# The Odyssey  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Homer and Emily Wilson]] - Full Title:: The Odyssey - Category: #books ## Highlights > In The Odyssey, we find instead the story of a man whose grand adventure is simply to go back to his own home, where he tries to turn everything back to the way it was before he went away. For this hero, mere survival is the most amazing feat of all. ([Location 70](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=70)) > asphodel, where the spirits of dead heroes live forever. ([Location 78](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=78)) > The story begins in an unexpected place, in medias res (“in the middle of things”—the proper starting point for an epic, according to Horace). ([Location 81](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=81)) > Like Paris, Penelope’s suitors threaten to steal away a married woman as if she were a bride. ([Location 101](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=101)) > The son’s journey away from home parallels the father’s quest in the opposite direction. ([Location 109](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=109)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > In Greek mythology, Memory (Mnemosyne) is said to be the mother of the Muses, because poetry, music, and storytelling are all imagined as modes by which people remember the times before they were born. ([Location 211](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=211)) > It is a written text based on an oral tradition, which is not at all the same as being an actual oral composition. ([Location 218](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=218)) > Homer—whoever he, she, or they may have been—composed this definitive version of the homecoming of Odysseus with a deep awareness of multiple different versions of the story, as well as a deep knowledge of multiple other parallel folk traditions and myths. ([Location 248](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=248)) > for instance, the ancient myth of Jason and the Argonauts seems to hover behind the story of Odysseus and his wanderings. ([Location 252](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=252)) > In real life, as the archaeological record shows and as common sense would predict, the people who lived around the Mediterranean ate fish, vegetables, cheese, and fruit. ([Location 286](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=286)) > rhapsodes for several hundred years. These “song-stitchers”— ([Location 292](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=292)) > Panathenaia, ([Location 303](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=303)) > beautiful, magical Helen, who has frightening drugs that can take away all pain and grief. ([Location 466](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=466)) > diotrephes, “sprung from Zeus”; ([Location 582](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=582)) > Athena loves violence, and knows how to manipulate events so as to maximize her own pleasure in battle. Her skill in weaving clothing for domestic use sits uneasily with her ability to weave deception and military strategy for the tapestry of war. ([Location 656](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=656)) > Should war, defined in The Iliad as “the work of men,” be seen as ultimately the fault of a woman—because Helen inspired Paris to abduct her? ([Location 784](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=784)) > The most prominent slave character in the poem is the swineherd Eumaeus, the “good” counterpart to the “bad” goatherd, Melanthius. ([Location 1007](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1007)) > usually claiming to have come from Crete—the traditional home of liars. Odysseus’ ([Location 1134](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1134)) > The bed that can be moved only by cutting down the trunk and destroying the structure is a metonymic symbol for the interdependence of the marriage and the house; the destruction of either means ruin for the other. ([Location 1155](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1155)) > In leaving Calypso, Odysseus chooses something that he built with his own mind and hands, rather than something given to him. ([Location 1164](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1164)) > One of the epithets most commonly used of Odysseus is polytlas, which means “much-enduring.” It may suggest how much Odysseus has endured and suffered, and it may also suggest how much he is capable of enduring: his stubbornness, his tenacity, his courage, his relentless drive to achieve his own ends. ([Location 1214](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1214)) > The temptation offered by the Sirens is to listen forever, and know everything that the Greeks and Trojans suffered in the war. ([Location 1222](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1222)) > The temptation is as much knowledge as glory. The Sirens offer Odysseus what no single individual engaged in the conflict can have: a full and complete understanding of what happened in the war and what it meant. ([Location 1228](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1228)) > The simile compares the desperate weeping of Odysseus, a military conqueror, to the grief of a woman who is a victim of war, ([Location 1242](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1242)) > He will know he has arrived when he meets “someone who calls the object on my back / a winnowing fan” (a tool used in preindustrial agriculture to separate wheat from chaff). Only in this utterly alien location, Tiresias suggests, can Odysseus finally put to rest the anger of Poseidon, the Lord of the Sea. ([Location 1326](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1326)) - Tags: [[favorite]] - Note: Not Ithaca > Sophocles’ Ajax, ([Location 1378](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1378)) > But Aeneas himself becomes a new kind of Odysseus, in his search for a home that exists only in the future: the city of Rome itself. ([Location 1382](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1382)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Pope makes The Odyssey into a text about those essentially eighteenth-century preoccupations: proper manners and good government. ([Location 1407](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1407)) > on pushing onward to the western stars, “made weak by time and fate, but strong in will / To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” ([Location 1417](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1417)) - Note: Tennyson’s “Ulysses > wine-dark sea ([Location 1544](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1544)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > All modern translations are equally modern. ([Location 1546](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1546)) > Whether or not she has recognized her husband at this point, and whatever her motives in setting up the contest, her action of picking up the key in the door of the weaponry is momentous and consequential: it is what enables the whole denouement of the poem. Milton echoes this episode in Paradise Lost, when Sin turns the “fatal key” of Hell, to enable Satan to ascend and invade Earth. ([Location 1582](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1582)) > All the other Greeks who had survived the brutal sack of Troy sailed safely home to their own wives—except this man alone. ([Location 1630](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1630)) > “This is absurd, that mortals blame the gods! They say we cause their suffering, but they themselves increase it by folly. ([Location 1644](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1644)) > He is more sensible than other humans, and makes more sacrifices to the gods. But Lord Poseidon rages, unrelenting, because Odysseus destroyed the eye of godlike Polyphemus, his own son, ([Location 1670](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1670)) > And I will go to Ithaca to rouse the courage of his son, and make him call90 a meeting, and speak out against the suitors who kill his flocks of sheep and longhorn cattle unstoppably. Then I will send him off to Pylos and to Sparta, to seek news about his father’s journey home, and gain a noble reputation for himself.” ([Location 