of tragic error caused by his foolish urge. So began the feud between the [pb_glossary id=\"1398\"]Centaurs[\/pb_glossary] and men, but he was the first to meet disaster, drunk with the wine. I promise you the same, if you string the bow. You\u2019ll find no help from anyone here. We\u2019ll pack you off in a black ship to King Echetus,[footnote]Echetus, king of Epirus, is a figure mentioned a few times in Homer's Odyssey<\/em> (but not in other sources). Homer describes him as violent and threatening, and Echetus is sometimes thought to be based on a folk tale for frightening children.[\/footnote] the maimer of men, and you\u2019ll not escape with your life. So, have done, and drink your wine, and don\u2019t try and compete with younger men.\u2019\r\n\r\n[311-358] But wise [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary] intervened: \u2018It is neither right nor just, [pb_glossary id=\"2157\"]Antinous[\/pb_glossary], to deny his due to a man who came to Telemachus\u2019 house as a guest. Do you really think that if the stranger, trusting in the strength of his hands, strings [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 bow, he will take me home as his wife? He could never harbour such a hope. So let none of you sit at this feast in fear: that would be wrong.\u2019\r\n\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"2159\"]Eurymachus[\/pb_glossary], Polybus\u2019 son, answered her: \u2018Icarius\u2019 daughter, wise [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary], we had no thought of his taking you home, that would certainly be wrong, but we shudder at the thought of idle gossip, of some wretch among the [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Achaeans[\/pb_glossary] saying: \u201cThose are weaklings that woo the wife of a peerless man. They can\u2019t even string his gleaming bow, though a wandering beggar did so easily, and shot an arrow through the axes.\u201d So they would say, and shame us.\u2019\r\n\r\n\u2018[pb_glossary id=\"2159\"]Eurymachus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 said wise [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary], \u2018no one thinks well, in any case, of men like you who ruin and dishonour a King\u2019s house, so why worry about further shame? The stranger is tall and well-built, and says he comes of good lineage. Well then, hand him the gleaming bow, and let us see. Hear what I say, and I\u2019ll surely do this too: if [pb_glossary id=\"183\"]Apollo[\/pb_glossary] brings him glory and he strings the bow, I\u2019ll dress him in a fine new cloak and tunic, and give him a sharp spear to keep off dogs and men, and a double-edged sword, and sandals for his feet, and help him travel wherever his heart and mind dictate.\u2019\r\n\r\nIt was wise [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary] who spoke to her then: \u2018Mother, none of the [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Achaeans[\/pb_glossary] \u2013 those who rule in rocky Ithaca or in the islands seaward of the horse pastures of Elis \u2013 have more right than I to give or refuse the bow to whoever I wish. None of them can challenge my will even if I choose to give the bow to the stranger, here and now, to take away with him. So go to your quarters now, and attend to your own duties at loom and spindle, and order your maids about their tasks: let men worry about such things, and I especially, since I hold the authority in this house.\u2019\r\n\r\nSeized with wonder she retired to her own room, taking her son\u2019s wise words to heart. Up to her high chamber she went, accompanied by her maids, and there she wept for [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], her dear husband, until bright-eyed [pb_glossary id=\"173\"]Athena[\/pb_glossary] veiled her eyelids with sweet sleep.\r\n\r\n[359-403] Meanwhile the worthy swineherd had picked up the curved bow and was walking off with it, when the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary] cried out in protest. One proud youth called out: \u2018Where do you think you\u2019re going with that, you wretch, your mind must be addled? If [pb_glossary id=\"183\"]Apollo[\/pb_glossary] and the rest of the gracious gods are good to us, the hounds you\u2019ve bred yourself will finish you off, out there alone, far from men, among the swine.\u2019\r\n\r\nAt this, [pb_glossary id=\"2156\"]Eumaeus[\/pb_glossary] dropped the bow he was carrying, on the spot, terrified by the uproar in the hall. But [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary] shouted harshly at him from the other side: \u2018Stick to the bow, old man \u2013 you\u2019ll be full of regret if you listen to them all \u2013 or, young as I am, I\u2019ll shower you with stones, and chase you through the fields. My strength is greater than yours. I only wish the power of my hands was greater than the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 in my hall, then I\u2019d soon send a few of them off in a way they wouldn\u2019t enjoy, the troublemakers.\u2019\r\n\r\nOn hearing this, the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary] laughed out loud at [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary], and so dulled the edge of their anger, while the swineherd carried the bow through the hall and, reaching wise [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], set it in his hands. Then [pb_glossary id=\"2156\"]Eumaeus[\/pb_glossary] spoke softly to the nurse [pb_glossary id=\"2166\"]Eurycleia[\/pb_glossary], saying: \u2018Wise [pb_glossary id=\"2166\"]Eurycleia[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary] orders you to shut the hall doors tight, and if any of the women hear men shouting or groaning in here, they are not to rush out, but to stay where they are and silently carry out their tasks.\u2019\r\n\r\nSo he spoke, and without a word she went and locked the doors of the great hall. At the same time, [pb_glossary id=\"2162\"]Philoetius[\/pb_glossary] slipped out quietly to bar the gates of the courtyard. He tied them shut, with a ship\u2019s cable twisted from papyrus reed that was lying beneath the portico, then slipped back inside, and resumed his seat, keeping his eyes fixed on [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary]. He meanwhile was handling the bow, turning it this way and that, fearing the pieces of horn bound to the wood might have become worm-eaten while he was away. The [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary] glanced at each other, and one commented: \u2018This fellow must be an expert, or a cunning dealer in bows. Or if he hasn\u2019t got bows like this stored away at home, the wretched beggar must be setting out to make one: he studies it so carefully.\u2019\r\n\r\nAnother arrogant youth replied: \u2018I\u2019d guess he\u2019d have as much luck at that as he will at trying to string this bow.\u2019\r\n\r\nSo they chattered, but once wily [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] had flexed the great bow and checked it all over, he strung it easily, as a man skilled in song and the lyre stretches a new string onto its leather tuning strap, fixing the twisted sheep-gut at either end. Then grasping the bow in his right hand, he plucked the string that sang sweetly to his touch with the sound of a swallow\u2019s note.