CLASSICS 1B03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Nekyia, Thrinacia, Anticlea
7 Oct 2015
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Odysseus among the phaeacians: king alcinous, odysseus" identity revealed. The wanderings of odysseus: troubles with hospitality, thinking of himself out of (and into) trouble, ashback narrative technique, opposition of culture and nature. The cicones: stripped of heroic grandeur, defeat because of over-reaching. The lotus-eaters: problematic hospitality: detaining their guests, those who eat the lotus forget everything and do not want to go home. Island of the cyclops (plural: cyclopes: arrogant, lawless, no social organization, nature vs. culture; intelligence vs. force. Polyphemus: a bad host, poseidon"s son. Wine: a mark of civilization; always diluted. A problematic escape: odysseus" revelation, polyphemus" father. Nekuia - conjuring up spirits/visit with he dead. The ritual (as told by circe): pour a liquid libation, prayer, promises of future sacri ces, blood of sheep into a trench. Elpenor, a dead comrade: can converse with odysseus because he is not truly dead yet, odysseus has to go back to cicone to properly bury elpenor.
