CA 1100 The Odyssey
Tutorial 6 (Week 2): Revision of Semester 1 themes
Re-read the poem and read back over your handouts and notes from Semester 1, filling in
gaps, reading items of bibliography that you didn’t get to first time round, looking up
references that you didn’t manage last term.
Come to the first tutorial of Semester 2 prepared to speak for about 3 minutes on:
(a) a theme, aspect or part of the poem that you find particularly agreeable,
disagreeable, puzzling or challenging, and why you find it so;
(b) an unanswered question or problem that you have from Semester 1, or a topic that
you would like explored further in Semester 2: again, be prepared to say why.
Tutorial 7 (Week 4): Circe and folktales
(Re-)read books 9-12, and especially book 10, and come with notes on the following
questions:
What comparisons and contrasts would you draw between Circe and other figures
in the Wanderings, and especially Calypso? What folk-tale elements are there in the story
of Circe? To what extent is the magical suppressed?
How effective is the poet’s/Odysseus’ story-telling technique in these episodes?
Reading for the tutorial (read at least 2 items!):
Brilliant, R. (1995). ‘Kirke’s men: swine and sweethearts’, in B. Cohen ed., The Distaff
Side (New York and Oxford 1995), Chap. 9
Hansen, W. F. (1997). ‘Homer and the Folktale’, in Morris & Powell (1997), 442-62
Most, G. W. (1989). ‘The structure and function of Odysseus’ Apologoi’, Transactions of
the American Philological Association 119: 15-30 (SRC and online)
Olson, S. D. (1995). Blood and Iron. Leiden, Chap. 3
*Page, D. L. (1973). Folktales in Homer’s Odyssey. Cambridge Mass., Chap. 3 (SRC)
Reinhardt, K. (1996). ‘The adventures in the Odyssey’, in Schein (1996), 63 ff., esp. 90-9
Tutorial 8 (Week 6): Odysseus and Agamemnon
Draw together all the passages in the poem concerning the families of Agamemnon and
Menelaus (focusing especially on book 11), and make notes on the role of each scene and
each character within it.
Why is the family of Agamemnon so prominent in the poem? What functions
does it serve?
Reading for the tutorial:
D’Arms, E. F. and Hulley, K. K. (1946). ‘The Oresteia story in the Odyssey’,
Transactions of the American Philological Association 72: 207-13 (online)
Garvie, A. F. (1986). Aeschylus, Choephoroi (Oxford), ix-xii
Olson, S. D. (1995). Blood and Iron. Leiden, Chap. 2
Tutorial 9 (Week 8): Odysseus, Penelope and Telemachus
(Re-)read books 17-23, and come with notes on the following questions:
How are the characters of Telemachus, Odysseus and Penelope developed in these
books? How different is Telemachus compared with books 1-4? What purpose do
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CA 1100 The Odyssey
Odysseus’ elaborate fictions serve? How do these books add to our picture of Penelope’s
personality and motives?
Why is Odysseus’ self-revelation so long drawn out? Likewise, why is Penelope’s
recognition of Odysseus so long delayed? How would you describe the marriage of
Odysseus and Penelope?
Reading for the tutorial:
Emlyn-Jones, C. (1984). ‘The reunion of Penelope and Odysseus’, Greece & Rome 31: 118
Emlyn-Jones, C. (1986). ‘True and lying tales in the Odyssey’, Greece & Rome 33: 1-10
(both of these articles are reprinted in McAuslan and Walcot (1998)) (SRC)
Felson-Rubin (1994), esp. Chaps 2, 3, 4 (Chap. 2 is in SRC)
Foley, H. P. (1995). ‘Penelope as moral agent’, in Cohen, Distaff Side (1995), Chap. 6
Murnaghan, S. (1987). Disguise and Recognition in the Odyssey. Princeton, Chap. 4
Reece, S. (1993). The Stranger’s Welcome. Ann Arbor, Michigan, Chap. 8
Tutorial 10 (Week 10): The second half and the end of the poem
Re-read books 13-24. How fair are the criticisms that have been made of the second half
of the poem in general, and the end (from 23. 296) in particular?
Does the second half move too slowly? Is the end of the poem genuine and
complete?
Reading for the tutorial (read at least 2 items!):
Kirk, G. S. (1962). The Songs of Homer. Cambridge, 244-52
Moulton, C. (1974). ‘The end of the Odyssey’, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 15:
139-52
Page (1955), Chap. 5
Scodel, R. (1998). ‘The removal of the arms, the recognition with Laertes, and narrative
tension in the Odyssey’, Classical Philology 93: 1-17
Wender, D. (1978). The Last Scenes of the Odyssey. Leiden [part of this is reprinted in
Clarke, Twentieth Century Interpretations (1983)]
West, S. (1989). ‘Laertes revisited’, Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society
35: 113-43
Tutorial 11 (Week 12): Working through a mock exam
Look at the passages for comment and the essay-questions in last year’s exam-paper (on
the course-unit webpage; hard copy to be distributed) and come prepared to talk about
them in detail.
Use commentaries and bibliography to prepare notes and an outline-plan for four
gobbets and two essay-questions.
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CA 1100 The Odyssey
Further background reading on major themes explored in Semester 2
Hospitality, identity and recognition
Austin, N. (1983). ‘Odysseus and the Cyclops: who is who’, in Rubino and Shelmerdine,
Approaches to Homer (1983), 3-37
Most, G. (1989). ‘The stranger’s stratagem: self-disclosure and self-sufficiency in Greek
culture’, Journal of Hellenic Studies 109: 114-33
Webber, A. (1989). ‘The hero tells his name: formula and variation in the Phaeacian
episode of the Odyssey’, Transactions of the American Philological Association
119: 1-13
The morality of the poem
Adkins, A. W. H. (1971). ‘Homeric values and Homeric society’, Journal of Hellenic
Studies 91: 1-14
*Dodds, E. R. (1951). The Greeks and the Irrational. Berkeley, Chaps 1 and 2
Dover, K. J. (1983). ‘The portrayal of moral evaluation in Greek poetry’, JHS 103: 35-48
*Lloyd-Jones, H. (1971). The Justice of Zeus. Berkeley, Chaps 1 and 2
Long, A. A. (1970). ‘Morals and values in Homer’, JHS 90: 121-39
*Rowe, C. J. (1983). ‘The nature of Homeric morality’, in Rubino and Shelmerdine,
(1983), 248-75 (SRC)
*Rutherford, R. B. (1986). ‘The philosophy of the Odyssey’, JHS 106: 145-62
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