Odyssey Chats at Fabularum Bibliotheca, Ancient
Sites
GO TO: Torrey Philemon's Odyssey Links
GO TO: Torrey's Odyssey Journal
GO TO: Trojan War Transcripts IndexCHAT THREE continued:
13:25 maia Nestor:
If we wish to talk about Homer, let's just look at his literary devices. In media res,
flashbacks...true enough, Torrey. But we must be careful not to pervert intent.
13:25 Torrey
Philemon: Like the psychological interpretation is that the crew represented different
facets of himself.
13:26 maia Nestor: As we said last week, his is a canvas to place our
perceptions on, but we still have to tread warily, imo.
13:26 Petronilla
Livius: Was Homer's promary intent then to entertain?
13:26 Petronilla
Livius: primary
13:26 maia Nestor: That's an interesting interpretation, but it could
never have any place in either the audience or the author. They didn't HAVE that concept.
13:27 Petra
Stuyvesant: Yes, I think he is probably now more connected to Athene than
before. I don't think you were in the chat room when I commented on how O was told
by Circe that some things were the work of the Gods and couldn't be fought, just
endured. He was still trying to figure out ways to get around the Gods at that
point.
13:27 Torrey
Philemon: Maia, I think we need to make clear that we may have different approaches.
Trying to read Homer through the eyes of his own time is the classical approach. But
reading him through our eyes also has value. Like Jean Houston, who tries to find lessons
in Homer that we can use in our personal development today.
13:27 maia Nestor: Sure, it was to entertain.
13:28 Theseus
Artistides: I think yes, Petronilla, but then I have already said so.
13:29 maia Nestor: Well Homer is subjective, like any true art...and I
hear what you say, Torrey..however, there is danger in that. If we try to find lessons
that's one thing, but then we must be very careful not to slide down that slippery slope
and make it what Homer Intended...or who was the character really was.
13:29 Petra
Stuyvesant: I think this discussion is very entertaining to, in a deep way :^)
(Not trying to be silly)
13:29 Torrey
Philemon: I think part of a great work of art is that it speaks to many generations.
And some of the meanings we get from it are meanings that might not have pertained to the
times in which it was written. It speaks to mankind/humankind beyond one's times.
13:30 maia Nestor: For example, the heroic code, as outlined in Homer is
simply thus: a good man dies bravely, an evil man is a coward. That's it. No more. Now
that has no analogy for us. Nor does Achilles' geras, his war prize. To understand it, we
must try to see how it was intended. But then if we took those paradigms and applied them
to our own life...well, we'd be living in the Dark Ages. (no pun intended)
13:30 Torrey
Philemon: Like for example, what I most get out of the Sirens, Homer didn't intend.
What I most get out of it is that someone needs to tie me to a mast to keep me from being
seduced by Ancient Sites and spending all my time online!!
13:31 Petra
Stuyvesant: I really think that it was entertaining on one level for the audience it
was intended for, and as each subsequent generation becomes more like Odysseus and then
*more* intellectual than him, the story reveals deeper levels of "entertainment"
and meaning.
13:31 Callista Solon enters...
13:31 maia Nestor: Yes, and what you talk about has been addressed
somewhat in Stanford's book about O, the Ulysses Theme. How he is perceived differently in
subsequent generations. There's a book about Cleopatra like that too. Fascinating.
13:31 maia Nestor: LOL Torrey!
13:32 maia Nestor: Yes, Petra...we humans have a need to really take
things apart, don't we?
13:32 Theseus
Artistides: You don't think that heroic code is applicable today, Maia?
13:33 Torrey
Philemon: Welcome, Callista.
13:33 Petra
Stuyvesant: Hello Callista
13:33 maia Nestor: Sure I do, Theseus. Just not one that simplistic. Hi,
Callista.
13:34 Callista Solon:
Thanks-I hate coming in in the middle!
13:34 Theseus
Artistides: Hello Callista, and anyone else who I might have failed to greet!
*grin*
13:34 Torrey
Philemon: Unfortunately, I think the heroic code today translates a lot into making
money. And like Achilles' war prize; it was in some ways like the modern day paycheck.
