It was Herodotus (Histories 2; 116ff) in the fifth century BC who first ascribed authorship of The Odyssey to Homer. By that time his reputation as the greatest of the poets was secure. He has continued to have a place among the greats of world literature because of the great themes woven into his poems. The Odyssey is universal - it is the story of coming home. That is perhaps why it appeals to me so much. I love the story of "coming home". It is a theme which should be familiar to my Christian readers. After all, great Christian literature (the Bible included) is full of the theme of coming home, of journeying toward that place. From the story of the prodigal son (returning home to his "father's house") to Augustine's peregrinatio as articulated in the Confessions, the story of the homeward journey is a human story. It is, I suggest, the human story. By the way, if we take a lot of detours and side trips as we go through the Odyssey, well, that's just the spirit of the thing itself. On the whole, though, I intend to simply follow the text. And I can't say this often enough: just begin by reading the text. All great literature generally has passed the test of readability. Sure there are odds and ends and technical bits of information which enhance the experience, but one's starting point is to read the thing itself, not the commentaries, first.
Homer begins, as we all must, by invoking the Muses. All such themes need divine assistance.
Tell me, Muse, the story of that resourceful man who was driven to wander far and wide after he sacked the holy citadel of Troy...
The story opens after the war with Troy is over. All the other heroes have either met their fate or returned home; Odysseus alone is still unaccounted for. His own comrades he "failed to save" (I.6); they offended the gods and so were lost. We have a scene from Olympus, where Zeus addresses his fellow immortals on this matter:
What a lamentable thing it is that men should blame the gods and regard us as the source of their troubles, when it is their own transgressions which bring them suffering which was not their destiny. (I.32)
I'll leave you with that to contemplate for now.
Funny how 'our God is a sending God' (to quote one of your earlier posts) but we always want to come home...!!!
Posted by: Tim | December 24, 2009 at 08:04 AM
Some of the early philosophical Greek Church fathers picked up on what is called "exitus-reditus" as a theme: going out and coming back. When God says "my word will not return empty", I think he models for us this "homecoming".
Posted by: joseph | December 24, 2009 at 12:44 PM
Merry Christmas, Joe!
Posted by: Tim | December 24, 2009 at 08:50 PM