Odysseus declares himself and begins his story; the Cicons, Lotophagi, and Cyclopes
Major concepts:
- Odysseus's failure to control his men in the land of the Cicons
- Odysseus rescuing his men in the land of the Lotus Eaters and saving them in the land of the Cyclopes
- Odysseus's adventurous attitude
- Hospitality, and how it changes in other lands
- "Farm" culture of the Cyclops
- Vividness of Odysseus's attack against the Cyclops
- Cleverness of his escape
- Polyphemus's curse
- Odysseus's leadership qualities, adventurous spirit, courage and cleverness; his lapse into hubris / pride
Study Guide Questions:
- Where do Odysseus and his men go first after they leave Troy?
- Who are the Cicons / Cicones?
- Describe the Lotus Eaters.
- How does Polyphemus prevent Odysseus and his men from leaving the cave?
- What does Polyphemus's diet consist of?
- Are the Cyclopes in any way civilized? Explain.
- Why doesn't Odysseus just kill the Cyclops when he has the chance?
- What gift does Odysseus give the Cyclops? What gift does the Cyclops give in return?
- What mistake does Odysseus make at the end of book 9?
- What benefit does Homer have by allowing Odysseus to tell the story of his adventure after the fact? Why wouldn't Homer just tell the entire story of the Odyssey in chronological order?
Page 91.
Vocabulary: renowned
- “There is nothing more delightful than when a whole people make merry together…” --> ironic since, technically, a “whole people” are “making merry” at his house but are the suitors
- “Now, however, since you are inclined to ask the story of my sorrows…” --> Odysseus will finally tell his story
- NOTE: Odysseus is a storyteller, not a singer
- “…my name…” --> xenia / hospitality could not be complete without knowing the guest’s name
- “…my fame ascends to heaven…” --> finally, Odysseus feels comfortable enough to exert his authority
- “The goddess Calypso kept me with her in her cave…” --> for one year (we find out in book 10)
- “…for there is nothing dearer to a man than his own country…” --> again, emphasizes / appeals to Greeks’ sense of loyalty to one’s home
Page 92.
Vocabulary: invoked
- “…however splendid a home he may have in a foreign country…” --> interesting that Odysseus does not mention a crucial part of his home – his WIFE
- even though it may have been great with Calypso, he still longs for his home
- “…first to Ismarus, which is the city of the Cicons….” --> Odysseus’s first stop after Troy; Cicons (pronounced sick – ko – nees); allies of the Trojans
- “…but my men very foolishly would not obey me….” --> Odysseus tried to get his men to leave but they did not listen to him; what does this suggest about his leadership abilities? How does this relate to his role as a “hero” ?
- “…the Cicons got the better of us, and we lost half a dozen men from every ship…” --> Odysseus had 12 ships and lost 6 from every ship = 6 X 12 = 72 men
Odysseus would have had around 60 men on each ship - “thrice invoked each one of the poor fellows who had perished by the hands of the Cicons….” --> this would have been necessary for those who could not recover the bodies to provide them with proper burial
- “…we lay two days and two nights…” --> a storm kept them from leaving
- “…driven thence by foul winds for a space of nine days…” --> spent a total of ten days on the sea before reaching the land of the Lotus Eaters
- “…I sent two of my company…” --> Odysseus sends two men and a “runner” to return with the news – the Lotus Eaters were not violent people – so what threat did they pose?
- QUESTION: Is apathy worse than violence?
Page 93.
Vocabulary: smote
- QUESTION: What is Odysseus’s main goal?
- “…who ate of it left off caring about home…” --> men who ate the lotus forgot about home / were unable to return home – compare this with other stories / myths where getting home involved eating / not eating certain foods
- “…till we came to the land of the lawless and inhuman Cyclopes….” --> if Odysseus knows the Phaeacians’ connection to the Cyclopes, why does he talk bad about them?
- Lawless people were considered “bad” or “monstrous” in 8th century Greece
- “Now off their harbor…” --> compare this description with that of Calypso’s island – is this Nature over-run?
- “…the Cyclops have no ships…” --> Cyclops are completely isolated, but the lands are rich enough that they have no need to trade / travel to other lands
compare the Utopian description of the Cyclops to that of the Phaeacians – shortsightedness (Cyclops) verses intelligence (Phaeacians)
Page 94.
Vocabulary: smote
- “…twelve ships with me…” --> 12 ships, 60 men per ship = 720 men
- “Stay here, my brave fellows…” --> Odysseus takes his main ship to the Cyclops’s and leaves the other 11 ships on the neighboring island
- it’s Odysseus’s curiosity that drives him to investigate the Cyclop’s home
- “…we saw a great cave… --> Cyclop’s home
- “…resembling rather some crag…” --> metaphor
- “…but the twelve best among them…” --> Odysseus choses 12 men out of the 60 to help; only 6 will return
- “…a goatskin of sweet black wine…” --> wine plays a major role in the success of his escape from this island
- “…with twelve jars of sweet wine, unblended…” ; “…he mixed twenty parts of water to one of wine…” --> most wine would have been 1 part wine to 3 parts water or 2 parts wine to 3 parts water
- “…for my mind warned me that I might have to deal with some savage…” --> if he knew there would be danger, why did he go?
