For the past couple of readings, I had this curiosity in the back of my mind of how power was perceived back in the old days. When I think of power I think of a combination of strength and respect however the past couple of works opened my mind to an alternative way of obtaining and retaining that source of power: by fear.

When we look at fear, we tend to think of this as a trait we associate with items, actions, people and multiple other things that induce a sense of confusion and negative response. An example of this would be our response to a cute little mouse. Most of the time the mouse isn’t interacting directly with you, but your lack of understanding of why the mouse is there inclines you to think that it is an imminent threat and therefore must be killed. Too dramatic? Well this is very common within mankind as fear induces us to perform many tasks and believe things that may not exist because of our lack of understanding.

This holds true within the Book of Genesis where Adam and Eve were created from this complex entity they regard as God. Here we see within the process of creation that God has given them freewill to walk anywhere within his land and eat whichever fruit with the exception of the ones on the Tree of Knowledge. As the story goes the serpent convinces Eve to eat of the tree in pursuit of obtaining knowledge and power equivalent of that of their creator. After they’ve eaten the fruit the two begin to better understand their surroundings and realize that they are naked. As a result, they hide, fearing both the embarrassment to which they might succumb and the punishment for being so. From an analytical standpoint, we can see that the fear they felt does not stem from the fact they committed sin but from the lack of understanding of God’s power in that world. This lack of understanding is what keeps them from revolting against him and ultimately allows him to be in power over them.

Another example of this practice being exercised can be seen in the Epic of Gilgamesh where our anti-hero Gilgamesh was resented by the citizens within his village because of his selfish acts. One of the acts being the act of raping any woman of his choosing. Although they can tell him to stop, they choose not to out of fear which stems from the lack of understanding of his strength. Thus he retains his power over the people and retains his title of king. In turn as a result of the citizens growing tiresome of his behavior, they resort to ranting to the Gods and in response they send Enkidu to challenge him.

In the Odyssey it is a common practice that people must be welcoming to any stranger who comes by and treated well. The reason being that it is rumored that any God could come down and act as a human. If treated unfairly by any person that same person would meet their demise. This is seen in multiple instances like earlier in the epic when Athena morphs into a random person and enters a home to meet Telemachus and advises him to remove the suitors from his father’s estate. As discussed in class, the reason for such behavior stems from the fear of the Gods in the Greek epic as much as the previous two works, in which the people are aware of the Gods and God-like beings in their world but also are aware of when they would act against them or what they would do. As a result, this entitles the Gods this power over them through the use of this fear.

As you can see fear is commonly used as a method of obtaining and retaining the user’s power among other people. Seeing this I must ask, since these works are only three of a million stories out there, and since history has shown how great leaders (i.e. Caesar, Hitler, Stalin) use fear to guide nations, is this the most ideal and effective way of obtaining and retaining power?

Trust

Homer tries to point out that women cannot be trusted by showing numerous instances that women betray or trick men. Even before the book, The Odyssey, there are many occurrences where women are to be believed as people who could not be trusted. While reading Genesis, the audience finds that Eve is the one who picks the apple off the tree. Revealing her disloyalty. In The Odyssey, there are many dealings where this major theme of women continually repeats itself in books nine through twelve, where the lustful goddess, Circe tricks Odysseus’s men, and Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife kills her own husband. We read numerous times about Agamemnon’s story. Odysseus doesn’t let Penelope know everything because when he goes to Hades in Book 11, he sees Agamemnon, who warns him to not trust Penelope when he returns home. Agamemnon says:

So don’t go easy on your own wife either

Or tell her everything you know.

Tell her some things, but keep some hidden.

…But my wife did not let me

Even fill my eyes with the sight of my son.

She killed me before I could do even that.

But let me tell you something, Odysseus:

Beach your ship secretly when you come home.

Women just can’t be trusted anymore. 

 Odysseus is not the only one man who is tricked by a woman. Can You think of another time the men were tricked by the women of the novels that we have read thus far?

If you believe that the women are trustworthy and it is the men who can’t be trusted. Please explain why.