1687](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1687)) - Note: Telemachus > Phemius, the man the suitors forced to sing for them. ([Location 1735](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1735)) > “Dear guest—excuse my saying this— these men are only interested in music, a life of ease. They make no contribution.160 This food belongs to someone else, a man whose white bones may be lying in the rain or sunk beneath the waves. If they saw him return to Ithaca, they would all pray for faster feet, instead of wealth and gold and fancy clothes. In fact, he must have died. ([Location 1739](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1739)) > wine-dark sea ([Location 1758](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1758)) > My mother says that I am his son, but I cannot be sure, since no one knows his own begetting. ([Location 1780](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1780)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > You must not stick to childhood; you are no longer just a little boy. You surely heard how everybody praised Orestes when he killed the man who killed his famous father—devious Aegisthus? ([Location 1839](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1839)) > With that, the owl-eyed goddess flew away like a bird, up through the smoke. ([Location 1858](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1858)) > I am the master.” ([Location 1888](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1888)) > You will be punished and destroyed, right here!” ([Location 1905](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1905)) > passed him the speaking-stick; ([Location 1984](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1984)) > He stopped, frustrated, flung the scepter down, and burst out crying. ([Location 2017](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2017)) > You will die here, and nobody will care!” ([Location 2063](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2063)) > Zeus, whose voice resounds around the world, sent down two eagles from the mountain peak. ([Location 2064](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2064)) > and all his men would die, but in the twentieth year he would come home, unrecognized. Now it is coming true.” ([Location 2084](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2084)) > And, old man, we will make you pay so much your heart will break, your pain will cut so deep. ([Location 2097](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2097)) > You could not fight us; we outnumber you. Even if Ithacan Odysseus came back and found us feasting in his house, ([Location 2137](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2137)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Your journey will succeed, if you are his. If you're not his son by Penelope, I doubt you can achieve what you desire. ([Location 2161](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2161)) > So speaking, Pallas quickly led the boy; he followed in the footsteps of the goddess. ([Location 2264](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2264)) > wine-dark sea. ([Location 2277](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2277)) > Leaving the Ocean’s streams, the Sun leapt up into the sky of bronze, to shine his light for gods and mortals on the fertile earth. ([Location 2290](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2290)) > he followed in the footsteps of the goddess. ([Location 2313](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2313)) > “Now that our guests are satisfied with food, time now to talk to them and ask them questions.70 ([Location 2344](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2344)) > Odysseus,120 your father, if you really are his son— ([Location 2383](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2383)) > wine-dark sea; ([Location 2504](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2504)) > My sons can guide you all the way to Sparta, to Menelaus. Ask him for the truth. He will not lie; he is an honest man.” ([Location 2534](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2534)) > ossifrage. ([Location 2570](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2570)) - Note: Bearded vulture > When newborn Dawn appeared with rosy fingers, ([Location 2595](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2595)) > The gods had given Helen no more children after the beautiful Hermione, image of Aphrodite all in gold. ([Location 2677](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2677)) > They made my face the cause that hounded them.” ([Location 2776](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2776)) > This is that warrior’s true-born son, ([Location 2785](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2785)) > Then the child of Zeus, Helen, decided she would mix the wine with drugs to take all pain and rage away, to bring forgetfulness of every evil. ([Location 2830](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2830)) > But I will tell you what that brave man did at Troy, when the Achaeans were in trouble. He beat himself and bruised his body badly and put a ragged cloak on, like a slave, then shuffled through the enemy city streets. ([Location 2847](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2847)) > Gruff Menelaus jumped up out of bed, got dressed and strapped his sharp sword to his shoulder, then tied his sandals on his well-oiled feet. He went out of his bedroom like a god,310 ([Location 2895](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2895)) > They say he is the one who fathered me. ([Location 2952](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2952)) > He goes to take his nap inside the caves. Around him sleep the clustering seals, the daughters of lovely Lady Brine. Their breath smells sour from gray seawater, pungent salty depths. ([Location 2964](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2964)) > The goddess dove down deep inside the sea and brought four sealskins up from underwater, new-flayed—to help her plot against her father. ([Location 2988](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2988)) > sea; he would have lived, despite Athena’s hatred, but he made a crazy boast—that he survived the waves against the wishes of the gods. ([Location 3036](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3036)) - Note: Ajax > Rhadamanthus ([Location 3081](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3081)) > so that you would not cry and spoil your beauty. Now have a bath, get changed into clean clothes, ([Location 3225](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3225)) > wine-dark sea. ([Location 3404](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3404)) > He spent his nights with her inside her hollow cave, not wanting her though she still wanted him. ([Location 3421](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3421)) > And anyway, I know my body is better than hers is. I am taller too. Mortals can never rival the immortals in beauty.” ([Location 3464](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3464)) > wine-dark sea, ([Location 3472](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3472)) > But stepping softly, Ino, the White Goddess, Cadmus’ child, once human, human-voiced, now honored with the gods in salty depths, noticed that he was suffering and lost, with pity. ([Location 3555](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3555)) > As when an octopus, dragged from its den, has many pebbles sticking to its suckers, so his strong hands were skinned against the rocks. ([Location 3629](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3629)) > spun sea-purpled yarn, ([Location 3716](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3716)) > Nausicaa ([Location 3740](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3740)) - Note: Burner of ships > All foreigners and beggars come from Zeus, and any act of kindness is a blessing. ([Location 3831](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3831)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > grow curling tendrils like a hyacinth. ([Location 3851](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3851)) > Phaeacians do not care for archery;270 their passion is for sails and oars and ships, ([Location 3881](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3881)) > dark-gray