Mythology 9 - Mythology Lecture 9 Feb 5 2008 o The Odyssey is part of a larger body of things called nostos return home song about the return home The

Mythology Lecture 9 Feb. 5, 2008 o The Odyssey is part of a larger body of things called nostos , return home, song about the return home. The Odyssey is a nostos song that tells us about the return home. o Most likely, all other characters have a nostos, but it just hasn’t been passed down in writing (we only get micro versions of these stories embedded in the Odyssey). o Odysseus: metis, cunning, trickster character. Some genealogies make him a descendent of Hermes. o He is not necessarily all good—disloyal to use poisoned arrows. o Kills all the suitors: sense of war veteran coming back home, and behaving at home the way he would have on the battle. This presents a moral problem. o Beginning of Odyssey told as flashback. o Andra: man, polytopos: (one of many turns) many ways—refers to his many wanderings, makes many turns on the sea before arriving home. o Odysseus is not named until 21 lines, he is just called man. Give us a sense of ambiguity of him as a character.