Kyle 2: 0:00

We're starting book one of the Odyssey. Now book one. Uh, well, the Odyssey itself comes after the Iliad. So Homer had two epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. And now it's 20 years on every single Greek leader who fought in the Trojan war is now either dead or they're back home. And Odysseus is not, is the only guy left. His wife and his son, they're losing hope that he's even alive. Now books, one through four of the Odyssey. Now I think there's 24 books. And they don't focus on Odysseus. They focus on his son to Telemachus. These divisions, by the way, they were added after Homer. When Homer orated this epic, it usually took place over three days, and so an audience would sit there for four hours at a time and listen to the story. So it was probably divided in that kind of way, but the, but the 24 books of the Odyssey are arbitrary. Now books I-IV though, they focus on Telemachus, they're called the Telemachy. They do the narrative purpose of just emphasizing how badly Odysseus is needed back in Ithaca. Now. Odysseus has a wife named Penelope and she's famous. She's a symbol of faithfulness. She's a symbol of cunning. And Penelope is sitting at home and there are 108 suitors in her house and they're all trying to marry her. Most of them are younger than her. They're, they're basically in it for Ithaca's throne. But also Penelope is described as you know, this amazing beauty. And a wit and she's beguiling. And these suitors are sitting there just waiting for her to decide on, on who she wants to marry, but she's trying to stay faithful because Odysseus might be alive. Now they loaf about the palace grounds. They're eating everything and Odysseus is home. They're killing his livestock, they're sleeping with the, the women servants. They're drinking his wine. Maybe they're sleeping with the male servants too. Now we zoom out Homer's Homer's zooms out often to the scene of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus's daughter Athena is a well-known goddess and we'll come back to her a lot, she's made it her business to get Odysseus home. And so we're going to hear from India, reading the passages. Of Athena talking to her father, she's appealing for the gods to help Odysseus finally, after 20 years come back home.

India: 2:15

Athena, her eyes flashing bright, exulted, Father, son of Cronus, our high and mighty king! If now it really pleases the blissful gods that wise Odysseus shall return home at last let us dispatch the guide and giant-killer Hermes down to Ogygia Island, down to announce at once to the nymph with lovely braids our fixed decree. Odysseus journeys home the exile must return! While I myself go down to Ithaca, rouse his son to a braver pitch, inspire his heart with courage to summon the flowing-haired Achaeans to full assembly, speak his mind to all those suitors, slaughtering on and on his droves of sheep his droves of sheep and shambling longhorn cattle. Next I will send him off to Sparta and sandy Pylos,

2:58

which are two Greek city states.

India: 3:00

there to learn of his dear father's journey home. Perhaps he will hear some news and make his name throughout the mortal world.

Kyle 2: 3:08

So now we've met our character Athena. Now she's the goddess of wisdom and warfare, and she's going to come back a lot. If you ever see a goddess that has gray eyes, a helmet and a spear, you're probably looking at Athena, she's a major player in the Odyssey. So now let's follow Athena to Ithaca.

India (2): 3:26

Down she swept from Olympus’ craggy peaks and lit on Ithaca, standing tall at Odysseus' gates, the threshold of his court. Gripping her bronze spear, she looked for all the world, like a stranger now, like Mentes, lord of the Taphians. There she found the swaggering suitors, just then amusing themselves with rolling dice before the doors lounging on hides of oxen they had killed themselves. While heralds and brisk attendants bustled round them, some at the mixing bowls, mulling wine and water, others wiping the tables down with sopping sponges, setting them out in place, still other servants jointed and carved the great sides of meat.

Kyle 2: 4:03

Okay, so Homer is portraying the suitors as basically shameless and immature. They are, the sons of Ithaca's nobility. Remember, this is 20 years on from the Trojan War. Most of their fathers either died in the war, or they died on the journey home. Their disorderly behavior in the palace is basically a reflection of the state of Ithaca. Homer wants you to know Ithaca has fallen into disrepair because it doesn't have it's fathers and king. Okay, so lessons over, what piece of eloquence do you want to highlight? I love the line"rouse his son to a braver pitch." I just think that's such a beautiful way to say that. Like, I'm going to make him braver. Yeah. Find his courage I'll help him find his courage. I love that too. Uh, it's, it's kind of like, I want to learn how to rouse myself to a braver. Yeah. I feel like it's one of those statements that I'm going to hold on to in my own life when I'm like. Anxious or nervous or whatever. I can just sit and say to myself, like rouse yourself to a braver pitch, like level it up, girl, you got this. It also, it reminds me of Emerson's. Answer the call of the Spartan Fife, which is like the it's something about courage is also a resonance. Like there's a pitch or a Fife. Well, the one I was thinking of is, is. Down swept, but let me actually make sure I get this right. Down she swept from Olympus's craggy peaks. Down she swept from Olympus's craggy peaks. There's an ancient poet named Longinus who wrote this essay on the sublime, and a Homer was his example of, of sublime writing as a blind is like grandiose it's, it's big, it elevates the human spirit. And I don't know, there's just something about how Homer writes or orates where his like, down she swept from, from Olympus's peaks. You can see it. Like you can visualize her going from Olympus and you can see the mountain, you know, it's a mountain. If you didn't know that Olympus was a mountain, you do from the craggy peaks. And so like, you can just like visualize this goddess, like phffeeew yeah, exactly. It's beautiful. And we'll see a couple of scenes like that actually in the next lessons. Um, okay. Anything you take away from the passage or. Rather than something that I'm excited about, there was something that I was curious about. Okay. Does that. Okay. So, um, I was curious about why Hermes is called the giant killer, right? Like, you know, of Hermes is the messenger God's like, so, but why is he the giant killer? Of course, I had to do the research on that and he was called the giant killer because he killed the giant Argus who guarded the nymph Io on Hera's orders, Hera. And so, uh, Zeus had him lull him to sleep Argus to sleep and then he cut off his head and killed him to free the nymph Io from Hera's clutches. Wow. That's a lot of names. That's a lot of names. Yeah. Um, my personal curiosity is just. The, like, why is the Athena on his side? I assume we'll just, we'll get to that. Or how do you get a god to be on your side? That's that's. That's pretty important. All right, we'll see you in the next lesson.