Classics Essay
1a) What has happened to Odysseus between leaving Calypso’s island and speaking to Nausicaa?
After Odysseus left Calypso’s island, he sails by the starts for 17 days. At this point
Poseidon, returning from visiting the Ethiopians, sees him and decides to create a storm by lashing up the sea and bringing them the North, South , East and West winds together.
Odysseus is knocked off of his raft and has to swim back to it. At this point Ino, a sea nymph, appears. Ino tells Odysseus to take off all of his clothes, take Ino’s veil and wrap it around him, and leave the raft. Odysseus doesn’t trust Ino so he takes the veil but decides to remain on the raft for the meantime.
However, at that point the raft disintergrates under the force of the storm. Poseidon leaves satisfied, as Odysseus scrambles onto a log and strips before winding the veil around his waist and starting to swim.
Once Poseidon is gone Athene calms the storm and uses the wind to flatten the waves in
Odysseus’ path. He swims for 3 days before he sees land, but he despairs when he sees that the land is edged with high cliffs. He is washed inland by a breaker; Athene gives him the idea of clinging to a rock, when the breaker recedes he is wrenched from the rock leaving skin there. He swims along the coast outside the breakers until he sees a river. He prays to the river, whose flow slackens allowing him to get onto dry land. He throws Ino’s veil back in the sea and crawls inland to sleep under two olive bushes and a pile of leaves.
(b) How does Odysseus try to gain the pity of Nausicaa in this passage? In your answer you should include discussion of what he says and how he says it.
One of the primary ways Odysseus tries to gain Nausicaa’s pity in this passage is through flattery. He says he thinks she might be ‘Artemis’ a powerful goddess. It appears to be a high compliement in the Odyssey to say someone is ‘godlike’ but mistaking a human for a goddess must be even more flattering.
After Odysseus left Calypso’s island, he sails by the starts for 17 days. At this point
Poseidon, returning from visiting the Ethiopians, sees him and decides to create a storm by lashing up the sea and bringing them the North, South , East and West winds together.
Odysseus is knocked off of his raft and has to swim back to it. At this point Ino, a sea nymph, appears. Ino tells Odysseus to take off all of his clothes, take Ino’s veil and wrap it around him, and leave the raft. Odysseus doesn’t trust Ino so he takes the veil but decides to remain on the raft for the meantime.
However, at that point the raft disintergrates under the force of the storm. Poseidon leaves satisfied, as Odysseus scrambles onto a log and strips before winding the veil around his waist and starting to swim.
Once Poseidon is gone Athene calms the storm and uses the wind to flatten the waves in
Odysseus’ path. He swims for 3 days before he sees land, but he despairs when he sees that the land is edged with high cliffs. He is washed inland by a breaker; Athene gives him the idea of clinging to a rock, when the breaker recedes he is wrenched from the rock leaving skin there. He swims along the coast outside the breakers until he sees a river. He prays to the river, whose flow slackens allowing him to get onto dry land. He throws Ino’s veil back in the sea and crawls inland to sleep under two olive bushes and a pile of leaves.
(b) How does Odysseus try to gain the pity of Nausicaa in this passage? In your answer you should include discussion of what he says and how he says it.
One of the primary ways Odysseus tries to gain Nausicaa’s pity in this passage is through flattery. He says he thinks she might be ‘Artemis’ a powerful goddess. It appears to be a high compliement in the Odyssey to say someone is ‘godlike’ but mistaking a human for a goddess must be even more flattering.