The Odyssey, Page 70

  7.Rhadamanthys, for H. (Il. 14.141-43) the son of Zeus and Europa, did not die but went to Elysium, where, with his brother, Minos, he was one of the judges over the dead. Tityos, son of Ge or Gaia (Earth), is best known in H.'s work for being seen by Odysseus in Hades (11.576-81) having his liver torn by vultures as punishment for the attempted rape of Leto. The circumstances of the first's visit to the second are quite unknown (this passage remains the sole reference to such an incident), but were presumably connected in some way with the justice of Tityos' punishment.

  BOOK 8

  1.As Hainsworth says (Comm., 8: 364), "the divine cast of this little drama are thoroughly humanized: they are made to behave, and also think, like the bourgeoisie of any place and age, and their role as gods . . . is at best implied." In this last context it is interesting that the divine adulterous pair were closely connected, not only in literature, but also, somewhat surprisingly, in cult. Their cohabitation was credited with (somewhat abstract) offspring: Phobos (Terror, Rout), Deimos (Fear) and, more amiably, Harmonia.

  2.Aphrodite acquired this epithet, according to Hesiod (Th. 198), "because she emerged from the sea-foam on the shores of Cythera" (Comm., 1: 365).

  3.The Sintians were early inhabitants of Lemnos, allegedly Thracian in origin, which would explain their unfamiliar speech (HE, 3: 805, citing Strabo 10.2.17, 12.3.30).

  BOOK 9

  1.The identity (on the assumption that H. has not simply invented here) of Ithake and its neighboring islands has been an ongoing problem since ancient times. It seems reasonably certain that Zakynthos = modern Zante, while Doulichion probably = modern Kefallinia (Kefalonia; Cephalonia), or some part thereof. Same seems originally to have been either another name for Doulichion, or else a town thereon misinterpreted at some early stage as a separate island. Ithake itself is most often assumed to have been its modern homonym, Thiaki; but there are serious difficulties about this identification, and an attractive modern theory (Bittlestone 2005) identifies Ithake with Pale (mod. Paliki) the near-island formation on the western coast of Kefallinia, on the assumption that the narrow link in this channel only became dry land at some early period.

  2.Polyphemos, by bringing all the animals, including the rams, inside on this occasion, enables Odysseus and his men to escape after blinding the Kyklops, W.B. Stanford notes (1971, 1: 359).

  BOOK 10

  1.Lamos and Telepylos are both completely unknown factors. The most common assumption is that Lamos was the name of the city's founder, and Telepylos that of the city itself: so, e.g., Richmond Lattimore suggests, and faute de mieux I have opted for that myself. But Lamos could equally well be the city's name, and telepylos, small t, its qualifying epithet, meaning uncertain. Puzzles like this are a salutary reminder of how much, in the Homeric epics, still remains beyond our reach.

  2.Since Hellenistic times, this apparent nightlessness has most often been taken as "a somewhat muddled reference to the short summer nights of high northern latitudes" (Stanford 1971, 1: 368). More recently this view has been dismissed as "untenable" and replaced by a somewhat vague mythological concept stressing "the topographical strangeness of the legendary country in the far east" (Heubeck in Comm., 2: 48), where "the Laistrygonians live in a land of perpetual light just as the Cimmerians live in a country of unbroken darkness" (11.14-24). The problem of two such countries coexisting is somewhat mitigated by the fact that this does not in fact quite seem to be what H. is saying. But again, we are made uncomfortably aware of the limits on our knowledge.

  3.Ancient Greeks covered their faces as a formal sign of great grief or of mourning.

  4."A semi-liquid mess compounded of wine and other ingredients . . . but app. intended to be drunk" (Cunliffe, 241).

  5.There were traditionally six rivers in the Greek Underworld; four of them are mentioned here. The two absent are Lethe (Forgetfulness) and Aornos (? "birdless").

  BOOK 11

  1.In H., Erebos is the realm of darkness closely associated with Hades: see Gloss., s.v.

  2.The translation I give is the most obvious meaning of the Greek, and the text was so read by both Aeschylus and Sophocles (Stanford, 1: 387). But later critics and modern scholars (see Heubeck, Comm., 2: 86), convinced that if Odysseus met a peaceful death, it must have been away from the sea, and that a death from the sea would have been anything but gentle (a view reinforced by later bizarre suggestions) supported their view by applying a rare interpretation to the simple phrase ex halos ("from the sea"). Why H. should have chosen a phrase so open to misinterpretation that it deceived two major fifth-century playwrights, they do not bother to explain. I have always found the more obvious meaning attractively haunting in its deliberate mystery.

