by Homer
15.201 I must be home. This exchange provides fine touches of characterization of both Telemakhos and Nestor. The young man knows he will be delayed by the old warrior’s generous hospitality, so seeks to avoid the trip back to Pulos. And the old man’s son worries that Nestor will get angry and ride halfway back to Sparte to buttonhole Telemakhos. Through such brief sketches the poet manages to round out and enliven the figures in his narrative.
15.225 Melampous. “Black-foot,” a famous seer, is alluded to in the Catalogue of Women (II. 292) in connection with his role in the wooing of Nestor’s sister, Pero. He tried to steal the herds of Phulakos in order to provide his brother Bias with the bride-price demanded by Neleus. Captured by the herds’ owner, he was imprisoned in a house where woodworms were telling one another that the beams were nearly eaten. Through his ability to hear them, Melampous warned of the fall of the roof, impressed his captor, and won release, with the cows as a further gift (for curing the impotence of Phulakos). The Erinus (line 234) is the Fury, who usually pursued those guilty of crimes against the members of the extended family. Why she is mentioned here remains obscure.
15.242 and fathered Antiphates. The list of descendants includes seers famous in the myth of the Seven Against Thebes, Amphiaraos and his son Alkmaion. Eriphule, wife of Amphiaraos, was given a golden necklace by Poluneikes so she would persuade her husband to go to war on his behalf. Mantios (“Seer”) is the ultimate ancestor of Theoklumenos, who approaches Telemakhos at his departure, an outlaw from his native Argos (a region of the eastern Peloponnese).
15.364 Ktimene. Only here do we learn of the sister of Odysseus, who otherwise plays no role in the poem. The other information that Eumaios provides confirms what Odysseus’s mother personally related to him in the underworld. The close relationship of Eumaios to the royal family means that he is almost a foster brother to Odysseus and a father figure for Telemakhos.
15.384 your people’s town. The options listed are the main ways in which a person might be sold into bondage: as one taken in war or the victim of pirate slave-traders. Slavery, which supported the Greek economy from earliest antiquity, was not based on race. Other Greeks, foreigners, captives, or debtors might end up working for middle-class or wealthy masters.
15.403 Surie. Not Syria, but an island (probably modern Syros), in the Cyclades, between mainland Greece and western Asia Minor.
15.404 Ortugie. Ortugie was identified with Delos, the small islet sacred to Apollo, east of Syros.
15.455 trading a whole year. The Phoinikians were well known as the Mediterranean’s most daring and active traders from the eleventh century B.C. on. From their home ports, in what is now southern Lebanon, they sailed as far west as Gibraltar, establishing trading-posts and transporting textiles, purple dye, and metalwork. The Greeks traced the alphabet to them, a tradition that modern scholarship confirms. Some critics suggest that Homer’s seafaring Phaiakians were modeled on, and got their name from, the Phoinikians.
15.525 on his right side. The right side is the lucky side, in Greek bird-signs. Theoklumenos takes the opportunity to make what might be a flattering interpretation, asserting that his host and his family will retain the kingship of Ithaka. Unlike the reading done by Helen of a similar bird-sign in the previous book, this features no point-by-point symbolism—simply an equation of the stronger bird with the power of rulers.
16.17 A loving father. This is an ironic foreshadowing that also expresses the close relationship between the swineherd and Telemakhos. The simile suggests a double focus: a father welcomes home a son gone for ten years (just as Laertes might have welcomed Odysseus immediately after the ten-year-long Trojan War) and the father has agonized over his son (just as Odysseus has thought often of Telemakhos). These parallels and resonances make an implicit bond between the hero and his grown son, both now coming home, even before they are reunited later in the scene. In another artful touch, it is Eumaios, the surrogate father, who goes on to chide Telemakhos, like a parent, for the young man’s supposed preference for staying in town with the suitors (lines 27–29).
16.62 He claims the broad island. In this bare-bones version of Odysseus’s fictional tale, Eumaios does not repeat the flattering details that his guest supplied the previous night—how he is supposed to be of royal blood, a Trojan War veteran, and once wealthy (all of which are of course, in another context, true). Instead, he describes Odysseus as almost a runaway slave. The shrewd old man thus shows that he has hardly at all been taken in by the stories of the beggar.
