1 00:00:04,086 --> 00:00:09,041 Our hero has made it on to Scheria. He's on this island far away. 2 00:00:09,062 --> 00:00:15,031 We start to learn now, as he makes his movement from this, edges of the island 3 00:00:15,031 --> 00:00:21,028 where he meets Nausicaa and her friends. When he moves from there into the center 4 00:00:21,028 --> 00:00:25,091 of this town this city. He sees something really amazing. 5 00:00:26,012 --> 00:00:31,067 This place is a little bit strange. It's not quite like a normal citadel. 6 00:00:31,088 --> 00:00:36,065 That we will hear more about as Odysseus goes on, on his adventures. 7 00:00:36,065 --> 00:00:41,051 And we've seen now represented. Presented in Telemachus's journyes as he 8 00:00:41,051 --> 00:00:45,046 goes around and sees Nestor's palace or Menelaus's palace. 9 00:00:45,065 --> 00:00:50,071 The Phaeacians have a slightly different kind of reality that they live in. 10 00:00:50,090 --> 00:00:55,069 They are far away and they don't mix all that well with others we're told. 11 00:00:55,069 --> 00:00:59,038 They're at the world's frontier out of all human contact. 12 00:00:59,058 --> 00:01:03,007 We're told on page 174 at the bottom in book seven. 13 00:01:03,027 --> 00:01:07,042 There's plenty of food there. The crops are irrigated by springs. 14 00:01:07,042 --> 00:01:11,037 There's a kind of natural irrigation system that's happening. 15 00:01:11,056 --> 00:01:15,050 There's gentle wind. These that bring ripeness in all seasons? 16 00:01:15,050 --> 00:01:20,040 So that you have these lush, almost magical orchards that just produce fruit. 17 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:25,095 It just kind of comes up out of the depths without extra toil having to be exerted in 18 00:01:25,095 --> 00:01:28,066 order to get the food, to get the food out. 19 00:01:28,066 --> 00:01:32,085 We'll hear later, at the close of book eight, of their magic boats. 20 00:01:32,085 --> 00:01:35,088 They have boats that actually steer themselves. 21 00:01:35,088 --> 00:01:40,097 They don't have steersmen in their boats. Their boats just kind of know by will 22 00:01:40,097 --> 00:01:45,062 where they're supposed to go. And then maybe something to focus on in 23 00:01:45,062 --> 00:01:48,008 terms. Wasn't strangest, the strangest of all is 24 00:01:48,008 --> 00:01:50,094 the idea that the Gods talked to them. Face to face. 25 00:01:50,094 --> 00:01:56,068 You hear about this on page 186 in book seven, that the Phoenicians have ability 26 00:01:56,068 --> 00:02:01,098 to talk face to face with the gods. Usually, they don't disguise themselves 27 00:02:01,098 --> 00:02:05,007 when they come and talk to the Phoenicians. 28 00:02:05,007 --> 00:02:09,030 This is really weird, when humans have direct views of gods. 29 00:02:09,030 --> 00:02:14,068 Usually, there's trouble in mind. There's a story of Zeus and Semele that, 30 00:02:14,068 --> 00:02:20,063 all you all will know, that a young mortal girl who has a tryst with Zeus convinces 31 00:02:20,063 --> 00:02:24,024 him to show. Him, to herself in all his full glory and 32 00:02:24,024 --> 00:02:29,035 he says no, please don't make me do that, when he does, she gets incinerated because 33 00:02:29,035 --> 00:02:34,003 of how amazingly glorious Zeus is. Similarly, we will hear other kinds of 34 00:02:34,003 --> 00:02:38,095 stories of humans getting in trouble by getting in too close to gods as the, as 35 00:02:38,095 --> 00:02:43,000 the coarse advances. Then also remember we made a mention when 36 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:47,099 we talked about marriage of [inaudible] that in an earlier mythic time even you 37 00:02:47,099 --> 00:02:50,063 know. Prior to myth, myth in the beta stage. 38 00:02:50,081 --> 00:02:55,012 There are some tales of just kind of normal human god interactions. 39 00:02:55,012 --> 00:02:58,044 They went to parties together. They shared meals together. 40 00:02:58,062 --> 00:03:01,082 We hear about that in the marriage of Piles and Thetas. 41 00:03:01,099 --> 00:03:06,036 Later on, we're gonna see a really interesting episode of this portrayed in 42 00:03:06,036 --> 00:03:09,092 Hesiod's Theogony. That's gonna be the story of Prometheus. 43 00:03:09,092 --> 00:03:14,098 So, you know that things get a little bit messy when it comes to that interaction as 44 00:03:14,098 --> 00:03:17,043 well. But for the, the Phoenicians. 