WEBVTT 00:00:04.086 --> 00:00:09.041 Our hero has made it on to Scheria. He's on this island far away. 00:00:09.062 --> 00:00:15.031 We start to learn now, as he makes his movement from this, edges of the island 00:00:15.031 --> 00:00:21.028 where he meets Nausicaa and her friends. When he moves from there into the center 00:00:21.028 --> 00:00:25.091 of this town this city. He sees something really amazing. 00:00:26.012 --> 00:00:31.067 This place is a little bit strange. It's not quite like a normal citadel. 00:00:31.088 --> 00:00:36.065 That we will hear more about as Odysseus goes on, on his adventures. 00:00:36.065 --> 00:00:41.051 And we've seen now represented. Presented in Telemachus's journyes as he 00:00:41.051 --> 00:00:45.046 goes around and sees Nestor's palace or Menelaus's palace. 00:00:45.065 --> 00:00:50.071 The Phaeacians have a slightly different kind of reality that they live in. 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. 00:00:55.069 --> 00:00:59.038 They're at the world's frontier out of all human contact. 00:00:59.058 --> 00:01:03.007 We're told on page 174 at the bottom in book seven. 00:01:03.027 --> 00:01:07.042 There's plenty of food there. The crops are irrigated by springs. 00:01:07.042 --> 00:01:11.037 There's a kind of natural irrigation system that's happening. 00:01:11.056 --> 00:01:15.050 There's gentle wind. These that bring ripeness in all seasons? 00:01:15.050 --> 00:01:20.040 So that you have these lush, almost magical orchards that just produce fruit. 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 00:01:25.095 --> 00:01:28.066 order to get the food, to get the food out. 00:01:28.066 --> 00:01:32.085 We'll hear later, at the close of book eight, of their magic boats. 00:01:32.085 --> 00:01:35.088 They have boats that actually steer themselves. 00:01:35.088 --> 00:01:40.097 They don't have steersmen in their boats. Their boats just kind of know by will 00:01:40.097 --> 00:01:45.062 where they're supposed to go. And then maybe something to focus on in 00:01:45.062 --> 00:01:48.008 terms. Wasn't strangest, the strangest of all is 00:01:48.008 --> 00:01:50.094 the idea that the Gods talked to them. Face to face. 00:01:50.094 --> 00:01:56.068 You hear about this on page 186 in book seven, that the Phoenicians have ability 00:01:56.068 --> 00:02:01.098 to talk face to face with the gods. Usually, they don't disguise themselves 00:02:01.098 --> 00:02:05.007 when they come and talk to the Phoenicians. 00:02:05.007 --> 00:02:09.030 This is really weird, when humans have direct views of gods. 00:02:09.030 --> 00:02:14.068 Usually, there's trouble in mind. There's a story of Zeus and Semele that, 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 00:02:20.063 --> 00:02:24.024 him to show. Him, to herself in all his full glory and 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 00:02:29.035 --> 00:02:34.003 of how amazingly glorious Zeus is. Similarly, we will hear other kinds of 00:02:34.003 --> 00:02:38.095 stories of humans getting in trouble by getting in too close to gods as the, as 00:02:38.095 --> 00:02:43.000 the coarse advances. Then also remember we made a mention when 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:47.099 we talked about marriage of [inaudible] that in an earlier mythic time even you 00:02:47.099 --> 00:02:50.063 know. Prior to myth, myth in the beta stage. 00:02:50.081 --> 00:02:55.012 There are some tales of just kind of normal human god interactions. 00:02:55.012 --> 00:02:58.044 They went to parties together. They shared meals together. 00:02:58.062 --> 00:03:01.082 We hear about that in the marriage of Piles and Thetas. 00:03:01.099 --> 00:03:06.036 Later on, we're gonna see a really interesting episode of this portrayed in 00:03:06.036 --> 00:03:09.092 Hesiod's Theogony. That's gonna be the story of Prometheus. 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 00:03:14.098 --> 00:03:17.043 well. But for the, the Phoenicians. 