Odysseus, Athena, and Penelope: The Clever Trio

In my Intro I talked a little bit about Athena. Athena is the Greek goddess of war, but specifically of intelligent, cunning warfare. She is also the goddess of weaving (which fits with war...somehow?) 

Throughout the Greek myths, Athena is shown to favor and aid heroes who are especially clever.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the books by Homer - a little in the Iliad, but mostly in the Odyssey.

The Odyssey is the tale of a character named Odysseus, and of his journey home after the Trojan War. The war itself lasted for ten years, and Odysseus’ journey home takes another decade - mostly because he accidentally incurred the wrath of Poseidon, the god of the seas. (Not a good thing to do if you’re planning a sea voyage home!)

The Odyssey focuses on Odysseus’ journey home (one could even call it his...odyssey...home!) , but it also tells the story of his son, Telemachus. Telemachus was just a boy when Odysseus left for the war, and has grown into a young man without his father to guide him. The Odyssey also shows the gods watching the hero and his family from their home on Mount Olympus, occasionally helping them (Athena) or hindering Odysseus’ efforts (Poseidon).

However, what makes the Odyssey so interesting to me is the other character that it focuses on. This character is Odysseus’ wife, Penelope. We’ll talk more about her in a minute.

Why does Athena have such an interest in Odysseus and his family? The answer can be found in Homer’s works. Most passages that refer to Odysseus denote him as “clever” or “cunning”. Odysseus is a sneaky warrior. In gamer’s terms, he’s a rogue. He is intelligent and strategic - things that put him under the care of Athena.

However, Odysseus is not alone in his cleverness. His wife Penelope is also quite cunning.

In the Odyssey, Odysseus has been missing for twenty years. Almost everyone assumes that he is dead. Because of this, suitors flock to his home and begin to try and woo Penelope’s hand in marriage - because marrying her would grant them Odysseus’ wealth and power.

Penelope hasn’t given up hope that her husband is alive. To stall the suitors and buy Odysseus time to return to her, Penelope devises a plan. Every day she weaves part of a funeral shroud for her father-in-law. Every night, she pulls out all of her weaving. She keeps this up for years before the suitors catch on.

Penelope is obviously quite a sneaky woman. If that wasn’t enough to make Athena like her, Penelope’s cleverness revolves around weaving - another thing that Athena presides over. Perhaps it is due to this that the goddess aids Odysseus and his family.

In the end, Odysseus returns home. He and his son slaughter the suitors (don’t worry, they totally deserved it), and Penelope is reunited with her husband. Their cleverness (and the help of a certain goddess) has won the day.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Most of the time, Penelope’s intelligence is glossed over in favor of her husband’s, so I felt she deserved a post that discussed how she aided Odysseus. If the post interested you, or if you disagree with anything I’ve said, please email me or comment below. If you have time, I highly recommend reading the Odyssey - it’s a very interesting and entertaining story!

Next post we’ll conclude this set of Greek posts by talking about Fate and the way the ancient Greeks thought of it. I’ll see you guys then!

Achilles: A Third Generation of Skywalker

If you’ve seen the Star Wars trilogies, you know that Luke Skywalker started out pretty whiny. His predecessor, Anakin Skywalker, was even worse. His entire trip to the Dark side was because he’s an emo, self-centered brat.

I’m convinced that Achilles is the ancestor of Anakin.

The demigod Achilles is the main character of the Iliad, a tale about the war of Troy that was written by Homer. The entire book is all about the wrath of Achilles, and the consequences of said wrath.

But why is Achilles wrathful, one might ask?

Well, “wrath” is a bit of a strong word. “Upset”, “sulky”, and “throwing a temper tantrum” could all be used in its stead. The source of this emotion, whatever you want to call it, is as follows:

In the ancient Greek culture, it was a common practice for warriors to take prizes after a successful battle. Women were considered to be prizes. Achilles had taken a lovely girl named Briseis as his prize after a victory in battle.

The leader of the Greek army, Agamemnon, had also taken a woman as a trophy. Unfortunately, this girl’s father was a priest who called down the wrath of Apollo upon the Greek army. Agamemnon returned the girl to her father to stop the god’s wrath, leaving him without a prize.

The ancient Greeks had a concept called “arete”. It’s difficult to translate, but it was basically a sense of how skilled a person was. Your arete was demonstrated by your prowess in battle, which was shown by what trophies you had.

To make up for having lost his trophy - and therefore some of his arete - Agamemnon took Briseis from Achilles. This damaged Achilles’ arete, making him less of a warrior in the eyes of the other Greeks.

Because of this, Achilles goes off to sulk. Then, the great hero of the Greek army quite literally calls upon his mother, Thetis, a minor goddess of the sea. Achilles then begins to whine and complain to her.

(They somehow forgot to put that part in the movie Troy. I wonder why...)

Achilles then asks Thetis to go to Zeus and beg him to let the Trojans win in battle against the Greeks - that way Achilles can swoop in and save the day.

This really irritates me, because Achilles is basically asking the gods to let the men he fights alongside die - all so that he can have more glory later.

Unfortunately for the Greek army, the gods grant his request. As the Greeks begin to lose more and more battles, Agamemnon realizes that they need Achilles. He gives Briseis back to Achilles, but the hero still refuses to return to the battle. It is not until his best friend, Patroclus, is slain that Achilles re-enters the battle, destroying the Trojan hero Hector. Patroclus’ death was a result of Achilles plea to Zeus, but the demigod shows no remorse for his actions.

The Iliad ends with the funeral of Hector, and with Achilles getting his way. It does not contain the subsequent fall of Troy, nor the death of Achilles.

Is anyone else annoyed by this? I mean, come on. Achilles throws a hissy fit and good men die because of it, but they still give him what he wants. The story ends with him happy, victorious, and basking in his glory.

Seriously?! This guy was considered a hero?

I’ll end my rant against Achilles here (I reaaaaally hate the guy). You guys have any thoughts on the Iliad or Achilles? Do you like the demigod? If so, please post below or email me! I’d love to hear your defense of his actions, and see if you can convince me that he’s not actually Darth Achilles.

Next time we’ll be talking about the interesting trio of Athena, Penelope, and Odysseus, and what they all have in common. Good news! Odysseus is a hero of the Trojan War that I actually like!

I’ll see you then!