The Odyssey

Arguably one of the most important books ever written is The Odyssey by Homer.  It give us so much information about Greek culture, society, and religion.  Heck, it even gives us a glance of how to treat guests who randomly come to your home.  However, one of the most important aspects is the narrative itself.  It tells the story of a lost king trying to come home, a young boy entering manhood and finding his identity, and a lonely wife and mother who wants her family back and nothing else.  It is a story about fate, destiny, and faults.  All of these aspects drove me to ask myself some questions and tackle interesting topics found in this almost three thousand year old epic poem.  Take a look!





          The suitors are all the young men of Ithaca who think Odysseus is dead and are now asking for Penelope’s hand in marriage.  They constantly ask for her, and she always resists. Even though she resists, they decide to stay and eat all of the family’s food.  Penelope and her servants (some of whom are lovers with the suitors) are forced to serve them due to the ancient practice of Xenia, where the host of the house must serve the guests under any circumstances.  Hundreds of cattle and bulls are slaughtered to be served to the suitors.  They are led by Antinous and Eurymachus.  The suitors also plan to kill Telemachus, in order to get rid of any opposition to their plans of marrying Penelope.

          Odysseus has escaped from the Cyclopes, whose name is Polyphemus.  He tells the giant that his name is “nobody”.  This leads Odysseus and his crew to success.  However, when they are about to leave, Odysseus cannot bear to think that he will not be recognized by the other cyclopes as the man who blinded Polyphemus.  So, he announces his name as Odysseus, with pride and arrogance.  Unfortunately for him, Polyphemus is the son of Poseidon.  The Cyclopes wails in fury, asking Poseidon to take revenge on Odysseus for blinding him.  Because he knows his assailant’s name, he can tell his father exactly who is responsible for hurting the son of a deity.  This reflects Odysseus’ hubris, and therefore, he must pay the price by wandering for ten more years.

          When Odysseus come home, and disguises himself as a beggar.  There, he secretly reveals his identity to his son, the swineherd, the cowherd, and (accidentally) his nurse.  They reveal to him who has been loyal and who has not.  They devise a plan to kill all of the suitors and the unfaithful servants.  Then, the servants lock the doors from the outside, so that no one can escape.  When Odysseus reveals his identity to the suitors, he instantly kills all of them with the help of Telemachus, the servants, and Athena.  This explains a lot about Odysseus’s character.  He is very careful about who to trust.  He cunningly sneaks his way into the same room with the suitors without them noticing anything unusual.  He is more prone to wait and make a plan, and when the moment is right, release that plan to its highest degree, and achieve success.  He values time, where it allows him to create the most effective of plans.

          The story of Odysseus has been passed down for thousands of years.  The reason why his stories are legendary is because the readers can relate to Odysseus.  Even though they do not live in a world where cyclopes eat them, or sirens lure men to death, but they problems that are just as scary.  However, it is his solution to every problem that makes him a hero among many.  After seeing his own men get eaten alive, Odysseus immediately begins to think about how he will get himself out of his life-threatening issue.  He plans with his comrades to create a clever trick that will work in their favor.  It is this immediate reaction to make a plan that shows all of the readers, that Odysseus will never give up, until he has reached his goal.  In the graphic novel, there are only two frames that separate the Cyclopes’ trap and Odysseus thinking.

          In my opinion, Odysseus and Telemachus had every right to kill the suitors.  First, they have been rude, disrespectful, and dishonorable to Penelope and the rest of the royal family of Ithaca.  For around ten years, they have ate Odysseus’ cattle, slept with his servants, and ruined the palace.  They have misused their role as a guest, and therefore must be killed in order to repay for their horrible crimes.  Also, there is no other alternative.  If they remain alive, it is quite possible that they would have revolted against Odysseus, outnumbering them and having the upper hand.  The same result would occur with banishment, imprisonment (they cannot fit in the same prison), or torture.  Therefore, they must be killed or they will still serve as a threat to Odysseus and his family.

          The idea of hospitality plays an important role in the Odyssey.  The Greek term for hospitality, Xenia, where a host must take care if any wandering stranger (or else suffer the wrath of Zeus).  In return, the guest must not exceed his rights, and be grateful of the host with respect and honor.  First, the suitors are the guests in the house of Odysseus.  Even though Penelope has to take them in, they are disruptive, rude, and hostile.  Due to this, they break the law of Xenia, and therefore are punished by Odysseus.  Also, when Odysseus enters the cave of the Cyclopes, he immediately eats the cheese and milk belonging to Polyphemus, while the Giant was away.  When he returned, because the crew did not ask for permission, but immediately ate his food, he raged against them and even cursing Odysseus later.  This leads Odysseus to endure many sufferings, and is the only one to survive the trip back home (therefore, paying for being a disrespectful guest).