16.112 a sensible answer. Odysseus, in his outburst, strategically sought to test his son’s feelings about the situation and obtain information about the goings-on in his own house. Nowhere had there been a mention up until now of maltreatment of “women and handmaids” (line 108). But rather than taking this as a slip on the poet’s part, attributing knowledge to Odysseus that he could not have, we should view the remark as simultaneously foreshadowing and characterization: the homecoming hero can only imagine the worst. His son’s vigorous reply makes clear that he would fight the suitors even now, if reinforcements were available. As it is, the Odyssean line comprises a series of only sons (a further emblem of the hero’s solitary character) and Telemakhos has no brothers to aid him.
16.162 The dogs and Odysseus. The poet pays particular attention to the reactions of animals in this episode. The fierce country dogs barked at Odysseus when he first approached, until he made a submissive gesture; they greeted Telemakhos warmly; and now they sense the advent of Athene. (Later, Odysseus’s own hound will recognize him.) Odysseus is closer to animals in his keen awareness of the presence of the gods and his fierce reaction to humans he does not like. His heart “barks” (20.13–16) when he sees the shamelessness of the suitors’ women companions.
16.172 touched by the golden wand. Odysseus experiences a series of recognitions as he works his way back into the heart of his home. A boyhood scar, a secret bed, trees in an orchard—all will serve as signs of his identity to people close to him. In the case of his son a miraculous change of clothing plays a role in the recognition, as part and symbol of a larger transformation. Thanks to Athene’s rejuvenating powers, Odysseus goes from old beggar to vigorous king at a touch of a magic wand. This is the moment to which previous dressing and changing scenes have been leading: the hero has his status back. Telemakhos, however, insists that only a god could accomplish such a quick change of looks. The repeated reassurances by Odysseus that he is really only human (lines 187–189, 202–4) become themselves the ultimate token of his fatherhood: generation, growth, and decline do not matter to the gods.
16.246 their count. This is the first full reckoning of the number of the suitors; the total is 108 men, not counting their support staff. If the relative numbers represent the size of the suitors’ homelands, “Doulikhion”—the location of which is still undetermined—might have been the large promontory of Leukada, east of Ithaka. (The poem refers to it as an island, however—see line 397—which it is now but was not in antiquity.)
16.363 Antinoos. The meanest suitor (his name means “antimind” or “anticonsciousness”), he would have been gladdest to see Telemakhos ambushed. The failed attempt, as he points out, only makes the crisis worse, since the king’s son now has more reason to rouse up the islanders against his would-be assailants. Another ambush must be planned. By giving voice to the suitors and their plots in this way, the poet increases the suspense and quickens the pace of the narrative, while preparing the audience for the death of such unsympathetic figures. That one suitor, Amphinomos, is more restrained in his approach (lines 394–405) complicates the rationale behind the final slaughter.
16.417 reviled him. Penelopeia has been seen previously in her mourning or humbly following her son’s command. Her pointed words to Antinoos reveal other aspects of this complex woman: rhetorical ability, historical awareness, pride, and courage. As her husband comes closer to home, the feisty and intelligent queen whom he first took as his bride begins to eme
rge. It is easy to imagine her as first cousin to the high-spirited (and dangerous) Helen and Klutaimnestre.
17.37 looking like Artemis. Penelopeia is poised between two goddesses, one the virgin huntress, the other goddess of love. The brief, double comparison captures an ambiguity about her future in the plot: is she to marry one of the suitors, or remain mourning for her husband?
17.151 Godlike Theoklumenos spoke. The seer’s name means “hearing the god” and his words carry authority, given his prophetic ancestry. His comment at this point goes beyond what he told Telemakhos on embarking. The urgency and specificity added to the prophecy—that Odysseus is on Ithaka even as they speak—will increase the tension during the interview between the beggar and Penelopeia, since it may well be that the old man is the warrior come home.
