Ruminations on This Week's Conversation

On the gods…

There were some interesting posts and comments about the role of the gods on the blog this week. One of the more interesting threads questioned how much credit for heroism was actually due to Odysseus and Achilles, given how much help they receive from their godly champions. (When you think of it, shouldn’t we rank Hector’s fame actually higher, given that he achieved his feats largely despite the ill-favor of key gods and goddesses?)

Maybe the way to look at it is through our own experience of bravery, luck, and heroism. When something profound or amazing happens, what do we say? You win the lottery: God was smiling on me today. A child survives a deadly illness: Her guardian angel never left her side. Someone survives a should-have-been fatal crash: Jesus took the wheel. Did they? Well, maybe. But did anyone actually see that? Or was it luck, resilience, quick reflexes? Maybe yes, maybe no. It is an ancient human response to extraordinary fortune or acts of prowess in defeat or victory to see an unseen hand in those events.

But here's the key point: Do we think any less of the bravery or strength or persistence of these hometown heroes and survivors because we suspect they had an angel on their team? I think it was no more different for the Greeks of Homer's time than it is for us in our modern time.


The question of Odysseus’ culpability in the loss of his men…

So many of you have voiced exasperation at Odysseus as a leader—maybe especially for his seeming utter inability to bypass any island or country his ships come across in their voyage home to Ithaca—that I thought it made sense to address this issue here. And you are not wrong about it! Odysseus’ behavior certainly comports with the personality traits for which he is famous: an abiding curiosity about the world, coupled with a deep-seated drive to know all that can be known and experience all that can be experienced. But: that’s not all there is to it.

Knowledge of the shores and islands and waters of the Mediterranean is  indispensable for the sailor. And the most reliable knowledge is that gained from personal observation and exploration. Let’s remember, too, that ships had to stop frequently on long journeys to take on fresh water and replenish food supplies. Most of the times when Odysseus and his men make landfall, it is because they are damaged, having been battered by some storm and in need maintenance, or hungry and in dire need of replenishing their stores. So it’s not all for the adventure of new lands and peoples, though it's that, too...



Cheating on Penelope?

Well yeah, but. Do not underestimate just how formidable a demigoddess can be, either in her powers of seduction or in her powers to completely mess you up long-term if you cross her. No less than male gods, they are dangerous, unpredictable beings, however beautiful. Odysseus’ bondage to Círcë and later Calýpso is not just sexual: his crew are essentially hostages, whose lives depend on how happy he makes his beguiling captors. Only more important and powerful gods, intervening at Athena's request, can finally break their spell and set him free.

I'm not saying it was exactly torture for poor Odysseus, but, in the end, as we see him weeping beside the seashore on Calýpso's fragrant, wafty isle, we realize the end he has reached: these goddesses are not his wife, and their islands are not his home...