Page 95.
Vocabulary: hoggets, renown
- “When they saw all this, my men begged me to let them first steal some cheeses…” --> leadership issues?
- “…for I wanted to see the owner himself…” --> pride / hubris ; Odysseus wants to increase his own wealth
- “…to light the fire for his supper…” --> but his meal isn’t cooked, so he uses the fire for light and warmth and Odysseus will need the fire for his escape plan
- “flung with such a noise…” --> doesn’t describe Cyclops’s physical appearance though his actions should make us afraid
- Note the care the Cyclops takes with milking his sheep / caring for them
- “Strangers, who are you?” --> Cyclops thinks Odysseus’s men are pirates – how does his hospitality compare with the Phaeacians?
- Odysseus reminds the Cyclops to be hospitable – note the Cyclops’s response in the next paragraph
Page 96.
Vocabulary: entrails
- “And now tell me where you made your ship fast…” --> should Odysseus tell the Cyclops where he parked his ships? Why/why not?
- “Poseidon…sent my ships on to the rocks…” --> interesting that Odysseus chooses this god – why might that be ironic?
- “He gobbled them up like a lion…” --> note that Odysseus was also compared to a lion when he first met Nausicaa
- Cyclops eats two men and goes to sleep; Odysseus realizes he shouldn’t kill the Cyclops in his sleep – why?
- Note that the Cyclops is NOT a wine drinker – that much easier to get drunk
- “…he clutched up two more of my men…” --> eats 2 more men then leaves and returns the stone to the doorway
- “…so I was left to scheme some way…” --> Odysseus is concerned with his pride / or “covering himself with glory”
Page 97.
Vocabulary: ramping, gobbets
- “..end in the fire to make it harder…” --> prepares the stake for the Cyclops’s eye
- “…the lot fell upon the very four…” --> these four must be saved / others can be sacrificed
note: two more men die, not among the four he chose - “…ivy-wood bowl of black wine…” --> Odysseus gives the Cyclops unmixed wine; Cyclops drinks several bowls of it and pukes and passes out, face-up (important for Odysseus’s plan to work)
- “…tell me your name at once; I want to make you a present…” --> Cyclops DOES know the rules of hospitality but chooses to ignore them; makes him barbaric
- “…my name is Noman…” --> this clever trick foreshadows his own return to Ithaca – he must return anonymously
- Note what the Cyclops’s gift to Odysseus is now that he knows his name
- “…thrust the beam of wood far into the embers…” --> as a ‘green wood’ it probably wouldn’t glow; it would catch fire before it would glow
Page 98.
Vocabulary: besmirched, esconced
- “…bearing upon it with all my weight…” --> Homeric simile
- “As a blacksmith plunges an ax…” --> Homeric simile
- “…asked what was the matter with him…” --> note how the Cyclops responds to the others
- “…I bound them noiselessly…” --> how does Odysseus plan to use the sheep / rams to assist his escape?
Page 99.
Vocabulary: smote
- “My good ram…” --> how is Polyphemus’s questions to the ram ironic?
- “Then, when I had got as far as my voice would reach…” --> Odysseus’s pride gets the best of him
- “…Now Zeus and the other gods have punished you…” --> Odysseus will also punish the suitors in the same way
- “…flung it just in front of my ship…a little of hitting the end of the rudder…” --> impossible; Homer words this wrong
- “Do not be mad enough to provoke the savage beast further…” --> Odysseus’s men beg him not to continue – what keeps driving him?
Page 100.
Vocabulary: none.
- QUESTION: What is Odysseus’s main weakness?
- Odysseus calling out to the Cyclops is stupid for 2 reasons: (1) gives the Cyclops another chance to lob a boulder and (2) it gives the Cyclops Odysseus’s real name (prayers to the gods / revenge couldn’t take place without someone’s real name)
- Omen: “There was a prophet here, at one time…” --> interesting that the Cyclops is also a victim of hubris – he only thought a certain kind of man could defeat him / rob him of his sight
Page 101.
Vocabulary: livelong
- Cyclops’s prayer: do not let Odysseus get home alive, or if he must…
- Takes a long time
- Trouble on the way
- Lose all of his men
- Arrive in someone else’s ship
- Trouble at home
Additional notes about book 9:
- Odysseus's adventureland is very different from the Phaeacians's world.
- Note how Athena is completely kept out of Odysseus's adventures.
- Odysseus is a hero of courage and versatility -- but also (obviously) with his problems as well (leadership, pride / hubris)
- Odysseus is known for his 'metis' or resourcefulness / cunning --> his intelligence and not brute force is inevitably what saves him (recall the Demodocus's song about Achilles and Odysseus arguing in book 8 -- the question asked was will cunning or force win Troy? -- INFER: if a hero like Achilles would have encountered the Cyclops, what would have been the end result?
Problems for books 9-12
- (1) the source / origin of the stories stems from Jason and the Argonauts
- both stories / myths share the stories of Circe, Sirens, Sun God, etc.
- the stories / adventures were adapted to fit with the story of the Odyssey
- the stories are "told" by Odysseus -- but are they completely true? how can we trust Odysseus as a narrator?
- (2) stories were told to the Phaeacians
- were the stories adapted by Odysseus to fit / appeal to their audience?