ocean. ([Location 3883](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3883)) > bright-eyed Athena met him, like a girl, young and unmarried, with a water pitcher.20 She stopped in front of him. ([Location 3942](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3942)) > Scheria, ([Location 3988](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3988)) - Note: Corfu > The trees are tall, luxuriant with fruit: bright-colored apples, pears and pomegranate, sweet figs and fertile olives, and the crop never runs out or withers in the winter, nor in the summer. Fruit grows all year round. ([Location 4014](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4014)) > They sit and eat among us. Even if just one of us meets them alone, out walking, they do not hide from us; we are close friends, as are the Giants and Cyclopic peoples.” ([Location 4082](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4082)) > The belly is just like a whining dog: it begs and forces one to notice it, despite exhaustion or the depths of sorrow. ([Location 4092](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4092)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > wine-dark sea. ([Location 4117](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4117)) > The house boy brought the poet, whom the Muse adored. She gave him two gifts, good and bad: she took his sight away, but gave sweet song. ([Location 4241](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4241)) > Her eyes stare at me like a dog. She is320 so beautiful, but lacking self-control.” ([Location 4435](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4435)) > we called aloud three times to each of our poor lost companions, slaughtered at the hands of the Cicones. ([Location 4691](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4691)) > When bright-haired Dawn brought the third morning, ([Location 4699](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4699)) > The scouts encountered humans, Lotus-Eaters, who did not hurt them. They just shared with them their sweet delicious fruit. ([Location 4711](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4711)) > They put their trust in gods, and do not plant their food from seed, ([Location 4723](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4723)) > Whenever he was drinking it, he poured a single shot into a cup, and added twenty of water, ([Location 4797](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4797)) > We saw his crates weighed down with cheese, ([Location 4805](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4805)) > Then he curdled half of the fresh white milk, set that aside in wicker baskets, ([Location 4825](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4825)) - Note: Making feta > Who are you? Where did you come from across the watery depths? Are you on business, or roaming round without a goal, like pirates, who risk their lives at sea to bring disaster to other people?’ ([Location 4830](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4830)) > We are your suppliants, and Zeus is on our side, since he takes care270 of visitors, guest-friends, and those in need.’ ([Location 4844](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4844)) > My name is Noman. My family and friends all call me Noman.’ ([Location 4920](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4920)) > ‘Polyphemus! ([Location 4946](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4946)) > They speared them there like fish. ([Location 5167](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5167)) > Round it were mountain wolves and lions, which she tamed with drugs. They did not rush on them, but gathered around them in a friendly way, their long tails wagging, as dogs nuzzle round their master when he comes back home from dinner with treats for them. ([Location 5232](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5232)) > Our friends went to his home with this rash lord of ours. Because of his bad choices, they all died.’ ([Location 5406](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5406)) > You are worn down and brokenhearted, always dwelling on pain and wandering. You never feel joy at heart. You have endured too much.’ ([Location 5428](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5428)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Tiresias, ([Location 5452](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5452)) > Pyriphlegethon ([Location 5468](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5468)) - Note: Fire flaming > Cocytus, ([Location 5469](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5469)) - Note: Lamentation > Styx, ([Location 5469](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5469)) - Note: Hateful, gloomy > Acheron. ([Location 5470](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5470)) - Note: Hell > Dawn on her golden throne began to shine, and Circe dressed me in my cloak and tunic. The goddess wore a long white dress, of fine and delicate fabric, with a golden belt, and on her head, a veil. ([Location 5488](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5488)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Erebus ([Location 5543](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5543)) - Note: Darkness, son of Cronus > but you can get home, if you control your urges and your men. ([Location 5596](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5596)) > Thrinacia; ([Location 5598](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5598)) - Note: Sicily > When those men are dead, you have to go away and take an oar to people with no knowledge of the sea, who do not salt their food. ([Location 5609](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5609)) > When you meet somebody, a traveler, who calls the thing you carry on your back a winnowing fan, then fix that oar in earth130 and make fine sacrifices to Poseidon— ([Location 5613](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5613)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Three times I tried, longing to touch her. ([Location 5672](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5672)) > But three times her ghost flew from my arms, ([Location 5672](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5672)) > ‘Curse her! Zeus has always brought disaster to the house of Atreus through women. Many men were lost for Helen, and Clytemnestra formed this plot against you when you were far away.’ ([Location 5846](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5846)) > death. I would prefer to be a workman, hired by a poor man on a peasant farm,490 than rule as king of all the dead. ([Location 5888](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5888)) - Note: Achilles > fine-ankled ([Location 5970](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5970)) > You all went alive to Hades—you will be twice-dead, when other people only die one time! ([Location 6018](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6018)) > She has twelve dangling legs and six long necks with a gruesome head on each, and in each face90 three rows of crowded teeth, pregnant with death. Her belly slumps inside the hollow cave; ([Location 6067](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6067)) - Note: Scylla > Charybdis sucks black water down. ([Location 6078](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6078)) > The golden throne of Dawn was riding up the ([Location 6109](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6109)) > roaring dreadfully, and the dark-blue sand below was visible. ([Location 6184](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6184)) > Charybdis, ([Location 6186](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6186)) - Note: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirlpool?wprov=sfti1 > All human deaths are hard to bear. But starving is most miserable of all. ([Location 6261](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6261)) > I would prefer to drink the sea and die350 at once, than perish slowly, shriveled up here on this desert island.’ ([Location 6267](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6267)) > wine-dark sea.’ ([Location 6297](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6297)) > The gods sent signs—the hides began to twitch, the meat on skewers started mooing, raw and cooked. ([Location 6303](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6303)) > Zephyr, shrieking, noisily rushing, with torrential tempest. ([Location 6313](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6313)) > “To outwit you in all your tricks, a person or a god would need to be an expert at deceit. You clever rascal! So duplicitous, so talented at lying! You love fiction and tricks so deeply, you refuse to stop even in your own land. ([Location 6573](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6573)) > “Oh! I would have died like Agamemnon in my own house, if you had not explained exactly how things stand. ([Location 6643](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6643)) > Odysseus will come, within this very cycle of the moon: between the waning and the waxing time, he will come home, and pay back all those here who disrespect his wife and noble son.” ([Location 6814](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6814)) > I did not like farmwork or housekeeping, or raising children. I liked sailing better, and war with spears and arrows, deadly weapons. Others may shudder at such things, but gods made my heart love them. People’s preferences are different. ([Location 6857](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6857)) > Dodona, ([Location 6933](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6933)) - Note: Oracle, 2nd after Delphi > You know how women are— they want to help the house of any man they marry. ([Location 7105](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=7105)) > Indeed, he is already at home and planting ruin for the suitors.” ([Location 7230](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=7230)) > Hermes the messenger, the god who gives favor and glorifies all human labor, has blessed me with unrivaled skill in all domestic tasks: fire-laying, splitting logs, carving and roasting meat, and pouring wine— I can do all the chores poor people do to serve the rich.” ([Location 7339](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=7339)) > The worst thing humans suffer is homelessness; we must endure this life because of desperate hunger; we endure, as migrants with no home. ([Location 7355](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=7355)) > So Argos lay there dirty, covered with fleas. And when he realized Odysseus was near, he wagged his tail, and both his ears dropped back. He was too weak to move towards his master. At a distance, Odysseus had noticed, and he wiped his tears away and hid them easily, and said, “Eumaeus, it is strange this dog is lying in the dung; he looks quite handsome, though it is hard to tell if he can run, or if he is a pet, a table dog, kept just for looks.” ([Location 8128](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=8128)) > Twenty years had passed since Argos saw Odysseus, and now he saw him for the final time— then suddenly, black death took hold of him. ([Location 8148](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=8148)) > feasts? Is it not bad enough that they crowd round and eat your master’s wealth? ([Location 8191](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=8191)) > I do remember, named Eurybates, a man a little older than himself, who had black skin, round shoulders, woolly hair, and was his favorite out of all his crew because his mind matched his.” ([Location 8901](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=8901)) > Then a huge eagle with a pointed beak swooped from the mountain, broke their necks, and killed them. ([Location 9124](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=9124)) > I was once an eagle, but now I am your husband. I have come back home to put a cruel end to them.’ ([Location 9131](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=9131)) > I will arrange a contest with his axes. He would set them all in a row, like ship’s props. From a distance he shot an arrow through all twelve of them. I will assign this contest to the suitors. ([Location 9147](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=9147)) > were planning how to kill Telemachus. But then an eagle flew high on their left, holding a wild dove. ([Location 9364](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=9364)) > Here is this dirty beggar, always wanting more food and wine, who is unskilled in farmwork or fighting—a mere burden on the earth! ([Location 9472](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=9472)) > Go up and work with loom and distaff; tell your girls the same. The bow is work for men, especially me. I am the one with power in this house.” ([Location 9756](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=9756)) > Melanthius.”160 Meanwhile, Melanthius was ([Location 9951](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=9951)) > That foreigner would never have got Helen into bed, if she had known the Greeks would march to war and bring her home again. ([Location 10397](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=10397)) > He led the spirits and they followed, squeaking like bats in secret crannies of a cave, who cling together, and when one becomes detached and falls down from the rock, the rest flutter and squeak—just so the spirits squeaked, and hurried after Hermes, lord of healing.10 ([Location 10517](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=10517)) > Your white bones lay inside it, Lord Achilles, mixed with the bones of your dead friend Patroclus. ([Location 10569](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=10569)) > First, he took many good men off to sail with him, and lost the ships, and killed the men! Now he has come and murdered all the best of Cephallenia. ([Location 10836](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=10836)) > “Now hear me, Ithacans. My friends, it was because of your own cowardice this happened. You did not listen to me, or to Mentor, when we were telling you to stop your sons from acting stupidly. ([Location 10856](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=10856)) > “Odysseus, you are adaptable; you always find solutions. Stop this war, or Zeus will be enraged at you.” ([Location 10933](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=10933)) > 2.155 to the right they flew, across the town: Signs on the right side were supposed to be lucky, so this is a good omen. ([Location 10973](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=10973)) > 3.133 some of us had neither sense nor morals: Ajax raped the Trojan priestess Cassandra (daughter of Priam) in a temple to Athena; Nestor alludes to this violation but never spells it out. The pollution to her temple is what caused the unappeasable rage of Athena and Zeus. ([Location 11001](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=11001)) > 3.189 Achilles’ son led home the Myrmidons: The Myrmidons are a Thessalian tribe and Achilles’ men in The Iliad. Neoptolemus (also known as Pyrrhus) was Achilles’ son; he led the tribe after his father’s death. ([Location 11009](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=11009)) > 3.452–54 The men / hoisted the body, and Pisistratus / sliced through her throat: The animal had to be held up, facing the gods, while its neck was slit; the blood would then be collected in the designated bowl. ([Location 11042](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=11042)) > 4.499 Ajax was drowned: The Ajax referred to here is Locrian Ajax, also known as Lesser Ajax—not the hero known for his shield and skill in defensive warfare. He had raped Cassandra, the prophet daughter of Priam, in the temple of Athena. Outraged, Athena asked Poseidon to take revenge. ([Location 11068](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=11068)) > 7.198 the heavy ones, the Spinners: The Spinners (Klothes) are imagined in Greek mythology as three old female figures who construct the thread of human destiny—associated here with Fate (Aisa), the “share” allotted to humans in life. ([Location 11128](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=11128)) > metis means “nobody” but also “cunning.” ([Location 11184](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=11184)) > 21.352–53 The bow is work for men, especially me. / I am the one with power in this house: These two lines echo the words of Hector to Andromache in Book 6 of The Iliad: “War is a job for men, especially me.” ([Location 11455](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=11455)) # The