45 00:03:17,043 --> 00:03:21,010 They seem to have this easy rapport with the gods face to face. 46 00:03:21,028 --> 00:03:27,071 They really put them in this mythic space, that's already kind of Mythic for myth. 47 00:03:28,004 --> 00:03:31,841 It's Proto-mythic, it's beta myth, it's the early side of things. 48 00:03:31,841 --> 00:03:37,623 So they have this easy back and forth. They are though while they're removed from 49 00:03:37,623 --> 00:03:40,468 others, they are though extraordinary sailors. 50 00:03:40,468 --> 00:03:45,378 And this sailing capacity, this sailing prowess, brings them what sailing prowess 51 00:03:45,378 --> 00:03:48,871 always does. Extraordinarily rich trade, and tremendous 52 00:03:48,871 --> 00:03:52,602 amounts of wealth. There are fabulous riches described as 53 00:03:52,602 --> 00:03:56,260 Odysseus approaches, the, the palace of King [inaudible]. 54 00:03:56,260 --> 00:04:02,059 There's amazing stuff that he runs into. A detailed description and a lavish 55 00:04:02,059 --> 00:04:08,059 description, such as we have not yet seen. This scene, where the, the wealth of the, 56 00:04:08,059 --> 00:04:14,024 of the palaces is described, gives us a chance to talk about one of the common 57 00:04:14,024 --> 00:04:20,017 Homeric techniques of telling the story that are really useful for us to focus on 58 00:04:20,017 --> 00:04:23,043 to get the most we can out of this tech-myth. 59 00:04:23,087 --> 00:04:26,086 Homer uses a technique called ring composition. 60 00:04:26,086 --> 00:04:29,066 And in ring composition, some specific thing. 61 00:04:29,066 --> 00:04:32,065 Here, labelled A is articulated in the story. 62 00:04:32,065 --> 00:04:36,041 And then there's a long digression. Here represented with B. 63 00:04:36,060 --> 00:04:41,366 Where we talk about something that is related to this usually specific physical 64 00:04:41,366 --> 00:04:45,693 thing we just ran into, and then we'll know that we're done with the digression 65 00:04:45,693 --> 00:04:49,330 when we mention A again. So sometimes he might say "and then the 66 00:04:49,330 --> 00:04:52,934 general picked up that sword. That sword which was handed down many 67 00:04:52,934 --> 00:04:57,758 generations earlier to his grandfather and his grandfather and got passed down to 68 00:04:57,758 --> 00:04:59,964 him. That sword is the one he picked up now." 69 00:04:59,964 --> 00:05:04,403 So usually we will have an articulation of the physical object, we'll have long 70 00:05:04,403 --> 00:05:08,903 digression, and then another articulation of the physical object to finish off the 71 00:05:08,903 --> 00:05:11,975 XXX. Thought to be a very useful aid for those 72 00:05:11,975 --> 00:05:14,579 that are doing. In a world of formulaic presentations of 73 00:05:14,579 --> 00:05:18,063 poetry, so if your memorizing something and you're trying to get it going and then 74 00:05:18,063 --> 00:05:21,646 you want to talk about your digression and then you want remind yourself and your 75 00:05:21,646 --> 00:05:24,914 audience that you're done with the digression, just mention that thing that 76 00:05:24,914 --> 00:05:27,866 you did in the beginning. It tells you that it's the time to get 77 00:05:27,866 --> 00:05:31,064 out. Now this technique is used in great effect 78 00:05:31,064 --> 00:05:35,657 when Homer is describing the riches at the palace of King Alkinoos. 79 00:05:35,657 --> 00:05:41,186 So let's just take time to look at a little bit from book seven using Fagels's 80 00:05:41,186 --> 00:05:44,511 translation. Now as Odysseus approached Alkinoos's 81 00:05:44,511 --> 00:05:49,469 famous house, a rush of feelings stirred within his heart, bringing him to a 82 00:05:49,469 --> 00:05:53,069 standstill even before he crossed the bronze threshold. 83 00:05:53,069 --> 00:05:57,023 A strong radiant. A radiance strong as the moon or rising 84 00:05:57,023 --> 00:06:01,082 sun came flooding through the high roofed halls of generous King Alcinous. 85 00:06:01,082 --> 00:06:06,066 Walls plated in bronze crowned with a circling frieze glazed as blue as lapis 86 00:06:06,066 --> 00:06:10,063 ran to the left and right. From outer gates to the deepest court 87 00:06:10,063 --> 00:06:13,074 recesses and solid gold doors enclosed the palace. 88 00:06:13,092 --> 00:06:17,077 Pretty striking the description of what he's walking in to. 89 00:06:17,077 --> 00:06:22,024 And in fact the description goes on and lots of details are brought out. 90 00:06:22,024 --> 00:06:27,007 We hear about the threshold that he's standing on is actually (itself made off). 