17.172 Medon. As herald, his role was to announce sacrifices, and thus, major meals; it seems that originally such kêrukes were official singers at the rituals. The central civic nature of sacrifice required an authority figure to announce who would receive which portion of the animal—the major way in which social and professional groups were to be distinguished in everyday life. By working only for the suitors, Medon seems to have abandoned any wider social role, or to have shrunk and collapsed the broader society of Ithaka down to the size of one family, at the unruly household of his employers.
17.205–6 a well-built / fountain. On Ithaka, the nymphs are associated with two important places—a cave near the harbor, where Odysseus stores his goods when he first arrives home, and an ancient, tree-shaded spring of cold water, constructed by Ithakos, the distant and obscure hero for whom the island was named. At this fountain near the town, wayfarers made their small offerings to the local divinities of the waters. It appears that Odysseus, according to his swineherd, had in the past regularly made larger sacrifices to the nymphs. True to the quid pro quo principle of Greek religion, the swineherd can ask for divine aid now by reminding the nymphs of what they formerly received. Ironically, he prays while in the presence of Odysseus, whose identity is still hidden from the other Ithakans, such as the surly goat-herd, Melantheus, who accosts him here.
17.291 a dog lying nearby. The hound’s name, Argos (“Flash”), makes a sad contrast with his present condition. Just as the growth of his son offers a tangible marker of how long Odysseus has been away, so the dog’s debility embodies twenty years of neglect—a symbol for the decline of the whole household. His outward appearance matches the ragged look of his master in beggar’s guise. One of the most pathetic moments in the poem is this recognition scene, which Odysseus, in order to save his cover, must pretend is not happening. The dog’s death, unseen by his old master, surely was meant to milk a tear from the audience.
17.384 A prophet, a healer. The list gives a glimpse of social conditions in a postpalatial economy, where wandering experts are summoned from a distance, instead of being employed on site by local kings. Healer and prophet could be the same; Apollo is an example of the combination. On the other hand, poets could compare their craft to carpentry, in an old metaphor for fitting together a composition. The inclusion of singers with the other professions named may hint at the true status of the Homeric poet. Instead of resembling Phemios, the Ithakan palace bard whose music floats through this episode, the epic performer more likely circulated from town to town or frequented regional festivals where bards competed.
17.412 Having tested Akhaians. The purpose of Odysseus’s begging goes beyond gathering information. Like a representative of Zeus, the patron of strangers, he probes the crowd to find out who is generous and who is stingy. This function is later made explicit (line 482ff.), when younger suitors remind Antinoos that gods roam the earth in human form to check on mortal behavior. The formal curse Odysseus makes against the churlish Antinoos (lines 475–76) will, of course, come true.
17.443 to Kupros. The rest of the details jibe with Odysseus’s original story to Eumaios, but he substitutes this far-off island as his most recent stop, perhaps to throw the suitors off the scent. From other brief mentions (e.g., 16.427), it is clear that Thesprotia (his last stop in the earlier version of his tale) was among regions familiar to Odysseus and allied with the Ithakans even before his journey to Troy. Bringing up the name could have alerted his enemies.
17.494 So may Apollo. Penelopeia’s wish corresponds to her husband’s curse against Antinoos. Having uttered it, she might well think later, once Odysseus has shot the suitors, that a god came down to the palace in person to carry out this revenge. Her disbelieving response to her nurse says as much (23.63–64). Penelopeia’s immediate reaction—to summon the injured beggar so as to ask him about Odysseus—may also have been anticipated by the hero when he chose to upbraid Antinoos. The not-unexpected abuse that results becomes the quickest way for Odysseus to gain his wife’s company.
17.518 stare at a poet. We have already seen Odysseus acting the part of the bardlike storyteller in books 9 through 12, all of which are in his own voice. Now Eumaios confirms the effect that this man can have on an audience. The comment is also a reflection (by the poet) about the high value of his own art of Homeric song: this medium can literally enchant the listener. The activities of the Muses, the Sirens, and the bard are thus united in their magical powers.