  3.Zethos was said to have undertaken the hard physical labor of hauling rocks and boulders for the walls, while Amphion helped by playing his lyre, which caused the rocks to move of their own accord. They had a common grave in Thebai (Paus. 9.17.4). Zethos married Pandareus' daughter Aidon, who achieved notoriety by accidentally killing their son, Itylos (or Itys), and turning into a nightingale (below, 19.518-23). See HE, 3: 951-52. Amphion married Tantalos' daughter Niobe, whose six sons and six daughters were, bar one, shot to death by Artemis and her twin Apollo because she boasted about them in comparison to Leto's two, the murderous twins themselves (Il. 24.599-620).

  4.Herakles was indeed "a man of unwearied strength" in that he killed his wife Megare as well as their children while in a temporary state of madness induced by Here. The famous Twelve Labors were imposed on him by Eurystheus (q.v.) as a penalty for this act.

  5.H. calls Oedipus' mother Epikaste: we know her better, mainly from Sophokles' play Oedipus Tyrannus, as Iokaste (or, in its Latinized form, Jocasta). The myth has bewildering variants prior to its standardization in Attic tragedy, though it is uncertain when certain features--e.g. the attribution of any children to the incestuous union, let alone the four, Eteokles, Polyneikes, Antigone and Ismene, known to us from Sophokles--were first introduced. In H.'s day, as we see here, Oedipus dies as ruler of Thebai, and there is no mention of his self-blinding or exile, which may indeed have been fifth-century dramatic inventions.

  6.Not the Amphion who was Zethos' brother.

  7.This, if read strictly, would seem to imply (despite line 313) that the realm of the gods was in fact somewhere up in the empyrean; but as Heubeck (Comm., 2: 96) drily observes, "the Homeric conception is always a little vague," and the scholarly urge to delete these lines as a stupid interpolation is unnecessary. Pelion (BA, 57, B 2), Ossa (ibid., A 2), and Olympos (ibid., A 1) are the three highest points (read in that order from SE to NW) of the mountain range running along the Magnesian peninsula that faces the NW Aegean and the Thermaic Gulf.

  8.A group here of Attic myths, which H. most often ignores (Stanford 1971, 1: 393). For Phaidre (Phaedra) and Prokris, see Gloss., s.vv. Ariadne helped Theseus subdue the Minotaur in the Kretan Labyrinth, and he set out for Athens with her, but deserted her on the islet of Die (Dia). According to the common version of the myth, she was rescued by Dionysos and became his lover on Naxos (Plut., Thes. 20). H. however relates an otherwise unfamiliar version in which Dionysos, far from making Ariadne his lover, brings a mysterious indictment against her, on the basis of which she is slain by Artemis.

  9.Who was the "wicked woman" responsible for the deaths of Odysseus' comrades? Clearly the comrades are not those who accompanied him on his nostos, but in a more general sense his fellow-warriors at Troy. So read, the wicked woman can be--most probably given the context of the remark--Klytaimnestra (associated with the murder of those who returned home with Agamemnon); or, more broadly still, Helen, as the cause of the war itself.

  10.For the killing of Eurypylos by Achilles' son Neoptolemos, see Little Iliad, arg. 3; West 2003, 122-23. "Keteian" would seem to be equivalent to "Mysian" (HE, 2: 435). Telephos' wife, Astyoche, kept her son Eurypylos from fighting as an ally of the Trojans until bribed by Priam with the gift of a golden palm (Stanford 1971, 1: 399); th
is was the gift, comparable to the necklace of Eriphyle (HE, 1: 263).

  11.Pytho is H.'s name for Delphi (q.v. Gloss.). For the various explanations of this (e.g., that Pytho was the name of the snake killed by Apollo when he acquired the site for his future oracle), see HE, 2: 701-2.

  12.This line is famous for its onomatopoeia: in the Greek (hard to match in English) you can hear the stone clattering down the slope: authis epeita pedonde kulindeto laas anaides.

  13.Lines 602-4 were regarded by some Hellenistic scholars as difficult (How could the presence of a ghost [eidolon] of Herakles in Hades be reconciled with his continued existence as heroic divinity on Olympos?) and thus dismissed as an interpolation by the sixth-century oracle-monger Onomakritos. As Heubeck (Comm., 2: 114) concedes in a good discussion, excision would simplify matters; against that, he argues, H. may have been unwilling to gloss over Herakles' divine status (which had been steadily gaining ground since the time of the Iliad), yet also was not going to forgo the scene he had in mind for 601-27, and thus risked an illogical compromise between popular belief and his own firm principle elsewhere, "that physical death is the precondition for the presence of an eidolon in the Underworld."

