The Odyssey Book 11
How does Odysseus sacrifice his ram and ewe? (a few steps)
1) Kills them 2) Lets them bleed into his pit "Thus to assuage the nations of the dead I pledged these rites, then slashed the lamb and ewe, letting their black blood stream into the wellpit." 3) Skin them 4) Burn them "But presently I gave command to my officers to flay those sheep the bronze cut down, and make burnt offerings of flesh to the gods below— to sovereign Death, to pale Perséphonê."
"After Perséphonê, icy and pale, dispersed the shades of women, the soul of ???, son of Atreus, came before me, sombre in the gloom, and others gathered round, all who were with him when death and doom struck in Aegísthos' hall. Sipping the black blood, the tall shade perceived me, and cried out sharply, breaking into tears; then tried to stretch his hands toward me, but could not, being bereft of all the reach and power he once felt in the great torque of his arms."
??? is Agamémnon. Spoken by Odysseus
"'In my extremity I heard Kassandra, Priam's daughter, piteously crying as the traitress ??? made to kill her along with me. I heaved up from the ground and got my hands around the blade, but she eluded me, that wh*re. Nor would she close my two eyes as my soul swam to the underworld or shut my lips. There is no being more fell, more bestial than a wife in such an action, and what an action that one planned! The murder of her husband and her lord. Great god, I thought my children and my slaves at least would give me welcome. But that woman, plotting a thing so low, defiled herself and all her sex, all women yet to come, even those few who may be virtuous.'"
??? is Klytaimnéstra. Spoken by Agamemnon about his wife killing him.
What animals did Odysseus bring that Kirke told him he would need?
A black ram and ewe "We made the land, put ram and ewe ashore, and took our way along the Ocean stream to find the place foretold for us by Kirkê. There Perimêdês and Euylokhos pinioned the sacred beasts."
Who does Odysseus meet after his mother in the underworld?
A group of high established women "So went our talk; then other shadows came, ladies in company, sent by Perséphonê— consorts or daughters of illustrious men— crowding about the black blood."
Who does Agamemnon ask about and how does Odysseus reply?
Agamemnon asks about Orestes, who Odysseus knows nothing about: "'But tell me, have you any word at all about my son's life? Gone to Orkhómenos or sandy Pylos, can he be? Or waiting with Meneláos in the plain of Sparta? Death on earth has not yet taken Orestês.' But I could only answer: 'Son of Atreus why do you ask these questions of me? Neither news of home have I, nor news of him, alive or dead. And empty words are evil.'"
"'That was my miserable end—and with me my fellows butchered, like so many swine killed for some troop, or feast, or wedding banquet in a great landholder's household. In your day you have seen men, and hundreds, die in war, in the bloody press, or downed in single combat, but these were murders you would catch your breath at: think of us fallen, all our throats cut, winebowl brimming, tables laden on every side, while blood ran smoking over the whole floor.'"
Agamemnon describing his death
"'Let it be a warning even to you. Indulge a woman never, and never tell her all you know. Some things a man may tell, some he should cover up.'"
Agamemnon warning Odysseus about women
"'Let me hear no smooth talk of death from you, Odysseus, light of councils. Better, I say, to break sod as a farm hand for some poor country man, on iron rations, than lord it over all the exhausted dead.'"
Akhilleus saying how terrible death is. He would rather be a poor farmer that's alive than someone noble that is dead
"'Son of Laërtês and the gods of old, Odysseus, master mariner and soldier, old knife, what next? What greater feat remains for you to put your mind on, after this? How did you find your way down to the dark where these dimwitted dead are camped forever, the after images of used-up men?'"
Akhilleus to Odysseus
"I so command—as sure as it is I who, while I live, rule the sea rovers of Phaiákia. Our friend longs to put out for home, but let him be content to rest here one more day, until I see all gifts bestowed. And every man will take thought for his launching and his voyage, I most of all, for I am master here."
Alkinoos about letting Odysseus leave only with gifts
"As to that, one word, Odysseus: from all we see, we take you for no swindler— though the dark earth be patient of so many, scattered everywhere, baiting their traps with lies of old times and of places no one knows. You speak with art, but your intent is honest. The Argive troubles, and your own troubles, you told as a poet would, a man who knows the world."
