The Odyssey

I read The Odyssey immediately after The Iliad, and I’m surprised to say that I thought The Odyssey paled in comparison. The Iliad is one big war epic and tale of revenge, while The Odyssey is a series of exciting adventures on a long, homeward-bound journey. From those two synopses, I would expect to prefer the latter. But The Iliad just had so much more emotional weight, and the narration felt more poetic.

I was more familiar with the story of The Odyssey going into it, thanks to the creative interpretation of it I performed many years ago with my sixth grade class. What I didn’t realize is that most of the adventure scenes I was familiar with are actually anecdotes that Odysseus himself describes to eager listeners while recapping his journey home. In other words, half of the poem is actually just Odysseus’s fanfic about himself, and the other half is Penelope’s experience on the most ancient iteration of The Bachelorette. With maybe a small part reserved for Telechamus, a nepo-baby without any real role to play but who really wanted to be involved in the production so they carved out a little side story for him.

That’s not to say I hated it. It’s still a fantastic story, and my comments about being impressed with the complexity of The Iliad hold true here as well. It’s easier to follow than The Iliad, with a more manageable roster of characters and no long, descriptive battle scenes. On the other hand, though, I wasn’t nearly as emotionally invested in Odysseus’s endless self-described heroics compared to the complicated internal workings of the characters of the Iliad. The Odyssey had less of a grand narrative arc, and far less humor in the form of bickering gods and warriors. The god-action in this one was mostly just Athena disguising herself as a new character in every other book. The ending of The Iliad was beautiful and poignant, while The Odyssey just kind of…ended? I also did not highlight nearly as many specific memorable lines in the Odyssey. But I will just share a few on the next slide of examples of Odysseus loving on himself.

Odysseus and Self-Love

“As you know,
divine Calypso held me in her cave,
wanting to marry me; and likewise Circe,
the trickster, trapped me, and she wanted me
to be her husband.”

— Odysseus explaining how he just can’t keep the goddesses off of him

“We got away that time, thanks to my skill
and brains and strategy. Remember that.”

— Odysseus reminding his men what a great leader they have

“With glowing eyes she said, ‘You always have
such keen intelligence, and that is why
I cannot leave you when you need my help.
You have such intuition and such focus.”

— Odysseus quoting when Athena spoke to him

“I am amazed that you could drink my potion
and yet not be bewitched. No other man
has drunk it and withstood the magic charm.
But you are different. Your mind is not
enchanted. You must be Odysseus,
the man who can adapt to anything.
Bright flashing Hermes of the golden want
has often told me that you would sail here
from Troy in your swift ship. Now sheathe your sword
and come to bed with me. Through making love
we may begin to trust each other more.”

— Odysseus quoting a nesting doll of compliments given to him by Circe, and again reiterating how the goddesses can’t resist him

“I am not weak at any sport men practice.
I know the way to hold a polished bow.
I always was the first to hit my man
out of a horde of enemies, though many
comrades stood by me, arrows taking aim.”

— Odysseus describing his athletic prowess to his competitors (this continues on for a while longer)

Book author: Homer