In 2018, Norton Co. published a new, and remarkable, version of Homer’s The Odyssey, translated by the Classics scholar Emily Wilson. Written in highly readable blank verse, this translation had all the mystery adventure, and bloodletting that the ancient Greeks must have enjoyed. My friend, Lou D, talked me into reading it and lent me the copy. He did me a great favor because it was a great read. Prof. Wilson’s introduction, notes, and chapter summaries helped with the unfamiliar territory. In the Introduction, Wilson argues against the commonly held idea that “Homer” was a composite of the various bards who gave public performance recitations of the tale for ages. Rather, she believes that the writing shows unmistakable characteristics of deliberate and thoughtful writing of a single genius. I am not sure. I know that highly educated people of the ancient world had highly developed memory skills and could recite long poems and other works. The work itself is not so tightly constructed that it seems to be deliberately and carefully edited and revised. Still, I think Prof. Wilson’s introduction is as admirable as her translation. There is a worthy discussion of the setting and time frame of the poem. Probably Homer had set the tale in the hazy past of the Mycenean age. She does take time to write about what every modern reader must feel about the work, that is, the feeling of shock and revulsion at the murderous violence of the hero and his son. One passage she points out is one that struck me as astounding. In recounting his bravery, Odysseus, says cavalierly that he and his crew stopped at one town, slaughtered the males and took the women as slaves.
I sacked the town and killed the men. We took their wives and shared their riches equally among us.
Then Odysseus goes on with has tale as if that episode was routine. A day in the life of a Greek hero. Personally, I was most shocked by the treatment of his household slaves. The women who had slept with the vile crowd of suitors were rounded up and made to drag out the corpses and clean up the bloody mess. Following that, as thanks, they were marched outside and hung. I have read several scholars who point out that Homer wanted his audience to understand the horrors of war and violence and the futility of the pursuit of honors after death. The tale of Odysseus has a famous passage where the hero visits the spirit of Achilles. Odysseus wants to know why it is not the ultimate success to become the great hero of the Greek victory over Troy and why be bitter over death. Achilles replies:
“Odysseus, you must not comfort me for death. I would prefer to be a workman, hired by a poor man on a peasant farm, than rule as king of all the dead.
For me, all the slaughter, revenge, and misogeny looms too large to dismiss as a cultural relic and that Odysseus was well, complicated. Let’s hope such heroes stay in the ancient past. The Odyssey, by Homer. Translated by Emily Wilson. Norton, 2018.
Two Strikes 