The Odyssey Book Seven: Phaecia's Halls and Gardens Book Eight: A Day for Songs and Contests Introduction: In Phaecia, Odysseus must proceed very delicately. To maintain his friendship with Princess Nausicaa, he must lead her on a bit, but he has to resist succumbing to the temptation of having an affair with her. He must find a way to ingratiate himself with King Alkinoos and Queen Arete, even though they are relations of Poseidon, and arrange the loan of a boat so that he can continue his journey home. Above all he must avoid revealing his identity too soon. He must choose the perfect time and place to tell them his story. (Compare Phaecia to Crete's matriarchal society.) Scheria for Odysseus is a state of transition, suspended between the dangers of the divine world of Calypso and the real world of Ithaca. In relative safety he re-sharpens the human skills he will need to defeat the suitors in Ithaca and to reunite with his wife. There are parallels throughout to details in Telemachus' journey to Pylos and Sparta. Odysseus is reliving an adventure of youth just as Telemachus is crossing the threshold between youth and adulthood. Close Reading: Nausicaa returns home (7. 1-15) Nausicaa's brothers await her return. The emphasis is upon the closeness of her protective family. Special emphasis is given to Eurymedousa, Nausicaa's nurse- once a queen, now a slave specially chosen to raise the princess. Odysseus' Arrival at the Palace (7. 40-80) Athena disguises herself as a little girl and safely conducts Odysseus through the town hidden in a magical fog. Odysseus is unaware that Athena shadows his every step. Phaecia seems nice, but it gives off mixed messages: the sailing people are handsome and vital, but they are hostile to strangers. "A foreign man will get no welcome here…" (35) The Phaecians are right to be leery of Odysseus. They will eventually pay a heavy price for helping him. The Phaecians worship Poseidon who will not be pleased when he discovers that they have helped his enemy.  Athena encourages Odysseus to be bold and enter the palace unannounced. Typical xenia requires one to wait outside before being welcomed into a home. Athena also advises Odysseus to appeal first to the queen (just as Nausicaa recommended). The lengthy passage describing Queen Arete indicates her importance. Not only is she related to Poseidon, but the succession in Pheacia follows her line, not the king's. Odysseus success in this episode, and throughout his odyssey, depends upon the good will of women. Description of the Palace (7. 80-120) The palace of the Phecians is described in golden age splendor. There is emphasis on the value of women's work: embroidery, sculpture, dying wool; hands flicker at the loom. The fruit trees in this land flourish in every season. The crops of vegetables and grains flourish because of a highly developed irrigation system. The gifts of heaven have been bestowed on Arete and Alkinoos. Odysseus Dramatic Entrance (7. 150) Cloaked in a cloud Odysseus passes all the way to Arete's throne before revealing himself and performing the act of supplication. He goes beyond Nausicaa's suggestion and throws himself at her mercy. Then he hedges his bets by calling out for aid from her husband and the court company. He concludes his lamentation by declaring, "My life is pain" and sits himself in the ashes of the fireplace. Homer builds suspense by delaying the all-important reaction of Arete. Arete, like Circe and Calypso, first threatens and then helps. (Death and Rebirth) Alkinoos' Speech (7. 200-220) Alkinoos makes a tremendous boast in his speech. He claims that the Phaecian possess the power to suspend fate because of their closeness to the gods. His mention of the Giants, the Cyclops, must send a shiver down Odysseus' spine. Danger lurks below the surface throughout his visit to Scheria. Alkinoos and all the Phaecians will learn all about suffering when Poseidon wreaks his revenge on them for making the mistake of helping this wanderer. Odysseus' Response (7. 220) With studied care, Odysseus denies that he is a god, stresses his suffering to evoke sympathy, and hints at the rich history of his experience. He describes himself as a beggar whose only interest is in filling his hungry belly. This request is very sly because Odysseus knows that the gift of food to a beggar is very pleasing to the gods. Everyone agrees to help this man find home even though Odysseus has not identified himself. Arete's Question (7. 250) The Queen has waited tactfully until everyone has left for home before she asks the vital question, "Who are you?" She also asks him how he came to arrive on their shores. This is the key momnet in the whole evening for Odysseus. 'The great tactician' carefully responds to only the second question. He revises the story of his adventures. He does not mention Ino or her veil; he does not mention the cry of the girls who awakened him. He claims Nausicaa bathed him, but when he refers to her, he uses terms that a parent would use to describe a child. He lies to compliment Nausicaa and carefully takes responsibility for her decision to help him. His goal at this moment is to artfully give them the notion that he is respectfully interested in their daughter. Arete reply is silence! Alkinoos's Drunken Speech (7. 330) Alkinoos upbraids his daughter for not bringing this noble guest directly home (even though Arete's pointed question revealed that Nausicaa knew best about how to handle her parents). Alkinoos' impulsivly offers his daughter's hand in marriage and then just as abruptly withdraws the invitation. He promises to send him home the very next day, as promise he will promptly forget. Alkinoos is a compulsive braggart whom Odysseus cannot afford to trust. Book Eight: A Day for Songs and Contests Introduction: Scheria is a world without trouble which is being visited by trouble himself: Odysseus. Scheria is a realm where woman rules man, where time is wiled away with contests and games, where love is trivial and without true meaning. Love with Nausicaa would be all pleasure and no substance. (Compare it to the story of Ares and Aphrodite) Love cannot be truly felt without enduring pain. Odysseus will escape Scheria by eloquently telling his tale of woe, which the Phaecians enjoy tremendously. In their never-never land they experience trouble vicariously. The price of living in this paradise without pain is oblivion. Well, the Pheacians will become famous after meeting Odysseus. Poseidon's revenge will destroy their idyllic way of life. Nausicaa will be heartbroken when Odysseus abandons her. The price of living in the real world is confronting pain. The action of the chapter follows Odysseus as he gradually reveals his identity. Odysseus demonstrates his identity before he acknowledges his name. He leaves hints and suggestions about who he is, but he only confirms his identity at the moment that he triumphs in the athletic competition and wins the hand of the princess. Then he tells the spellbinding tale of his adventures after the fall of Troy to charm the Phaecians into giving him what he wants. Odysseus assumes the role of Demodokos, the blind singer- perhaps a model for Homer himself. The singer/poet is vital to this culture and justly honored. Without the poet there is no lasting glory. Singing the epic is not merely entertaining; instead it is the objective ratification of the hero's stature. In a culture without written language, the oral poet is the only historian.  