Introduction [In this on-line version, the page-numbers of the printed version are indicated within braces (“{” and “}”). For example, “{69|70}” indicates where p. 69 of the printed version ends and p. 70 begins. These indications will be useful to readers who need to look up references made elsewhere to the printed version of this book.] This book is about the poetics of myth in a… Read more
Part 1. Odysseus Chapter 1. Beginning of the Dialogue: Setting up the Third Cretan Lie The dialogue in Book 19 stands out among the conversations in the Odyssey not only because of its length, but also because it is attempted, announced, and prepared so far in advance of the event. Not even the preliminaries of Odysseus’ supplication of Arete, also a crucial and pre-arranged moment in the poem, can compare to the elaborateness and… Read more
Chapter 2. The Name The name Aithon by which Odysseus introduces himself to Penelope is significant, just as his other assumed names in the Odyssey are. The word itself, αἴθων, is a nasal derivative from the root of αἴθομαι/αἴθω, ‘to burn’, and its essential meaning is ‘burning’ or ‘fiery’. Although it is often conventionally translated as ‘reddish brown’, in Homer and archaic poetry the adjective is not a… Read more
Chapter 3. Zeus and the King Odysseus appears before Penelope as a long-suffering wanderer, and his rhetoric, including his assumed name, underscores his displacement from the aristocratic position in life that he once occupied. And yet Aithon’s biography also serves to emphasize just how aristocratic, or, more precisely, how king-like that position actually was. The conceit of the Odyssey is that its hero is intrinsically a king, and recognizable as… Read more
Chapter 4. Younger Brother One of the unexplained features of the Third Cretan Lie is Odysseus’ self-characterization as Idomeneus’ younger brother. By claiming to be a brother of Idomeneus he inserts himself into the Cretan royal family, but what is achieved by specifying that he is the younger one? Further, Odysseus adds that Idomeneus is not only older, but better. [1] Why this apparent self-denigration? It is… Read more
Chapter 5. Minos Another significant detail of the Third Cretan Lie is the famous and remarkably obscure description of Aithon’s supposed ancestor, Minos, the king at Knossos: τῇσι δ’ ἐνὶ Κνωσός, μεγάλη πόλις, ἔνθα τε Μίνωςἐννέωρος βασίλευε Διὸς μεγάλου ὀαριστής. (Odyssey 19.178–179) And among them there is Knossos, a great city,where Minos was king in nine-year periods and conversed with great… Read more
Chapter 6. Crete and the Poetics of Renewal The semantics of oaristes are not the only hint at the notion of new beginnings that is present in the Third Cretan Lie. The theme of (re)birth, so prominent in the Odyssey, is brought to mind by the presence of Eileithyia in Odysseus’ tale. After Idomeneus leaves for Troy, Aithon meets Odysseus in Crete when the latter is blown off course and lands near… Read more
Chapter 7. The Cloak After the conclusion of Odysseus’ Cretan tale, once her tears stop flowing, Penelope returns to the task at hand, the testing of her interlocutor. This transition from emotion to practicality, from premonitions of the poem’s denouement to Penelope’s suspicions about her guest’s veracity is a good illustration of the narrative tension peculiar to this part of the Odyssey. At the same time, the questioning by no means negates the impression… Read more
Chapter 8. The Pin As remarkable as the cloak itself is the golden pin Odysseus uses to fasten it, another object Penelope herself gave to Odysseus on departure: χλαῖναν πορφυρέην οὔλην ἔχε δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,διπλῆν· ἐν δ’ ἄρα οἱ περόνη χρυσοῖο τέτυκτο αὐλοῖσιν διδύμοισι· πάροιθε δὲ δαίδαλον ἦεν· ἐν προτέροισι πόδεσσι κύων ἔχε ποικίλον ἐλλόν,ἀσπαίροντα λάων· τὸ δὲ θαυμάζεσκον ἅπαντες,ὡς οἱ χρύσεοι ἐόντες ὁ… Read more
Chapter 9. Eurybates The final token Odysseus-Aithon gives to Penelope is the description of his herald Eurybates: καὶ μέν οἱ κῆρυξ ὀλίγον προγενέστερος αὐτοῦεἵπετο· καὶ τόν τοι μυθήσομαι, οἷος ἔην περ·γυρὸς ἐν ὤμοισιν, μελανόχροος, οὐλοκάρηνος,Εὐρυβάτης δ’ ὄνομ’ ἔσκε· τίεν δέ μιν ἔξοχον ἄλλωνὧν ἑτάρων Ὀδυσεύς, ὅτι οἱ φρεσὶν ἄρτια ᾔδη. (Odyssey 19.244–248) And a herald, a little older than… Read more
