CLASSIC 30 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Cercis, Odysseus, Outis
Document Summary
E. g. escaping from polyphemus cave on the belly of a ram. Boundary b/ human & animal breaking down; e. g. turned into pigs by cerci: on cerci"s island. Which would draw odysseus into himself while he rots on the island. Dangerous; kleos doesn"t work inwards; supposed to propagate outwards. Different b/ men and gods/beasts is that men cook their food. Mythic & fantastic associated with raw (golden age) Man (iron age/after mekone); culture; civilization associated with cooked. What happens when try to mix raw and cooked. Scylla & charybdis -> cattle of the sun -> calypso. Important: increase kleos by going to hades & back. In book 12, odysseus returns to aeaea to bury him. Teaching: importance of myth in maintaining ritual & social custom, even a non-heroic get a gravestone. Prophesies his return home late and badly, having lost all companions, on another"s ship . Tells odysseus he must leave ithaca one last time.
