Homer's Dangerous Women Made Material (original) (raw)
Related papers
Penelope's "Early Recognition" of Odysseus from a Neoanalytic and Oral Perspective
College Literature 38 (2011) 101-117
This is a response to an essay in College Literature on Homer's Odyssey by John Vlahos, who argues for a much earlier recognition by Penelope of Odysseus than has traditionally been acknowledged, already in book 17, when the disguised Odysseus refuses to respond immediately to Penelope's summons, rather than in book 23, when Odysseus successfully passes Penelope's test of the marriage bed. Vlahos lays the blame for the failure of generations of scholars to perceive Homer's true intention squarely at the feet of Eustathius – 12th century archbishop of Thessalonica, theologian, historian, scholar, and saint – who erroneously placed Penelope's recognition of Odysseus in book 23. Vlahos coins this critical failure the "Eustathian Error" and claims that it led centuries of scholars of Homer astray until Philip Harsh revolutionized the field in 1950 by proposing that Penelope identifies her husband in book 19, when she witnesses him answering in great detail her questions about what clothes and jewelry Odysseus was wearing when he left for Troy some twenty years earlier (Harsh 1950).
Shipwrecked Spouses: Leukothea’s Veil and Marital Reunion in The Odyssey
2020
This article proposes a new view of the mysterious incident in which Odysseus wears Leukothea’s veil to make it safely ashore in Odyssey 5, arguing that it bears directly on one of the epic’s fundamental themes, the reunion of the hero with Penelope. Through an analysis of the traditional referentiality of the veil in the Homeric epics and of Odyssean similes associating shipwreck with family reunion, it is shown that Leukothea’s veil identifies Odysseus with Penelope while both signifying and magically effecting the recovery of chastity, and ultimately of his marriage.
Helen's Hands: Weaving for Kleos in the Odyssey
Helios, 2010
In lieu of an abstract, here is a preview of the article: When Helen offers Telemachus a robe she herself has made in book 15 of the Odyssey, she bestows her gift with the hope that it will act as "a monument to the hands of Helen" (μνῆμ᾿ Ἑλένης χειρῶν, 15.126). Helen's peplos attests to the potential for handcrafted objects to immortalize those who have made them. It also serves as a useful reminder that even within Homeric epic, which in itself is an outstanding example of male kleos, various technologies exist for men and women to craft their own kleos. Helen's is the only garment in either epic to have its commemorative function expressly articulated, but other woven textiles are intricately bound up with scenes of recognition and reciprocity, where they implicitly refer to their makers' hands. The connection between aural and material sources of kleos is suggestively drawn by a scholiast to the Iliad who comments that, in representing Helen weaving the Trojan War ( Il. 3.125-8), "the poet has crafted a worthy model for his own poetic enterprise" (ἀξιόχρεων ἀρχέτυπον ἀνέπλασεν ὁ ποιητὴς τῆς ἰδίας ποιήσεως). 2 Helen as a model for Homer? Weaving, as the scholiast's words suggest, is an apt metaphor for the production of epic verse. But insofar as textile makers in the Homeric poems are all female, weaving and its associated products provide what appears to be a unique opportunity for women to circulate their kleos…
The Gates of Horn and Ivory in Odyssey 19: Penelope's Call for Deeds, Not Words
Please see my other Academia.edu page at https://vwc.academia.edu/BenjaminHaller for regular updates and fuller copies of publications. This page is not regularly updated or checked. My treatment of the topic proposes a variant on an interpretation of the gates of horn and ivory that appears in the scholia. I read ivory as a metonymic reference to the teeth of the mouth, and hence to (often deceptive) speech, as borne out by the prominence in Homer of proverbial expressions for speech involving the teeth. Pace the ancient commentators, the gates of horn are more likely to be an allegorical reference to the bow of Odysseus, through which Penelope’s deliverance from the suitors will come. Penelope’s account of the gates of horn and ivory will be seen to boil down to a strikingly simple and clear message to the stranger: if you are truly my long-lost husband, it is time to cast off disguises and deceptive speech (the gates of ivory, i.e., teeth) and to use the bow contest which I am about to suggest to you (the gates of horn, the material that gives the bow of Odysseus its tensile strength1) to prove your identity to me by slaying the suitors as the eagle slew the geese in my dream.
The enslaved women in the Odyssey
Rónai, 2021
The aim of this study is to investigate the representation of enslaved women in the narrative of the Odyssey and its portrayal of the way in which the archaic Greek aristocracy conceived slavery. To that end, the relations between gender and social class in the Antiquity are considered, as well as those between property (oîkos), community, and cosmic order. Through textual evidence, our reading tracks the general situation of enslaved women as Odysseus's property, approaching the construction of Eurycleia as a character, including her interaction with Odysseus as she recognizes his scar. Other scenes considered in our analysis are those with Melantho and the hanging of the women who had had sexual intercourse with the suitors. The Odyssey builds interactions between characters based on a morality model that demands not only the subordination of enslaved women's interests and actions to that of their masters, but also their affection for their masters and their family. Nevertheless, hierarchy and authority in the oîkos are established through violence.
Intertextual Agōnes in Archaic Greek Epic: Penelope vs. the Catalogue of Women
Yearbook of Ancient Greek Epic, 2021
Archaic Greek epic exhibits a pervasive eristic intertextuality, repeatedly positioning its heroes and itself against pre-existing traditions. In this article, I focus on a specific case study from the Odyssey: Homer’s agonistic relationship with the Catalogue of Women tradition. Hesiodic-style catalogue poetry has long been recognized as an important intertext for the Nekyia of Odyssey 11, but here I explore a more sustained dialogue across the whole poem. Through an ongoing agōn that sets Odysseus’s wife against catalogic women, Homer establishes the pre-eminence of his heroine and—by extension—the supremacy of his own poem.
Lies and realities? The alternative personas and fictional narratives of Odysseus
The Odyssey, in some part a sequel to the Iliad, is the second work attributed to the epic poet Homer. Within, the protagonist Odysseus is seemingly portrayed as a shrewd and crafty individual, constantly altering the truth to suit his own intentions. The history contained within the text not only illuminates the excavation of early Greek material culture, such as Agamemnon’s palace at Mycenae (Murray, O. 1993, 5) but also, the history taught by the Odyssey enlightens us to how the world was seen through the eyes of the early Greeks and the rationale behind the material culture found today (Osborne, R. 2009: 148-150). Notably, within the second twelve books of Homer’s Odyssey, these lies of Odysseus reveal a potential number of truths about early Greece’s social, economic and religious beliefs and morals.
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.