00:03:17.043 --> 00:03:21.010 They seem to have this easy rapport with the gods face to face. 00:03:21.028 --> 00:03:27.071 They really put them in this mythic space, that's already kind of Mythic for myth. 00:03:28.004 --> 00:03:31.841 It's Proto-mythic, it's beta myth, it's the early side of things. 00:03:31.841 --> 00:03:37.623 So they have this easy back and forth. They are though while they're removed from 00:03:37.623 --> 00:03:40.468 others, they are though extraordinary sailors. 00:03:40.468 --> 00:03:45.378 And this sailing capacity, this sailing prowess, brings them what sailing prowess 00:03:45.378 --> 00:03:48.871 always does. Extraordinarily rich trade, and tremendous 00:03:48.871 --> 00:03:52.602 amounts of wealth. There are fabulous riches described as 00:03:52.602 --> 00:03:56.260 Odysseus approaches, the, the palace of King [inaudible]. 00:03:56.260 --> 00:04:02.059 There's amazing stuff that he runs into. A detailed description and a lavish 00:04:02.059 --> 00:04:08.059 description, such as we have not yet seen. This scene, where the, the wealth of the, 00:04:08.059 --> 00:04:14.024 of the palaces is described, gives us a chance to talk about one of the common 00:04:14.024 --> 00:04:20.017 Homeric techniques of telling the story that are really useful for us to focus on 00:04:20.017 --> 00:04:23.043 to get the most we can out of this tech-myth. 00:04:23.087 --> 00:04:26.086 Homer uses a technique called ring composition. 00:04:26.086 --> 00:04:29.066 And in ring composition, some specific thing. 00:04:29.066 --> 00:04:32.065 Here, labelled A is articulated in the story. 00:04:32.065 --> 00:04:36.041 And then there's a long digression. Here represented with B. 00:04:36.060 --> 00:04:41.366 Where we talk about something that is related to this usually specific physical 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 00:04:45.693 --> 00:04:49.330 when we mention A again. So sometimes he might say "and then the 00:04:49.330 --> 00:04:52.934 general picked up that sword. That sword which was handed down many 00:04:52.934 --> 00:04:57.758 generations earlier to his grandfather and his grandfather and got passed down to 00:04:57.758 --> 00:04:59.964 him. That sword is the one he picked up now." 00:04:59.964 --> 00:05:04.403 So usually we will have an articulation of the physical object, we'll have long 00:05:04.403 --> 00:05:08.903 digression, and then another articulation of the physical object to finish off the 00:05:08.903 --> 00:05:11.975 XXX. Thought to be a very useful aid for those 00:05:11.975 --> 00:05:14.579 that are doing. In a world of formulaic presentations of 00:05:14.579 --> 00:05:18.063 poetry, so if your memorizing something and you're trying to get it going and then 00:05:18.063 --> 00:05:21.646 you want to talk about your digression and then you want remind yourself and your 00:05:21.646 --> 00:05:24.914 audience that you're done with the digression, just mention that thing that 00:05:24.914 --> 00:05:27.866 you did in the beginning. It tells you that it's the time to get 00:05:27.866 --> 00:05:31.064 out. Now this technique is used in great effect 00:05:31.064 --> 00:05:35.657 when Homer is describing the riches at the palace of King Alkinoos. 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 00:05:41.186 --> 00:05:44.511 translation. Now as Odysseus approached Alkinoos's 00:05:44.511 --> 00:05:49.469 famous house, a rush of feelings stirred within his heart, bringing him to a 00:05:49.469 --> 00:05:53.069 standstill even before he crossed the bronze threshold. 00:05:53.069 --> 00:05:57.023 A strong radiant. A radiance strong as the moon or rising 00:05:57.023 --> 00:06:01.082 sun came flooding through the high roofed halls of generous King Alcinous. 00:06:01.082 --> 00:06:06.066 Walls plated in bronze crowned with a circling frieze glazed as blue as lapis 00:06:06.066 --> 00:06:10.063 ran to the left and right. From outer gates to the deepest court 00:06:10.063 --> 00:06:13.074 recesses and solid gold doors enclosed the palace. 00:06:13.092 --> 00:06:17.077 Pretty striking the description of what he's walking in to. 00:06:17.077 --> 00:06:22.024 And in fact the description goes on and lots of details are brought out. 00:06:22.024 --> 00:06:27.007 We hear about the threshold that he's standing on is actually (itself made off). 