#6 Contrast of Proems of the Iliad and the Odyssey

Compiled by Nicole Hirsch; edited by Ashley Burroughs

Both the Iliad and the Odyssey begin with proems. These opening stanzas prepare the reader for what is to follow in the epics. While the Iliad opens with the word menis (anger of the gods), the Odyssey begins with the word andra (man). These terms give insight into the poems. They distinguish the tone and mood of each piece; these words foreshadow the wrath, devastation and war of the Iliad and, conversely, human longing and philia (familial love) in the Odyssey.

The Odyssey's proem focuses clearly on Odysseus's return home. The word nostos (homecoming) is mentioned four times on the first page alone. This repetition reinforces the notion of homesickness, a human feeling, quite different from the Iliad. The ideas of homecoming are mentioned thrice in the Iliad. We first see this notion when Agamemnon suggests that the men all go home in Book 2. Next, towards th beginning of the poem when Achilleus is presented with the option of returning home or staying to help the Achaians in battle. The last mention of the homecoming occurs during Achilleus's discussion with Priam near the end of the poem.

Odysseus's name is not mentioned until line 21. Instead, he is referred to as the man of polutropos (many travels, deviations or turns). The poem has a general introduction, which could apply to any man. Odysseus becomes representative of mankind. The delay in naming him also invokes a more grandiose introduction. When his name is finally stated, it is abreast the word "godlike." Though it may seem ironic that a man who is presented as such a hero can't even "save his companions [from] their own wild recklessness" (27), Odysseus is perhaps godlike, but not kingly.

Fate versus Choice

In the Odyssey, the choice of the gods, namely Poseidon and Athene, gives the epic conflict while in the Iliad, it is given by the wrath of Achilleus (and also of Apollo). The question of whether mas or gods are responsible for the actions of man is frequently presented in the Iliad; however, a clear distinction of which has more control is never stated. In the Odyssey, Homer places the gods in a position of power, but he also balances this power with an emphasis on the responsibility of man that did not exist in the Iliad.

The poem itself also serves as an example of the theme: fate v. choice. The story, and oral tradition passed down from one generation to the next, is predetermined, like fate. What Homer chose to emphasize in his version of the story is similar to the choices of the gods and humans.

Odysseus's Journey

It was commonly accepted in Ancient Greece that in order for one to attain self knowledge, he had to endure suffering or experience. Odysseus's voyage represents the relationship between what is learned and what is experienced. He struggles for nostos. Ancient Greek culture barely separates ethos (character) and ethnos (ethnic, your people). In struggling to return home, therefore, he struggles to recover his identity as well. This fight for self and for home is symbolically portrayed in the adventures that he experiences on his journey home.

The reader first sees Odysseus on the island of Kalypso, the nymph-goddess. Homer describes her island, "the navel of all waters" (28), as "flourishing" with greenery and "vines" and as smelling of cedar and "fragrant cypress" (90). Kalypso dwells in a cave. The depiction alludes to female sexuality and genitalia. Odysseus, stranded on this island, is hidden form home and the rest of the world; he can not enjoy his kleos (fame and glory). Odysseus is symbolically in a womb, not in the world. While he is there, he sleeps with Kalypso during the night and mourns for his wife, Penelope, during the day. Odysseus has no control over his sexual appetite. Kalypso proposes her mortal lover with a godly life of ease on the island: sex, ambrosia and immortality, but Odysseus declines the offer. It is not within his character to lounge or do nothing; he is man of action and movement. But more importantly, staying on the island represents staying in the womb. Odysseus needs to venture forth and continue his journey, his search for self. His departure is surrounded by imagery of birth. He is naked and weakly flexes his limbs and joints like newborn. Exhausted and recovering having almost drowned, he stops in front of two plants, a cultivated olive tree and a wild olive tree. The two signify the intertwinement of nature and civilization. Odysseus must find the correct balance.

The Phaiakians are a magical species. They appear to be humans yet their ships are propelled by magic, their orchards never cease to bear fruit and they speak to undisguised gods. Their land, Scheria is a utopia. It is a completely rational place. The Phaiakians rarely interact with normal humans, but after listening to Odysseus's story, they agree to take him home. Unfortunately, when they do, Poseidon punishes them by turning their ships to stone, and further separating them from the world. This utopia is too idealistic to be a good example for humans to follow. In the land of Scheria, Odysseus meets Nausikaa, the daughter of the Phaiakian king. He is unclothed. This scene presents a potential opportunity for rape. Yet he is resourceful and realizes that he needs the help of this young girl. Odysseus follows the behavioral traditions of his society he is in and restrains his appetite. The reader perceives a symbolic change in Odysseus's character. He is able to control his appetite for women. Odysseus's attraction to Nausikaa is more civilized and rational.

Odysseus's encounters show his gradual transitions from the godlike man with irrational, even bestial whims to the cultured and civilized man he needs to be to reenter society. Just after the war, Odysseus raids the Kikonians, and continues with his adventure and meets the Cyclops, another uncivilized, godlike species. He then encounters Kalypso, a goddess. When he leaves her island and is shipwrecked at Scheria, he tells the Phaiakians. The Phaiakians represent all that is rational. Odysseus's are like tests which allow him to slowly regain his ability to behave according to the ethics of civilization and not the ethics of wat and survival. The ethnoi he comes across belong to two extremes. They are like the two plants, one wild and one cultivated. Odysseus is maturing from his prenatal state and finding the harmony of nature and civilization.