\r\n\r\nThe [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary] were mortified, and their faces were drained of colour, while [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] sounded a peal of thunder as a sign. Noble long-suffering [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] was pleased at this omen from the son of devious [pb_glossary -d=\"169\"]Cronus[\/pb_glossary], and he picked up the feathered arrow that lay alone on the table next to him, while the others the [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Achaeans[\/pb_glossary] were destined to feel were still packed in their hollow quiver. He set it against the bridge of the bow, drew back the notched arrow with the string, and still seated in his chair let fly with a sure aim. The bronze-weighted shaft flew through the handle hole of every axe from first to last without fail, sped clean through and out at the end. Then he turned to [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary] saying: \u2018The guest in your hall has not disgraced you. I have not missed the target, nor did it take me long to string the bow. My strength is undiminished, not lessened as the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 taunts implied. Well now it is time for the [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Achaeans[\/pb_glossary] to eat, while there is light, and afterwards we shall have different entertainment, with song and lyre, fitting for a celebration.\u2019\r\n\r\nAs he spoke he gave the signal, and [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary], the godlike hero\u2019s steadfast son, slung on his sharp-edged sword, grasped his spear, and stood beside his father, armed with the glittering bronze.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: https:\/\/www.poetryintranslation.com\/PITBR\/Greek\/Odyssey21.php<\/a>\r\nTranslated by A. S. Kline \u00a9\u00a0Copyright<\/a>\u00a02004 All Rights Reserved<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n
\r\n<\/a>Homer,\u00a0Odyssey,\u00a0<\/em>Book 23 (trans. A. S. Kline, adapted by L. Zhang and P. Rogak)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek epic poem, 8th century BCE<\/h4>\r\n
As Book 23 opens, Odysseus has conquered and slaughtered all of the suitors that have been plaguing his palace in his absence. He has been recognized by his old nurse, Eurycleia, who rushes upstairs to Penelopes' chambers to tell her that Odysseus has returned.<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n[1-84] The old woman [ [pb_glossary id=\"2166\"]Eurycleia[\/pb_glossary] ] clambered upstairs, chuckling aloud as she went, to tell her mistress her beloved husband was home. Her knees were working away, though she moved unsteadily as she went. She stood at the head of the bed and spoke to her lady, saying: \u2018[pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary], dear child, wake and see with your own eyes what you\u2019ve longed for all this time. [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] is here, he is home after so many years. He has killed all the proud [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary] who plagued the house, wasted his stores, and bullied his son.\u2019\r\n\r\nThen wise [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary] woke and answered: \u2018My dear nurse, the gods who can make fools of the wisest, and give insight to the simple-minded, have crazed you and led your wits astray, you who were always so sensible. Why do you mock me, whose heart is full of tears, with this mad tale? You woke me from sleep, sweet sleep that closed my eyelids and wrapped me up. I have not slept this soundly since before [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] sailed to [pb_glossary id=\"4673\"]Ilium[\/pb_glossary], the Evil that it would be better not to name. Go downstairs again, back to the servant\u2019s hall! If any other of my women had woken me to tell me this, I\u2019d have sent her back there with a flea in her ear, but your old age spares you.\u2019\r\n\r\n\u2018Dear child, I wouldn\u2019t mock you,\u2019 faithful [pb_glossary id=\"2166\"]Eurycleia[\/pb_glossary] replied, \u2018it is true, [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] is here, he is home, just as I said. He\u2019s the stranger they all insulted in the hall. [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary] knew long ago he was here, but he managed to keep his father\u2019s plans hidden, until he could take revenge on those violent and arrogant men.\u2019\r\n\r\nAt this, [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary] leapt from her bed in joy, and threw her arms about the old woman, with tears springing from her eyes. Then she spoke to her with winged words: \u2018Dear Nurse, come now, tell me truly, if it really is him come home as you say: how could he tackle the shameless Suitors single-handedly, with them always crowding in the house in a pack?\u2019\r\n\r\n\u2018I couldn\u2019t see and didn\u2019t ask, but I still heard the groans of dying men,\u2019 loyal [pb_glossary id=\"2166\"]Eurycleia[\/pb_glossary] replied. \u2018We women sat there, terror-stricken, in the furthest depths of our thick-walled quarters, with the doors shut tight, until the moment when your son called to me from the hall, as his father had told him. There I found [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] standing over the corpses, lying piled around him on the solid floor. It would have gladdened your heart to see him: all spattered with blood and gore like a lion he was. Now the dead are heaped together at the courtyard gate, and he has had a great fire made, and is purifying our fine house. He sent me to call you, so come with me now, so your hearts may rejoice together, you who have known such suffering. What you long desired has happened at last. He has come home, alive, to his own hearth, to find you and his son here in the palace, and in his own house again he has taken revenge on the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary] who did him harm.\u2019\r\n\r\nBut cautious [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary] replied: \u2018Dear nurse, don\u2019t celebrate over them so soon. How welcome the sight of [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] here would be to everyone, above all to me and our son, you know. But this tale must be false. Surely one of the gods has killed the noble [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary] in anger, enraged by the depths of their insolence and their wickedness. They have never shown respect to a man on this earth, whether those they met were good or evil. So now they have suffered for their own foolish excess. [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], though, has lost his life far away, and with it the chance of his coming home.\u2019\r\n\r\n\u2018My child,\u2019 the loyal nurse replied, \u2018what are you saying? That your husband will never return, when he\u2019s here at his own hearth! You never believe a thing! Well, let me tell you of something else that proves it: the scar from the wound the wild boar\u2019s white tusk gave him long ago. I saw it when I washed his feet, and wanted to tell you then, but he clapped his hand over my mouth, and refused to let me speak. Come with me now. I\u2019ll stake my life on it, and if I am lying, then deal me a cruel death.\u2019\r\n\r\n\u2018Dear nurse,\u2019 cautious [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary] replied: \u2018wise though you are, you cannot fathom the minds of the immortal gods. But, let us go to my son, so I can see the bodies of the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary], and the man who killed them.