          “Achilles- But since you are among the living, tell me of my son.  Did he prove himself in the war, uphold the line of Peleus?
Odysseus - Never fear, prince.  Young Neptolemus joined us at Troy and proved himself both in counsel and in battle.  When we waited in the wooden horse, he alone moved not a muscle, never grew pale or showed the whites of his eyes, but gripped his spear and silently implored me to open the door and command the attack.”       (pg. 133)
          Odysseus has gone to the underworld, as instructed by Circe, to find the wise seer Tiresias.  While he is there, he sees many people that he knew, including Anticleia (his mother), Elpenor (one of the members of his crew), Agamemnon (the leader of the Greek armies at Troy), and Achilles (the greatest warrior of the Greek army).  Achilles asks Odysseus about his son, Neptolemus, and Odysseus replies.  I chose this except because it talks about the issue of genetic honor.
When Achilles asks if Neptolemus upheld “the line of Peleus”, Achilles is concerned about his son’s reputation as the son of Achilles and the grandson of Peleus (both were great warriors).  He wants his son to revered as a great warrior, as his father and grandfather were.  Odysseus replies that Neptolemus was ready for the siege without showing any sign of fear (just as Achilles was in the Trojan War).
          This excerpt describes the importance of family honor, and how the son must carry the reputation of the father.  Many Greek men are called as the son of [their father], in order to add grace to their appearance as a warrior or hero.  All put together, the reputation of someone must be carried down the generations in order to maintain honor and glory for the family for the years to come.

Was Greece That Great?

 I made this video for my school's 6th grade History class.  Enjoy!

Marcus Aurelius

https://cdn.britannica.com/300x300/67/148167-004-D41F4721.jpg

Marcus Aurelius is one of the greatest Roman emperors whose reign marked the end of the Pax Romana, which was a period of roughly 200 years of peace and prosperity.  He is well known for his Meditations, a book he wrote about how to live one's life as a stoic.  Here, I analyzed one of his quotes:

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” Marcus Aurelius
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/marcusaure386395.html

Marcus Aurelius argues that the mind or mindset can determine the happiness of one’s life.  I agree with this statement because it follows my doctrine that the mind can control almost anything.  For example, if one believes that he will fail a test, his mind will subconsciously make him want to fail.  This sort of pattern is similar to when one repeatedly says something in order to remember it.  I used that same tactic when I was studying for the midterms.  The mind can also control pain tolerance.  Doctors always say that in an emergency, it is important to remain calm or else the situation can get worse.  If one thinks that the injury is dramatically severe, then his mind will make him more panicked, get his adrenaline up, and you will feel worse in the process.  Also, the mind can also trick the body when it is in pain.  When there is pain, the mind can spread out the pain in the body.  For example, last week I hurt my arm when I fell down from exercising.  My arm hurt a lot, so what I did is I pretended through my mind that the great concentration of pain in my arm was slowly flowing from my arm to my chest to my head to my abdomen.  This way, my mind could imagine that instead of one major area of pain, the pain diffused into the other parts of my body in order to make everything less painful for my arm.  If the mind can imagine it, it is very possible that the body will respond to it.  It also works with emotions, which is what Marcus Aurelius was getting to.  It is already proven that the mind can control the body physically.   The mind should have the same power over emotions.  If one feels sad, then the mind will automatically look for ways to prove why he is sad.  This sort of way to prove why he is sad can be long-lasting, possibly a lifetime.  People can commit suicide because they stay in a state where they cannot find any reason to be happy due to their mind continually finding reasons why they are sad.  Contrastingly, one can lead a happy life by simply thinking positively, so that the mind can find many reasons to be happy.  Those people are usually more grateful, more appreciative, and more happy.  Aurelius is right about the way the idea of thinking can play a huge role in our lives.  We live in a world where good things and bad things happen to us.  It is up to us about how we are going to view the world, and our minds are responsible for those thoughts.  In this course, this proved to be especially true. If I did not have the right mindset about how to approach the work load, I would probably be failing this class.  In order to keep my motivation up, I kept thinking about how the workload was not so bad, and how I can definitely accomplish  the task.  My mindset kept me pushing forward.  This quote applies to my time at MEI because I really had to keep my thoughts in a positive form, to push myself to do what I thought I could not do, and persevere through tough times.

