Goddesses Odysseus & Athena

Therefore, as Homer tells us, genus Athene "made him loftier than and stouter to behold,/So that he might become treasured by all the Phaeacians,/And fearful, and respected, and might carry out some/Of the contests in which the Phaeacians tested Odysseus" (Homer VIII: 20-23).

While the primary and intimately obvious relationship between Odysseus and Athena is one of defender and protected, there are other types of relationships which connect the two of them passim The Odyssey. When Odysseus comes to Athena and asks her for directions to the home of Alcinoos, the goddess (who has already protected him with a dumb mist) confronts him "Likening herself to a virginal young girl with a pitcher,/she stood in front of him" (Homer, VII, 20-21). It is non too far of a stretch to read into this depiction that Odysseus was so god-like in lay down and demeanor that Athena herself is non able to resist his charms. Odysseus is a model of arete, a concept meaning virtue that was of the highest magnificence to classical life and culture in ancient times. both(prenominal) Odysseus and his loyal wife Penelope are models of ancient Greek virtue, or arete.

Athena herself represents the goddess of wisdom, and she plays the primary function in the take hold of helping intervene with the other gods in order to express Poseidon to forgive his grudge against Odysseus for blinding his C

The relationship between Athena and Odysseus also is symbolic of other important aspect of Greek culture and life in ancient times?that of the relationship between mortals and gods. Throughout the poem, we gather in that the gods exhibit a polarity in their tactile propertyings and attitudes toward hu macrocosm beings, thus far great ones like Odysseus. At times, they mete out punishments without look for the human suffering inflicted upon the recipient. Many times they do not feel any remorse or kindness about those actions. However, on the other end of the spectrum, we see that the gods do feel pity on some select mortals, among whom Odysseus happens to be.

We see this more or less clearly in the relationship between Athena and Odysseus, because she elicits pity for him from other gods and only Poseidon seems to believe Odysseus has committed acts which do not merit sympathy, "Even within the opening scene, Zeus' words do not go unchallenged. Athena has no objection to Zeus' sentiments concerning Aegisthus, besides she points out that Odysseus' sufferings are hardly explained by any misdeeds he may have committed: Odysseus ?suffers sorrows' as a captive on Calypso's island even though he has never failed to unravel and honor the gods. Hermes will later describe Odysseus as ?the almost woeful' of men, and Athena's words seem to imply that he is someone to be pitied, for he has not deserved, as Aegisthus did, the evils he suffers" (Crotty 133).

Homer. "The Odyssey: Books: IX-XI." In Mack, M. (Gen. Ed.) The Norton Anthology of worldly concern Masterpieces. (3rd Edit. Vol. 1) W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 1973: 208-239.

Carlisle, M. and Levaniouk, O. (Eds.) Nine Essays on Homer. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., England, 1999.

We must not overleap site of the fact that Athena's relationship to Odysseus also stands as an spokesperson of what a relationship between a god and a human and between a woman and a man should not be. While Athena may be capture to a degree with Odysseus, she does not
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