So, I didn't mention some of the important stuff of book 8 of the Odyssey in my narrative yesterday so I'll just talk about that really quickly. The blind bard, Demodocus, was motivated by the Muse to sing about the struggle between Achilles and Odysseus. It's not that the bard was just trying to be a dick to Odysseus. I'm not sure if the bard knows that it's Odysseus, but even if the bard knows, it's not that he's trying to call Odysseus out. The Muse is an important figure because they always are the ones that motivate the bards and the poets and everyone to actually sing the poem/story. Without the Muse, there would likely be no story to be told.
The next thing I'd like to address is the ignorance (or whatever you want to call it) of king Alcinous and pretty much everybody else at the party. When Odysseus is trash talking the people, he clearly says something along the lines of, "The only person who was better at the bow than me during Troy was Philoctetes." I feel like that alone would give away who Odysseus was. I mean, really? You've probably heard tales about the brave warrior Odysseus who was one of the strongest people ever and you can't figure out that the guy bragging about how good he is at the bow is Odysseus? The guy even says that the only other people who can beat him at the bow are dead (some killed by Apollo because they were just that good with a bow)... I'm not sure if the king is just playing dumb or something, but I find it hard to believe he can't figure out it's Odysseus, in case I haven't made that point clear enough.
Lastly, I'd just like to give a fun fact I found out about and no, it's nothing like my "fun" fact that Alcinous is married to his niece, it's that Achilles had a badass group of warriors that followed him into battle called the Myrmidons. They were a group of people that were descended from a demigod king named Myrmidon. Who was the godly parent, you might ask? Well, it's the one guy that just can't keep it in his pants! Zeus, of course! Now, Zeus has seduced women in some really weird ways, but I'm not going to get into those other ways right now. I'm focusing on how Myrmidon was conceived. So, Zeus sees this beautiful woman and reacts similarly to Ares when he sees Aphrodite, "Oh! Let's bone!" and so, Zeus comes down in the form of an ant. Yeah, an ant (which is what Myrmidon is named after). Another version of this story says that Zeus seduced Eurymedusa, Myrmidon's mom, in the form of her husband, Myrmex. Not cool, Zeus, not cool at all. But yeah, so this guy named Myrmidon managed to become a king of Thessalian Phthia, a city which was found by Achilles' grandfather. How nice! Everything is in a full circle, kinda.
I think it's interesting that you mention how weird it seemed when Odysseus mentions some of his big-name friends and nobody connects the dots (or at least becomes more curious of Odysseus's identity). Maybe this is just something that we're not supposed to think too hard about, but that does lead me to wonder what kinds of stories -- exaggerated or otherwise -- have trickled down to the general population in the ten years or so that the Trojan War has been over. They didn't have the media in the way that we do today, and so I expect most of the news to have come from the returning soldiers themselves. Maybe it's the case that many of these people just didn't really know who Philoctetes was. I'm totally just speculating here, but considering how normal people would've known of the war is interesting indeed!
ReplyDeleteI think that Odysseus gives these small hints to see who truly remembers him and can recognize him, and especially so that people will take his side in the battle against the suitors. Only the most loyal people are given these small hints as to his true identity when he returns to Ithaca, such that they will continue their loyalty and regain some of their lost hope.
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