8th+Poseidon+People+Bk+13

= = **//The Odyssey Book XIII The Preparation//**

__Main Characters:__ -Odysseus -Athena -Poseidon -Zeus -Alcinous

__Settings:__ -Scheria - Isle on which the Phaeacians live on -Mount Olympus - Poseidon asks permission from Zeus to punish the Phaeacians -Ithaca - Odysseus meets Athena, and they plan under an olive tree near a harbor head. Odysseus keeps his treasures in a nearby cave sacred to the Naiads.

__Vocabulary from Book XIII:__ Oracle- A prophecy from the Greek gods given by a priest or priestess (Example on pg. 261).

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 * __Summary of Events in__ **** __Book XIII:__ **

In the beginning, Odysseus is at a feast held by Alcinous, King of the Phaeacians. When Odysseus says he is departing, Alcinous orders his herald Pontonous, to give libations to Zeus in order for Odysseus to have a safe ride. Once sun sets, Odysseus boards a boat with a crew assembled by Alcinous, headed for Ithaca. When the ship reaches Ithaca, the crew carries the sleeping Odysseus onto shore and sets him on the sand. During the time the ship travels for Scheria, Poseidon, with the help of Zeus, plots a plan to make the Phaeacians' ship turn into stone and Scheria to be surrounded by mountains. Poseidon's plot happens as the ship is in the sights of Scheria. Scared by the sight of the ship turning into stone, Alcinous gathers the Phaeacians and start sacrificing twelve bulls to Poseidon.

Back in Ithaca, Odysseus awakes and is unaware of where he was due to the fact that Athena surrounded him in mist. Athena, in disguise as a young man, greets Odysseus and describes the place where they are, and Odysseus lies to Athena about the story of [|Orsiliochus]. In "winged" words Athena reveals herself and tells Odysseus that they must conspire against the suitors. Responding to Athena, Odysseus asks Athena if she has tricked him, and that he really isn't in Ithaca. Athena then brings Odysseus to a cave which is sacred to the Naiads, and tells him to place his treasures from the Phaeacians there. Next, Odysseus and Athena plan the deaths of the suitors, and Odysseus mentions the unfortunate death of Agememnon, in the story of the //Oresteia//. Afterwards, Athena turns Odysseus's physique and appearance into that of an old man's so he can travel around Ithaca unrecognized. As the book closes, Odysseus and Athena finish preparing the plan, and Athena leaves, bound for Lacedaemon so that she can warn Telemachus of the suitors' plan and bring him back safely.

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**__Examples of the Five Themes:__**

1) Libations to Zeus and the other gods by the Phaeacians so that Odysseus will have a safe trip back to Ithaca (pp. 256-257). 2) The Phaeacians, after seeing Odysseus' escorting ship get turned to stone, sacrifice twelve bulls to Poseidon. They do this out of fear because they think that Poseidon will destroy the city, as prophecized by an oracle (pp. 260-261).
 * __Sacrifices:__ **

__Hospitality:__ 1) The Phaeacians give even more gifts to Odysseus before he leaves, such as caldrons and tripods. They have already given Odysseus clothes, gold, food, a ship and crew to sail him home, a warm welcome to their city, and more in addition to these caldrons and tripods. 2) Poseidon is angry at the Phaeacians for helping his enemy, Odysseus, get across the sea to Ithaca safely, and punishes them. However, they were just being hospitable to strangers and their wishes, and ironically, is punished for that.

__The Justice of the gods:__ 1) Poseidon wants the Phaeacians to stop serving as guides for other men, and is also angry that the Phaeacians didn't honor him with a sacrifice before their voyage. To make it worse, the Phaeacians gave Odysseus more gifts than he would have had from Troy if he returned to Ithaca safely, and this also angers Poseidon, who wants revenge against Odysseus. Poseidon argues with Zeus that the other gods will not respect him if they see that even mortals don't. Zeus suggests to him to sink the ship that escorted Odysseus when all the Phaeacians can see it, then destroy their city, which Poseidon sets out to do.

__Prophecy:__ 1) Alcinous' father told his son of an oracle that told him and the Phaeacians that they will have to face Poseidon's wrath because they give everyone safe escort across the seas. The first sign of the oracle coming true was when it correctly predicted that Poseidon would smash one of their returning ships. To avoid Poseidon's future wrath (which would destroy the city), the Phaeacians immediately sacrifice to Poseidon.

__Hubris: NOT A MAJOR THEME!!!__ 1) The suitors think that their plan to kill Telemachus will succeed, and even now they still keep on wasting Odysseus' wealth. However it is they who will be killed, as Athena and Odysseus plan, though the suitors still refuse to listen to the previous omen of the two eagles in Book II and believe it.

** __Dionysus: The God of Wine__ ** ​ Wine was very important in ancient Greek society as it was a sign of wealth if you could afford to buy well-aged wine. Wine could be drunk or sacrificed to the gods as libation. That is why a god of wine would have been important. Dionysus' parents were Zeus and Seleme, who was a mortal. Some people believed he wasn't a god beacause his mother was mortal. Dionysus was not believed to live at Mt. Olympus but instead he wandered around searching for the secrets of winemaking. He was believed to have been intoxicated quite often, as this was related to his profession. His symbols are the vine, wine, and thyrus. Some myths say he died, was sent to Hades, and came back again. He is never mentioned by Homer, so he is believed to have come about in the years after Homer.

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Sacrifice in religion In Judaism, sacrifice is not offered by a majority of Jews. In fact, only a small number of Orthodox priests offer sacrifice. Sacrifice stopped for the most part in 90 BCE when the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. However, when sacrifice was still offered there were many types. One type was the mos famous, the burnt offering, where the entire offering is offered to God, as a complete submission to his will. Another type of sacrifice is the peace offering, where part is sacrificed to God and the other part is eaten by the offerer. This type of sacrifice was not to used when you had sinned, but instead was simply made to honor God. The guilt offering, (or chatat in Hebrew) was made when you had made an error and were sincerely sorry to God. Some chatat were not eaten, but most were. An Asham, or guilt offering, was made when you were not sure if you had committed a sin, and wished to be sure. You would use a Asham and not a chatat if you were not sure because a chatat would mean aditting you had sinned. Jews also sacrificed wine, as the Greeks did. The Jews believed the pig to be a terible animal for scarifice because of its cleft hoove, and it was banned by Jewish law. The Greeks, however, believed the pig to be a great animal for sacrifice

Poseidon Poseidon was a major Greek god. He was married to Oceanus' daughter, Amphritite. He was not very faithful, and he was a womanizer who had many children. He divided the world between him and his brothers, Hades and Zeus. Zeus ruled the sky, Hades ruled the underworld, and Poseidon ruled the sea. Poseidon uses a trident as his weapon, which can cause earthquakes and shake the sea. He was often seen as greedy and he had many quarrels with other gods and goddesses. Poseidon houses a deep hatred for Odysseus because Odysseus stabbed his sword in Poseidon's son's eye, who was also a Cyclops (one eyed monster). Poseidon also dislike King Minos who asked Poseidon for a bull to come from the sea so that he could prove he was annointed by the gods to rule. Minos also promised to sacrifice the bull to Poseidon. However, once Minos saw the bull, he liked it too much to sacrifice. Poseidon then asked Aphrodite to have Mino's wife fall in love with the bull, which caused the Minotaur to be born. Poseidon could shape shift and one form he often took was a horse, as he is also known as the god of horses. He sometimes allowed other people to shapeshift, such as Caenis, a girl who turned into the magnificent warrior Caeneus.

__**Drawing of Zeus and Poseidon:**__



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