The following is a hybrid outline/ draft
Introduction:
In Ancient Greece, storytellers and bards usually prefaced their performance with an appeal to the nine Muses, or the goddesses who were thought to provide inspiration to the mortal practitioners of the arts and sciences. However, in the second word of his translation of The Odyssey, Stanley Lombardo chooses to provide the reader with a non-traditional interpretation of the narrator’s introductory invocation; rather than rendering the beginning phrase as “Speak, Muse” as the majority of translations do, Lombardo writes, “Speak, Memory”. Lombardo’s rendering seems more appropriate, given that the Odyssey, along with other ancient Greek epics, was initially recounted orally by bards, from generation to generation. Indeed, bards enjoyed a special status in Ancient Greece in large part because of their unique ability to remember all the details of each story. In a similar fashion, in The Odyssey, Homer almost obsessively recounts as many stories as possible, regardless of their importance to the telos; furthermore, though there are times when certain characters would prefer to forget the past, nearly all of these episodes are cast in a negative light.
Body
A. The Bow Passage:
One of the most prominent examples of the Homer’s tendency to elaborate on a side story is found in the bow passage. It is the quintessence of the immense value Homer places on remembering everything.
Passage 1: Book 21 (9-39)
And there lay the curved bow
And the quiver, still loaded with arrows,
Gifts which a friend of Odysseus had given him
When they met in Lacedaemon long ago.
This was Iphitus, Eurytus’ son, a godlike man.
They had met in Messene, in the house of Ortilochus.
Odysseus had come to collect a debt
The Messenians owed him: three hundred sheep
They had taken from Ithaca in a sea raid,
And the shepherds with them. Odysseus
Had come to get them back…
An additional 20 lines are solely dedicated to this chronicle of Odysseus’ bow. Rehashing the bow’s lengthy history in such a verbose, detailed and repetitive manner adds little to the teleological scheme of the narrative. Like in the case of the swineherd Eumaeus’ backstory, considering this passage as “unpractical”, belies the reader’s inaccurate expectations of the narration.
B. Helen’s Valium
By the same token, forgetfulness, even if it be temporary and transient, is not a praised activity. Helen’s intentions were noble, and meant only to uplift the otherwise dreary mood brought on by the memory of the difficult Trojan War. Consider the following passage, found in Book Four:
“ Passage 2: Book 4 (239-248)
But Helen, child of Zeus, had other ideas.
She threw a drug into the wine bowl
They were drinking from, a drug
That stilled all pain, quieted all anger
And brought forgetfulness of every ill
Whoever drank wine laced with this drug
Would not be sad or shed a tear that day,
Not even if his own father and mother
Should lie there dead, or if someone killed
His brother, or son, before his eyes.
Helen had gotten this potent, cunning drug
From Polydamna, the wife of Thon,
A woman in Egypt, where the land
Proliferates with all sorts of drugs,
Many beneficial, many poisonous.
Men there know more about medicines
Than any other people on earth,
For they are of the race of Paeeon, the Healer…”
The fact that Helen did this drug lacing operation in secret, rather than out in the open, as is not uncommon in contemporary parties, points to a reality in the attitudes of the time—namely, that achieving forgetfulness wasn’t something overtly typically sought out. For Helen, who is on the threshold of old age, achieving forgetfulness may be harmless. Her legend has reached the entire known world at the time–there isn’t much else for her to accomplish. The same isn’t true for Telemachus. The memory of his father is the entire reason he sets out on his own journey–that, and in the words of Athena, “to make a name for himself”. Memory drives his story, and the stakes are too great for him to opt out and choose to forget.
C. Lotus Eaters
TP: Finally, the Odyssey negatively characterizes those who enjoy a potentially permanent state of forgetfulness. This is done most directly in the relatively small episode of the Lotus Eaters, which is recounted in the following ten lines.
” Passage 3: Book 9 (92-102)
They headed out and made contact with the Lotus-Eaters,
Who meant no harm but did give my men
Some lotus to eat. Whoever ate that sweet fruit
Lost the will to report back, preferring instead
To stay there, munching lotus, oblivious of home.
I hauled them back wailing to the ships,
Bound them under the benches, then ordered
All hands to board their ships on the double
Before anyone else tasted the lotus.
They were aboard in no time and at their benches,
Churning the sea white with their oars.”
This episode serves as a clear warning; if you don’t remember your overall purpose, you’ll become goalless zombies. They may be happier, but judging by Odysseus’ refusal to even experiment with the Lotus, it is clear that this was considered a forbidden pleasure. Judging by Odysseus’ reaction, he knew right away that such intensely relaxing forgetfulness is too intoxicating, and would derail any prospect of returning home. Incidentally, this warning is almost always heeded by Homer himself. Though the bard ‘gets lost’ in side stories, and can be accused of excessive sidetracking, the narrative never strays too far from the central story.