\u2019\r\n\r\n[85-140] So saying, she left her room, and went downstairs, considering whether to remain distant, and question the man who was said to be her dear husband, or whether to approach him, clasp his head and hands and kiss them. But when she had crossed the stone sill, she sat down by the far wall in the firelight, opposite [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], while he sat by a tall pillar, his eyes on the ground, waiting to see if his wife would speak as she looked at him. She sat there silently for a long time, wondering, gazing intently at his face: often failing to recognise this man dressed in foul rags. Then it was that [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary] spoke his criticism of her behaviour: \u2018My mother, un-motherly and hard-hearted, why do you distance yourself from my father like this, instead of sitting by his side, plying him with questions? No other woman would harden her heart like this, and sit apart from a husband who had just returned to her and his native land, after twenty years of bitter toil. But your heart is always harder than flint.\u2019\r\n\r\n\u2018My child,\u2019 cautious [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary] answered, \u2018my mind is lost in wonder, and I feel powerless to speak and question him, or even look long at his face. But if it is really [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] who has come home, we two have a better way of recognising one another, because there are secret tokens that only the two of us know.\u2019 And noble long-suffering [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] smiled at this, and spoke to [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary] winged words: \u2018[pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary], leave your mother to test me, here in her house: she will soon be enlightened. For now, since I\u2019m covered in dust, and dressed in rags, she thinks me unworthy and won\u2019t admit that I am [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary]. But let us consider what to do for the best. Whatever the country, whoever kills even a single man, even a man who leaves few behind to avenge him when he dies, must go into exile, abandoning his native land and kin, while we have killed the noblest youth of Ithaca, the core of its defence. Reflect on that.\u2019\r\n\r\n\u2018You also should reflect, dear father,\u2019 wise [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary] replied, \u2018since they say you are the most resourceful of men, without a mortal equal. We are eager to follow you, and I know we won\u2019t fail to support you to the best of our powers.\u2019\r\n\r\nResourceful [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] answered him, saying: \u2018Then I\u2019ll tell you the plan that seems best to me. Bathe first, and dress, and order the palace servants to choose fresh clothes. Then let the divine minstrel play us a lively dance on his sweet-toned lyre, so that anyone outside who hears, neighbour or passer-by, will take it for a marriage feast. That way there\u2019ll be no rumour of the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 deaths put abroad in the town, before we can reach our densely-wooded farm. Once there we can plan to take advantage of whatever the Olympians send us.\u2019\r\n\r\n[141-204] They listened readily to his orders and obeyed. The men bathed and dressed, while the women adorned themselves. The divine minstrel took up his sounding lyre and stirred their desire for sweet music and pleasant dance. The great hall echoed to the footsteps of dancing men, and elegantly dressed women, and hearing the noise outside passers-by said: \u2018Ah, surely someone has married our much-wooed Queen. She was too hard-hearted to tend her husband\u2019s great palace to the end, in hopes of his return.\u2019 So they talked, not knowing what was really happening.\r\n\r\nMeanwhile the housekeeper, [pb_glossary id=\"3806\"]Eurynome[\/pb_glossary], bathed great-hearted [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], there in the house, rubbed him with oil, and dressed him in a fine tunic and cloak. [pb_glossary id=\"173\"]Athena[\/pb_glossary] then clothed him in beauty, making him seem taller and stronger, and making the locks of his hair spring up thickly like hyacinth petals. As a clever craftsman, taught his art by [pb_glossary id=\"356\"]Hephaestus[\/pb_glossary] and [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary] [pb_glossary id=\"173\"]Athena[\/pb_glossary], overlays silver with gold to produce a graceful finish, so the goddess graced his head and shoulders. He left the bath looking like an immortal. Then he returned to the chair, opposite his wife, and spoke to her, saying: \u2018Lady, you must have been touched by the Olympian gods: they have given you a harder heart than any other woman, one that nothing can soften. No other woman would harden her heart like this, and sit apart from a husband who had just returned to her and his native land, after twenty years of bitter toil. Come, [pb_glossary id=\"2166\"]Eurycleia[\/pb_glossary], make me a bed to sleep in alone, since my wife\u2019s heart is as hard as iron.\u2019\r\n\r\nAnd cautious [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary] answered: \u2018Sir, you must have been touched by those same gods. I am not proud and scornful of you, nor am I confused. I know well how you looked when you sailed from Ithaca in your long-oared ship. Come then, [pb_glossary id=\"2166\"]Eurycleia[\/pb_glossary], and have the great bed dragged from the fine bridal chamber he built himself, and cover it with rugs and fleeces and brightly coloured blankets.\u2019\r\n\r\nThese were words to test her husband. But [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], angered, turned on his loyal wife: \u2018Lady, those are truly bitter words you speak. Who has moved my bed? That would be hard, even with the greatest skill, unless perhaps some god arrived who could easily choose to set it down somewhere else. But no mortal man alive, however young and strong, could easily shift it from its place, since a great secret went into its making, and it was my work and mine alone. A long-leafed olive tree, strong and vigorous, and thick as a pillar, grew in the courtyard. I built my room of solid stone around it, finished it off with a fine roof, and added tight-fitting timber doors. I trimmed the trunk from the roots up, after cutting off all the long-leaved olive branches, smoothed it off skilfully and well, and fit it to the line: that was my bedpost. I drilled holes with the auger, and with this for its beginning fitted all the smooth timbers of my bed until it was complete. I inlaid it with ivory, silver and gold, and stretched shining purple straps of ox-hide across. That was its secret, as I say: but lady, I no longer know if the bed I made is still in place. Perhaps some man has chopped through the olive-trunk, and shifted it elsewhere.