Odyssey  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Homer and Emily Wilson]] - Full Title:: The Odyssey - Category: #books ## Highlights > In The Odyssey, we find instead the story of a man whose grand adventure is simply to go back to his own home, where he tries to turn everything back to the way it was before he went away. For this hero, mere survival is the most amazing feat of all. ([Location 70](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=70)) > asphodel, where the spirits of dead heroes live forever. ([Location 78](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=78)) > The story begins in an unexpected place, in medias res (“in the middle of things”—the proper starting point for an epic, according to Horace). ([Location 81](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=81)) > Like Paris, Penelope’s suitors threaten to steal away a married woman as if she were a bride. ([Location 101](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=101)) > The son’s journey away from home parallels the father’s quest in the opposite direction. ([Location 109](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=109)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > In Greek mythology, Memory (Mnemosyne) is said to be the mother of the Muses, because poetry, music, and storytelling are all imagined as modes by which people remember the times before they were born. ([Location 211](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=211)) > It is a written text based on an oral tradition, which is not at all the same as being an actual oral composition. ([Location 218](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=218)) > Homer—whoever he, she, or they may have been—composed this definitive version of the homecoming of Odysseus with a deep awareness of multiple different versions of the story, as well as a deep knowledge of multiple other parallel folk traditions and myths. ([Location 248](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=248)) > for instance, the ancient myth of Jason and the Argonauts seems to hover behind the story of Odysseus and his wanderings. ([Location 252](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=252)) > In real life, as the archaeological record shows and as common sense would predict, the people who lived around the Mediterranean ate fish, vegetables, cheese, and fruit. ([Location 286](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=286)) > rhapsodes for several hundred years. These “song-stitchers”— ([Location 292](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=292)) > Panathenaia, ([Location 303](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=303)) > beautiful, magical Helen, who has frightening drugs that can take away all pain and grief. ([Location 466](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=466)) > diotrephes, “sprung from Zeus”; ([Location 582](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=582)) > Athena loves violence, and knows how to manipulate events so as to maximize her own pleasure in battle. Her skill in weaving clothing for domestic use sits uneasily with her ability to weave deception and military strategy for the tapestry of war. ([Location 656](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=656)) > Should war, defined in The Iliad as “the work of men,” be seen as ultimately the fault of a woman—because Helen inspired Paris to abduct her? ([Location 784](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=784)) > The most prominent slave character in the poem is the swineherd Eumaeus, the “good” counterpart to the “bad” goatherd, Melanthius. ([Location 1007](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1007)) > usually claiming to have come from Crete—the traditional home of liars. Odysseus’ ([Location 1134](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1134)) > The bed that can be moved only by cutting down the trunk and destroying the structure is a metonymic symbol for the interdependence of the marriage and the house; the destruction of either means ruin for the other. ([Location 1155](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1155)) > In leaving Calypso, Odysseus chooses something that he built with his own mind and hands, rather than something given to him. ([Location 1164](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1164)) > One of the epithets most commonly used of Odysseus is polytlas, which means “much-enduring.” It may suggest how much Odysseus has endured and suffered, and it may also suggest how much he is capable of enduring: his stubbornness, his tenacity, his courage, his relentless drive to achieve his own ends. ([Location 1214](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1214)) > The temptation offered by the Sirens is to listen forever, and know everything that the Greeks and Trojans suffered in the war. ([Location 1222](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1222)) > The temptation is as much knowledge as glory. The Sirens offer Odysseus what no single individual engaged in the conflict can have: a full and complete understanding of what happened in the war and what it meant. ([Location 1228](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1228)) > The simile compares the desperate weeping of Odysseus, a military conqueror, to the grief of a woman who is a victim of war, ([Location 1242](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1242)) > He will know he has arrived when he meets “someone who calls the object on my back / a winnowing fan” (a tool used in preindustrial agriculture to separate wheat from chaff). Only in this utterly alien location, Tiresias suggests, can Odysseus finally put to rest the anger of Poseidon, the Lord of the Sea. ([Location 1326](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1326)) - Tags: [[favorite]] - Note: Not Ithaca > Sophocles’ Ajax, ([Location 1378](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1378)) > But Aeneas himself becomes a new kind of Odysseus, in his search for a home that exists only in the future: the city of Rome itself. ([Location 1382](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1382)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Pope makes The Odyssey into a text about those essentially eighteenth-century preoccupations: proper manners and good government. ([Location 1407](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1407)) > on pushing onward to the western stars, “made weak by time and fate, but strong in will / To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” ([Location 1417](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1417)) - Note: Tennyson’s “Ulysses > wine-dark sea ([Location 1544](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1544)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > All modern translations are equally modern. ([Location 1546](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1546)) > Whether or not she has recognized her husband at this point, and whatever her motives in setting up the contest, her action of picking up the key in the door of the weaponry is momentous and consequential: it is what enables the whole denouement of the poem. Milton echoes this episode in Paradise Lost, when Sin turns the “fatal key” of Hell, to enable Satan to ascend and invade Earth. ([Location 1582](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1582)) > All the other Greeks who had survived the brutal sack of Troy sailed safely home to their own wives—except this man alone. ([Location 1630](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1630)) > “This is absurd, that mortals blame the gods! They say we cause their suffering, but they themselves increase it by folly. ([Location 1644](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1644)) > He is more sensible than other humans, and makes more sacrifices to the gods. But Lord Poseidon rages, unrelenting, because Odysseus destroyed the eye of godlike Polyphemus, his own son, ([Location 1670](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1670)) > And I will go to Ithaca to rouse the courage of his son, and make him call90 a meeting, and speak out against the suitors who kill his flocks of sheep and longhorn cattle unstoppably. Then I will send him off to Pylos and to Sparta, to seek news about his father’s journey home, and gain a noble reputation for himself.” ([Location 