  14.This was Eurystheus (see Gloss., s.v.), a great-grandson of Zeus, and Herakles' own cousin.

  15."Hades' hound" is Kerberos (Cerberus). Here and in H.'s only other reference (Il. 8.368), Kerberos is not actually named. This was traditionally the last of Herakles' Twelve Labors. To fetch Kerberos, he had to go down to Hades while he was still alive; "an implicit comparison to Odysseus' journey there"(HE, 2: 435) has been seen here.

  16.A necessary reminder that the scene of Odysseus' interrogation of the ghosts from the Underworld is not, in point of fact, set in Hades itself, but at its approaches, by the stream of Ocean (11.21).

  BOOK 12

  1.The Argo was Jason's ship on the quest for the Golden Fleece. Cf. Ap. Rhod., Arg. 4. 920-65, with Green 1997, 350-52.

  2.For Hesiod (Th. 371-74), Hyperion is a Titan and the father of Helios, and here too we have in the Greek the patronymic Hyperionides; but for H. in all other instances (so probably here too: HE, 2: 386) "Hyperion" is merely a vague epithet of the Sun.

  3.Horns straight, crumpled, or both? Since both epithets are formulaic, it seems probable that the poet, whose interests are unlikely to have included specific breeds of cattle, was not bothered by the seeming inconsistency.

  BOOK 13

  1.The omission of all the items bar the comestibles here is probably due, not, as is alleged at Comm., 2: 168, and accepted by Dimock (7n8), to the careless misuse of a stock formulaic phrase, but to a line dropping out at an early stage in the transmission.

  2.This marks the conclusion of Odysseus' wanderings: from now on "his destiny is to be worked out in Ithaca" (Stanford 1971, 2: 201).

  3.The star (later known as Phosphoros, or Lucifer), was almost certainly Venus, which "in its season is much the brightest of the stars and can even be seen in the middle of the day at certain times" (ibid., 201-2).

  4."'Topographical' introductions to a new development are rather frequent in Homer. Vividly interrupting the normal flow of epic narrative, they focused the attention of the hearers on what was coming," Hoekstra points out in Comm., 2: 169. In the Odyssey, beside the present passage, see, e.g., 15.403-14, 19.172-81.

  5.Cf. 7.61-63: Poseidon sired Nausithoos, lord of the Phaiakians, on Periboia.

  6.Reading the convincing correction suggested by Aristophanes of Byzantion: cf. West 2014, 232 with n. 144.

  7.Odysseus is so bald at 18.351-55, presumably owing to Athene's work, that jokes are made about his shining pate.

  BOOK 14

  1.This may, at first sight, be thought a slightly inappropriate epithet for Eumaios, however decent his instincts. It is only later, at the beginning of a lengthy digression (15.413-84), that we learn that he is, in fact, nobly born, a king's son kidnapped as a child by traffickers and sold to Laertes. Whether or not his character, as H. draws it, is an instance of the popular belief in folktale that blue blood will out, whatever the circumstances, or proof that moral excellence can outshine humble surroundings, has been much, and pointlessly, debated.

  2.Odysseus here manages a polite transition, since the word xeinos, here translated as "host," can elsewhere, as we have seen, commonly mean "stranger" (and also, to confuse matters still further, "guest," as Eumaios makes very clear in his response).

  3.This hesitation has occasioned some ludicrous explanations (including the idea, picked up by Dimock ad loc., that Eumaios is avoiding Odysseus' name because of its literal meaning "Man of Pain," when he's always been treated well). Perhaps this obtuseness should not surprise us in an age when complete strangers, especially in mass communications on the Internet, regularly refer to everyone by their first name. Eumaios in fact is showing the good servant's respect for social custom. For a servant, however well treated, for however long, to address his master in familiar terms was, then until comparatively recently, unthinkable. (Imagine the butler in Downton Abbey addressing the earl of Grantham as Robert, or, worse, Bob.) Eumaios has just, inadvertently, done the equivalent, and hastens to explain that he's not really presumptuous (all the more regrettable an offense because of his master's great kindness) and emphasizes the proper, if admiring, term of respect that he uses. Liberties are not to be taken behind the master's back, especially when no one is certain where that back is.