The singer creates the appropriate atmosphere for Odysseus' revelation of himself: - song of the quarrel between Odysseus and Achilles - comic story of the humiliation of Ares and Aphrodite by Hephaestus (love trivialized by idyllic life… to enjoy pain vicariously is not to live.) - story of the Trojan Horse: Odysseus' greatest accomplishment (thus far) accompanied by Odysseus' tears Close Reading: Athena calls the assembly (8. 10) Athena disguises herself as Pontonoos, the herald of Alkinoos, in order to call the Phaecians to assembly. The king has forgotten to do this (or perhaps has decided not to do it!) The fact that Athena has to step in indicates the precarious situation that Odysseus is in on the island of Scheria despite Alkinoos' seeming hospitality. His hand thus forced, Alkinoos promises the stranger a boat but he hints that he will have to know the stranger's identity before he will finally agree.  The Athletic competition (8. 110-205) Laodamas challenges the stranger to participate in the games. He claims that a man can win no greater honor than by winning at games: a typical Phaekian value. Of course, the greatest glory can only be won in war. Seareach insults Odysseus by calling him a trader, 'a tallier of cargoes", not an athelete. Greek aristocrats treeated those who traded for a living with disdain. Heroes won wealth through xenia or through raiding and pillage, through reciprocation with the powerful or mastery of the weak. Odysseus is not proviked by the insulting words. He lets his actions speak for him. Odysseus participates in the games. (8. 205) Odysseus throws the discus. Athena, disguised as a judge, calls out the victory. Her purpose? She wants to give heart to Odysseus who still believes that he acts alone. A single voice calls out in the crowd, but Odysseus does not recognize it as the voice of a god. Later when he describes his own archery skills, Odysseus broadly hints at his identity. He says that his skills have only surpassed once, by Philoktetes at Troy. The Phaecians now know that Odysseus was one of the leading fighters at Troy. At the end of the competition, Alkinoos smoothes the ruffled feathers of this aging competitor and indirectly asks about his wife and children. He praises his islanders' greatest abilities: their prowess for dancing, running and sailing. (Homer connects Phaecia to Minoan culture.) The Song of Ares and Aphrodite (8. 280-400) Demodokos sings this comic song about the ill-fated romance between Ares and Aphrodite. It is The Odyssey's one glance at the gods of The Iliad enjoying themselves. The song breaks the tension after the competition with laughter and enables everyone to relax. Ares and Aphrodite sneak away to enjoy an illicit sexual encounter but they become entangled (in the act!) in a magic web spun by Aphrodite's husband, the smithy god Hephaestus. Hephaestus promptly invites all the Olympian gods to come by and see what he has caught in his net. Since Ares and Aphrodite are immortal, public humiliation is the worst thing that can possibly befall these two. Love among the gods is trivialized and revenge is made hollow by the limited scale of the stakes. Compared to the grief of a new widow on the battlefield weeping at the loss of her husband, this humiliation is nothing. The gods cannot grasp such loss, such depth of sorrow, such beauty. The Gift Giving (8. 400-450) Even though Odysseus has yet to reveal his identity, he is accorded full honors for his performance in the athletic competition. Gifts are given, and his kleos is fully recognized. This moment is the highpoint of Greek xenia. It makes the giver and the receiver family for life. Farewell to Nausicaa (8. 450-500) Odysseus is given clothes and a bath before saying farewell to Nausicaa. The maids have no hesitation about bathing him now. Odysseus searches for the words to comfort Nausicaa, but he cannot succeed. In his first speech he addressed her as a goddess. In his last words to her he promises to pray to her as a goddess.  Praise for Demodokos (8. 520-565) Odysseus asks the poet to sing of Troy once again. He finds that the Phaekians know of him, so he can reveal himself. He asks the singer to tell the story of the Trojan horse. (Casually, The Odyssey rounds out and finishes The Iliad which never tells of the sack of Troy.) Odysseus weeps (8.565) Homer uses a wonderful simile to describe Odysseus' tears as he remembers the dead at Troy. He weeps like a woman who has lost her husband in battle. He presents the image of a wife and mother powerless to change her lot, who endures suffering. This is the general condition of humanity, but the image endows the woman with heroic stature. In the midst of jollity, the poem takes us to the heart of The Iliad's vision. The grief of the victorious warrior, longing for home, is compared to the grief of his victims. In order to find his way home, Odysseus has had to learn new ways of feeling. He now feels pity for his victims, compassion for the enemy. Compare this moment to the story of Ares and Aphrodite. The harmless, humorous peccadilloes of the immortals remind us that human transgressions bring harsh consequences. Alkinoos demands to know Odysseus' name. (8. 580) Alkinoos finally openly demands Odysseus' name. "No man is nameless." He speaks of the prophecy that one day Poseidon will no longer allow Phaecian vessels to travel surely over the seas, that one day a ship will be sunk and a range of hills thrown about the city. Tha day has come! Trouble has arrived in the form of Odysseus. The Golden Age in Pheacia has ended, and that's good news!