1687](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1687)) - Note: Telemachus > Phemius, the man the suitors forced to sing for them. ([Location 1735](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1735)) > “Dear guest—excuse my saying this— these men are only interested in music, a life of ease. They make no contribution.160 This food belongs to someone else, a man whose white bones may be lying in the rain or sunk beneath the waves. If they saw him return to Ithaca, they would all pray for faster feet, instead of wealth and gold and fancy clothes. In fact, he must have died. ([Location 1739](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1739)) > wine-dark sea ([Location 1758](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1758)) > My mother says that I am his son, but I cannot be sure, since no one knows his own begetting. ([Location 1780](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1780)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > You must not stick to childhood; you are no longer just a little boy. You surely heard how everybody praised Orestes when he killed the man who killed his famous father—devious Aegisthus? ([Location 1839](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1839)) > With that, the owl-eyed goddess flew away like a bird, up through the smoke. ([Location 1858](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1858)) > I am the master.” ([Location 1888](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1888)) > You will be punished and destroyed, right here!” ([Location 1905](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1905)) > passed him the speaking-stick; ([Location 1984](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=1984)) > He stopped, frustrated, flung the scepter down, and burst out crying. ([Location 2017](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2017)) > You will die here, and nobody will care!” ([Location 2063](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2063)) > Zeus, whose voice resounds around the world, sent down two eagles from the mountain peak. ([Location 2064](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2064)) > and all his men would die, but in the twentieth year he would come home, unrecognized. Now it is coming true.” ([Location 2084](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2084)) > And, old man, we will make you pay so much your heart will break, your pain will cut so deep. ([Location 2097](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2097)) > You could not fight us; we outnumber you. Even if Ithacan Odysseus came back and found us feasting in his house, ([Location 2137](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2137)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Your journey will succeed, if you are his. If you're not his son by Penelope, I doubt you can achieve what you desire. ([Location 2161](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2161)) > So speaking, Pallas quickly led the boy; he followed in the footsteps of the goddess. ([Location 2264](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2264)) > wine-dark sea. ([Location 2277](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2277)) > Leaving the Ocean’s streams, the Sun leapt up into the sky of bronze, to shine his light for gods and mortals on the fertile earth. ([Location 2290](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2290)) > he followed in the footsteps of the goddess. ([Location 2313](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2313)) > “Now that our guests are satisfied with food, time now to talk to them and ask them questions.70 ([Location 2344](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2344)) > Odysseus,120 your father, if you really are his son— ([Location 2383](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2383)) > wine-dark sea; ([Location 2504](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2504)) > My sons can guide you all the way to Sparta, to Menelaus. Ask him for the truth. He will not lie; he is an honest man.” ([Location 2534](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2534)) > ossifrage. ([Location 2570](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2570)) - Note: Bearded vulture > When newborn Dawn appeared with rosy fingers, ([Location 2595](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2595)) > The gods had given Helen no more children after the beautiful Hermione, image of Aphrodite all in gold. ([Location 2677](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2677)) > They made my face the cause that hounded them.” ([Location 2776](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2776)) > This is that warrior’s true-born son, ([Location 2785](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2785)) > Then the child of Zeus, Helen, decided she would mix the wine with drugs to take all pain and rage away, to bring forgetfulness of every evil. ([Location 2830](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2830)) > But I will tell you what that brave man did at Troy, when the Achaeans were in trouble. He beat himself and bruised his body badly and put a ragged cloak on, like a slave, then shuffled through the enemy city streets. ([Location 2847](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2847)) > Gruff Menelaus jumped up out of bed, got dressed and strapped his sharp sword to his shoulder, then tied his sandals on his well-oiled feet. He went out of his bedroom like a god,310 ([Location 2895](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2895)) > They say he is the one who fathered me. ([Location 2952](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2952)) > He goes to take his nap inside the caves. Around him sleep the clustering seals, the daughters of lovely Lady Brine. Their breath smells sour from gray seawater, pungent salty depths. ([Location 2964](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2964)) > The goddess dove down deep inside the sea and brought four sealskins up from underwater, new-flayed—to help her plot against her father. ([Location 2988](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=2988)) > sea; he would have lived, despite Athena’s hatred, but he made a crazy boast—that he survived the waves against the wishes of the gods. ([Location 3036](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3036)) - Note: Ajax > Rhadamanthus ([Location 3081](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3081)) > so that you would not cry and spoil your beauty. Now have a bath, get changed into clean clothes, ([Location 3225](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3225)) > wine-dark sea. ([Location 3404](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3404)) > He spent his nights with her inside her hollow cave, not wanting her though she still wanted him. ([Location 3421](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3421)) > And anyway, I know my body is better than hers is. I am taller too. Mortals can never rival the immortals in beauty.” ([Location 3464](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3464)) > wine-dark sea, ([Location 3472](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3472)) > But stepping softly, Ino, the White Goddess, Cadmus’ child, once human, human-voiced, now honored with the gods in salty depths, noticed that he was suffering and lost, with pity. ([Location 3555](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3555)) > As when an octopus, dragged from its den, has many pebbles sticking to its suckers, so his strong hands were skinned against the rocks. ([Location 3629](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3629)) > spun sea-purpled yarn, ([Location 3716](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3716)) > Nausicaa ([Location 3740](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3740)) - Note: Burner of ships > All foreigners and beggars come from Zeus, and any act of kindness is a blessing. ([Location 3831](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3831)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > grow curling tendrils like a hyacinth. ([Location 3851](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3851)) > Phaeacians do not care for archery;270 their passion is for sails and oars and ships, ([Location 3881](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3881)) > dark-gray ocean. ([Location 