  4.As has often been pointed out, Eumaios has not in fact--at least, not in the narrative here presented--told Odysseus his name. This is not necessarily a mark of authorial carelessness. Odysseus is well aware of his swineherd's name and could, plausibly, use it without thinking. And Eumaios, too, may take its use for granted, without the old stranger's use of it striking him as odd. Or, he may indeed note it, but make no comment (apart from remarking that his guest is "strange," daimonios), while waiting for a possible explanation. Such cautious sparring is very much in evidence when the supposed beggar first encounters Penelope, and there is no reason why this dramatic device should not be employed here too.

  5.Cunliffe ad loc. correctly notes this as the primary meaning of agkonos. Every translation that I have seen suggests that Odysseus rested his head on his elbow. I invite those responsible for this reading to try to duplicate such an action themselves.

  BOOK 15

  1.From Hellenistic times to today, there as been a misplaced determination to somehow make this arousal gentler and more polite, which blithely ignores the rough habits of young men (very much including those who are friends), so cleverly hinted at, in a single phrase, by the author of the Odyssey. Telemachos is also overimpatient to be on the road, of course, although it is not yet morning.

  2.Most MSS omit "this superfluous line" (Stanford 1971, 2: 242).

  3.The social status of Eteoneus is a little uncertain. He is described at 4.22-23 as Menelaos' therapon, "a general denomination of servants" (Hoekstra in Comm., 2: 237), but he lives elsewhere and is seemingly independent. Here, however, since he is accorded a patronymic, the mark of an upper-class person, we may take him to be Menelaos' esquire.

  4.Megapenthes was a bastard son of Menelaos, and a great favorite, about to be married: cf. 4.11-12.

  5.Amphiaraos' wife, Eriphyle, was persuaded with the gift of a golden necklace by Polyneikes, Oedipus' son, to talk her husband into joining the expedition of the Seven against Thebai, even though, Amphiaraos, a seer, knew very well that if he did so he would die (HE, 1: 42; cf. 11.326).

  6.This line is found in no MS, but is twice cited by Strabo (8.3.13, 27), who tells us that "The Springs" was the name of a stream in Triphylia (see Gloss., s.v. Elis).

  7.The Greek is thoeisin, which normally = "swift." Strabo (8.3.26) argued that H. actually meant "sharp"--there is some linguistic evidence for the existence of such a homonym (Hoekstra, Comm., 2: 25)--and identified the islands with the Southern Echinades near the outflow of the Acheloos river. Stanford (1971, 2: 252) accepted this; Hoekstra (ibid.) is dubio
us. There has been much speculation, but Strabo's explanation still seems the likeliest.

  8.The Aegean island of Delos, a little to the west of Syros, was also known as Ortygie ("Quail Island") in antiquity. Strabo (10.5.8) identified these as the places H. was talking about. If H. had real sites in mind--and there is no compelling reason to suppose he was inventing for the occasion--these are still the likeliest. But H. describes "Syria" as lying, in relation to Ortygie, kathuperthen; and though this can be a vague term, it most often signifies "above" or "to the north of." H. may simply have made a mistake, of course, but with central Aegean islands this is unlikely.

  BOOK 16

  1.Line 101 has often been omitted since antiquity, because (in the words of a scholiast cited by Hoekstra, Comm., 2: 270) "it is superfluous and weakens the whole of the thought." I much prefer Paulus Cauer's dramatic defense of the line (referred to in the same note) that Odysseus is presented as coming dangerously close to revealing his identity prematurely and "hastily changes his tack."

  2.As was recognized by ancient scholars, lines 281-98 are hard to reconcile convincingly with 19.5-13 and 22.101-15, and lines 286-94 are repeated almost word for word at 19.5-13. The present context seems premature for such instructions, and in any case they are inconsistent with the passage in bk. 22. Explanations of the inconsistencies include the possibility that we have here a survival from an older Odysseus saga (Woodhouse 1930, chs. xix-xx), and that bk. 16 was composed, perhaps for separate performance, before bk. 19, and not subsequently corrected effectively (Hoekstra, Comm., 2: 278). But I am more inclined to agree with West 2014, 66, 248-49, who blames the composer's chronic, and characteristic, slapdash carelessness.

  3.Usually interpreted simply as a hill where Hermes was worshipped; but according to the Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. hermaion (cited by Hoekstra, Comm., 2: 286) a "hill of Hermes" was an upright stone marker surrounded by a heap of stones added to by passing travelers. One such monument, complete with a slab inscribed "of Hermes" was found in the nineteenth century (Guthrie 1950, 90).