Someone else cashed his paycheck, and he wasn't paid for a year of hard work.
13:35 maia Nestor: Not one within that extremely narrow framework,
Theseus. Let's remember when Homer recited...contemporaneous with lots of the Old
Testament. Different times. People might not change that radically, but cultural
impositions are tremendously hard to circumvent.
13:35 Torrey
Philemon: We're just glad you got here, Callista. The more voices, the merrier.
13:36 Theseus
Artistides: Actually, I'm going to have to get going. Maia, you and I will have
to talk about heroism again soon. Have fun everyone!
13:36 Torrey
Philemon: Maia, maybe we need to differentiate when we're interpreting Homer or trying
too through the eyes of his times...and when we're consciously interpreting him through
the eyes of our times, in order to find personal meaning in the Odyssey.
13:37 maia Nestor: No, torrey...yes, I agree about the perversion of the
heroic code. But the geras? We have no equivalent. I don't want to make this an Iliad
chat, but it was an honour that once taken away, made the most excellent warrior on the
planet come unglued. It was *all that and a bag of chips*. Not even the Nobel prizes
compare today.
13:37 Torrey
Philemon: I honor both approaches.
13:37 maia Nestor: Bye, hon! We'll talk soon...
13:37 Petra
Stuyvesant: Bye Theseus! Thanks for being here, your input was valuable.
13:37 Torrey
Philemon: Sorry you have to leave Theseus. And now I want to know more about YOUR
epic.
13:37 Torrey
Philemon: Theseus, I think you should create another personality here called Homer!
13:38 Theseus
Artistides: Thank you! *smile*
13:38 Petronilla
Livius: Bye Theseus
13:38 Theseus Artistides exits...
13:38 maia Nestor: Yeah, Torrey, I agree. If we learn lessons from it,
that's fine. But let's not say it was *intended* for a modern viewpoint. It occurs to me
that you and I just might be having trouble with semantics...
13:39 Petra
Stuyvesant: I'm lost suddenly, what are the geras?
13:39 maia Nestor: What does everyone else think? Come on, I'll be quiet
for a minute! *grin*
13:39 Torrey
Philemon: That's why I'm saying we need to clarify OUR intent, Maia. My purpose in
reading Homer is to apply his writing to today. That's how I use him in my work.
13:39 maia Nestor: Oh, the geras was Briseis, Petra. the war prize of
Achilles.
13:40 maia Nestor: Well, as I said before, Torrey, Homer is a canvas.
Enjoy the view.
13:41 maia Nestor: I just have trouble when I hear phrases (not from
you, I don't mean you) like, well Homer intended to....
13:41 Torrey
Philemon: Do you all want to move on, back to the story? Like more about Hades, or
Scylla and Charybdis and the Sirens?
13:41 Petra
Stuyvesant: Oh, okay she was a girl that belonged as a priestess to a God?
Something like that? I haven't read the Illiad, saw some notes on the book though.
13:42 maia Nestor: Oooh, can we do Scylla and Charybdis?
13:42 Torrey
Philemon: What does Odysseus seem to learn from his experience in Hades?
13:42 Petra
Stuyvesant: I want to talk about all three of those topics
13:43 Torrey
Philemon: Ok Maia, give us the Greek viewpoint on Scylla and Charybdis (grin!)
13:45 Petra
Stuyvesant: Okay, I'm not Maia, but to start, as I visualize this it is a passageway
between two cliffs, right, with these two trails to pass.
13:45 Petra
Stuyvesant: NOT trails, Trials
13:46 Torrey
Philemon: Say more, Petra.
13:46 maia Nestor: I just found that one fascinating. Either way, he's
gonna lose. It's a strait, with one on one side, one on the other. Those who have
attempted to approximate the voyage point out that a whirlpool (identified with Charybdis)
would have been deadly to the boats of that time. Now he might survive intact if he goes
through Charybdis, or he might not. Scylla, he will lose some men. So he chooses that one.
Calculated risk.
13:47 Petra
Stuyvesant: One is in the water (the subconcious if you will) and one is above,
clearly seen and both are to be avoided
13:47 maia Nestor: I DO think that one thing that Homer has shown us,
and intended to show us, is that O was rather arrogant. and the journey humbled him. He
had these men in his care, and had to steer against the cliffs of Scylla all the while
heavy with the knowledge that some would die.
