The Odyssey
Noah Sola
English I
Mrs. Johnson
4/22/2014
The Odyssey
Book 1
The poet invokes the Muse to help him tell the story of Odysseus. How original. I learn that Poseidon, god of the sea, begrudges (though I don't know exactly why) against Odysseus and is making the guy's expedition home pretty difficult. This tells me two very important things: (1) Greek gods are temperamental, and (2) Poseidon is a powerful guy. So Poseidon isn't around on Mount Olympus (presumably because he's full of activity scheming retaliation), while the other gods deliberate the statistic that this one guy Orestes snuffed this other guy Aegisthus. Zeus, king of the gods and playa-extraordinaire, says that Aigsthos utterly merited it because he had a long affair with Agamemnon's wife while he was away at Troy and then killed Agamemnon upon returning home. Turns out Aigsthos had been alerted by Hermes (the messenger of the gods) not to do this. In fact, Hermes pretty much explicitly said, "If you touch this guy's wife and then kill him, then Orestes is going to pop a cap in you." And still Aigsthos disregarded the warning. As well as Orestes is Agamemnon's son, he was only avenging his father by killing Aigsthos. The Greeks were pretty serious about the whole avenging-the-father thing. Let's just call it "justifiable homicide" in the eyes of the gods.
Book 2
Telemachus calls a congregation of the Ithacan men altogether, which embraces the suitors. Lord Aigyptios (not to be muddled with Aegisthus, the man whose murder the gods were previously discussing), want to know why. After all, there haven't been any meetings since Odysseus left. Considering it's been almost twenty years, we're thinking these Ithacans aren't exactly bureaucratic go-getters. Telemachus bellyaches for a while about the suitors who have annexed his house, wolfed his food, imbibed his wine, and tried to get with his mother. Not one person has the courage to challenge his righteous anger aside from Antinoös,
English I
Mrs. Johnson
4/22/2014
The Odyssey
Book 1
The poet invokes the Muse to help him tell the story of Odysseus. How original. I learn that Poseidon, god of the sea, begrudges (though I don't know exactly why) against Odysseus and is making the guy's expedition home pretty difficult. This tells me two very important things: (1) Greek gods are temperamental, and (2) Poseidon is a powerful guy. So Poseidon isn't around on Mount Olympus (presumably because he's full of activity scheming retaliation), while the other gods deliberate the statistic that this one guy Orestes snuffed this other guy Aegisthus. Zeus, king of the gods and playa-extraordinaire, says that Aigsthos utterly merited it because he had a long affair with Agamemnon's wife while he was away at Troy and then killed Agamemnon upon returning home. Turns out Aigsthos had been alerted by Hermes (the messenger of the gods) not to do this. In fact, Hermes pretty much explicitly said, "If you touch this guy's wife and then kill him, then Orestes is going to pop a cap in you." And still Aigsthos disregarded the warning. As well as Orestes is Agamemnon's son, he was only avenging his father by killing Aigsthos. The Greeks were pretty serious about the whole avenging-the-father thing. Let's just call it "justifiable homicide" in the eyes of the gods.
Book 2
Telemachus calls a congregation of the Ithacan men altogether, which embraces the suitors. Lord Aigyptios (not to be muddled with Aegisthus, the man whose murder the gods were previously discussing), want to know why. After all, there haven't been any meetings since Odysseus left. Considering it's been almost twenty years, we're thinking these Ithacans aren't exactly bureaucratic go-getters. Telemachus bellyaches for a while about the suitors who have annexed his house, wolfed his food, imbibed his wine, and tried to get with his mother. Not one person has the courage to challenge his righteous anger aside from Antinoös,