00:06:27.007 --> 00:06:29.096 Bronze. The door posts and the lintel are made of 00:06:29.096 --> 00:06:32.080 silver. The handles on the door are made of gold. 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 00:06:37.057 --> 00:06:40.057 [himself. They're immortal and never die. 00:06:40.057 --> 00:06:42.096 They're guard dogs made of gold and silver. 00:06:43.013 --> 00:06:47.002 There are many thrones in the palace. One is just not just good enough. 00:06:47.002 --> 00:06:51.069 And each of them is decorated and draped with beautiful fine fabric, that's, of 00:06:51.069 --> 00:06:55.069 extraordinarily fine quality. Then there are golden statues of boys that 00:06:55.069 --> 00:06:59.024 are there for torch holders. There are 50 servant women screwing 00:06:59.024 --> 00:07:02.020 around. And there are magnificent In orchards and 00:07:02.020 --> 00:07:06.061 vineyards stretching for acres, that just fertilized themselves. 00:07:06.061 --> 00:07:12.001 So, we hear this long, long digression on tales of the extraordinary wealth of 00:07:12.001 --> 00:07:15.066 Alkinoss's Palace, that's visible to Odysseus's eyes. 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 00:07:21.012 --> 00:07:26.087 Fagles, in the middle of book seven, such were the gifts the glory showered down by 00:07:26.087 --> 00:07:31.099 the gods on King Alkinoss's realm. And there Odysseus stood, gazing at all 00:07:31.099 --> 00:07:35.086 this bounty. A man who borne so much once he had his 00:07:35.086 --> 00:07:40.587 fill of marveling at it all, he crossed the threshold quickly, strode inside the 00:07:40.587 --> 00:07:44.607 palace. So with our ring composition, we have an A 00:07:44.607 --> 00:07:49.137 and a B, and an A. The A is our threshold and the digression 00:07:49.137 --> 00:07:54.506 in B is our long and detailed tales of wealth and A again is our threshold. 00:07:54.506 --> 00:07:58.055 The way that Homer uses this, look at what he's done. 00:07:58.074 --> 00:08:03.588 The usefulness of this ring composition and it's characteristic of the Homeric 00:08:03.588 --> 00:08:07.039 technique. We have Odysseus enter into the palace and 00:08:07.039 --> 00:08:12.051 we basically see it through his own eyes. He walks in, hits the threshold and then 00:08:12.051 --> 00:08:17.015 he's just overwhelmed. And in that marvelous one or two seconds 00:08:17.015 --> 00:08:20.069 of Odysseus getting the visual, overwhelming. 00:08:20.088 --> 00:08:25.088 Impression of wealth in Alcinous's Palace. In that short time Homer goes on and on 00:08:25.088 --> 00:08:30.039 and on in narrative description. And then reminds us at the end of it that 00:08:30.039 --> 00:08:34.091 actually what we've just done is paused with Odysseus for a moment on the 00:08:34.091 --> 00:08:38.001 threshold. But what we've been able to hear is this 00:08:38.001 --> 00:08:42.883 giant explosion in Odysseus's mind of Deep, registering of this powerful, 00:08:42.883 --> 00:08:48.214 emotional kind of element, elements of perception that Odysseus gets. 00:08:48.214 --> 00:08:53.219 So, time is able to actually expand and explode inside of these rings. 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 00:08:59.638 --> 00:09:03.226 us, someone, and a mention of it at the end. 00:09:03.226 --> 00:09:08.142 That memory of course comes back. In an instant, but the representation of 00:09:08.142 --> 00:09:12.728 it in Homer's poetry goes on for some lavish amount of time. 00:09:12.728 --> 00:09:19.109 So Reins provide a way for Homer to dilate certain very pregnant scenes to let us 00:09:19.109 --> 00:09:24.676 pause for a moment usually inside of someone's head as something grand happens 00:09:24.676 --> 00:09:29.122 right before our eyes. And in this case there's nothing that's 00:09:29.122 --> 00:09:32.559 gonna be quite as grand as Alcinous's Palace. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:36.825 It's extraordinary. So Odysseus is entering into a world of, 00:09:36.825 --> 00:09:39.065 of tremendous, tremendous wealth.