The Colosseum

Over the summer I went to Rome and of course I wanted to visit the most iconic site in the entire seven-hilled city: the Colosseum.  Fun fact: the Colosseum was only a nickname for the giant gladiator arena.  It was originally titled "the Flavian Amphitheatre" after the name of the dynasty of Roman emperors ruling at the time, the Flavian Dynasty.  It was started by Vespasian and financed by his many plunders and conquests of new territories, most notably of the Levant and modern-day Israel.  It gained its nickname due to the nearby giant of Nero nearby, known as the Colossus of Nero (or Colossus for short).  It is said that whenever someone wanted to know where the Flavian Amphitheatre was located, people said that it was located near the Colossus, and the name stuck.

Octavian’s war with Marcus Antonius

http://www.welt.de/img/geschichte/crop122305699/3969599349-ci3x2l-w540-aoriginal-h360-l0/L.jpg

Octavian’s war against Marcus Antonius is an example where a power struggle had a tremendous impact on the Classical Civilizations.  After Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44 BCE, his step-son, Octavian called for his inheritance.  He formed an alliance with Marcus Antonius, who was Caesar’s good friend and a popular politician.  They also allied themselves with Marcus Lepidus, who was another politician.  Together, they formed the Second Triumvirate, and decided to avenge Caesar’s death by leading an army against Caesar’s murders, who were Brutus and the other conspirators.  The two armies fought at the Battle at Phillippi, resulting in the Triumvirate’s victory, and Brutus’ suicide.  After that, the members of the Triumvirate began to turn against each other.  Lepidus was eventually exiled, and only Octavian and Marcus Antonius remained.

Marcus went to Egypt where he began to share power with its queen, Cleopatra.  He even left his own wife, who was Octavian’s sister, for Cleopatra who had three children with him.  It was Antonius’ goal to give some of Rome’s territory to his children and possibly lead a revolution with his Egyptian power against Octavian.  As Octavian is gaining more and more power, he does not want to share his power with Antonius and therefore wants to find a way to legitimately declare war upon him.  Through illegal means, Octavian finds and opens Antonius’ will to find that he was planning on giving some of Rome’s territory to his children.  The senate approved of Octavian’s declaration of war against Egypt.

A conflict was inevitable and the two armies met in a naval battle called the Battle at Actium.  Octavian won the battle and destroyed both Cleopatra’s fleet and Antonius’ fleet.  The couple escaped, where both killed themselves.  This power struggle changed the course of history because Octavian became the unchallenged ruler of Rome.  He changed his name to Augustus, and founded the Roman Empire, making him the very first Roman Emperor.  The Empire would last for hundreds of years, as it grew to conquer parts of the Middle East, Britain, and the many other areas.  Roman culture would eventually seep into the other cultures, and unite all of the regions under one ruler.  Without Octavian’s victory over Antonius, none of these Roman accomplishments would have ever existed.

Three influential men from ancient Rome

http://historylearning.com/a-history-of-ancient-rome/julius-caesar/

Julius Caesar is one of the most important people in the history of Rome.  He was part of the First Triumvirate, where he allied himself with Pompey and Crassus to become richer and more powerful.  He also gained the influence of the people, by giving them “bread and circuses”, where the people were given food and entertainment, so they loved him.  He was responsible for conquering all of Gaul for ten years, and he also allowed the region of Egypt to prosper during the reign of Cleopatra.  His adoption of Octavian, led to Octavian becoming the first Roman emperor. 

http://www.nigelmcbain.com/resources/Gracchus.jpg?timestamp=1302147291810

Tiberius Gracchus was another influential person in Rome.  His land reform plan led to his success in achieving support from the Plebeians. He also broke many Roman political traditions, such as kicking out members of the Tribune who did not support him (Marcus Octavius).  Then, he ran for consul again, for a second consecutive year, which was also illegal.  Due to his growing power, he and his supporter were murdered in a riot, for the first time in Roman history.  His influence led to many political traditions being broken and allowed violence to become an acceptable way in Roman politics to get rid of political enemies. 

http://www.the-romans.eu/Museum/var/albums/Museumpieces/Glytotek-Muenchen/GM042.jpg

Sulla was another important politician in ancient Rome.  He was responsible for engaging in a war with Mithradates, which would later prompt Pompey to finish and earn amazing fame.  He was involved in a rivalry with Marius.  Due to this, when he came back from his campaign in Turkey, he found that the city was being controlled by Marius.  He came into the city, and slaughtered many of Marius’ supporters.  He was the first to create proscriptions, which were list of political enemies that were to be killed and robbed of their land and money.  This political strategy was later used by the First Triumvirate and the Second Triumvirate.  He was also the first to call himself Dictator (a supreme ruler) even though it was Roman law that dictators should be elected only in a time of absolute emergency.  Neither were the case with Sulla, a strategy that Julius Caesar would also use during the end of his life. 

