Odyssey
Publié le 22/02/2012
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Greek The epic poem by Homer that
describes the adventures of Odysseus on his homeward
voyage to Ithaca after the Trojan War. The
action of the Odyssey occurs in no more than six
weeks, but 20 years' adventures are related by means
of flashback episodes told by Odysseus to the people
he encounters.
Scholars see the Odyssey, divided into 24 books, as
a collection of folktales to which Homer gave continuity
and coherence by attributing the adventures
to a single hero (Odysseus) and by reworking each
incident so that it contributes to a consistent picture
of the hero.
Some scholars say that the Odyssey is the first
novel, a fictional story with fictional characters, to
be read and enjoyed. Homer wrote the Odyssey in
about the eighth century b.c. after he wrote the Iliad,
according to most modern scholars.
Odysseus and Polyphemus On his way home
from the Trojan War, Odysseus and his crew landed
on an island that had rich pastures and great flocks of
sheep. The shepherd turned out to be Polyphemus,
one of the Cyclopes, one-eyed giants. When he
discovered Odysseus's men in his cave, Polyphemus
immediately killed and ate two of them, then closed
off the entrance to the cave with a huge rock. While
the giant slept after his meal, Odysseus and his men
devised a plan. They made a sharp spear from olive
wood. After the giant awoke, they gave him some very
sweet and potent wine that they had brought with
them from Ismarus. After the giant had killed and
eaten another two crewmen and fallen into a drunken
stupor, Odysseus gouged out his one eye, leaving the
Cyclops blind. The men knew that they could never
move the rock that closed the entrance. They waited
anxiously for the giant to awaken. Meanwhile the
cunning Odysseus helped his men to tie themselves
under the bellies of the sheep. When the giant awoke, he moved the rock to let out the sheep to their pasture.
He never suspected that Odysseus's men were leaving
at the same time. It was not until the men were safe
aboard their ship that they learned that Polyphemus
was the name of the monster. Polyphemus hurled
rocks after the ship and vowed that his protector,
Poseidon, the sea god, would avenge him, and that
the sea would always be Odysseus's enemy.
Odysseus and Circe On their way back to
Ithaca after the Trojan War, Odysseus and his crew
made landfall on the island of Aeaea, on which
dwelled the witch-goddess Circe. Circe turned all
the men into swine, except for Odysseus and Eurylochus.
Eventually Odysseus persuaded Circe to
turn his men back into their human forms. Under
her spell, he dallied for a year on the island of the
sorceress, who gave him warnings about the perils he
would encounter on his way home.
Odysseus in the Underworld After suffering
under the spell of the witch-goddess Circe for a year,
Odysseus and his crew grew restless and wanted to
leave. On the advice of Circe, Odysseus and his crew
visited the Underworld (1) to consult the ghost of
the blind seer Tiresias. Tiresias had many warnings for
Odysseus and his men, particularly about the danger of
offending the gods on Thrinacie, the Island of the Sun.
Terrified by the ghosts and the gloom of the
Underworld, Odysseus and his crew fled.
Odysseus and the Sirens Circe had warned
Odysseus about the Sirens, beautiful nymphs who
lured sailors to their destruction by singing so sweetly
that the men would be driven mad and would be
shipwrecked on the rocky coast where the Sirens
lived. Always resourceful, Odysseus plugged the ears
of his men with wax so that they would not hear the
singing. Then, because he himself wanted to hear
the songs, Odysseus had himself tied to the mast of
the ship while the men rowed on. They could hear
neither the singing nor the pleas of their captain to be
released so that he might join the Sirens.
Odysseus and Scylla and Charybdis One of the
many dangers Odysseus encountered on his way home
after the Trojan War was the narrow strait guarded
by the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. Odysseus
steered his ship close to Scylla to avoid being sucked
into the boiling whirlpool of Charybdis. He lost six
men to Scylla, the many-headed monster who lived
high up on a cliff and sent down six long necks armed
with ferocious teeth to devour any who came close.
Odysseus on the Island of the Sun Both Circe,
the witch-goddess, and Tiresias, the blind seer, had
warned Odysseus about the Island of the Sun, which
belonged to the sun god, Hyperion; but in a state of
despair and exhaustion, Odysseus and his crew went
there. While Odysseus rested, his crew disobeyed
his orders and killed and ate the cattle of Hyperion.
Odysseus was horrified when he awoke to the smell
of roasting meat, but it was too late. Hyperion was
furious and asked Zeus to punish the men. This Zeus
did, by causing the wreck of Odysseus's ship in a terrifying
storm. Only Odysseus escaped alive. He was
cast up on the island of the nymph Calypso, where
the hero stayed for seven years.
Odysseus Returns to Ithaca Odysseus and his
men struggled for 10 years and through many adventures
before they got back to their kingdom of Ithaca.
By this time Odysseus, who had been shipwrecked
many times, looked like a poor old man rather than a
king. Only his old dog, Argus (3), and his loving old
nurse, Eurycleia, recognized him. Odysseus chose to
remain silent as he observed what was happening at
his court. His wife, Penelope, who had waited for him
faithfully for 20 years (10 years for the war, and 10 years
for the return), was besieged by a host of aggressive
suitors who wanted to rule Odysseus's kingdom. The
son of Odysseus and Penelope, Telemachus, guided
by the goddess Athene, had gone off in search of his
father and come back to Ithaca convinced that he was
still alive and was nearby. At last Penelope, in desperation,
put her suitors to the test by asking them to string
the magnificent bow of Odysseus and shoot an arrow
straight through a double row of axes. The suitors
failed. The old man took up the challenge. He strung
the bow with ease and shot it straight and true. After
that, with the help of his son, Odysseus slew all the
greedy suitors and reclaimed his wife and his throne.
Liens utiles
- Lotus-Eaters (Loto phagi) Greek In Homer's Odyssey, people who lived on the fruit or the roots of the lotus plant.
- Medea Greek A sorceress; daughter of King Aeetes of Colchis (Asia Minor); niece of Circe, the witch of the Odyssey.
- Odyssey Greek The epic poem by Homer that describes the adventures of Odysseus on his homeward voyage to Ithaca after the Trojan War.
- Polyphemus Greek The savage, one-eyed giant of Homer's Odyssey.
- 2001: A Space Odyssey 2001: A Space Odyssey, science-fiction motion picture about extraterrestrial life, human evolution, and technology, directed by Stanley Kubrick and released in 1968.