Alkinoos to Odysseus about his story
'"So I, too, pined away, so doom befell me, not that the keen-eyed huntress with her shafts had marked me down and shot to kill me; not that illness overtook me—no true illness wasting the body to undo the spirit; only my loneliness for you, Odysseus, for your kind heart and counsel, gentle Odysseus, took my own life away.'"
Antikleia explaining how she died from missing Odysseus
"'O my child—alas, most sorely tried of men—great Zeus's daughter, Perséphonê, knits no illusion for you. All mortals meet this judgment when they die. No flesh and bone are here, none bound by sinew, since the bright-hearted pyre consumed them down— the white bones long exanimate—to ash; dreamlike the soul flies, insubstantial. You must crave sunlight soon. Note all things strange seen here, to tell your lady in after days.'"
Antikleia telling Odysseus why they can't hug
"'Child, how could you cross alive into this gloom at the world's end?—No sight for living eyes; great currents run between, desolate waters, the Ocean first, where no man goes a journey without ship's timber under him. Say, now, is it from Troy, still wandering, after years, that you come here with ship and company? Have you not gone at all to Ithaka? Have you not seen your lady in your hall?'"
Antikleía to Odysseus upon first seeing him
AND WHO IS THIS? "Now came the soul of ????, dead, my mother, daughter of Autólykos, dead now, though living still when I took ship for holy Troy. Seeing this ghost I grieved, but held her off, through pang on pang of tears, till I should know the presence of Teirêsias."
Antikleía, Odysseus's mom
"'Phaiákians, how does he stand, now, in your eyes, this captain, the look and bulk of him, the inward poise? He is my guest, but each one shares that honor. Be in no haste to send him on his way or scant your bounty in his need. Remember how rich, by heaven's will, your possessions are.'"
Arete to her people about giving Odysseus
"Friends, here was nothing but our own thought spoken, the mark hit square. Our duties to her majesty. For what is to be said and done, we wait upon Alkínoös' command."
Ekhenêos to the other Phaikians about Arete's request
What is the first shade Odysseus recognizes?
Elpenor "One shade came first—Elpênor, of our company, who lay unburied still on the wide earth as we had left him—dead in Kirkê's hall, untouched, unmourned, when other cares compelled us."
"'Son of great Laërtês, Odysseus, master mariner and soldier, bad luck shadowed me, and no kindly power; ignoble death I drank with so much wine. I slept on Kirkê's roof, then could not see the long steep backward ladder, coming down, and fell that height. My neck bone, buckled under, snapped, and my spirit found this well of dark."
Elpenor explains to Odysseus how he died
What does Teiresias tell Odysseus he can do to get rid of his curse?
Go to a clear section of land with an oar to make a sacrifice and prayer to Poseidon. "But after you have dealt out death—in open combat or by stealth—to all the suitors, go overland on foot, and take an oar, until one day you come where men have lived with meat unsalted, never known the sea, nor seen seagoing ships, with crimson bows and oars that fledge light hulls for dipping flight. The spot will soon be plain to you, and I can tell you how: some passerby will say, "What winnowing fan is that upon your shoulder?" Halt, and implant your smooth oar in the turf and make fair sacrifice to Lord Poseidon: a ram, a bull, a great buck boar; turn back, and carry out pure hekatombs at home to all wide heaven's lords, the undying gods, to each in order. Then a seaborne death soft as this hand of mist will come upon you when you are wearied out with rich old age, your country folk in blessed peace around you.a'
What did Odysseus ask Agamemnon?
He asked how he died: "'O son of Atreus, illustrious Lord Marshal, Agamémnon, what was the doom that brought you low in death? Were you at sea, aboard ship, and Poseidon blew up a wicked squall to send you under, or were you cattle-raiding on the mainland or in a fight for some strongpoint, or women, when the foe hit you to your mortal hurt?'"
What does Odysseus ask Teiresias after the spirit explains his fate?
He asks if he can talk to his mother: "'Teirêsias, my life runs on then as the gods have spun it. But come, now, tell me this; make this thing clear: I see my mother's ghost among the dead sitting in silence near the blood. Not once has she glanced this way toward her son, nor spoken. Tell me, my lord, may she in some way come to know my presence?'"