13:48 Petra
Stuyvesant: He knows FOR SURE he is about to lose at least six men, one to each of the
mouths of Skylla
13:48 Torrey
Philemon: Yet he has to go through Charybdis later, doesn't he? After he loses his
men. Is that a conscious choice or necessity?
13:48 maia Nestor: That's right, Petra!
13:48 Petra
Stuyvesant: He also knows only one ship has been allowed to pass and that was because
the captain was loved by a Goddess
13:49 Torrey
Philemon: So he chooses to lose six men instead of risk all....
13:49 Petra
Stuyvesant: I personally would be petrafied at this point (no pun intended)
13:50 Torrey
Philemon: LOL Petra!
13:50 maia Nestor: He can't help the return to Charybdis, torrey. The
currents bear him there.
13:51 Petra
Stuyvesant: Both of these monsters are considered female and God-like in their power,
they cannot be "battled with"
13:51 Petra
Stuyvesant: just endured as best you can
13:51 Torrey
Philemon: And he is saved by Charybdis by hanging onto a fig tree....
13:52 Torrey
Philemon: I read somewhere that the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden was
supposed to have been a fig tree.
13:53 Petra
Stuyvesant: Houston describes these two monsters as the power of attraction and
repulsion in their most destructive forms.
13:53 Petronilla
Livius: I was surprised at how short a section this was, for such a graphic picture -
one I had remembered for years. I guess I had supposed it would be pages and
pages
13:53 Torrey
Philemon: One devours and the other sucks in.
13:54 Torrey
Philemon: Actually, they're both devouring in different ways.
13:54 Torrey
Philemon: I think Petronilla that the symbolism of Scylla and Charybdis really speaks
to us. Some of our lives are like that!
13:55 Petra
Stuyvesant: They are the ultimate risks we take in trying to get where we want to
go. O could have said, forget it, home is not worth going through these trials, but
he didn't he pressed on and fought the urge to stop and fight these demons along the way.
13:57 Petra
Stuyvesant: And, we are told that if Skylla got a second chance she would take 6 more
men, so he is wise in rowing as fast as he can, not stopping to ponder his dillema, just
GOING!
13:57 Torrey
Philemon: Wasn't there something about Clashing Rocks too? That was the path he didn't
take at all, as advised by Circe?
13:59 Petra
Stuyvesant: Oh, yesh, Circe tells Odyseeus to call on Skylla's mother in order not to
lose the second set of 6 men. Another mother called to duty
14:00 Petra
Stuyvesant: prowling rocks or drifters they are called in my version and there is no
passing
14:01 Torrey
Philemon: He has to learn from the "mothers" without being at their
mercy.
14:01 Torrey
Philemon: I seem to remember an old movie or interpretation of the Odyssey with the
Clashing Rocks in it...but I don't think they do appear in the original, do they?
14:02 Callista Solon:
A symbol of the Great Goddess & female knowledge?
14:02 Petronilla
Livius: Clashing Rocks in mine - says Argo was the only ship to pass witht he help of
Hera
14:02 Petra
Stuyvesant: Ooops I was wrong before, the one ship that made it through *those* rocks
was the one whose captain was loved by a Goddess, that's probably why O chose the S-C
route.
14:03 maia Nestor: Yes, Jason.
14:03 Torrey
Philemon: What do you see as such a symbol, Callista?
14:04 Torrey
Philemon: Ah Jason. The Clashing Rocks are in the Jason story!
14:04 Callista Solon:
Having To refer to "mother"
14:05 Torrey
Philemon: Hey, Petra, Odysseus is supposedly loved by a goddess, Athena. But she
appears to abandon him for a long time, doesn't she? Because she fears the wrath of
her brother Poseidon.
14:07 maia Nestor: There is a book about that, the Wrath of Athena, by
Jenny Strauss Clay, I believe. Clay posits that Athena, though she loves O, is also
annoyed because he possesses so many of her gifts...