\u2019\r\n\r\n[205-246] As he spoke, revealing the unchanged truth she knew, her knees gave way and her heart melted. Bursting into tears she ran to [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], flung her arms about his neck, and kissing his face cried: \u2018[pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], don\u2019t be angry with me, you who in everything were always the most understanding of men. Our sorrows came from the gods, who resented our enjoying our youth and reaching old age together. Don\u2019t be angry, or upset, because I didn\u2019t give you this welcome the moment I saw you. My heart was always full of fear that some man would come and cheat me with words. Many men are only out for profit. [pb_glossary id=\"1663\"]Helen[\/pb_glossary] of Argos, [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 daughter, would never have slept with a stranger from abroad, if she\u2019d known the warrior sons of Achaea would come to fetch her home. A god it was truly that drove her to commit that act of shame: only then did she contemplate the fatal madness that brought us, too, such sorrow. Now you have told me the true secret of our marriage bed, that no other mortal knew but you and I and a single maidservant, Actoris, who was my father\u2019s gift before I came to you, and guarded the door of our fine bridal chamber \u2013 Now, you convince my stubborn heart.\u2019\r\n\r\nHer words stirred his heart to a greater longing for tears: and he wept, clasping his beloved, loyal wife in his arms. As welcome as the sight of land to the few surviving sailors, who swim to shore escaping the grey breakers, when their solid vessel driven over the sea by wind and towering waves has been shattered by [pb_glossary id=\"182\"]Poseidon[\/pb_glossary], who, saved from drowning, are overjoyed when their brine-caked bodies touch the land: welcome as that was the sight of her husband, as [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary] gazed at him, never unwinding her white arms from round his neck.\r\n\r\nRosy-fingered [pb_glossary id=\"215\"]Dawn[\/pb_glossary] would have risen while they wept, if the bright-eyed goddess [pb_glossary id=\"173\"]Athena[\/pb_glossary] had not thought otherwise. She held back the long night at its ending, and golden-throned [pb_glossary id=\"215\"]Dawn[\/pb_glossary] by [pb_glossary id=\"216\"]Ocean[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s stream, not letting her yoke the swift-hoofed horses, Lampus and Phaethon, the colts that draw her chariot, bringing light to men.\r\n\r\n[247-299] Resourceful [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] said to his wife at last: \u2018Dear wife, we have not yet reached the end of our troubles. I still have a long hard labour to perform before I reach my end: or so the spirit of [pb_glossary id=\"929\"]Teiresias[\/pb_glossary] prophesied when I descended to [pb_glossary id=\"211\"]Hades[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 House to ask how my comrades and I might return home.[footnote]For Odysseus' journey to the Underworld and encounter with Teiresias, in Book 11 of the Odyssey, see chapter 32<\/a>.[\/footnote] But come to bed now, wife, so we may delight in rest, soothed by sweet sleep.\u2019\r\n\r\n\u2018Your bed is ready for you whenever you wish,\u2019 wise [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary] answered, \u2018now the gods have brought you home to your own country and this fine house. But since a god has put the thought in your mind, tell me about this new trial, since I\u2019ll only learn of it later, and it is better to know now.\u2019\r\n\r\n\u2018Lady, the gods have touched your mind,\u2019 resourceful [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] said, \u2018why be so eager to know? Still, I will tell you, hiding nothing, though your heart will gain no pleasure from it, and nor does mine. [pb_glossary id=\"929\"]Teiresias[\/pb_glossary] told me to travel through many cities of men, carrying a shapely oar, until I come to a race that knows nothing of the sea, that eat no salt with their food, and have never heard of crimson-painted ships, or the well-shaped oars that serve as wings. And he gave me this as a sign, one I could not miss, and now I tell it to you. When I meet another traveller who says that I carry a winnowing-fan on my broad shoulder, there I must plant my shapely oar in the ground, and make a rich sacrifice to Lord [pb_glossary id=\"182\"]Poseidon[\/pb_glossary], a ram, a bull, and a breeding-boar. Then leave for home, and make sacred offerings there to the deathless gods who hold the wide heavens, to all of them, and in their due order.\r\n\r\nAnd death will come to me far from the sea, the gentlest of deaths, taking me when I am bowed with comfortable old age, and my people prosperous about me. All this he said would come true.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u2018If the gods really intend a more pleasant old age for you,\u2019 said wise [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary], \u2018there is hope this will set an end to all your troubles.\u2019\r\n\r\nSo they talked, and as they spoke [pb_glossary id=\"3806\"]Eurynome[\/pb_glossary] and the nurse made up their bed with soft bedclothes, by the light of a blazing torch. When the two servants had fussed over the coverings of the great bed, the old nurse returned to her room to sleep, and [pb_glossary id=\"3806\"]Eurynome[\/pb_glossary] the chambermaid lit them on their way, and took her leave of them in the bridal chamber. Joyfully they re-enacted the rites of their own familiar bed. And [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary], and the cowherd and swineherd, stilled their dancing feet, dismissed the women, and lay down to sleep themselves in the darkened hall.\r\n\r\n[300-372] When [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] and [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary] had their fill of love\u2019s joys, they took comfort in telling each other their tale. The lovely Queen told him all she had suffered at home, watching the detestable crowd of [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary], who on her account slaughtered many cattle and fat sheep, and emptied whole jars of wine. And [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], scion of [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], told her of all the pains he had endured in his labours, and all the pain he had inflicted on men, and she loved to hear it all, and sweet sleep failed to drown her eyelids until his tale was done.\r\n\r\nFirst he told of his victory over the [pb_glossary id=\"2170\"]Cicones[\/pb_glossary]: and how he came to the fertile Land of the [pb_glossary id=\"2038\"]Lotus-Eaters[\/pb_glossary]: and of what the [pb_glossary id=\"1654\"]Cyclops[\/pb_glossary] did, and how he had made him pay the price for those brave comrades who were eaten without pity. Then he told of [pb_glossary id=\"1180\"]Aeolus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 friendly welcome and how he had seen him on his way, but, not being destined to reach his dear homeland yet, how the gale took him and drove him, groaning aloud, over the teeming sea. How he came to Telepylus next, where the [pb_glossary id=\"2169\"]Laestrygonians[\/pb_glossary] destroyed all his ships and his fighting men, and how his was the only vessel to escape.