I read The Odyssey and had some thoughts

I wanted to start reading books a bit more but I wanted to read good quality books, so of course I decided to start at the beginning of good books – The Odyssey! According to Wikipedia it is one of the oldest books in western literature,¹ a perfect place to begin my reading journey. My first choice was deciding on the translation. I ended up buying the hardcover Penguin Classics edition by E.V. Rieu not only because I read that it is an approachable translation but also because it has a built-in ribbon as a bookmark, with the ribbon being the most important deciding factor!

There are many interpretations you can glean from The Odyssey – it is the inspiration for art, philosophy, literature, even words (Mentor). A good story has many layers and the Odyssey does this well. On the surface is an adventurous journey home that overcomes many types of obstacles and many types of dangers. The way it is told is philosophical, a bit magical, and a good satisfying tale and this is where the other layers shine through as you read a bit deeper. Each obstacle imparts some moral guidance, how to act properly in society, or shine with some cultural wisdom, the physical toil of human life and its antidote: experiences shared with friends and family and good hospitality.

The interesting perspective in The Odyssey is the way the characters and gods interact, for the most part disguised as a distant friend or helpful stranger. I was left wondering if the disguises were real people under the influence of the gods rather than the gods materialising into human form. Are the gods personifications of the most ideal human qualities, and if so what is godlike about the characters – the fact they are championed by the gods, or that they express these godlike qualities?

The Stoics philosophised that the deities represented aspects of a single god, “You will also be right in applying to him any names that you please which express supernatural strength and power: he may have as many titles as he has attributes.”² When characters are godlike, are they expressing the same attributes as Nature?

More recently Walter Otto saw the gods as natural forces that are expressed through people and also through the events that occur around you (for example Athena calms the winds Poseidon whipped up to sink Odysseus with). “Athena belongs to the immediate present and the clarity of action, where she provides level-headedness, quick-wittedness and boldness for men, and skill in handicraft for women”³

Before we meet Odysseus we meet his son, Telemachus, who is at the threshold between boy and man, surrounded by the chaos of the suitors, and without a father to guide him. It is Athena who appears as Mentes and in the discussion inspires him to deal with the suitors. “In Telemachus’ heart she had implanted spirit and daring, and had brought the image of his father to his mind even more strongly than before.”⁴ He feels a change after this exchange, is filled with awe and believes a god was with him. This effectively brings out his godlike nature, the same qualities assumed to be inherited from his father. He finds the courage, strategy, and cunning to set off and find out the fate of Odysseus. Has Athena acted through a real person, Mentes, or is Telemachus in tune with his higher guidance? Perhaps both are true.

Athena’s relationship with Telemachus’ mother, Penelope, is much different. The same qualities of wisdom, strategy, and cunning manifest in a way to preserve the peace and delay the inevitable as long as possible, and Athena often puts Penelope to sleep to soothe her grief or to carry her past dangerous moments at home. Athena’s qualities are expressed by each person in the family but in a difference of quality and quantity. As a goddess we might think she has a different relationship with each person, but thinking of it another way, don’t people in a family often have similar behaviours and thinking? They spend the most time with each other.

The relationship between Athena and Odysseus is the most rich and most complex of all the characters. Odysseus is wise and strategic at a level that is godlike and many of the circumstances Athena prepares for him could be seen as him taking advantage of these qualities. Does Athena favour Odysseus because of these qualities, or does he possess these qualities because she favours him?

The escape from the Cyclops suggests the qualities are his own along with the failures. Odysseus used his strategy and cunning to escape Polyphemus, first by preparing the weapon, then by lowering the defences of the Cyclops by helping him over-indulge in wine. The men are fearful but as Odysseus tells us, are emboldened by some god and find the courage to blind Polyphemus with the burning stick, then later escape under the sheep. This is all told from Odysseus’ perspective so we do not know the full influence the gods had but his Athena-like qualities are apparent. It is not until after escaping far away, but still within the distance of the angry Cyclops, that Odysseus out of pride or arrogance tells the Cyclops who he is, his name and where he comes from, giving his injured enemy valuable information. Even godlike humans make mistakes that have life-long consequences.

Another way the gods interact with the characters is indirectly, by setting up favourable circumstances and arranging coincidental meetings with well connected people. When Odysseus must walk through the town of the Phaeacians Athena helps him by first surrounding him in a mist to conceal him from others and then appearing in the form of a young girl carrying a pitcher as a guide. The reader may relate to the mist from having an experience of walking through a new place but blending in enough to seem invisible (or at least to not stand out). We can think of Athena taking the form of people to communicate normally to Odysseus as this quality working through him to invite someone to help with directions, since he asks the girl who stops in front of him.

If you imagine a stranger has come to a town, he is polite and has an unthreatening presence and asks for directions, you might show him where to go. He is dressed in similar clothes as everyone else (he was dressed by Nausicaa’s servants). In a busy town no one might really pay any attention to this, especially someone who is avoiding eye contact and asking questions as the girl instructs. Yet Homer frames this as the gods organising the circumstances – the effects of someone’s attitude and the way their personal attributes are projected and perceived.

Finally, another way the gods appear to influence things is in perspective and appearance. The mist concealing Odysseus is one example, but other examples are more striking. After Odysseus washed and was dressed by Nausicaa, Athena made him appear taller and improved his appearance. This appearance change also changes the way he is perceived by Nausicaa before she takes him to her father in the Palace of Alcinous.

A more overt transformation also occurs before he goes to meet Eumaeus, but this time Athena turns him into an old beggar appearing older and in rags. This change in appearance helps him appear to different people in disguise but he also seems to change in character, being more humble and acting differently as a beggar than he does with the Phaeacians in the Palace of Alcinous where he acts more like royalty.

When he is fully inhabiting his own nature he radiates something people can’t help but respond to. The beggar disguise requires him to simultaneously contain his noble inner impulses and the reality of who he truly is. Odysseus has command over the Athena qualities, masterfully presenting to different people the different aspects of himself.

Poseidon’s many attempts to stop Odysseus from getting home eventually failed. Did Odysseus’ perseverance, along with the help of Athena in changing his fortunes, eventually overcome the consequences of his own actions in angering Poseidon? In his homecoming Odysseus also grew, refining his godlike qualities and outlasting the consequences of his mistakes.

Perhaps we all have our own god or goddess who whispers to us via our conscience or the little hunches of intuition received from time to time. Read the book and I’m sure you’ll take away something thoughtful to contemplate.

Footnotes

1. “It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences.” Odyssey, Wikipedia ↩

2. Seneca, De Beneficiis, Book IV, 7 ↩

3. Walter F. Otto, The Homeric Gods: The Spiritual Significance of Greek Religion, via Wikipedia ↩

4. Homer, The Odyssey, translated by E.V. Rieu, Penguin Classics. ↩