14:07 Petra
Stuyvesant: I think she loves him, but not in a romantic way, like the deepest
admiration.
14:08 Petra
Stuyvesant: She guides him and yet she allows him to make his own decisions
14:08 Torrey
Philemon: Interesting, Maia? Does that book draw on myth in regard to Athena's
"annoyance"?
14:08 Callista Solon:
Athena is supposed to love Penelope equally, too. Penelope is supposed to b crafty
and wise.
14:11 Petra
Stuyvesant: Brings up that Adam and Eve metaphor again, except in this case the
intellectual first couple
14:11 Callista Solon:
Homer makes reference that they were the perfect couple
14:12 maia Nestor: Strauss Clay is a pretty well known classicist, I
think...but I can't remember much of it. I don't think Athena loves Penelope equally...she
is good to her as befits O's wife, but O is clearly her thing.
14:12 Torrey
Philemon: Yes, Petra. If we talk about the history of man, Odysseus and Penelope are
sort of an archetypal couple in regard to knowledge and wisdom (I'm remembering another
famous couple too, Solomon and Sheba)
14:15 Petra
Stuyvesant: A question - how come O did not have as much difficulty passing Skylla and
Charybdis a second time?
14:15 Torrey
Philemon: We start here with the man and female apart, coming together (in Jungian
terms, that's the integration of anima and animus)
14:15 Petronilla
Livius: Clashing Rocks in mine - says Argo was the only ship to pass witht he help of
Hera
14:16 Petra
Stuyvesant: I mean he rows past this whirlpool with his *bare hands*?
14:16 Torrey
Philemon: I don't get the impression that Odysseus is trusting in Athena's help
however.
14:17 Petra
Stuyvesant: Well, Athena leaves him alone for years! I would not count on her
either if that happened to me.
14:18 Torrey
Philemon: Gee, I'm remembering in Hades - it kind of irked me. Agamemnon warns
Odysseus not to ever trust women.
14:18 Petra
Stuyvesant: can you find the line number on that Torrey?
14:19 Torrey
Philemon: There's sort of an issue here...can he or can he not even trust Penelope
(will have to find my book, Petra. It's not next to me).
14:19 diopan Nestor enters...
14:20 Petronilla
Livius: But consider Agamemnon's experience with women His wife was not exactly
a shining example of trustworthiness
14:21 Torrey
Philemon: Hello diopan. We're getting near ending but feel free to join in...
14:22 Petra
Stuyvesant: Okay, found it, (after a long list of reasons why Aggie was right to say
something like that) "Let it be a warning, even unto you. Indulge a woman
never, and never tell her all you know...."
14:22 Petronilla
Livius: Petra - Book 11 Line518
14:23 Petra
Stuyvesant: He goes on to say "Not that I see a risk for you, Odysseus, of death
at your wife's hands. She is too wise, too clear-eyed, sees alternatives too well,
Penelope...."
14:23 Torrey
Philemon: Just found it Petronilla. In Fagles it says, ""Bear in
mind....never out inthe open...the time for trusting women's gone forever!
14:23 Petra
Stuyvesant: thanks petronilla, I've got a great edition, easy to find things thank
goodness
14:24 diopan Nestor:
sorry I'm late, I'll read the transscripts later
14:24 Petra
Stuyvesant: Hello diopan :^)
14:25 Torrey
Philemon: And before that Agamemnon says: So even your own wife - never indulge her
too far. Never reveal the whole truth, whatever you may know; just tell her a part of it;
be sure to hide the rest.
14:26 Petra
Stuyvesant: My other translation is similar to my first post, nothing about not
trusting them, only advice to hide part of what you know.
14:27 Petra
Stuyvesant: Maybe Fagles had a problem trusting women :^)
14:27 Petronilla
Livius: Certainly O's trip to Hades should give him comfort about Penelope - Ag &
O's mother giving good reports
14:27 Petra
Stuyvesant: Yes, I guess Hades was a 2-edged swaord for O, good news about his wife
from his own dead mother.
14:27 maia Nestor: Well, O was a survivor. He took NOTHING for granted.
14:29 Torrey
Philemon: Folks, we probably need to be out of here in about 15 minutes, when the next
FB arrives. Just wondering if there's anything else you want to bring up (I have one
question left myself!)