What does Teiresias do to the blood Odysseus offered?
He drinks it "At this I stepped aside, and in the scabbard let my long sword ring home to the pommel silver, as he bent down to the sombre blood."
How does Antikleia describe Odysseus' father?
He moved to the country side and misses Odysseus "'But your father is country bound and comes to town no more. He owns no bedding, rugs, or fleecy mantles, but lies down, winter nights, among the slaves, rolled in old cloaks for cover, near the embers. Or when the heat comes at the end of summer, the fallen leaves, all round his vineyard plot, heaped into windrows, make his lowly bed. He lies now even so, with aching heart, and longs for your return, while age comes on him.'"
What does Agamemnon add to his comment about women so he doesn't offend Odysseus?
He says Penelope would never betray him "'Not that I see a risk for you, Odysseus, of death at your wife's hands. She is too wise, too clear-eyed, sees alternatives too well, Penélopê, Ikários' daughter—that young bride whom we left behind—think of it!—when we sailed off to war. The baby boy still cradled at her breast—now he must be a grown man, and a lucky one. By heaven, you'll see him yet, and he'll embrace his father with old fashioned respect, and rightly'"
What does Odysseus try to do with his mother once he becomes overwhelmed with missing her?
He tries to hug her: "'"I bit my lip, rising perplexed, with longing to embrace her, and tried three times, putting my arms around her, but she went sifting through my hands, impalpable as shadows are, and wavering like a dream.'"
What does Alkinoos want to hear about?
He wants to hear if Odysseus met any of their friends that died at Troy. "But now come tell me this: among the dead did you meet any of your peers, companions who sailed with you and met their doom at Troy? Here's a long night—an endless night—before us, and no time yet for sleep, not in this hall. Recall the past deeds and the strange adventures. I could stay up until the sacred Dawn as long as you might wish to tell your story."
"'Son of Laërtês and the gods of old, Odysseus, master mariner and soldier, under a cloud, you too? Destined to grinding labors like my own in the sunny world? Son of Kroníon Zeus or not, how many days I sweated out, being bound in servitude to a man far worse than I, a rough master! He made me hunt this place one time to get the watchdog of the dead: no more perilous task, he thought, could be; but I brought back that beast, up from the underworld; Hermês and grey-eyed Athena showed the way.'"
Herakles, comparing himself to Odysseus
Who does Akhilleus ask about?
His father, Peleus, and son, Neoptolemos: "Tell me, what news of the prince my son: did he come after me to make a name in battle or could it be he did not? Do you know if rank and honor still belong to Peleus in the towns of the Myrmidons? Or now, may be, Hellas and Phthia spurn him, seeing old age fetters him, hand and foot. I cannot help him under the sun's rays, cannot be that man I was on Troy's wide seaboard, in those days when I made bastion for the Argives and put an army's best men in the dust. Were I but whole again, could I go now to my father's house, one hour would do to make my passion and my hands no man could hold hateful to any who shoulder him aside.'
Who does Agamemnon say killed him?
His wife, Klytaimnestra, and Aigisthos: "'Son of Laërtês, Odysseus, master of land ways and sea ways, neither did I go down with some good ship in any gale Poseidon blew, nor die upon the mainland, hurt by foes in battle. It was Aigísthos who designed my death, he and my heartless wife, and killed me, after feeding me, like an ox felled at the trough.'"
"Alkínoös, king and admiration of men, there is a time for story telling; there is also a time for sleep. But even so, if, indeed, listening be still your pleasure, I must not grudge my part. Other and sadder tales there are to tell, of my companions, of some who came through all the Trojan spears, clangor and groan of war,only to find a brutal death at home—and a bad wife behind it"
Odysseus beginning to tell the story of Agamemnon to the Phaiakians
"By night our ship ran onward toward the Ocean's bourne, the realm and region of the Men of Winter, hidden in mist and cloud. Never the flaming eye of Hêlios lights on those men at morning, when he climbs the sky of stars, nor in descending earthward out of heaven; ruinous night being rove over those wretches."
Odysseus describing their journey to the underworld
"'O my mother, will you not stay, be still, here in my arms, may we not, in this place of Death, as well, hold one another, touch with love, and taste salt tears' relief, the twinge of welling tears? Or is this all hallucination, sent against me by the iron queen, Perséphonê, to make me groan again?'"