Telemachos's Journey

Telemachos grows parallel to his father. Telemachos first appears to the reader in a frenzied state. He wants to extricate the suitors of his mother from their home. All the while he is preoccupied with thoughts of his father, whom he never had a chance to know. Telemachos says that he wishes he were the son of "some fortunate man, whom old age overtook among his possessions" (32). He would rather simply have a father, than have a lost father with kleos. Telemachos who is an adolescent, a stage in life that entails unsureness of self, longs for a father figure. Telemachos's search for his father extends to be a search for himself and the search for ethnos represents a search for ethos.

There are many signs which illustrate that Telemachos is in fact caught between youth and adulthood. He stands up to his mother, Penelope, about allowing the singer to sing as if he were the man of the household. This shocks Penelope, consequently, the reader can assume that Telemachos is assuming a new position of power at home. Similarly, when Telemachos calls the assembly, the citizens are surprised by his words, "they were stricken to silence" (41). Yet when Telemachos returns home to rest before his voyage, his maidservant, Eurikleia, tucks him into bed as if he were a child. Athene appears as Mentes (which means 'thought'), a visitor and old friend of Odysseus. Mentes reaches Telemachos's house when it is full with suitors. Telemachos tries to show hospitality to Mentes, in an attempt at behaving like a man of a household. Later Athene comes to Telemachos as Mentor, another old friend of Odysseus. She guides Telemachos, as her name suggests, on his voyage. This journey allows Telemachos to learn of his father's history and experience proper hospitality. The friends of his father whom Telemachos meets along the way, show him dike (proper human behavior, customs), such as how to treat a xenos (guest) and tell him about his father's adventures.

Telemachos's first destination is the home of King Nestor, who informs Telemachos of Agamemnon's death and Orestes's vengeance. By telling this story, Nestor implicitly suggests that Telemachos must do the same for his father. Orestes and Telemachos are of the same generation and both have encountered situations where their oikos (household) was disturbed. Zeus also mentions Orestes earlier in the epic to inform the reader of the steps Telemachos must take. Nestor tells Telemachos not to leave home for too long, as the suitors will attempt to take over. Telemachos learns how to protect his home and family. Nestor also gives the name of a man who will have more recent information about Odysseus, Menelaos.

Leaving the home of Nestor, Telemachos ventures to Sparta with Peisistratos, the son of Nestor, to find Menelaos. When they reach his home, they are immediately welcomed to the festivities, an engagement celebration for Megapenthes and Hermione, Menelaos's children, even before they are asked to identify themselves. Telemachos learns how to treat guests properly. Telemachos asks Menelaos about his father and Menelaos tells him of his own nostos. Menelaos wrestled Proteus (which means flexible, moldable), the 'Old Man of the Sea' for information. Proteus is a prophet whom, if one is able pin down, will give answers. Menelaos is able to beat him with the help of Proteus's daughter. He learns of the death of his brother, Agamemnon, and of entrapment of Odysseus on Kalypso's island. Menelaos's struggle to get at the truth symbolizes the struggle that is necessary to gain knowledge.

The Gloom in Sparta

Despite the marriage celebration, the scene at Menelaos's home is deeply troubled. The gala celebrates the marriage of Hermione and Neoptolemos, a union destined for failure and the marriage of Megapenthes, Menelaos's illegitimate son. His name means 'many sorrows.' When Telemachos and Peisitratos's identities are revealed, sadness explicitly penetrates the party. Remembering Odysseus provokes grief shared by all who knew him. Menelaos wishes for his lost friends and family. He says he would give up most of his goods in exchange for the return of his loved ones, his community. Helen proposes to share stories of Odysseus. The reader hears the story of the Trojan horse for the first time. It is too painful for the tellers and listeners to endure. They are too close to the subject to enjoy the story. Helen concocts a drink in which she adds nepenthe (no sorrows) to free their minds of sadness. This drug provides enough distance to continue the story without pain. The nepenthe also overrides a potential argument between Menelaos and Helen, his wife. The two have different versions of the story. Helen claims to have recognized Odysseus in his disguise and to have bathed and tended to him, while Menelaos claims that Helen, speaking in the voice of everyone's wife, tried to get them to betray themselves while they were hiding inside the horse. The reader is exposed to a evidently unhappy marriage that requires being drugged to endure it, yet this marriage caused ten years of war with the Trojans.

The Roles of Women

The female characters in the Odyssey are portrayed as a source of danger, for the most part, and must surrender to the customs of the patriarchal Greek society. Women are often portrayed as untrustworthy. For example, the reader is reminded that there is a possibility that Odysseus is not Telemachos's father because no person can know, without a doubt, who his true father is. This doubt assumes the possible infidelity of Penelope in particular, but also of all women. Only women-- in the human and to a lesser extent in the divine realm-- are required to be sexual faithful. When Odysseus is trapped on Kalypso's island, he sleeps with her. He is not at all condemned or shamed by the narrator for his actions. Kalypso is forced by Zeus to give up her mortal lover, though most gods have affairs with mortal women.

The Utopian Phaiakian society is the only place where women seem to have real power. While their country is utopia-like, they are too rational to be an example for humans who must cope withand learn to control their impulses and passions-- the irrational component of what makes them human.