Cheating your way back: Odysseus' return to a real world
In this article I argue that the considerable contribution of cheating to the development of the narrative of Homer’s Odyssey (ca. 700 BCE) is the consequence of the epic’s chaotic and precipitous start – so precipitous in fact that the actorial motivation and the narratorial motivation (De Jong 200...
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Centre for the Study of Myth and Religion in Greek and Roman Antiquity
2018
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Διαθέσιμο Online: | https://pasithee.library.upatras.gr/electra/article/view/2930 |
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oai:ojs.pasithee.library.upatras.gr:article-29302019-09-11T07:11:54Z Cheating your way back: Odysseus' return to a real world Blankenborg, Ronald In this article I argue that the considerable contribution of cheating to the development of the narrative of Homer’s Odyssey (ca. 700 BCE) is the consequence of the epic’s chaotic and precipitous start – so precipitous in fact that the actorial motivation and the narratorial motivation (De Jong 2004) are not automatically in sync. Faced with the sudden – and for many characters involved: unexpected – challenge to account for the choices made over the past ten years since the fall and destruction of Troy, the Odyssey’s main characters do not always justify their actions with plausible or coherent arguments. Especially Odysseus appears to cheat while mixing truth with falsehood as he introduces the reasons and the circumstances of his unexpected and rather belated return home. His wife Penelope equally struggles justifying her deeds: she appears to have been cheating, but her acts turn out to have been well-considered. Telemachus, their son, suffers from his inability to mask his true intentions (Heitman 2005); he still has to master what is presented as a highly valued skill in the Odyssey, the art of cheating. It is in fact, I will argue, so highly valued that all narrators, including Homer himself, allow for cheating and lying in order to bring the precipitously started Odyssey to a proper conclusion. Centre for the Study of Myth and Religion in Greek and Roman Antiquity 2018-11-23 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion application/pdf https://pasithee.library.upatras.gr/electra/article/view/2930 10.26220/ele.2930 Electra; No 4 (2018): Cheating in ancient myth; 1-34 Electra; No 4 (2018): Cheating in ancient myth; 1-34 1792-605X 1792-605X eng https://pasithee.library.upatras.gr/electra/article/view/2930/3232 |
institution |
UPatras |
collection |
Pasithee |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine, Plants, Vegetables, Fruits, Disease, Magic, Religion Greek mythology Greek mythology Oresteia, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra disbelief, iamata, epigraphic evidence, literary evidence, divine punishment, incubation Greek mythology Greek mythology Iphigénie, Iphigénie en Tauride, sacrifice, protéleia, prémices Asclepius, Justin martyr, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Contra Celsum, euhemerism Hercules; Steve Moore; comics myth;counterfeit;origami; repetition Agamemnon, hero, Kassandra, Amyklai, Zeus Asclepius, testimonials, medical treatment, Aristides Heracles’ private life; Love; Family; Man /woman; Mythic parallels greek mythology Agamemnon, history, rhetoric, politics Ηρακλής; Γέλα; Ακράγας; Ρόδος; Κρήτη Snake, ambiguity, health in antiquity, healing cult, symbolism, ancient medicine, snake imagery, manipulation Greek mythology |
spellingShingle |
Medicine, Plants, Vegetables, Fruits, Disease, Magic, Religion Greek mythology Greek mythology Oresteia, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra disbelief, iamata, epigraphic evidence, literary evidence, divine punishment, incubation Greek mythology Greek mythology Iphigénie, Iphigénie en Tauride, sacrifice, protéleia, prémices Asclepius, Justin martyr, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Contra Celsum, euhemerism Hercules; Steve Moore; comics myth;counterfeit;origami; repetition Agamemnon, hero, Kassandra, Amyklai, Zeus Asclepius, testimonials, medical treatment, Aristides Heracles’ private life; Love; Family; Man /woman; Mythic parallels greek mythology Agamemnon, history, rhetoric, politics Ηρακλής; Γέλα; Ακράγας; Ρόδος; Κρήτη Snake, ambiguity, health in antiquity, healing cult, symbolism, ancient medicine, snake imagery, manipulation Greek mythology Blankenborg, Ronald Cheating your way back: Odysseus' return to a real world |
topic_facet |
Medicine, Plants, Vegetables, Fruits, Disease, Magic, Religion Greek mythology Greek mythology Oresteia, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra disbelief, iamata, epigraphic evidence, literary evidence, divine punishment, incubation Greek mythology Greek mythology Iphigénie, Iphigénie en Tauride, sacrifice, protéleia, prémices Asclepius, Justin martyr, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Contra Celsum, euhemerism Hercules; Steve Moore; comics myth;counterfeit;origami; repetition Agamemnon, hero, Kassandra, Amyklai, Zeus Asclepius, testimonials, medical treatment, Aristides Heracles’ private life; Love; Family; Man /woman; Mythic parallels greek mythology Agamemnon, history, rhetoric, politics Ηρακλής; Γέλα; Ακράγας; Ρόδος; Κρήτη Snake, ambiguity, health in antiquity, healing cult, symbolism, ancient medicine, snake imagery, manipulation Greek mythology |
format |
Online |
author |
Blankenborg, Ronald |
author_facet |
Blankenborg, Ronald |
author_sort |
Blankenborg, Ronald |
title |
Cheating your way back: Odysseus' return to a real world |
title_short |
Cheating your way back: Odysseus' return to a real world |
title_full |
Cheating your way back: Odysseus' return to a real world |
title_fullStr |
Cheating your way back: Odysseus' return to a real world |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cheating your way back: Odysseus' return to a real world |
title_sort |
cheating your way back: odysseus' return to a real world |
description |
In this article I argue that the considerable contribution of cheating to the development of the narrative of Homer’s Odyssey (ca. 700 BCE) is the consequence of the epic’s chaotic and precipitous start – so precipitous in fact that the actorial motivation and the narratorial motivation (De Jong 2004) are not automatically in sync. Faced with the sudden – and for many characters involved: unexpected – challenge to account for the choices made over the past ten years since the fall and destruction of Troy, the Odyssey’s main characters do not always justify their actions with plausible or coherent arguments. Especially Odysseus appears to cheat while mixing truth with falsehood as he introduces the reasons and the circumstances of his unexpected and rather belated return home. His wife Penelope equally struggles justifying her deeds: she appears to have been cheating, but her acts turn out to have been well-considered. Telemachus, their son, suffers from his inability to mask his true intentions (Heitman 2005); he still has to master what is presented as a highly valued skill in the Odyssey, the art of cheating. It is in fact, I will argue, so highly valued that all narrators, including Homer himself, allow for cheating and lying in order to bring the precipitously started Odyssey to a proper conclusion. |
publisher |
Centre for the Study of Myth and Religion in Greek and Roman Antiquity |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://pasithee.library.upatras.gr/electra/article/view/2930 |
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