17.541 Telemakhos sneezed loudly. Like the flight of birds, this sudden event can be taken as an omen. The content of the previous speech is thereby endorsed as about to come true. What was hypothetical in Penelopeia’s remarks (see lines 539–40) has now been transformed into a near certainty. Part of the complex artistry of these episodes arises from the triangulation of opinion, feeling, prophecy, and reaction, with Odysseus, Telemakhos, and Penelopeia each shaping a part of the plot, and often predicting or praying for certain outcomes.
17.570 wait until sunset. Odysseus has observed the continual presence of the suitors and also the housemaids, whom he may already suspect of sympathizing with the enemy. His strategic decision to delay the interview with the queen has also been taken by some critics to imply that he will attempt to reveal his identity to her during their evening meeting. Already his wife takes the delay as a sign of the stranger’s cleverness (line 586) and her suspicion may grow that he is none other than Odysseus.
18.6 Iros. The nickname plays on the name of the divine messenger and goddess of the rainbow, Iris. The unfortunate beggar’s real name, Arnaios, means something like “Lamb-man” and the fact that his mother, rather than father, named him indicates he was most likely illegitimate. The apparently digressive episode of the spat between Iros and Odysseus allows for suspense to build further. It also recalls the hero’s intolerance for bullying (as in the encounter with Eurualos among the Phaiakians, book 8), and sets up a satisfying knock-down fight. Finally, the structure of the event might remind us of the long-ago quarrel between the “best of the Akhaians,” Odysseus and Akhilleus, at a banquet, alluded to in Demodokos’s song. Just as Agamemnon’s joy at that event (8.78) was later reversed, so here Antinoos’s delight can soon be expected to turn to sorrow.
18.85 King Ekhetos. The king is a mythical bogey-man, it appears, whose name means “Grabber” and whose methods suit the title.
18.129 Listen and take heed. Victor in the fight, and jokingly honored by the suitors, Odysseus, in the character of wise veteran, takes the opportunity to sermonize about the unavoidable justice of the gods. The speech embodies an archaic Greek worldview, one that can be seen as well in the poetry of Hesiod, Aeschylus, and the lyric poets. In its essentials, this view holds that humans are helplessly dependent on the whim of the gods for success, failure, or the mental attitudes they hold from one day to the next; that hope and optimism are delusive; that greed, arrogance, and injustice will inevitably be punished; and that humble acceptance of divine will is best. The message is underlined by the poet’s added detail, that even Amphinomos, a suitor who has seemed less bad than others, will die at the final reckoning.
18.161 She’d make herself esteemed. In one of the most puzzling p
assages in the poem, it is unclear whether Penelopeia knows that her husband is the beggar in the hall and wishes to make him see her act; wants to marry another now, to flirt with the suitors, or to extract from them more gifts; or desires to force Telemakhos to proclaim his maturity through her chiding—thus enabling her to marry again (see lines 269–70). Some combination of these motives may be at work. Or it may be that the poet means to depict a whim on the queen’s part (and therefore notes the “silly laugh” with which Penelopeia speaks to her maid). She refuses to make herself up with cosmetics, but Athene beautifies her anyway. And she expresses the wish to die a gentle death even as she has acted as if either a new wedding or longed-for husband is near. If we are confused and intrigued by her behavior, those who see her have their own conclusions: the suitor Eurumakhos takes the chance to flatter her, perhaps thinking she is on the verge of choosing him; Telemakhos treats her with cool rationality; and Odysseus happily assumes she is adding to his wealth by extorting more courting gifts.
18.259 Ah my woman. The farther the poem progresses in time, the more we learn about the past history of Odysseus and his family. This is an emotionally apt time for Penelopeia to reveal her husband’s parting instructions. The maturing process of Telemakhos can now be seen as a key to whether his mother will wed. (Thus the foregrounding of the son’s adventures in books 1 through 4 makes more sense.) While lamenting her approaching remarriage, the queen takes the opportunity to pile blame on the suitors for their backward way of courting. And her audience gets the point, sending their servants off to provide her with heaps of clothes and jewelry.