Keisi Hasani’s Blog Post

In the Odyssey, we keep encountering the theme of strength portrayed throughout the story and embraced by our main character, Odysseus. He is viewed as a hero and a very strong man who fought for his country, and his men, and finally made it back home. While reading the assigned books for today, we learned the entire story behind Odysseus’ trip and the struggles he had to overcome. What really intrigues me is the fact that, out of all the men he was traveling with, he was the only one to make it back. Is this due to incredible strength not possessed by the other men, or simply fate and his own destiny? As we read, many of the men were tempted to try and do the forbidden, while Odysseus remained strong willed and didn’t fall for any of it. But how strong can one man be? Sooner or later, circumstances cause anyone to break. We haven’t seen any of this happen with Odysseus but we were introduced to the idea of weakness within him today, as we analyzed the painting “Moby Dick”. We discussed how the painting reflected his journey and the rough waters (literally as well) he went through. One interesting point that was brought up is how this might have affected Odysseus psychologically. He witnesses his men dying and even being eaten, then was left on this path all alone. How might these events have affected him emotionally as well as (even more importantly to my debate) psychologically? How strong (or weak for that matter) is he after all? We all agreed today that we were reading to follow the story and missed this fact related to his mental well being. We all know he cant possibly be the same man he was before, but how exactly might this trip have influenced him as well as changed him?

The Odyssey “Women”

In the previous class we talked about women being stronger, weaker or equal to men. So far women’s roles are vital in the development of this epic. They are all unique in their personality, intentions, and relationship towards men. But all of them help to define the role of what might be the ideal woman in ancient Greek.

Helen was the cause of the Trojan War which finally brought about the fall of Troy. It is her beauty that brought about the total destruction of an empire and she is the reason that the Odyssey was written.

In the Odyssey, Athena uses her influential powers through her intellect and her divine powers. If Athena had not interfered, Odysseus could have stayed at Calypso’s island for eternity. During Odysseus’s stay with Calypso he never lost sight of his goal of returning to Penelope his wife and son. Penelope’s image that repeatedly draws him back to his original goal. Penelope has always been there for Odysseus she has demonstrated that a woman fidelity, and wisdom can bring her husband home. Some women have shown loyalty and provide advice others charmed and controlled the men.

Do you think woman’s appeal and sexuality is a threat to male dominance? What would this epic be if Athena and Calypso were men instead?

EPIC SIMILES

Epic similes are formal, sustained similes in which the secondary subject, or vehicle, is elaborated far beyond its point of close parallel to the primary subject, or tenor.

From A Glossary of Literary Terms, M. H. Abrams and Geoffrey Harpham

For example, when Odysseus returns to his men after having been to Circe’s home, they are described thus:

When they saw me they were like farmyard calves

Around a herd of cows returning to the yard.

The calves bolt from their pens and run friskily

Around their mothers, lowing and mooing. (10.434-7)

Matthew Kessler’s Blog Post

Today in class much of the discussion had to do with gender roles within the Odyssey and many different opinions were shared about this topic revealing the complexity of the epic as each argument had valid instances in the text to back up their argument. Another thing that I noticed through the group discussion was loyalty being a theme at the center of the epic. Not just loyalty among a husband and wife but also the loyalty of friends. As we discussed in class, when Aphrodite and Ares get caught in the act of the affair they are publicly shamed in front of the gods but the goddeses refuse to witness this out of respect for Aphrodite. Aphrodite then goes back home to take her shower and is greeted by her girls who haven’t let Aphrodite’s shame stop them from remaining loyal to her and showing their love for her.

Throughout the epic there are several instances of loyalty and faithfulness shown in particular by Penelope (who waited 20 years for the return of her husband in one of the extraordinary displays of faithfulness that we see in the epic), as well as Argos and Eumaios.

Despite coming up short multiple times, Odysseus appears to have valued loyalty when we consider his response to Nausikaa’s comment,

A while ago he seemed an unpromising man to me. Now he even resembles one of the gods, who hold high heaven. If only the man to be called my husband could be like this one, a man living here, if only this one were pleased to stay here. (6.242-245)

In this instance, Odysseus chooses to be loyal despite being tempted by the beautiful Nausikaa.