Odysseus disappointed he can't hug his mother
"I took thought how best to separate and question them, and saw no help for it, but drew once more the long bright edge of broadsword from my hip, that none should sip the blood in company but one by one, in order; so it fell that each declared her lineage and name."
Odysseus in response to all the ghost women that confront him
"'Foul and dreadful. That was the way that Zeus who views the wide world vented his hatred on the sons of Atreus— intrigues of women, even from the start. Myriads died by Helen's fault, and Klytaimnéstra plotted against you half the world away.'"
Odysseus to Agamemnon agreeing that Zeus uses women to punish men
"'Aîas, dear son of royal Télamon, you would not then forget, even in death,your fury with me over those accurst calamitous arms?—and so they were, a bane sent by the gods upon the Argive host. For when you died by your own hand we lost a tower, formidable in war. All we Akhaians mourn you forever, as we do Akhilleus; and no one bears the blame but Zeus. He fixed that doom for you because he frowned on the whole expedition of our spearmen. My lord, come nearer, listen to our story! Conquer your indignation and your pride.'"
Odysseus to Aias
"'Akhilleus, Peleus' son, strongest of all among the Akhaians, I had need of foresight such as Teirêsias alone could give to help me, homeward bound for the crags of Ithaka. I have not yet coasted Akhaia, not yet touched my land; my life is all adversity. But was there ever a man more blest by fortune than you, Akhilleus? Can there ever be? We ranked you with immortals in your lifetime, we Argives did, and here your power is royal among the dead men's shades. Think, then, Akhilleus: you need not be so pained by death.'"
Odysseus to Akhilleus about his noble death
"'And I can tell you, in every council before Troy thereafter your son spoke first and always to the point; no one but Nestor and I could out-debate him. And when we formed against the Trojan line he never hung back in the mass, but ranged far forward of his troops—no man could touch him for gallantry. Aye, scores went down before him in hard fights man to man. I shall not tell all about each, or name them all—the long roster of enemies he put out of action, taking the shock of charges on the Argives.'"
Odysseus to Akhilleus about his son, Neptolemos
"Alkínoös, king and admiration of men, even a year's delay, if you should urge it, in loading gifts and furnishing for sea— I too could wish it; better far that I return with some largesse of wealth about me— I shall be thought more worthy of love and courtesy by every man who greets me home in Ithaka."
Odysseus to Alkinoos saying that returning home with gifts would make him appear more loved by everyone in Ithaka
"'But come now, tell me this, and tell me clearly, what was the bane that pinned you down in Death? Some ravaging long illness, or mild arrows a-flying down one day from Artemis? 6 Tell me of Father, tell me of the son I left behind me; have they still my place, my honors, or have other men assumed them? Do they not say that I shall come no more? And tell me of my wife: how runs her thought, still with her child, still keeping our domains, or bride again to the best of the Akhaians?'"
Odysseus to Antikleia
"'Mother, I came here, driven to the land of death in want of prophecy from Teirêsias' shade; nor have I yet coasted Akhaia's hills nor touched my own land, but have had hard roving since first I joined Lord Agamémnon's host by sea for Ilion, the wild horse country, to fight the men of Troy.'"
Odysseus to Antikleia explaining his situation
"'How is this, Elpênor, how could you journey to the western gloom swifter afoot than I in the black lugger?'"
Odysseus to Elpenor's spirit. Odysseus asks how he got to the underworld first
Who does Elpenor pray for?
Odysseus' wife, dad, and child "'Now hear the grace I pray for, in the name of those back in the world, not here—your wife and father, he who gave you bread in childhood, and your own child, your only son, Telémakhos, long ago left at home.'"
What does Teiresias warn Odysseus not to do?