3883](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3883)) > bright-eyed Athena met him, like a girl, young and unmarried, with a water pitcher.20 She stopped in front of him. ([Location 3942](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3942)) > Scheria, ([Location 3988](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=3988)) - Note: Corfu > The trees are tall, luxuriant with fruit: bright-colored apples, pears and pomegranate, sweet figs and fertile olives, and the crop never runs out or withers in the winter, nor in the summer. Fruit grows all year round. ([Location 4014](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4014)) > They sit and eat among us. Even if just one of us meets them alone, out walking, they do not hide from us; we are close friends, as are the Giants and Cyclopic peoples.” ([Location 4082](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4082)) > The belly is just like a whining dog: it begs and forces one to notice it, despite exhaustion or the depths of sorrow. ([Location 4092](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4092)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > wine-dark sea. ([Location 4117](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4117)) > The house boy brought the poet, whom the Muse adored. She gave him two gifts, good and bad: she took his sight away, but gave sweet song. ([Location 4241](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4241)) > Her eyes stare at me like a dog. She is320 so beautiful, but lacking self-control.” ([Location 4435](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4435)) > we called aloud three times to each of our poor lost companions, slaughtered at the hands of the Cicones. ([Location 4691](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4691)) > When bright-haired Dawn brought the third morning, ([Location 4699](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4699)) > The scouts encountered humans, Lotus-Eaters, who did not hurt them. They just shared with them their sweet delicious fruit. ([Location 4711](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4711)) > They put their trust in gods, and do not plant their food from seed, ([Location 4723](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4723)) > Whenever he was drinking it, he poured a single shot into a cup, and added twenty of water, ([Location 4797](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4797)) > We saw his crates weighed down with cheese, ([Location 4805](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4805)) > Then he curdled half of the fresh white milk, set that aside in wicker baskets, ([Location 4825](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4825)) - Note: Making feta > Who are you? Where did you come from across the watery depths? Are you on business, or roaming round without a goal, like pirates, who risk their lives at sea to bring disaster to other people?’ ([Location 4830](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4830)) > We are your suppliants, and Zeus is on our side, since he takes care270 of visitors, guest-friends, and those in need.’ ([Location 4844](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4844)) > My name is Noman. My family and friends all call me Noman.’ ([Location 4920](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4920)) > ‘Polyphemus! ([Location 4946](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=4946)) > They speared them there like fish. ([Location 5167](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5167)) > Round it were mountain wolves and lions, which she tamed with drugs. They did not rush on them, but gathered around them in a friendly way, their long tails wagging, as dogs nuzzle round their master when he comes back home from dinner with treats for them. ([Location 5232](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5232)) > Our friends went to his home with this rash lord of ours. Because of his bad choices, they all died.’ ([Location 5406](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5406)) > You are worn down and brokenhearted, always dwelling on pain and wandering. You never feel joy at heart. You have endured too much.’ ([Location 5428](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5428)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Tiresias, ([Location 5452](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5452)) > Pyriphlegethon ([Location 5468](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5468)) - Note: Fire flaming > Cocytus, ([Location 5469](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5469)) - Note: Lamentation > Styx, ([Location 5469](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5469)) - Note: Hateful, gloomy > Acheron. ([Location 5470](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5470)) - Note: Hell > Dawn on her golden throne began to shine, and Circe dressed me in my cloak and tunic. The goddess wore a long white dress, of fine and delicate fabric, with a golden belt, and on her head, a veil. ([Location 5488](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5488)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Erebus ([Location 5543](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5543)) - Note: Darkness, son of Cronus > but you can get home, if you control your urges and your men. ([Location 5596](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5596)) > Thrinacia; ([Location 5598](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5598)) - Note: Sicily > When those men are dead, you have to go away and take an oar to people with no knowledge of the sea, who do not salt their food. ([Location 5609](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5609)) > When you meet somebody, a traveler, who calls the thing you carry on your back a winnowing fan, then fix that oar in earth130 and make fine sacrifices to Poseidon— ([Location 5613](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5613)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Three times I tried, longing to touch her. ([Location 5672](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5672)) > But three times her ghost flew from my arms, ([Location 5672](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5672)) > ‘Curse her! Zeus has always brought disaster to the house of Atreus through women. Many men were lost for Helen, and Clytemnestra formed this plot against you when you were far away.’ ([Location 5846](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5846)) > death. I would prefer to be a workman, hired by a poor man on a peasant farm,490 than rule as king of all the dead. ([Location 5888](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5888)) - Note: Achilles > fine-ankled ([Location 5970](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=5970)) > You all went alive to Hades—you will be twice-dead, when other people only die one time! ([Location 6018](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6018)) > She has twelve dangling legs and six long necks with a gruesome head on each, and in each face90 three rows of crowded teeth, pregnant with death. Her belly slumps inside the hollow cave; ([Location 6067](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6067)) - Note: Scylla > Charybdis sucks black water down. ([Location 6078](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6078)) > The golden throne of Dawn was riding up the ([Location 6109](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6109)) > roaring dreadfully, and the dark-blue sand below was visible. ([Location 6184](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6184)) > Charybdis, ([Location 6186](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6186)) - Note: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirlpool?wprov=sfti1 > All human deaths are hard to bear. But starving is most miserable of all. ([Location 6261](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6261)) > I would prefer to drink the sea and die350 at once, than perish slowly, shriveled up here on this desert island.’ ([Location 6267](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6267)) > wine-dark sea.’ ([Location 6297](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6297)) > The gods sent signs—the hides began to twitch, the meat on skewers started mooing, raw and cooked. ([Location 6303](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6303)) > Zephyr, shrieking, noisily rushing, with torrential tempest. ([Location 6313](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6313)) > “To outwit you in all your tricks, a person or a god would need to be an expert at deceit. You clever rascal! So duplicitous, so talented at lying! You love fiction and tricks so deeply, you refuse to stop even in your own land. ([Location 6573](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6573)) > “Oh! I would have died like Agamemnon in my own house, if you had not explained exactly how things stand. ([Location 6643](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6643)) > Odysseus will come, within this very cycle of the moon: between the waning and the waxing time, he will come home, and pay back all those here who disrespect his wife and noble son.” ([Location 6814](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6814)) > I did not like farmwork or housekeeping, or raising children. I liked sailing better, and war with spears and arrows, deadly weapons. Others may shudder at such things, but gods made my heart love them. People’s preferences are different. ([Location 6857](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6857)) > Dodona, ([Location 6933](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=6933)) - Note: Oracle, 2nd after Delphi > You know how women are— they want to help the house of any man they marry. ([Location 7105](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=7105)) > Indeed, he is already at home and planting ruin for the suitors.” ([Location 7230](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=7230)) > Hermes the messenger, the god who gives favor and glorifies all human labor, has blessed me with unrivaled skill in all domestic tasks: fire-laying, splitting logs, carving and roasting meat, and pouring wine— I can do all the chores poor people do to serve the rich.” ([Location 7339](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=7339)) > The worst thing humans suffer is homelessness; we must endure this life because of desperate hunger; we endure, as migrants with no home. ([Location 7355](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=7355)) > So Argos lay there dirty, covered with fleas. And when he realized Odysseus was near, he wagged his tail, and both his ears dropped back. He was too weak to move towards his master. At a distance, Odysseus had noticed, and he wiped his tears away and hid them easily, and said, “Eumaeus, it is strange this dog is lying in the dung; he looks quite handsome, though it is hard to tell if he can run, or if he is a pet, a table dog, kept just for looks.” ([Location 8128](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=8128)) > Twenty years had passed since Argos saw Odysseus, and now he saw him for the final time— then suddenly, black death took hold of him. ([Location 8148](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=8148)) > feasts? Is it not bad enough that they crowd round and eat your master’s wealth? ([Location 8191](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=8191)) > I do remember, named Eurybates, a man a little older than himself, who had black skin, round shoulders, woolly hair, and was his favorite out of all his crew because his mind matched his.” ([Location 8901](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=8901)) > Then a huge eagle with a pointed beak swooped from the mountain, broke their necks, and killed them. ([Location 9124](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=9124)) > I was once an eagle, but now I am your husband. I have come back home to put a cruel end to them.’ ([Location 9131](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=9131)) > I will arrange a contest with his axes. He would set them all in a row, like ship’s props. From a distance he shot an arrow through all twelve of them. I will assign this contest to the suitors. ([Location 9147](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=9147)) > were planning how to kill Telemachus. But then an eagle flew high on their left, holding a wild dove. ([Location 9364](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=9364)) > Here is this dirty beggar, always wanting more food and wine, who is unskilled in farmwork or fighting—a mere burden on the earth! ([Location 9472](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=9472)) > Go up and work with loom and distaff; tell your girls the same. The bow is work for men, especially me. I am the one with power in this house.” ([Location 9756](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=9756)) > Melanthius.”160 Meanwhile, Melanthius was ([Location 9951](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=9951)) > That foreigner would never have got Helen into bed, if she had known the Greeks would march to war and bring her home again. ([Location 10397](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=10397)) > He led the spirits and they followed, squeaking like bats in secret crannies of a cave, who cling together, and when one becomes detached and falls down from the rock, the rest flutter and squeak—just so the spirits squeaked, and hurried after Hermes, lord of healing.10 ([Location 10517](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=10517)) > Your white bones lay inside it, Lord Achilles, mixed with the bones of your dead friend Patroclus. ([Location 10569](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=10569)) > First, he took many good men off to sail with him, and lost the ships, and killed the men! Now he has come and murdered all the best of Cephallenia. ([Location 10836](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=10836)) > “Now hear me, Ithacans. My friends, it was because of your own cowardice this happened. You did not listen to me, or to Mentor, when we were telling you to stop your sons from acting stupidly. ([Location 10856](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=10856)) > “Odysseus, you are adaptable; you always find solutions. Stop this war, or Zeus will be enraged at you.” ([Location 10933](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=10933)) > 2.155 to the right they flew, across the town: Signs on the right side were supposed to be lucky, so this is a good omen. ([Location 10973](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=10973)) > 3.133 some of us had neither sense nor morals: Ajax raped the Trojan priestess Cassandra (daughter of Priam) in a temple to Athena; Nestor alludes to this violation but never spells it out. The pollution to her temple is what caused the unappeasable rage of Athena and Zeus. ([Location 11001](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=11001)) > 3.189 Achilles’ son led home the Myrmidons: The Myrmidons are a Thessalian tribe and Achilles’ men in The Iliad. Neoptolemus (also known as Pyrrhus) was Achilles’ son; he led the tribe after his father’s death. ([Location 11009](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=11009)) > 3.452–54 The men / hoisted the body, and Pisistratus / sliced through her throat: The animal had to be held up, facing the gods, while its neck was slit; the blood would then be collected in the designated bowl. ([Location 11042](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=11042)) > 4.499 Ajax was drowned: The Ajax referred to here is Locrian Ajax, also known as Lesser Ajax—not the hero known for his shield and skill in defensive warfare. He had raped Cassandra, the prophet daughter of Priam, in the temple of Athena. Outraged, Athena asked Poseidon to take revenge. ([Location 11068](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=11068)) > 7.198 the heavy ones, the Spinners: The Spinners (Klothes) are imagined in Greek mythology as three old female figures who construct the thread of human destiny—associated here with Fate (Aisa), the “share” allotted to humans in life. ([Location 11128](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=11128)) > metis means “nobody” but also “cunning.” ([Location 11184](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=11184)) > 21.352–53 The bow is work for men, especially me. / I am the one with power in this house: These two lines echo the words of Hector to Andromache in Book 6 of The Iliad: “War is a job for men, especially me.” ([Location 11455](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XKNHGN1&location=11455))