8th+Brouhahas+Bk14

The Odyssey: Book 14



 * 1) Odysseus (in the guise of a beggar)
 * 2) Eumaeus the swineherd
 * 3) Mesaulius (a servant of Eumaeus)


 * Odysseus (in the guise of a beggar) travels to the abode of Eumaeus the swineherd to determine who is still loyal to him, after plotting with Athena.
 * He is almost mauled by Eumaeus' dogs when he approaches the farm.
 * Eumaeus stops the dogs and offers Odysseus food and drink.
 * Eumaeus discusses the plight that Penelope finds herself in, and how she offers food and clothing to any wretch who comes to her door with a story of Odysseus' return.
 * Eumaeus also recounts the latest atrocities of the suitors and how they are depleting Odysseus' herds.
 * Odysseus (who is not yet recognized) tells Eumaeus that he will refrain from accepting any gifts of clothing until Odysseus (here he is referring to himself in third person) returns, to reassure Eumaeus that he is telling the truth as he speaks of Odysseus' return. Odysseus also takes an oath to tell the truth.
 * Odysseus/beggar then proceeds to relate his untrue tale of woe.
 * In this story, he is the son of Castor (a Cretan king) by a concubine.
 * He grows up as a warrior and goes off to fight in the Trojan War.
 * After spending one month at home after the ten year war, Odysseus/beggar and his men left for Egypt.
 * He is ruined when his men are counterattacked as they pillage a coastal area of Egypt. He loses all of his men and he begs the Egyptian king for mercy.
 * The Egyptian saves him from the angry people he attacked and allows Odysseus/beggar to stay in his home.
 * He then decided to leave Egypt eight years later with a group of Phoenicians, who planned to eventually sell him into slavery.
 * When their ship was destroyed by a lightning bolt, Odysseus/beggar survives by clinging to wreckage for ten days and washes ashore on the land of the Thesprotians.
 * Their king, Pheidon, tells him of Odysseus' adventures, and tells him that Odysseus would be returning to Ithaca after he had heard Dodona's oracle.
 * King Pheidon sends Odysseus/beggar with a crew of men bound for Dulichium, but the men attempt to enslave him.
 * When the crew lands on Ithaca, they left him tied up in their boat.
 * With the aid of the gods, he escaped from his bonds and swam to shore, and thus ends the story he was telling Eumaeus.
 * Then, to assure Eumaeus he is in fact not lying to get hospitality, he tells him that if he is lying, Eumaeus may incite the Ithacans to throw Odysseus/beggar off of a cliff if Odysseus does not return within a year.
 * They then have dinner with Eumaeus' servant Mesaulius serving them, and Odysseus is given the choicest part of a five year old boar. This pleases Odysseus.
 * Odysseus/beggar then tells a story of how Odysseus helped save him from freezing to death when he forgot his cloak during a military expedition during the Trojan War. Eumaeus has one of his men give Odysseus his cloak for the night for the telling of the story.
 * Finally, all the other hands go to sleep, but Eumaeus leaves for the night to watch over the animals. This ensures Odysseus that Eumaeus kept close watch over Odysseus' possessions while he was away.

Eumaeus is the only person in the Odyssey referred to in the second person by the bard, setting him apart from the other characters of the epic. When the teller of the tale describes Eumaeus’ responses to Odysseus’ words, he sometimes begins with the words, “And you, Eumaeus, the swineherd, then replied” (Homer, XIV, 274). Some scholars have suggested that the reason Eumaeus is referred to in this way is that Homer, a travelling storyteller, would have found something in common with this character, and therefore speaks to him in this manner. Others have suggested that Eumaeus, as the loyal and devoted model servant of Odysseus, would have gained special recognition for his behavior.
 * “You, Eumaeus” - The Second Person **

The period about which Homer composed his epic poems, the Homeric Age, also called the Mycenaean Period, occurred several centuries before Homer is thought to have lived. The Mycenaean Period, named after the city state of Mycenae, which reached the height of its power during this time, lasted from about 1500 B.C. to 1100 B.C. The legendary king Agamemnon was the leader of Mycenae during part of this period, and led the Greek forces into the Trojan War during it. The story of this war inspired Homer to sing its praises and those of its heroes, creating the story of the Iliad as we have it today, finalized several centuries after the war itself. The Odyssey also occurred during the Mycenaean Period, and, again, the story as we have it today was not finalized until several centuries after the event. Homer himself lived in Greece in a period known as the Dark Age. This period, lasting from about 1100 B.C. to 750 B.C., saw little writing, hence the name, and also saw the migration of Greeks away from the Greek mainland, the decline of cites, and the decline of trade. During this period, Greeks began to develop a common language and a common history. This history was often based on myths that gave the Greeks an ideal past with an array of heroes and great men as their ancestors. It also contained strong themes such as //arête// or "excellence," which encouraged generations of Greeks to strive for the "excellence" their ancestors had exhibited. The epic poems of Homer were not written down until the end of the Dark Age, when advances in tools allowed for an increase in crop yields and the development of more complex culture once again.
 * Homer's Greece **

**The Advancement of Themes ** 
 * Hospitality:** Hospitality is one of the most stressed themes in book XIV. When Odysseus went to Eumaeus disguised as a beggar, Eumaeus kindly welcomes him into his home. He serves Odysseus the best portions of a hog. The theme of hospitality reappears in Odysseus’ untrue tale of woe. In his tale the beggar lands on the shore of the Thesprotians after nine days in the dark sea. The Thesprotian king, Pheidon, received him without asking for anything in return.


 * Faithfulness**: Faithfulness is the other major theme in book XIV. The faithfulness of Eumaeus is tested when Odysseus visits him disguised as a beggar to see if his loyal to him. Eumaeus is completely faithful to Odysseus and he still takes care of his belongings.


 * Sacrifice:** The importance of sacrifice is a very minor theme in book XIV. But it is still displayed when Eumaeus burns all the hairs that had been plucked from the hog as a sacrifice to the gods. Eumaeus also performs another act of sacrifice when he takes bits of raw flesh from the limbs of the beast and puts it on sacrificial fat. He then sprinkles it them with barely meal and cast the entire offering into flames.


 * Justice of the Gods:** The justice of the gods is displayed many times in Odysseus’ untrue tale of woe. When the beggar’s crew begins to ravage the Egyptians, Zeus casts a fatal panic into the beggar’s men. This allowed the Egyptians to kill many of the Beggars men and enslave the survivors. The Justice of the gods in displayed once again in Odysseus untrue tale of woes when the beggar is tied up on the boat of the Thesprotians on the shore of Ithaca. The beggar is freed by the gods who untie the knots that bound him to the boat.


 * Prophecy:** The importance of prophecy is almost unmentioned in book XIV. But it does appear once in Odysseus’ untrue tale of woes. When the beggar is on the land of the Thesprotians he hears that Odysseus has gone to hear the words of Dodona’s oracle.