91 00:06:27,007 --> 00:06:29,096 Bronze. The door posts and the lintel are made of 92 00:06:29,096 --> 00:06:32,080 silver. The handles on the door are made of gold. 93 00:06:32,096 --> 00:06:37,057 There are gold and silver dog statues on either side of the door that were made by 94 00:06:37,057 --> 00:06:40,057 [himself. They're immortal and never die. 95 00:06:40,057 --> 00:06:42,096 They're guard dogs made of gold and silver. 96 00:06:43,013 --> 00:06:47,002 There are many thrones in the palace. One is just not just good enough. 97 00:06:47,002 --> 00:06:51,069 And each of them is decorated and draped with beautiful fine fabric, that's, of 98 00:06:51,069 --> 00:06:55,069 extraordinarily fine quality. Then there are golden statues of boys that 99 00:06:55,069 --> 00:06:59,024 are there for torch holders. There are 50 servant women screwing 100 00:06:59,024 --> 00:07:02,020 around. And there are magnificent In orchards and 101 00:07:02,020 --> 00:07:06,061 vineyards stretching for acres, that just fertilized themselves. 102 00:07:06,061 --> 00:07:12,001 So, we hear this long, long digression on tales of the extraordinary wealth of 103 00:07:12,001 --> 00:07:15,066 Alkinoss's Palace, that's visible to Odysseus's eyes. 104 00:07:15,066 --> 00:07:21,012 At that point then, at the end of this digression, bottom of page 183 and 84 in 105 00:07:21,012 --> 00:07:26,087 Fagles, in the middle of book seven, such were the gifts the glory showered down by 106 00:07:26,087 --> 00:07:31,099 the gods on King Alkinoss's realm. And there Odysseus stood, gazing at all 107 00:07:31,099 --> 00:07:35,086 this bounty. A man who borne so much once he had his 108 00:07:35,086 --> 00:07:40,587 fill of marveling at it all, he crossed the threshold quickly, strode inside the 109 00:07:40,587 --> 00:07:44,607 palace. So with our ring composition, we have an A 110 00:07:44,607 --> 00:07:49,137 and a B, and an A. The A is our threshold and the digression 111 00:07:49,137 --> 00:07:54,506 in B is our long and detailed tales of wealth and A again is our threshold. 112 00:07:54,506 --> 00:07:58,055 The way that Homer uses this, look at what he's done. 113 00:07:58,074 --> 00:08:03,588 The usefulness of this ring composition and it's characteristic of the Homeric 114 00:08:03,588 --> 00:08:07,039 technique. We have Odysseus enter into the palace and 115 00:08:07,039 --> 00:08:12,051 we basically see it through his own eyes. He walks in, hits the threshold and then 116 00:08:12,051 --> 00:08:17,015 he's just overwhelmed. And in that marvelous one or two seconds 117 00:08:17,015 --> 00:08:20,069 of Odysseus getting the visual, overwhelming. 118 00:08:20,088 --> 00:08:25,088 Impression of wealth in Alcinous's Palace. In that short time Homer goes on and on 119 00:08:25,088 --> 00:08:30,039 and on in narrative description. And then reminds us at the end of it that 120 00:08:30,039 --> 00:08:34,091 actually what we've just done is paused with Odysseus for a moment on the 121 00:08:34,091 --> 00:08:38,001 threshold. But what we've been able to hear is this 122 00:08:38,001 --> 00:08:42,883 giant explosion in Odysseus's mind of Deep, registering of this powerful, 123 00:08:42,883 --> 00:08:48,214 emotional kind of element, elements of perception that Odysseus gets. 124 00:08:48,214 --> 00:08:53,219 So, time is able to actually expand and explode inside of these rings. 125 00:08:53,219 --> 00:08:59,638 We'll have a mention of something, there may be a long memory that comes back to 126 00:08:59,638 --> 00:09:03,226 us, someone, and a mention of it at the end. 127 00:09:03,226 --> 00:09:08,142 That memory of course comes back. In an instant, but the representation of 128 00:09:08,142 --> 00:09:12,728 it in Homer's poetry goes on for some lavish amount of time. 129 00:09:12,728 --> 00:09:19,109 So Reins provide a way for Homer to dilate certain very pregnant scenes to let us 130 00:09:19,109 --> 00:09:24,676 pause for a moment usually inside of someone's head as something grand happens 131 00:09:24,676 --> 00:09:29,122 right before our eyes. And in this case there's nothing that's 132 00:09:29,122 --> 00:09:32,559 gonna be quite as grand as Alcinous's Palace. 133 00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:36,825 It's extraordinary. So Odysseus is entering into a world of, 134 00:09:36,825 --> 00:09:39,065 of tremendous, tremendous wealth.