POLS 2490 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Mentos, Odysseus, Cyclops
7 Dec 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The odyssey is closer to dark age greece. Politics were established by a city state. Conflict resolution at the most basic human form. The odyssey contains problems that we recognize. We demand precision where no precision lies. These are the demands/concerns of a world with no written rules. Homer"s time is not a time of constitution. Power is anarchical, anyone can claim it. Highly developed sense of what is fitting and proper: themis. Themis is not a formalized institution or right or entitlement protected by law. Agamemnon didn"t have a right to do certain things. Themis is simply that which is customary. We follow experience and experience tells us what to do. Everyone told agamemnon to take the ransom but he didn"t have to follow it. Even though he didn"t, there are certain ways things are done. When he has to reconcile with achilles, he brings him loot because that"s how its done,
