Dcn. Harrison Garlick is joined by another Catholic deacon, Dcn. Adam Conque to discuss Book 21 of the Odyssey: Odysseus Strings His Bow.

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From the guide:

100. What happens in book twenty-one?

The time has come for Penelope’s test and the slaughter the suitors (21.05). Penelope brings out Odysseus’ bow, one he received as a gift of friendship (21.40), and Telemachus sets out a line of ax heads the suitors must shoot through (21.140). Telemachus gives the first attempt and fails to even bend the bow (21.143). Leodes, a suitor, attempts and fails to even bend the bow as well (21.170). Antinous, who has been mocking everyone, has the goatherd attempt to limber the bow with fire and grease (21.198). Meanwhile, Odysseus takes the cowherd and swineherd out and reveals himself as their king—the three then plot the death of the suitors and return to hall. Eurymachus tries and cannot even bend the bow (21.274). Antinous, noting that Penelope has given them a test of archery on the feast day of Apollo, leads the suitors in a libation to the Archer God (21.289).

Odysseus the beggar asks to try and is mocked by the suitors—but with the help of Penelope, Telemachus, and the swineherd, he is given his bow (21.314). The suitors look on with horror as he plucks the string with ease like a musical virtuoso (21.456). Odysseus lets an arrow fly, and the arrow passes through the ax heads perfectly (21.469). The book ends with Odysseus calling his son to arms, as it is time to provide the suitors their supper (21.473).

101. What should be noted about Odysseus’ bow?

First, note that the bow was given to Odysseus as a gift, and one given in friendship (21.40). Second, it is a foreign bow (21.15). One wonders whether Odysseus’ ability to use the bow is not simply a test of strength but a test of techne, i.e., there is a cleverness needed to understand how to use the bow. Note that he seems to use a stool (21.467). Such a test would be more aligned with Odysseus as coupling of both cunning and strength. Third, it is notable that he did not take the bow to Troy with him.

Moreover, one may question the veracity of Telemachus’ attempt (21.149). To wit, his failure and his commentary on it seems so dramatic that one wonders whether he is presenting himself as weak, as non-threatening to mislead the suitors right before the trap is sprung. Notice his language: “must I be a weakling, a failure all my life,” and “come, my betters” speaking of the suitors (21.150, 53). He speaks like the old Telemachus before his maturation, but the new Telemachus is confident and knows his father has come home. Is Telemachus channeling the rhetoric of his father and presenting a falsehood?

Penelope running interference for Odysseus the beggar to attempt the test to become her suitor lends again to her knowing or having a suspicion of who he truly is (21.350). Moreover, pay attention to how she speaks of the beggar fondly (21.373).

We are in the final stretch of our Year with Homer!

Dcn. Harrison Garlick is joined by Dr. Jennifer Frey of the University of Tulsa Honors College to discuss Book 20 of the Odyssey: The Portents Gather.

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From the written guide:

97. What happens in book twenty?

After his conversation with Penelope, Odysseus the beggar lays in bed alert to the fact the maidservants are leaving the house to go sleep with the suitors (20.08). Athena causes him to fall asleep (20.59), and in the morning Odysseus prays to Zeus for an omen of support (20.109). His prayer is answered and his “heart leapt up… convinced he’d grind the scoundrels’ lives out in revenge” (20.134). The palace is alive in preparation for a feast in honor of Apollo (20.173).

We are introduced to a new character, the cowherd, who is immediately reminded of king Odysseus when he sees Odysseus the beggar the first time (20.224). Athena stirs up the suitors (20.316), and one of the suitors throws on “oxhoof” at Odysseus (20.320). Telemachus chastises the suitor (20.339), and the suitors ask Telemachus to have Penelope choose a new husband (20.370). Athena whips the suitors up into a frenzy (20.385), and the prophet, Theoclymenus, leaves the palace—as he is so troubled by his visions of the house drenched in blood (20.390). The book ends with the suitors mocking Telemachus, Telemachus bearing it stoically while looking at his father, and Penelope listening to every word said in the hall (20.439).