Athens vs. Sparta

https://mrcaseyhistory.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/athens-vs-sparta-22j3u26-e1382115102840.jpg

         During Greece’s Classical Age, Greece flourished in wealth, security, and power.  Among the success, only two city-states stood out from the rest: Athens and Sparta.  While both cities were powerful, they were quite different from each other, regarding their social, political, and cultural characteristics.

        Athens social lifestyle was different from that of Sparta.  Athens’ society was based on its land, which was divided into ten tribes.  Under the rule of Cleisthenes, Athens was divided up into three large sections.  Each large section would be divided up into ten units, creating thirty units in total.  Three units would be combined to make one tribe creating ten tribes.  This played into the political system because fifty citizens from each tribe would be selected to participate in the government.  While Athens’ society was based on land distribution, Sparta actually had a social hierarchy.  Sparta’s society had three social rankings: the Spartiates, the Perioikoi, and the Helots.  The Spartiates were the upper class, who consisted of military warriors who were part of the army.  Unlike Athens where all the citizens had political power, only Sparta’s upper class had political power.  The middle class, the Perioikoi, consisted of merchants and traders.  They did not have any political power, yet they were the only ones who could leave the city for trading purposes.  The lowest class were the Helots, who were slaves captured on previous Spartan military campaigns.  They did not have any political power and were even targets for murder by the Spartiates as a part of the warriors’ training.

        Both city-states had different political systems.  Athens was a democracy where the people ruled.  Each citizen belonged to one of ten different tribes.  Every year, fifty men of each tribe would be randomly selected to be part of the boule, or a council of five hundred men.  Each month, one tribe would rule and one military leader (a Strategos) would become the supreme ruler for a year.  The council would discuss any sort of issue regarding the state of Athens and everyone had a chance to speak (excluding women, children, slaves, and those who sis not own any land).  Sparta’s government was completely different.  They had an oligarchy, which is the rule of very few.  Unlike Athens, only a few men actually controlled the government.  Sparta had two kings who ruled together.  They also had a senate-like body called the Gerousia, who were a group of old Spartan warriors who advised the kings about certain decisions.  First, only those from the upper class (Spartiates) could ever be considered for government positions.  Also, those who had lived to the age of sixty after all the training and warfare, could actually particupare in the Gerousia.  Unlike the Athenians where everybody could vote even if they were inexperienced, the Spartans only had those who became experienced in battle and survived play the center roles in the society.

        Athens and Sparta both differed in regards to their cultural lifestyle.  The Athenians had a diverse culture, where they supported the pursuit of knowledge, sports and competition, poetry, and much more.  They had many festivals celebrating the different aspects of their culture.  More famously, the Dionysia was one of the festivals, celebrating theater and acting.  Many philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle taught many about the meaning of life and how to live a happy life.  They even had public recitations of Homer (introduced by Pisistratus).  Sculptures of famous figures were found everywhere in the city, and new architectural buildings such as the Parthenon were built, many of which were temples to the gods, usually to Athena.  The Spartans had a more conservative culture.  Their main focus on life was not how to live a happy life (like in Athens), but how to become the strongest and well-trained warrior.  Their entire culture revolved around creating the strongest warriors, and thus the strongest army.  They did have festivals, although they were more serious, more competitive, and more violent.  They did not focus on philosophy or any sort of intellectual knowledge (unless it played a role in battle and warfare, such as strategy).  Also, they did not even write anything down about how their lifestyle or training, or military strategies.  All in all, the Spartans did not like any new ideas and had a very traditional attitude about how to live their lives regarding culture.

        In conclusion, both Athens and Sparta have different social, political, and cultural systems.  Athens’ society is divided up into ten tribes, while Sparta is divided into three classes.  Athens’ government is a democracy, where every citizen could participate, while the Spartans had an oligarchy, ruled by two kings and a council that only the upper class could participate in.  Finally, the Athenians encouraged the pursuit of knowledge, many fun festivals, and much more.  The Spartans only focused on how to create the most deadly and diligent soldier, and did not regard for anything else.  The differences would eventually lead to a rivalry between the two city-states that eventually resulted in the Peloponnesian War.

