David Sider

High quality guide to the meaning, form and style, of the Odyssey. Provides detailed plot discussion, background, critique of poetic techniques, character anaylsis, theme development, survey of criticism, annotated bibliography, glossary of names, and essay questions with model answers.

This epic poem drawn from oral tradition was probably written down when Greece transitioned to literacy around 800 B.C. The wanderings of Odysseus date from the end of the Trojan War which is now archeologically dated approximately 1250 B.C., the same date provided by Herodotus.

ATHENA. We have to ask why Athena favored Odysseus far more than any other mortal. Since she personified skill and craft, she was present in him, and so naturally favors him. This became the epic of "Athens", yet none of the players are Athenians and the Laconians are the heroes!

TIME. The time scheme of the Odyssey is complicated. Why did Homer make such free use of time? We first meet Odysseus at the end of wanderings, just 40 days before he gets home. Between the time that Telemachus leaves Ithaca and Odysseus defeats the angry "insurgents" is only 40 days. But within this frame, Homer includes the history of the past 19 years, including the ten-year Trojan War related in a kind of flash-back. The fate of the Greek and Trojan heroes -- Achilles and Agamemnon, Hector and Hecuba--are narrated as side-bars. And Odysseus' nine years of fairy-land voyages following the war -- all flash-back.

ODYSSEUS. Is it really all about him? We first find him alone and weeping on Calypso's fantasy island. He will return to the "real" world, leaving behind the enchanted women, giants, and cannibals. Then the other characters--and Homer provides thousands of "compare and contrast" examples -- we find all the important figures compared to Odysseus.… (mere)