By reading the Odyssey one would be capable of coming to the conclusion that Loyalty is more important to ancient Greek society than our present society. However, during the time period it was also perfectly normal to see men sleep with numerous women other than their wives, such as Odysseus cheating on his wife multiple times with Calypso and Circe. Women on the other hand were often expected to remain loyal to their men, creating a double standard where loyalty is concerned in the society of ancient Greeks.

When reading the Odyssey, do you find loyalty to be more highly valued then than today? Or would you take the opposite view. Loyalty seems to be at the center of the epic and instances of characters showing loyalty occurs almost equally at rates of characters showing betrayal and dishonesty.

Karma

Some individuals have something to believe and some of them rely just on themselves. Some mortals believe in Gods and some of them are atheists. We can’t say that they are wrong or right. It depends on the environment and people who surround them. In Gilgamesh and the Odyssey characters talk with Gods, trust them and worship them. However, the immortals have their own attitudes, own characters and own rules. In each story some Gods do punish because of vindictive and some are merciful.

In Gilgamesh, Ishtar, goddess of love and sex, tortured Gilgamesh by cursing his best friend Enkidu because Gilgamesh didn’t want to marry her. By her anger, Ishtar wanted take advantage of Gilgamesh, saying to her father:

     Well then, Father, pretty please, the Bull of Heaven,

     So I can kill Gilgamesh on his home ground.

     If you don’t give me the Bull of Heaven,

     I’ll strike […] to its foundation,

     I’ll […],

     I’ll raise up the dead to devour the living,

     The dead shall outnumber the living! (pages 48-49)

Because of her feelings of rejection, not satisfaction of her desire she wants to destroy not only the Gilgamesh, but also the entire of kingdom. Here we can see how Ishtar behaves like humans and doesn’t face judgement. According to our modern definition of a God, she is not fair to Odysseus and his friend Enkidu. Thinking of her own desire, they send sickness to Enkidu and he ends being dead. Where is the fairness of the Gods? Does he deserve to be dead?

In the Odyssey, the god Poseidon punished Odysseus by keeping him lost from his hometown and family to take revenge for his son Cyclops. There is a repetition of actions as God Ishtar did for her own relief as Poseidon did to fulfill his peace of mind. Homer writes it in lines 75-85 Book 1:

Because Odysseus blinded his son, the Cyclops

Polyphemus, the strongest of all the Cyclops,

Nearly a god. The nymph Thoosa bore him,

Daugther of Phorcys, lord of the barren brine,

After mating with Poseidon in a scalloped sea-cave.

The Earthshaker has been after Odysseus

Ever since, not killing him, but keeping him away

From his native land. But come now,

Let’s all put our heads together and find a way

To bring Odysseus home. Poseidon will have to

Put aside his anger. He cant hold out alone

Against the will of all the immortals.

As we can see, Odysseus blinded Poseidon’s son. In his punishment, Poseidon shows more mercy to Odysseus than Ishtar shows to Gilgamesh. However, Poseidon takes revenge of Odysseus, which allows him to be ruled by emotions like mortals. Moreover, it shows that he didn’t behave godly by just thinking of his own satisfaction.

Considering these epics, if we have bad or good days, does it mean that God sending a karma for us? Is it a punishment for disappointing the Gods? As it was mentioned in these books, they give punishments because Gilgamesh and Odysseus was mistaken or dissatisfied them. If God wants to reward humankind, does it mean that humans deserve that? If God wants to punish humankind, does it mean that God will send torture or mercy like the Gods in Gilgamesh and Odyssey did?

Nicole Kovalcik’s Blog Post

Today in class we briefly discussed Xenia- the old greek word for hospitality.  Xenia is an important cultural value of the Greeks. We all laughed about the idea of hospitality happening here in NYC.  Imagine that?  Letting strangers into your home and being their host?  When the word hospitality comes to mind, we picture a hotel or airbnb.

This was not the case in Ancient Greece.  Xenia was a guest-host relationship that came with a set of rules and customs to follow.  Some of these rules included: the guest cannot insult the host and vice versa, the guest cannot make demands, the host cannot fail to meet hospitable standards, and the host must protect the guest.  Ideally, guests searched for homes that fit within their social class.

Few trust issues arose from this xenia relationship- both sides had to rely on custom in regards to personal safety.  The host always wanted to provide proper xenia, for they never knew whether their guest might be a god in disguise to come test their hospitality, as we have seen in the Odyssey.  Providing good hospitality would result in a reward from the Gods, whereas the opposite would bring wrath and fury from them.

