Week 3 Reading Diary, continued: Homer's Odyssey

This week I chose to read the Odyssey, by Homer, this is part 2 of my notes.

1847: bequeathed to Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans

Ghosts of Erebus

•  The religion this story is based on is very apparent in this section.  Odysseus makes a sacrifice of honey, sweet wine, water, and barley meal. 
• Odysseus must rely on the gods to make this plan work, in order to talk to Teiresias.

The Ghosts of Elpenor and Teiresias

•  Odysseus leaves Teiresias unburied and unwept.  These are powerful words to use, and makes it seem like Odysseus completely forgot his comrade. 
• Seeing your mothers ghost is a cruet way to find out that she'd dead.
• The phrase "court your wife and offer gifts of courtship" seems redundant.

The Spirit of Anticleia

•  Odysseus gets to speak with his mother, but only after he has spoken to Teiresias.
•  This quote has very vivid language "The sinews no longer bind flesh and bone, the fierce heat of the blazing pyre consumes them, and the spirit flees from our white bones, a ghost that flutters and goes like a dream."

The Ghosts of Famous Women

•  There have been many interesting stories written about the children of gods, and several more modern stories have created new heroes.  The lore about them is interesting, and it can definitely spawn some creative story ideas. 
• Odysseus meets Oedipus's mother, who is part of a different tale in Greek mythology. 

The Ghost of Agamemnon

•  Apparently women are an untrustworthy bunch.  It's true that women were looked at very differently in Ancient Greece.

The Spirit of Achilles

•  It's harder for me to get interested in this part of the story.  Odysseus is talking to Achilles.  Although Achilles and his heal is a story I'm familiar with, the two conversing about Achilles sons is not the most interesting.  I do understand that part of this is because I am from the 20th century, not ancient Greece.

The Ghost of Ajax

• Once again, Homer describes many of the people Odysseus sees in the underworld.  I think this section is slightly less relevant to the plot, but is very relevant in the culture in which the story was written.

The Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis

•  Warning, prophesies, and foreshadowing can be an important part of writing.  Odysseus receives instructions from many characters throughout the Odyssey, and does not always listen to the instructions.  He pays for it with his men's lives.