\r\n\r\nHe told her about [pb_glossary id=\"1958\"]Circe[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s cunning, and her wiles: and how he had gone to the dank Halls of [pb_glossary id=\"211\"]Hades[\/pb_glossary] to consult the spirit of Theban [pb_glossary id=\"929\"]Teiresias[\/pb_glossary], and had seen his comrades again, and the mother who had borne him and nursed him as a child. Then of the [pb_glossary id=\"343\"]Sirens[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 voices, and their endless singing: how he had passed the [pb_glossary id=\"2046\"]Wandering Rocks[\/pb_glossary], dread [pb_glossary id=\"1833\"]Charybdis[\/pb_glossary] and [pb_glossary id=\"1832\"]Scylla[\/pb_glossary] whom no ship passed by unscathed. Then how his crew had slaughtered the cattle of the [pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Sun[\/pb_glossary], and how [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] the mighty Thunderer struck his swift ship with a fiery lightning bolt, so that his noble comrades died together, though he alone escaped their dreadful fate.\r\n\r\nThen he told how he came to Ogygia, the [pb_glossary id=\"217\"]Nymph[\/pb_glossary] [pb_glossary id=\"2037\"]Calypso[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s isle, and how she longed for him to wed her and imprisoned him in her echoing cave, and cared for him and swore to make him ageless and immortal, though she could never touch his heart: and how after many trials he came to the Phaeacians, who honoured him readily like a god, and sent him home in their ship to his beloved island, after giving him piles of gold and bronze and fabrics. He had reached the end of his tale when sweet sleep came to him, relaxing his limbs, and soothing the cares of his heart.\r\n\r\nNow another thought occurred to the goddess, bright-eyed [pb_glossary id=\"173\"]Athena[\/pb_glossary]. When she considered [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] had filled his heart enough with the joys of love and sleep in his wife\u2019s arms, she woke golden-throned [pb_glossary id=\"215\"]Dawn[\/pb_glossary] from [pb_glossary id=\"216\"]Ocean[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s stream, to bring light to the world. Then [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] rose from his soft bed and gave his wife his orders, saying: \u2018Wife, we have had enough of trouble, you and I: you, weeping here over the many sufferings caused by my long journey home, and I, caught in a net of sorrow by [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] and the other gods, far from my own country, and longing to return. But now we are back together in our own wished-for bed, you must take care of my wealth here in the palace, while I will seize flocks to replace those the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary] consumed, and the [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Achaeans[\/pb_glossary] will give me the rest until the folds are full. I must go now to our wooded farm to find my good father, who is suffering because of me. And I ask this of you, dear wife, knowing your wisdom. When the sun is up, rumours of the [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]Suitors[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 deaths in the palace will be rife. So go to your room upstairs with your maids, and stay there: don\u2019t see anyone and ask no questions.\u2019\r\n\r\nSo saying, he dressed his shoulders with fine armour, and woke [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary], and the cowherd and swineherd, and told them to take their weapons in their hands. They obeyed, donning bronze armour, and opening the doors followed [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] outside. Light flooded the earth, but [pb_glossary id=\"173\"]Athena[\/pb_glossary] hid them in darkness, and soon led them clear of the town.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: https:\/\/www.poetryintranslation.com\/PITBR\/Greek\/Odyssey21.php<\/a>\r\nTranslated by A. S. Kline \u00a9\u00a0Copyright<\/a> 2004 All Rights Reserved<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
<\/a>The Nostoi\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Telegony<\/em><\/h2>\r\n
The epic poem the Nostoi, (<\/em>in English: Returns<\/em>) narrated the fates of Agamemnon, Menelaus, Diomedes, Nestor, and Neoptolomus. It survives only in fragments and epitomes<\/em> in other authors. The surviving fragments of the Nostoi<\/em> can be read here<\/a>.<\/p>\r\nThe\u00a0Telegony<\/em>, another epic, is set after the events of the\u00a0Nostoi\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Odyssey,<\/em> and recounts the further adventures of Odysseus and his son Telegonus.\r\n\r\n \r\n
\r\n<\/a>Proclus, Chrestomathia<\/em>, Book 2 (trans. H. G. Evelyn-White, adapted by L. Zhang and P. Rogak)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek literary handbook, 5th century CE<\/h4>\r\n
Proclus was a 5th century CE neoplatonic philosopher, who was born in Lycia (on the southern coast of modern day Turkey), studied in Alexandria, and made his way to Athens. Among other works, he wrote the\u00a0Chrestomathia<\/em>, a handbook of literary works that exists now only in summary form. From the summary of this handbook, we have a description of the plot of the\u00a0Nostoi,\u00a0<\/em>(in English: returns), the epic poem that described the homecomings of several of the Greek heroes in the Trojan War.<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n[On The Return (Nostoi<\/em>)] After the Sack of [pb_glossary id=\"4673\"]Ilium[\/pb_glossary] follow the Returns<\/em>, in five books by Agias of Troezen. Their contents are as follows. [pb_glossary id=\"173\"]Athena[\/pb_glossary] causes a quarrel between [pb_glossary id=\"1561\"]Agamemnon[\/pb_glossary] and [pb_glossary id=\"2021\"]Menelaus[\/pb_glossary] about the voyage from [pb_glossary id=\"4673\"]Troy[\/pb_glossary]. [pb_glossary id=\"1561\"]Agamemnon[\/pb_glossary] then stays there to appease the anger of [pb_glossary id=\"173\"]Athena[\/pb_glossary]. [pb_glossary id=\"1192\"]Diomedes[\/pb_glossary] and [pb_glossary id=\"1452\"]Nestor[\/pb_glossary] put out to sea and get safely home. After them, [pb_glossary id=\"2021\"]Menelaus[\/pb_glossary] sets out and reaches Egypt with five ships, the rest having been destroyed on the high seas. Those with Calchas, Leontes, and Polypoetes go by land to Colophon and bury [pb_glossary id=\"929\"]Teiresias[\/pb_glossary] who died there. When [pb_glossary id=\"1561\"]Agamemnon[\/pb_glossary] and his followers were sailing away, the ghost of [pb_glossary id=\"1582\"]Achilles[\/pb_glossary] appeared and tried to prevent them by foretelling what would happen to them. The storm at the rocks called Capherides is then described, with the end of Locrian Aias. [pb_glossary id=\"2027\"]Neoptolemus[\/pb_glossary], warned by [pb_glossary id=\"1551\"]Thetis[\/pb_glossary], journeys overland and, coming into Thrace, meets [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] at Maronea, and then finishes the rest of his journey after burying [pb_glossary id=\"2031\"]Phoenix[\/pb_glossary] who dies on the way. He himself is recognized by [pb_glossary id=\"2032\"]Peleus[\/pb_glossary] on reaching the Molossi. Then comes the murder of [pb_glossary id=\"1561\"]Agamemnon[\/pb_glossary] by [pb_glossary id=\"2022\"]Aegisthus[\/pb_glossary] and [pb_glossary id=\"1672\"]Clytemnestra[\/pb_glossary], followed by the vengeance of [pb_glossary id=\"1572\"]Orestes[\/pb_glossary] and [pb_glossary id=\"2257\"]Pylades[\/pb_glossary]. Finally, [pb_glossary id=\"2021\"]Menelaus[\/pb_glossary] returns home.