Consider this quote,

This poor man comes here as a wanderer, And we must take care of him now. All strangers, All beggars, are under the protection of Zeus, And even small gifts are welcome. So let’s feed This stranger, give him something to drink,  And bathe him in the river, out of the wind. (Lines 211-216).

All travelers were seen as sent by Zeus, so guests would provide proper xenia as a way to honor and respect the Gods.  There was good and bad xenia.  Good xenia was seen in The Odyssey when Nausicaa and her maids took care of Odysseus by providing oil to rub on his skin, washing his clothes and offering food and drink.  Odysseus tried to seek her aid without insulting her.  Bad xenia was displayed at Odysseus’ own home- suitors offering Penelope a hand in marriage.  They imposed themselves on the household, insulted the host and drank the wine, seated themselves “on the hides of oxen they themselves had slaughtered” (line 115-118).  This resulted in punishment of the suitors through Zeus.

Which leaves us to think- how might have xenia had an impact on Ancient Greek culture/civilization?  Why might hospitality have been more significant in Homer’s time than today?  What other cultures do you know of that display this kind of gratitude today?

Collin’s Blog Post

There are very few things that can be considered immortal. Individuals for centuries have struggled with the idea of their impending death. What can they leave behind? How can they make their mark? In many cases it is not necessarily tangible items that stay behind after death and live on in the memories of individuals for centuries to come. Sometimes the most meaningful things are those that you cannot physically have and hold. The Epic of Gilgamesh has been around for thousands of years. Although the Epic may be a physical testament to Gilgamesh’s greatness, it is the story held within, which highlights the power of love and friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu, that still seems to fascinate and draw the attention of mankind.

The power of friendship is a theme that has been put on “repeat” throughout the history of mankind. It weaves itself in and out of our individual stories, whether they be fiction or reality. In the Epic, the bond between Enkidu and Gilgamesh was inadvertently formed after the gods created Enkidu as a way to keep the power of Gilgamesh in check. In the end, Gilgamesh and Enkidu seem to balance each other out. One provides the other what they do not have; in a manner seemingly parallel to the balance found in yin/yang. Nevertheless, the story is riddled with numerous instances where their friendship does not seem to be on equal grounds.

In Tablet II Enkidu tries to persuade Gilgamesh not to go on the quest to kill Humbaba. He repeatedly says: “…That journey is not to be undertaken. That creature is not to be looked upon…Humbaba’s cry is the roar of a deluge, his maw is fire, his breath is death…” Gilgamesh responds to Enkidu’s pleads and is surprised by his objections. He says to Enkidu, “Why, my friend, do you raise such unworthy objections? Who, my friend can go up to heaven?” He continues on and tells Enkidu that he will take the lead in order to protect them. However, even after Enkidu pleads with the elders to not go on the journey he is told that he will lead the quest in order to guide and protect Gilgamesh. Ultimately Enkidu must put his life on the line during a quest he did not want to go on, in order to protect his best friend. This begs the question as to whether or not a balanced friendship would have one friend possibly having to sacrifice himself in order to save and protect the more “important” companion.

In Tablet VII Gilgamesh and Enkidu have returned from their triumphant quest. Not long afterwards however, Enkidu dreams about the gods in council. He describes to Gilgamesh how the gods decided that Enkidu will be the one to die as a result of their combined involvement with the bull and the cedar trees. When Gilgamesh learns of this he suggests to Enkidu that his death could be a greater burden for those who are still living and have to mourn his loss. He continues and says “What he [Enlil] commanded, he will not retract. The verdict he has scrivened, he will not reverse nor erase… People often die before their time.” Gilgamesh does not seem to be consoling nor trying to protect Enkidu at the level one might expect from someone who is about to lose their best friend as a result of one’s own actions. Why should Enkidu have to pay the price for something that he tried to talk Gilgamesh out of? Would it have been the right thing to do for Gilgamesh to try and take Enkidu’s place in the death sentence? This situation essentially calls into question the bond between Enkidu and Gilgamesh. Do you think the friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu was equal? Does friendship really have to be equal?