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A sequel and a complementary to The Iliad Allusions to he actual fall of Troy and
its aftermath How the Greeks faced further danger
in the long voyage back to Greece
Encounter with different cultures The place of literature and memory
in the formation of cultural identity
The central figure: Odysseus The different skills and capabilities required
for the journey from war to peace:---strength ---physical courage---brains: the cunning hero---adaptable: a man of many turns---psychological strength: an ability both to
endure and inflict pain without flinching---patience and self-restrain to bide his time---the will to go home and to restore it to
order
The diversity of cultures and ways of life: exotic & ordinary---Calypso---Sirens---Scylla the monster---The Lotus flower---island of the sun---Circe---Cyclopes---Phaeacia
Hospitality: The key answer illustrated in the Greek society Cultures may vary in other respects,
but any good society will accommodate the wandering guest.
Hospitality is the fundamental criterion for civilized society in this poem.
Telemechus, Nestor and Menelaus in their reception of visitors
Transgressions of hospitality Polyphemus: a grotesque
counterpart to the good Phaecian hosts
Odysseus’s own men: they killed the cattle of the Sun
Why Odysseus was eager to go home despite all?
The poem deals with the fundamental desire we feel for our own people and our own place, not because they are better than any other, but simply because they are ours.
cultural identity
Homer’s reflection on the code of hospitality: what is the limit?
The suitors’ abuse of that code How is Odysseus going to deal with
this dilemma? Homer’s answer lies probably in the
reference to the homecoming of Agamemnon
Temptations Odysseus Meets
The tests of mental qualities as well as physical endurance:
---The Lotus flower---Circe---Phaeacia---Sirens---Calypso
For what does Odysseus turns the temptations down?
A balance of The Iliad: ---The Odyssey defines its values
by contrast with those of the Iliad. Against the dark background of Achilles’s regret for life, Odysseus’s dedication to life—his acceptance of limitations and his ability to seize its possibilities—shines out.