\r\n\r\n[On the Telegony] After the Returns<\/em> comes the Odyssey<\/em> of Homer, and then the Telegony<\/em>, in two books by Eugammon of Cyrene, which contain the following matters. The [pb_glossary id=\"2056\"]suitors[\/pb_glossary] of [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary] are buried by their kinsmen, and [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], after sacrificing to the [pb_glossary id=\"217\"]Nymphs[\/pb_glossary], sails to Elis to inspect his herds. He is entertained there by Polyxenus and receives a mixing bowl as a gift; the story of Trophonius and Agamedes and [pb_glossary id=\"1420\"]Augeas[\/pb_glossary] then follows. He next sails back to Ithaca and performs the sacrifices ordered by [pb_glossary id=\"929\"]Teiresias[\/pb_glossary], and then goes to Thesprotis where he marries Callidice, queen of the Thesprotians. A war then breaks out between the Thesprotians, led by [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], and the Brygi. [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary] routs the army of [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], and [pb_glossary id=\"173\"]Athena[\/pb_glossary] engages with [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary], until [pb_glossary id=\"183\"]Apollo[\/pb_glossary] separates them. After the death of Callidice, Polypoetes, the son of [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary], inherits the kingdom, while [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] himself returns to Ithaca. In the meantime, [pb_glossary id=\"2025\"]Telegonus[\/pb_glossary], while travelling in search of his father, lands on Ithaca and ravages the island: [pb_glossary id=\"1495\"]Odysseus[\/pb_glossary] comes out to defend his country, but is killed by his son unknowingly. [pb_glossary id=\"2025\"]Telegonus[\/pb_glossary], upon learning of his mistake, transports his father's body with [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary] and [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary] to his mother's island, where [pb_glossary id=\"1958\"]Circe[\/pb_glossary] makes them immortal, and [pb_glossary id=\"2025\"]Telegonus[\/pb_glossary] marries [pb_glossary id=\"2023\"]Penelope[\/pb_glossary], and [pb_glossary id=\"2024\"]Telemachus[\/pb_glossary] [pb_glossary id=\"1958\"]Circe[\/pb_glossary].\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: https:\/\/www.theoi.com\/Text\/EpicCycle.html#Returns<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\nThe Tragedies<\/h1>\r\n
\r\n Sections & Primary Sources<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n
\r\n\r\nThe\u00a0Oresteia<\/em><\/a>\r\n- \r\n \t
- Aeschylus,\u00a0Agamemnon<\/em><\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
- Aeschylus,\u00a0Libation Bearers<\/em><\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nTrojan Women<\/em><\/a>\r\n\r\nHecuba<\/em><\/a>\r\n\r\nAndromache<\/em><\/a>\r\n\r\nHelen<\/em><\/a>\r\n\r\nIphigenia in Tauris<\/em><\/a>\r\n\r\nElectra\u00a0<\/em>(Sophocles)<\/a>\r\n\r\nElectra\u00a0<\/em>(Euripides)<\/a>\r\n
- \r\n \t
- Euripides,\u00a0Electra,<\/em> 698-1035<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
<\/a>The\u00a0Oresteia<\/em><\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2863\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2154\"]
![\"Orestes,](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2021\/07\/255783001.jpg\")
Orestes seeking purification at Delphi, red-figure krater, ca. 360 BCE (British Museum, London)[\/caption]\r\nThe\u00a0Oresteia\u00a0<\/em>is the only tragic trilogy that survives intact from ancient Greece. It premiered at the Great Dionysia at Athens in 458 BCE, where it won first prize. The three plays, the\u00a0Agamemnon,\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0Libation Bearers,\u00a0<\/em>and the\u00a0Eumenides<\/em>, tell the story of what happens when the Achaean leader, Agamemnon returns to Mycenae after the Trojan War.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2864\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2151\"]
![\"Orestes,](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2021\/07\/Orestes_Apollo_Louvre_Cp710.jpg\")
Apollo purifying Orestes, red-figure krater, ca. 380 BCE (Louvre Museum, Paris)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/a>Aeschylus,\u00a0Agamemnon<\/em> (trans. H. W. Smyth, adapted by L. Zhang)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek tragedy, 5th century BCE<\/h4>\r\n
\r\n\r\nThe\u00a0Agamemnon<\/em> includes Agamemnon's return with his sex slave, Cassandra, the Trojan princess and priestess of Apollo. As a punishment for refusing the sexual advances of Apollo, Cassandra had been cursed with making true prophesies that nobody believed. She had predicted the fall of Troy, but had been ignored by the other Trojans. This play dramatizes the murder of Agamemnon (and Cassandra) at the hands of Clytemnestra, as retribution for Agamemnon's earlier sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia.\r\n\r\nIn this selection, towards the end of the play, Cassandra has two visions. The first involves something that happened in the past: the murder of the children of Thyestes by his brother Atreus. Thysters and Atreus were the children of Pelops, the son of Tantalus. They carried the intergenerational curse on the house of Tantalus, caused by Tantalus cooking up his some Pelops in a stew and feeding him to the gods. In their strife over the rulership of Mycenae, Atreus killed the two infant children of Tantalus and had them cooked up and fed to their father. Thus, Cassandra sees this bloody curse and crimes of familicide in the Mycenean royal family.\r\n\r\nThe second vision Cassandra has is of Clytemnestra entagling Agamemnon in a net while he is in the bath and killing him with a knife.\r\n\r\nThe last part of this selection jumps ahead to Clytemnestra's speech after she has carried out the murder of Agamemnon.\r\n\r\nThe chorus is comprised of old men of Argos (Argos and Mycenae are used interchangeably at times, although they are technically two different archaic Greek cities).\r\n\r\nThe whole play can be read here.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nCASSANDRA:<\/h6>\r\n[1095] Here is the evidence in which I put my trust! Behold those babies lamenting their own butchery and their roasted flesh eaten by their father!\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\n[1098] Your fame to read the future has reached our ears; but we have no need for prophets here.\r\n
CASSANDRA:<\/h6>\r\n[1100] Alas, what can she be planning? What is this fresh tragedy that she contrives here within, what monstrous, monstrous horror, beyond love's enduring, beyond all remedy? And help stands far away!\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\n[1105] Your prophecies are beyond my comprehension; but the rest I understood\u2014the whole city rings with them.\r\n
CASSANDRA:<\/h6>\r\n[1107] Ah, damned woman, will you do this thing? Your husband, the partner of your bed, when you have made him happy with a bath, will you\u2014how shall I tell the end? Soon it will be done. Now this hand, now that, she reaches out!\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\n[1112] Not yet do I comprehend; for now, after riddles, I am bewildered by dark oracles.\r\n