14:29 Petra
Stuyvesant: Testing testing 1,2 3 (sorry)
14:29 Petronilla
Livius: Only one Torrey?
14:29 Petra
Stuyvesant: What is it Torrey?
14:30 Torrey
Philemon: This is what most puzzles me. The interpretations I read say that what
Odysseus learned in Hades is that after death, life is meaningess and empty. So as a
result, he's not likely to be tempted by Calypso's offer of immortality.
14:31 Torrey
Philemon: But is immortality supposed to be life in Hades, like Achilles and Agamemnon
are experiencing. What about other myths of immortality, like life on Olympus or in the
Elysian Fields? Homer doesn't refer to either of those.
14:31 maia Nestor: But if he took her offer, he would not die, Torrey! I
don't understand, am I missing something?
14:32 Petronilla
Livius: I saw that on your Odyssey page Torrey. Didnt quite understand it
14:32 Torrey
Philemon: I don't understand either, Maia. I'm questioning the interpretations Iread
that imply that immortality is life in Hades.
14:33 Petra
Stuyvesant: I have to think about it, I am a bit confused
14:33 Torrey
Philemon: Or existence in Hades. Shouldn't use the word life here. After death.
14:33 maia Nestor: No, Calypso's offer is not the same as living in
Hades. It implies living with her, never dying.
14:34 Torrey
Philemon: That's what I thought, Maia. So it's not Homer that's confusing, it's the
interpreters who are off base!
14:34 Petronilla
Livius: It says he saw Heracles' ghost - the man himself delights in the grand feasts
of teh deathless gods on high. Two levels there
14:34 Petra
Stuyvesant: That's how I understood Calypso'd offer, staying with her.
14:35 maia Nestor: And there are divisions in Hades, Torrey. Like
Heracles is immortal...but he's not in Hades proper. Elysian Fields.
14:35 Torrey
Philemon: Yes, is Heracles in two places at once? Olympus or the Elysian Fields and
the part of Hades where the Shades live?
14:35 Torrey
Philemon: Or maybe he moves back and forth...
14:36 Petra
Stuyvesant: hades - shade reflexive, hmmmm
14:36 maia Nestor: I think, remember reading once, that there are two
shades of Heracles...the monster who killed his wife and kids is in Hades, the other in
the EF...
14:37 Torrey
Philemon: Gee, not only people have A.S. have dual personalities!
14:37 Petra
Stuyvesant: Anyone have a line number for this? (still confused)
14:37 maia Nestor: And maybe a third in Olympos! With myth, we're
dealing with so many contributory factors, aren't we? Conflicting viewpoints...
14:37 Torrey
Philemon: at A.S.!
14:38 maia Nestor enters...
14:38 Torrey
Philemon: I'm not sure it's all in the book, Petra. I think there are other myths
about Heracles after death that differ from Homer's interpretation.
14:39 Petra
Stuyvesant: maia enters again (without leaving) thereby proving that you can have two
online at the same time
14:39 Petra
Stuyvesant: Oh, okay Torrey.
14:39 diopan Nestor:
I think the place is book 11 line 600
14:39 maia Nestor: Yes, I am so multi-talented!
14:39 Torrey
Philemon: LOL!
14:39 Petronilla
Livius: Line 690 Book 11
14:39 maia Nestor: Tons of other myths, Torrey!
14:40 Torrey
Philemon: Maia, you unintentionally (or was it intentionally) enacted the issue we're
talking about.
14:41 maia Nestor: I think the line Petra is referring to has to do with
H being in Olympos...
14:41 Petra
Stuyvesant: Yes, that's what I meant, glad you got that Torrey :^)
14:41 Torrey
Philemon: In Fagles: And next I caught a glimpse of powerful Heracles - his ghost, I
mean: the man himself delights in the grand feasts of the deathless gods on high....
14:42 Petra
Stuyvesant: Yes, maia, where is that line number 600 and 690 weren't it
14:42 Torrey
Philemon: Line 690 in Fagles....
14:43 Petra
Stuyvesant: Okay it's 720 in mine
14:43 maia Nestor: Line 717...approx.