Lysistrata

http://s.ecrater.com/stores/156334/4bb27c67298c2_156334n.jpg

In Greek History, one of the most devastating wars were the Peloponnesian Wars, a conflict between Athens and Sparta.  During these troubled times, a Greek author named Aristophanes wrote one of Greece’s most famous plays: Lysistrata.  It is about a young woman named Lysistrata who gets all the women of Greece to stop the war by denying sex to their husbands.  As time goes by, the men begin to desire sex more, as their wives refuse them.  Following Lysistrata’s instructions, the men of Athens and Sparta agree to peace.  One aspect of the play is its potential to be a form of political protest.  Lysistrata is a good form of political protest due to the women’s role to save Greece, the men’s roles as weaklings, and the play’s ability to address some of the women’s issues back then, calling for change in politics in respect to women's rights.
Aristophanes portrays women to be rational to resolve their situation, based on their roles as housewives.  The women take over the Athenian Acropolis in order to prevent the men from getting any money for the war.  When the Magistrate demands to know why the women should control the finances of the war, Lysistrata says, “Isn’t it true we [women] take care of all the household money?” (563)
Lysistrata claims that because household wives control the money in their homes, they are adequate to control the money used for the war.  Aristophanes could argue that they can make rational decisions, as Lysistrata also says:
“It’s like a bunch of yarn.  When it gets tangled, we take it and pass it through the spindle back and forth - that’s how we will end the war, if people let us try, by sending out ambassadors here and there, back and forth.”  (574-578)
Lysistrata compares untangling a string of yarn to the use of ambassadors to achieve peace.  Aristophanes’ portrayal of women as reliable due to their household duties, makes this play a good form of political protest, possibly stating that women could handle certain situations better than men.
Aristophanes portrays men as weak due to their insistence that war is the only way to settle agreements and that women are to solely perform household duties.  When Lysistrata meets with the Magistrate, guards are ordered to grab her and tie her down.  An old woman threatens to beat the guards up, and the stage directions say “(the armed guard is so terrified he shits)” (493).  Aristophanes could have meant that even though the guards are not only terrified, but armed, makes their appearance seem weak.  These men who are trained to die, are scared of a woman, a revolutionary idea in Ancient Greece.  Aristophanes’ portrayal of men reflect their appearance as weak, which can be used as form of protest because it criticizes men as inadequate to perform some jobs.
Aristophanes also addresses some struggles women had in Ancient Greece.  During her conversation with the Magistrate, Lysistrata explains the pains for women during the wars.  She says:
“And then, when we should be having a good time, enjoying our youth, we have to sleep alone because our men are in the army.  Setting us aside, it distresses me that young unmarried girls are growing old alone in their own homes.” (709-715)
Lysistrata explains that the war burdens the women, due to being separated from their husbands who are away.  Lysistrata also points out that while the men are away, young girls lose their opportunity to get married, as she says, “If they don't seize their chance, no one wants to marry them.  (719-720). She explains that the                         war deprives many young women a chance to marry, because once they turn older, no one will marry them.  Aristophanes’ play explains the struggles for women when men are at war, making his play a form of political protest because it announces the problems to get public attention.
Aristophanes’ Lysistrata is a valid form of political protest through his portrayal of women as rational, his portrayal of men as weak, and his publication of the struggles that women go through during times of war.  Because the women use their household skills to control the city’s money and to resolve the war, Aristophanes possibly implies that women can be better to complete a task.  Because the armed men are so scared of the women, Aristophanes possibly argues that sometimes men are weak to complete a challenge.  Because the women struggle with issues during times of war, Aristophanes allows the public to draw attention to these problems.  Aristophanes’ Lysistrata is still very popular today, as its crude humor and radical ideas constantly make us think about our world, centuries after its release.


Work Cited:
Aristophanes. “Lysistrata” Vancouver Island University. Transl. Ian Johnston.
413 BC. pp. 1-59

Video: The Persian Wars

Hermes Project - launched!

Project Hermes was launched this summer at the Peace Camp Houston Summer Camp.  I prepared a session talking about the Greek Pantheon and the importance of the Classics in our modern world.  I also spent some time talking about Marcus Aurelius and his Meditations.  Afterwards, I helped the kids made cardboard books with a few quotes by Marcus Aurelius.