CASSANDRA:<\/h6>\r\n[1114] Ah! Ah! What apparition is this? Is it a net of death? No, it is a snare that shares his bed, that shares the guilt of murder. Let the fatal pack, insatiable against the race, raise a shout of joy over her accursed victim!\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\n[1119] What Spirit of Vengeance is this that you ask to raise its voice over this house? Your words do not cheer me. Back to my heart surge the drops of my pale blood [I feel faint], like when they drip from a mortal wound, ebbing away as life's beams sink low; and death comes speedily.\r\n
CASSANDRA:<\/h6>\r\n[1125] Ah, ah, see there, see there! Keep the bull from his mate! She has caught him in the robe and gores him with the crafty device of her black horn! He falls in a vessel of water! It is of doom brought by treachery in a murderous bath, that is what I am telling you.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[. . .]\r\n\r\n \r\n
CLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[1372] Much have I said before to serve my need and I will feel no shame to contradict it now. For how else could one, devising hate against a hated enemy who bears the appearance of a friend, fence the snares of ruin too high to leap over [set the moral bar too high]? This is an ancient feud, pondered by the me of the past, and it has come, however long delayed. I stand where I dealt the blow; my purpose is achieved. Thus have I done the deed; deny it I will not. Round him, as if to catch a haul of fish, I cast an inescapable net\u2014a regal yet lethal robe\u2014so that he should neither escape nor ward off his doom. Twice I struck him, and with two groans his limbs relaxed. Once he had fallen, I dealt him yet a third stroke to grace my prayer to the infernal [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], the savior of the dead. Fallen thus, he gasped away his life, and as he breathed forth quick spurts of blood, he struck me with dark drops of gory dew; while I rejoiced no less than the sown earth is gladdened by heaven's refreshing rain at the birthtime of the flower buds.\r\n\r\n[1393] Since then the case stands thus, old men of Argos, rejoice, if you would rejoice; as for me, I glory in the deed. And had it been a fitting act to pour libations on the corpse, over him this would have been done justly, more than justly. With so many accursed lies has he filled the mixing-bowl in his own house, and now he has come home and himself drained it to the dregs.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: https:\/\/www.theoi.com\/Text\/AeschylusAgamemnon.html<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2866\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1931\"]
![\"Clytemnestra,](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2021\/07\/01103201-scaled-e1626554228130.jpg\")
Orestes kills Clytemnestra, red-figure amphora, ca. 340 BCE (J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/a>Aeschylus,\u00a0Libation Bearers\u00a0<\/em>(trans. H. W. Smyth, adapted by L. Zhang)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek tragedy, 5th century BCE<\/h4>\r\n
\r\n\r\nIn this second play in the Oresteia trilogy, Orestes, the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, who was being fostered at Athens when his father returned from the Trojan war, returns to Mycenae. Upon learning that his mother has killed his father, he vows to avenge Agamemnon by killing Clytemnestra.\r\n\r\nAs this selection opens, Orestes confronts Clytemnestra. The chorus is comprised of enslaved women from the royal palace.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nCLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[885] What is this? What cry for help are you raising in our house?\r\n
SERVANT:<\/h6>\r\n[886] I tell you, the dead are killing the living.[footnote]The Greek is ambiguous, allowing this to be interpreted either as \"the dead are killing the living person\" or \"the living person is killing the dead.\"[\/footnote]\r\n
CLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[887] Ah! Indeed I grasp the meaning of the riddle. We are to perish by treachery, just as we committed murder. Someone give me a battle-axe, and quickly! Let us know if we are victors or vanquished: for I have even come to this in this wretched business.\r\n\r\nExit Servant. The door is opened and the corpse of [pb_glossary id=\"2022\"]Aegisthus[\/pb_glossary] is discovered. Nearby stands [pb_glossary id=\"1572\"]Orestes[\/pb_glossary], and at a distance [pb_glossary id=\"2257\"]Pylades[\/pb_glossary].<\/em>\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[892] It is you I seek. He over there has had enough.\r\n
CLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[893] Oh no! My beloved, valiant [pb_glossary id=\"2022\"]Aegisthus[\/pb_glossary]! You are dead!\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[894] You love this man? Then you will lie in the same grave, and you will never abandon him in death.\r\n
CLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[896] Wait, my son! Have pity, child, upon this breast at which many times while you slept you sucked with toothless gums the milk that nourished you.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[899] [pb_glossary id=\"2257\"]Pylades[\/pb_glossary], what shall I do? Shall I spare my mother out of pity?\r\n
PYLADES:<\/h6>\r\n[900] What then will become in the future of [pb_glossary id=\"1577\"]Loxias[\/pb_glossary]' oracles declared at [pb_glossary id=\"945\"]Pytho[\/pb_glossary], and of our sworn pact? Count all men your enemies rather than the gods.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[903] I judge you victor: you advise me well. (To [pb_glossary id=\"1672\"]Clytemnestra[\/pb_glossary])<\/em> Come, this way! I mean to kill you by his very side. For while he lived, you thought him better than my father. Sleep with him in death, since you love him but hate the man you were bound to love.\r\n
CLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[908] It was I who nourished you, and with you I would grow old.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[909] What! Murder my father and then make your home with me?\r\n
CLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[910] Fate, my child, must share the blame for this.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[911] And fate now brings this destiny to pass.\r\n
CLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[912] Have you no regard for a parent's curse, my son?\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[912] You brought me to birth and yet you cast me out to misery.\r\n
CLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[914] No, surely I did not cast you out in sending you to the house of an ally.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[915] I was sold in disgrace, though I was born of a free father.\r\n
CLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[916] Then where is the price I got for you?\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[917] I am ashamed to tell you it outright.\r\n
CLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[918] But do not fail to tell the follies of that father of yours as well.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[919] Do not accuse him, the one who suffered while you sat idle at home.\r\n
CLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[920] It is a grief for women to be deprived of a husband\u2019s presence, my child.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[921] Yes, but it is the husband's toil that supports them while they sit at home.\r\n
CLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[922] You seem resolved, my child, to kill your mother.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[923] You will kill yourself, not I.\r\n
CLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[924] Take care: beware the hounds of wrath that avenge a mother.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[925] And how shall I escape my father's [wrath] if I leave this undone?\r\n
CLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[926] I see that, though living, I mourn in vain before a tomb.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[927] Yes, for my father's fate has marked out this destiny for you.\r\n
CLYTEMNESTRA:<\/h6>\r\n[928] Oh no! I myself bore and nourished this serpent!\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[929] Yes, the terror from your dream was indeed a prophet. You killed him whom you should not; so suffer what should not be.\r\n\r\nHe forces Clytaemestra within; [pb_glossary id=\"2257\"]Pylades[\/pb_glossary] follows.<\/em>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[. . .]\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"1572\"]Orestes[\/pb_glossary] with the branch and wreath of a suppliant is disclosed standing by the bodies. With him are [pb_glossary id=\"2257\"]Pylades[\/pb_glossary] and attendants who display the robe of [pb_glossary id=\"1561\"]Agamemnon[\/pb_glossary].<\/em>\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[973] Behold this pair, oppressors of the land, who murdered my father and ransacked my house! They were majestic then, when they sat on their thrones, and are lovers even now, as one may judge by what has happened to them, and their oath holds true to their pledges. Together they vowed to murder my unhappy father, and together they vowed to die, and they have kept their promise well.\r\n\r\n[980] But now regard again, you who hear this account of ills, the device for binding my unhappy father, with which his hands were manacled, his feet fettered. Spread it out! Stand around in a circle, and display this covering for a man, that the Father may see\u2014not mine, but he who surveys all this, the [pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Sun[\/pb_glossary]\u2014that he may see the impious work of my own mother, that he may be my witness in court that I justly pursued this death, my own mother's. For I do not speak of [pb_glossary id=\"2022\"]Aegisthus[\/pb_glossary]' death: he has suffered the penalty prescribed for adulterers.\r\n\r\n[991] But she who devised this abhorrent deed against her husband, whose children she bore, a burden under her belt, a burden once dear, but now a hateful ill, as it seems: what do you think of her? Had she been born a sea snake or a viper, I think her very touch without her bite would have caused anyone else to rot, if shamelessness and an immoral disposition could do so.\r\n\r\nHe again takes up the bloody robe.<\/em>\r\n\r\n[997] What name will I give it, however tactful I may be? A trap for a wild beast? Or a shroud for a corpse, wrapped around his feet? No, rather it is a net: you might call it a hunting net, or robes to entangle a man's feet. This would be the kind of thing a thief might possess, who deceives strangers and earns his living by robbery, and with this cunning snare he might kill many men and warm his own heart greatly. May such a woman not live with me in my house! Before that may the gods grant me to perish childless!\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\n[1005] Alas! Alas! Sorrowful work! You were done in by a wretched death. Alas! Alas! And for the newly budding suffering .\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: https:\/\/www.theoi.com\/Text\/AeschylusLibation.html<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
<\/a>Trojan Women<\/em><\/h2>\r\n
The Trojan Women<\/em> was a tragic play written by Euripides and first performed at the City Dionysia festival in Athens in 415 BCE. It was the third play in its trilology, the first two plays of which do not survive. It deals with the immediate aftermath of the destruction of Troy and what happens to the notable women in the city, including Hecuba, Cassandra, Andromache, and Helen. The full play can be read here<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
<\/a>Hecuba<\/em><\/h2>\r\n
The Hecuba<\/em> is another post-Trojan War play by Euripides that is set at about the same mythological time as the Trojan Women\u2013 in the immediate aftermath of the destruction of Troy. It was first performed at Athens around 424 BCE. The central figure of the play is the Trojan queen, Hecuba, who is mourning the death of her daughter Polyxena and her son Polydorus (among the many other casualities of the Trojan War, including her son Hector and her husband Priam). She plots and carries out revenge against the murdered of Polydorus. The full play can be read here<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
<\/a>Andromache<\/em><\/h2>\r\n
The exact original performance date and context of the Andromache\u00a0<\/em>are unknown, but we do know that it was created by Euripides in the second half of the 5th century BCE. It dramatizes Andromache's life many years after the Trojan war, when she is a sex slave to Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles. She is in conflict with Hermione, Neoptolemus' wife, and the daughter of Helen and Menelaus. The whole play can be read here<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
<\/a>Helen<\/em><\/h2>\r\n
The\u00a0Helen,\u00a0<\/em>another tragic play by Euripides was first performed at the City Dionysia festival in 412 BCE. It runs off of the premise that the real Helen of Sparta never actually went to Troy, but that she was actually being held capitve in Egypt for the whole course of the war. Instead, it was only an\u00a0eidolon<\/em>, a \"shadow\" or \"imitation\" of Helen that went to Troy with Paris. After the war, then, Menelaus sails to Egypt to rescue Helen. The whole play can be read here<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
<\/a>Iphigenia Among the Taurians\u00a0<\/em><\/h2>\r\n
\r\nEuripides,\u00a0Iphigenia among the Tauris <\/em>(trans. R. Potter, adapted by L. Zhang)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek tragedy, 5th century BCE<\/h4>\r\n
Like the Helen<\/em>, Euripides'\u00a0Iphigenia Among the Taurians<\/em> imagines an alternate timelines of events. Here, the real\u00a0Iphigenia\u00a0<\/em>was never sacrificed by her father, Agamemnon, so that the Achaean ships could sail to Troy. Instead, she was rescued at the last minute by Artemis after she had been placed on the pyre. Artemis put a deer in her place and spirited her away to a location on the Crimean Peninsula, inhabited by a group of people called the Taurians. There she is a priestess of Artemis. Her job is to sacrifice foreigners who arrive in the land to the goddess. Then, one day, her brother Orestes and his friend Pylades show up.<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n
- Aeschylus,\u00a0Libation Bearers<\/em><\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nTrojan Women<\/em><\/a>\r\n\r\nHecuba<\/em><\/a>\r\n\r\nAndromache<\/em><\/a>\r\n\r\nHelen<\/em><\/a>\r\n\r\nIphigenia in Tauris<\/em><\/a>\r\n\r\nElectra\u00a0<\/em>(Sophocles)<\/a>\r\n\r\nElectra\u00a0<\/em>(Euripides)<\/a>\r\n
- Aeschylus,\u00a0Agamemnon<\/em><\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
- Homer, Odyssey, <\/em>11.385-464<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t