Chat:  Consider these questions before you log-on to the chat session.  You do not have to write essay answers, but you should look at relevant passages of the text & jot down several points before the chat session so that you can easily contribute to the discussion.

• OD told Polyphemos that his name was "nobody."  After he blinds the Kyklops, OD is determined to inform Polyphemos of who took his eye:

9.525    Kyklops,
            if ever mortal man inquire
            how you were put to shame & blinded, tell him
            OD, raider of cities, took your eye:
            Laertes' son, whose home's on Ithaka!
Explain why OD feels this information must be imparted at the risk of the lives of OD & his men.
• Skylla & Kharybdis (pp. 424-5; 429-30):  OD says that seeing these monsters devour 6 of his men was:

12.307  far the worst [sight} I ever suffered,
            questing the passes of the strange sea.
On the face of it (6 men killed) this doesn't seem very plausible.  On what basis or for what reason would OD claim that this was the worst thing he suffered or saw at sea?  What makes this incident so horrible?
• OD goes to the underworld to ask Teiresias why people must suffer?  What is Teiresias' answer?  See pp. 406-7.  He does not give a direct answer.  Explain the significance of the 2 major points that he talks about.
• Hermes tells OD that he must sleep with Kirke:

10.324    she will cower & yield her bed--
              a pleasure you must not decline
What is the significance of this?  Explain the implied Greek outlook on sex & the body.  Consider also this admission of OD about Kirke, "dire beauty & divine":
10.440  being a man, I could not help consenting [to sleep with her].
• Among the famous sights in Hades, OD sees a kind of hologram of Herakles:

11.676    I saw manifest the power of Herakles--
a phantom, this, for he himself has gone
feasting amid the gods
Herakles is virtually the only human who was apotheosized.  He vigor & power were so great that they overcame even death.  So why is this is phantom/hologram in Hades?

Blinding Polyphemos

Short Answers: E-mail your answers.  Make sure the subject line says: unit06.

1. Even though blinded, Polyphemos guards the door & tries to catch OD & his men.  How do they escape the cave?
2. Elpenor is the first shade to greet OD.  How did he die?
3. Who is being described in this passage?

He owns no bedding, rugs, or fleecy mantles,
but lies down, winter nights, among the slaves
4. Who is described in this passage?

first among all the Danaans in strength
& bodily beauty, next to prince AK
5. What is the name of AK's son?
6. Through his adventures, told in these books 9-12, OD loses various men at different times.  Finally the remaining troops all perish in one incident.  What was the cause of Zeus anger?

Zeus let fly
a bolt against the ship, a direct hit.
No more seafaring
homeward for these, no sweet day of return;
the god had turned his face from them.

Escaping Polyphemos by Clinging to Sheep

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