One path will prevent them from Poseidon and upon landing on Sicily don't eat Helio's cattle "'Great captain, a fair wind and the honey lights of home are all you seek. But anguish lies ahead; the god who thunders on the land prepares it, not to be shaken from your track, implacable, in rancor for the son whose eye you blinded. One narrow strait may take you through his blows: denial of yourself, restraint of shipmates. When you make landfall on Thrinákia first and quit the violet sea, dark on the land you'll find the grazing herds of Hêlios by whom all things are seen, all speech is known. Avoid those kine, hold fast to your intent, and hard seafaring brings you all to Ithaka. But if you raid the beeves, I see destruction for ship and crew'"
What two people are described? "'Still with her child indeed she is, poor heart, still in your palace hall. Forlorn her nights and days go by, her life used up in weeping. But no man takes your honored place. ??? has care of all your garden plots and fields, and holds the public honor of a magistrate, feasting and being feasted.'"
Penelope and Telemakhos
Who is hades's wife?
Perséphonê
What does Elpenor ask Odysseus to do?
Properly burn his body and make a cairn for him on Aiaia "When you make sail and put these lodgings of dim Death behind, you will moor ship, I know, upon Aiaia Island; there, O my lord, remember me, I pray, do not abandon me unwept, unburied, to tempt the gods' wrath, while you sail for home; but fire my corpse, and all the gear I had, and build a cairn for me above the breakers— an unknown sailor's mark for men to come. Heap up the mound there, and implant upon it the oar I pulled in life with my companions.'"
How does Agamemnon tell Odysseus to arrive home?
Secretly "Land your ship in secret on your island; give no warning. The day of faithful wives is gone forever."
"Then ??? in torment I beheld being roustabout to a tremendous boulder. Leaning with both arms braced and legs driving, he heaved it toward a height, and almost over, but then a Power spun him round and sent the cruel boulder bounding again to the plain. Whereon the man bent down again to toil, dripping sweat, and the dust rose overhead."
Sísyphos being punished by the gods
"'Son of Laërtês and the gods of old, Odysseus, master of land ways and sea ways, why leave the blazing sun, O man of woe, to see the cold dead and the joyless region? Stand clear, put up your sword; let me but taste of blood, I shall speak true.'"
Teiresias appearing to Odysseus
"'I shall make it clear in a few words and simply. Any dead man whom you allow to enter where the blood is will speak to you, and speak the truth; but those deprived will grow remote again and fade.'"
Teiresias explaining only spirits that drank Odysseus' blood offering can talk to him
"'Though you survive alone, bereft of all companions, lost for years, under strange sail shall you come home, to find your own house filled with trouble: insolent men eating your livestock as they court your lady. Aye, you shall make those men atone in blood!'"
Teiresias predicting exactly what will happen to Odysseus
Who is the blind prophet Odysseus talks to in the underworld?
Teirêsias
"Now the souls gathered, stirring out of Erebos, brides and young men, and men grown old in pain, and tender girls whose hearts were new to grief; many were there, too, torn by brazen lanceheads, battle-slain, bearing still their bloody gear. From every side they came and sought the pit with rustling cries; and I grew sick with fear."
The dead is attracted to the pit
"We bore down on the ship at the sea's edge and launched her on the salt immortal sea, stepping our mast and spar in the black ship; embarked the ram and ewe and went aboard in tears, with bitter and sore dread upon us."
The men leaving Kirke. They are filled with dread because they are going to the underworld
"Then I saw ??? put to the torture: in a cool pond he stood, lapped round by water clear to the chin, and being athirst he burned to slake his dry weasand with drink, though drink he would not ever again. For when the old man put his lips down to the sheet of water it vanished round his feet, gulped underground, and black mud baked there in a wind from hell. Boughs, too, drooped low above him, big with fruit, pear trees, pomegranates, brilliant apples, luscious figs, and olives ripe and dark; but if he stretched his hand for one, the wind under the dark sky tossed the bough beyond him"
Tántalos being punished by the gods in the underworld
What does Odysseus promise to the dead and then Teiresias before sacrificing his black ram and ewe?
his best heifer to the dead and a black lamb for Teiresias "Then I addressed the blurred and breathless dead, vowing to slaughter my best heifer for them before she calved, at home in Ithaka, and burn the choice bits on the altar fire; as for Teirêsias, I swore to sacrifice a black lamb, handsomest of all our flock."
What does Odysseus put in his pit to summon Teirêsias?
milk, honey, wine, water, barley "I spaded up the votive pit, and poured libations round it to the unnumbered dead: sweet milk and honey, then sweet wine, and last clear water; and I scattered barley down."