98. What should be made of Odysseus’ request of Athena?

Odysseus’ request of Athena gives structure to the rest of the text (20.41). First, recall that it is Zeus that oversees guest-friendship; thus, Odysseus understands he needs divine permission to kill the guests in his home. Second, note the concern that if he does kill the suitors, their avengers will come to kill him (20.45). Here, we need to understand the judicial custom of blood avengers. In short, if a person in the family was murdered, a member of the victim’s family bore a responsibility to then avenger the death of their relative. This is the underpinning to the story of Orestes killing Aegisthus for the murder of his father, Agamemnon. Later in Aeschylus’ Oresteia, the tragedian will take up this story and explore the shortcomings with this understanding of justice. One such fault with the blood avenger model of justice is that is perpetuates circles of violence. For example, Odysseus will kill the suitors, but the family of the suitors will then seek to murder him; in turn, if they do murder Odysseus, Telemachus would then be bound to avenge father. As such, the concern is how does the cycle of violence stop? The answer to that question will be given one way at the end of the Odyssey and in another at the end of the Oresteia.

Returning to the text, note that Athena does not answer him (20.47). Odysseus needs to have faith, as he’s not given a detailed explanation of the divine plan. It is notable the passage ends with Homer using “loosed his limbs” as an idiom for sleep—as its normally an idiom for death (20.61). One wonders then if we are not on the verge of a rebirth for Odysseus.

Finally, despite Athena’s response, note that Odysseus still asks Zeus for a sign—and Zeus gives it to him (20.109).

More questions and answers in our guide!

Dcn. Harrison Garlick is joined by Mary Pat Donoghue, Executive Director of the Secretariat of Catholic Education at the USCCB, to discuss Book 19 of the Odyssey: Penelope and her guest.

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From our written guide:

93. What happens in book nineteen?

With the suitors retired for the evening to their own houses, Odysseus and Telemachus clear the hall of weapons, as Athena carries a golden lamp to light their way (19.35). Odysseus is harassed by the maidservant Melantho (19.70), and Melantho is warned by both Odysseus the beggar and Penelope that judgment is coming (19.97). Odysseus sits down with Penelope, and the two begin to trade carefully crafted responses (19.110). Odysseus, still disguised as a beggar, spins a falsehood for his wife about his history, which includes that he had met Odysseus (19.193). Penelope tests the beggar by asking about Odysseus’ clothing, which Odysseus is easily able to answer (19.259). Odysseus the beggar tells Penelope her husband is alive and returning soon (19.310). Penelope, skeptical of the claim (19.354), arranges for the old maid, Eurycleia, to wash Odysseus’ feet (19.406). Eurycleia recognizes Odysseus due to his scar—and we hear the story of how Odysseus received his name (19.445). Odysseus threatens the old servant, his old wetnurse, into silence (19.554). The book ends with Odysseus interpreting a dream for Penelope, and Penelope tells Odysseus the beggar how she intends to test the suitors (19.644).

94. What should be noted in the dialogue of Odysseus and Penelope?

The matchless queen of cunning and the man of twists and turns have their reunion—to a degree. Notice that Odysseus’ original answer to Penelope is a non-answer (19.114). Penelope, in response however, appears to be quite open with her beggar-guest (19.137). What is the impetus of her openness to this stranger? Is she simply isolated, exhausted and recognizes in the beggar a noble spirit to which she can decompress? Or is Penelope’s openness and invitation for the beggar to be open, because she suspects it is Odysseus? If Argos the dog can recognizes his master through this disguise, why not his cunning wife? The question of when Penelope suspects the beggar is Odysseus haunts the text.

Odysseus arguably loves Penelope because of her wit, and she sharing the story of the loom would have been quite endearing to him (19.169). Odysseus tests his wife—recall the Clytemnestra episode—but the reader should be cognizant of to what degree Penelope is testing Odysseus (19.248). She certainly tests him in the story he presents, but one wonders to what degree she is testing him in her suspicions of who he really is. One notes how often Odysseus the beggar refers to his wife as “noble wife of Laertes’ son, Odysseus” (19.299, 384).

It is notable as well that the oath given is on the hearth of the home of Odysseus and Penelope (19.349). Odysseus’ commentary on curses for those who are cruel toward guests and glory for those who are kind toward colors both his return home and his episode with the cyclops (19.376). Note also that xenia can be a source of glory and fame (19.382). In other words, glory comes not simply from wartime excellence but also peacetime hospitality. It reveals a path to glory in peace, which aligns with the Odyssey being a parallel to the city of peace of Achilles’ shield.

The book ends with another episode of Penelope seeming to be overly open to this beggar in her house, as she tells him her dream (19.603). Again, one wonders what she suspects and whether her openness is supposed to draw out a reciprocal openness. Her weeping at the end lends to theories that she suspects the beggar is Odysseus but the safeguards she has put in place around her heart will not admit it (19.680).

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