14:44 Torrey
Philemon: There are two systems of numbering, right Maia? The original and the
translation.
14:44 Petra
Stuyvesant: well, yes, 717 you're right *smile*
14:44 diopan Nestor:
H. being with Hebe among the gods is line 603 in greek
14:45 Petra
Stuyvesant: So he is destined to toil in the underworld as O toils in the "sunny
world"
14:46 Callista Solon exits...
14:46 Torrey
Philemon: Interesting that one can live on Olympus and be a shade in Hades at the same
time (Are we all shades online? Just living in consiousness, without our bodies?)
14:46 Petra
Stuyvesant: I like that question Torrey!
14:47 Torrey
Philemon: (Petra, I sometimes think of the Internet as a glimpse of life after death.
Connecting only in consciousness)
14:48 Petra
Stuyvesant: There are definitely representations of all the worlds in this work, the
underworld, the physical world, toe world of the Gods, the realm of the mind and the
spiritual world.
14:48 Petra
Stuyvesant: the not toe, sorry, think faster than I type
14:49 Torrey
Philemon: We probably all needto get out of here in the next 5 minutes, folks, for the
next FB chat group to arrive.
14:49 Petra
Stuyvesant: And Gods by their very nature can exist simultaneously on different planes
of existance.
14:50 Torrey
Philemon: Anything else anyone wants to say, in closing?
14:50 Petra
Stuyvesant: Okay, I can live with that :^)
14:50 diopan Nestor:
this probably what makes it so interesting
14:50 Petra
Stuyvesant: Thanks Torrey, you're terriffic (but you know that already)
14:51 Petronilla
Livius: Do we have a time for the next discussion? Which books? Will it be
posted later? Thanks all!
14:51 Petra Stuyvesant enters...
14:51 Torrey
Philemon: You all are terrific. We've had a really stimulating discussion. (I get
motivated by all you aware, intelligent people!)
14:51 maia Nestor: Next Sunday? Same time?
14:52 Torrey
Philemon: I think Maia is leading the next discussion on Sunday? Maia, are you still
here? Which books? Do you have a time?
14:52 Torrey
Philemon: Sounds good. Books 13-16 or even more?
14:53 maia Nestor: How about the same time...and say, 13-19?
14:53 maia Nestor: Well that can be the structure...13-16 is probably
more realistic.
14:53 Torrey
Philemon: That ok with everyone here? (Maia, will you announce that on the FB board?)
14:53 Trajanus Ulpius enters...
14:54 Petra Stuyvesant enters...
14:54 maia Nestor: Sure. Will do it today, if I can.
14:54 Torrey
Philemon: You decide, then post....(I read somewhere that the Odyssey is written in
series of 4 books, so if that's true, 13-16 or 13-20 would make sense)
14:54 Domitilla Curtius enters...
14:54 Petronilla
Livius: That works for me - I may be a bit late again. I have really enjoyed
this!
14:54 Torrey
Philemon: Trajanus, if you're here for the next chat, we're just ending the Odyssey
one and will be out in about 2 minutes.
14:55 maia Nestor: 24 books, Torrey. Both Iliad and Odyssey.
14:55 Petra
Stuyvesant: Thanks everyone!
14:55 Petra Stuyvesant exits...
14:55 maia Nestor: It's been fun...
14:55 Torrey
Philemon: Yes, thanks everyone! This has been great.
14:55 maia Nestor exits...
14:55 Trajanus
Ulpius: Don't run on my account. Any of you interested in non-fiction?
14:56 Torrey
Philemon: The transcript will be here...and I'll post it at my site too (if the file
manager works!)
14:56 Domitilla
Curtius: Yes! non-fiction1 That's why I'm here...
14:56 diopan Nestor:
bye everyone
14:56 Torrey
Philemon: Ok the Odyssey group is leaving. To the next group: have a great chat!
14:56 Petronilla
Livius: I am staying for non-fiction.
14:56 Torrey
Philemon: Bye diopan. Thanks for joining in.
14:57 Torrey
Philemon: Long chat time for you Petronilla. Take care...
14:59 Torrey Philemon exits...
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