AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: Odyssey (Day Four: Books 16-20; Day Five: Books 21...

AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: Odyssey (Day Four: Books 16-20; Day Five: Books 21...:

Question Two:

Odysseus was on a journey to find himself and find peace I did not find that it was a journey away from violence. During his journey he continued to fight and trick people to reach safety in the end. Violence is not only a physical deed but by ticking or lying to someone Odysseus could be considered mentally violent. He murdered traitors in his kingdom and these murders can be justified. They would have killed his son, taken his wife, taken his kingdom and if they had a chance might have killed him. Odysseus is no longer killing for strife or fame, he is protecting his family and kingdom which shows how much he has changed. Even in these last books, Odysseus will continue to grow and find himself.

Question Three:

Firstly I wish I had a bed like this. This bed symbolizes Penelope's model as a smart and clever woman, which I think is very similar to Athena. Penelope uses the bed to trick Odysseus into proving his true self to her, it is very clever of her. In most of the literature including this epic poem the women are not mentioned a lot, but most of them are very clever and smart individuals. Penelope is a strong figure in Greek literature, she has to hold her husbands kingdom and her suitors at bay for many years. Her intelligences is also shown with her knitting plan to trick her suitors into waiting.

AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: The Odyssey (Day Three: Books 11-15)

AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: The Odyssey (Day Three: Books 11-15)

Question 1:

In Book 11 Odysseus sails down into Hades, the land of souls. Here he encounters past family members, war heroes, and acquaintances. The dead he talks to always ask how the real world is and questions about their alive family members. The longer Odysseus is down there the deeper his conversations become. They begin with dead crew members, then his mother, then war heroes, and the most important is his conversation with Achilles. Achilles has his story in the Iliad and tells the story of Troy and his undefeated nature. Odysseus learn's from Achilles about the fight for Troy and how he chose glory over having a family and long-lived life. Achilles seems to regret this decision now that he is in the land of souls and is finished with life. His speech/poem to Odysseus is advice and possibly foreshadowing that he should settle down with his family and give up on the glory. This is ironic advise from Achilles because this is the opposite of what he followed. This moment serves as an epiphany for Odysseus and hopefully he follows down this path once he reaches home. This journey down into Hades is one of his most difficult feats and towards the end of his journey home. While on this journey he finds himself and will become at peace with his decision to come home.

Question 3:

In Book 13 Odysseus arrives in Ithaca, but he does not recognize his homeland because of his age and Athena has hidden it from him. Athena approaches him, but he tricks the goddess into revealing her true self. This test satisfies the goddess and shows that Odysseus has the perfect skills to deceive Penelope's suitors. Next Athena disguises Odysseus as a weary vagabond so that his old subject, Eumaeus will not recognize him, even though it has been 20 years and I am sure he will not recognize him. I hope that his disguise will continue even while he is tricking the future suitors of his wife, it would give him a further advantage. This disguise symbolizes how different of a man he is since his last time in Ithaca. 20 years have greatly changed Odysseus past being recognized.

AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: Homer's Odyssey (Day Two: Books 6-10)

AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: Homer's Odyssey (Day Two: Books 6-10):

1) Calypso is the first woman we hear about in this story that wants to have Odysseus as her lover after Penelope. Calypso even defies the gods at first when they command her to release Odysseus so that he can return to his kingdom. Later in the story we learn that Odysseus also was the goddess, Circe’s lover. Both of these stories show that Odysseus is not loyal to Penelope. If he continues to be loyal to his wife and fight’s these urges from other women, his story is one of true love. I do not think this is the case. Calypso gives the readers insight into the thinking of Odysseus and men in this time, that they are allowed to be un-loyal to their wives it is necessary, but if the woman does this in return it is unfaithful and illegal.

4) The Cyclops is the first enemy that Odysseus has the opportunity to fight. His enemies before this were Zeus sending storms and the forbidden fruits of the Lotus. The Cyclops is also half god, he is the son of Poseidon. The Cyclops represents something greater than Odysseus, but a fair opponent compared to those previous. Odysseus represents his true strength when he defeats the Cyclops; this show of cunning knowledge and strength shows he is more than an average man. This is the first victory on his very long journey and foreshadows future victorious for the man.

Odysseus’s statement that his name is ‘Nobody’ was just part of his plan to escape from the Cyclops. The Cyclops is not a smart being and by just telling him his name is ‘Nobody’ the monster actually believes him. When the time comes to kill the Cyclops instead of giving away Odysseus’s plan he prevents his neighbor from saving him from Odysseus.

AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: Homer's Odyssey (Day One: Books 1-5)

AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: Homer's Odyssey (Day One: Books 1-5): Please respond to two questions or bring up your own topics (and analyses) for discussion: 1. The opening verses (the prologue) of Book One...

4) I am reading the Odyssey with an open mind, I do not even know the story. I never had the opportunity to study classical literature before so these are all very new stories to me. Being The Odyssey with Telemachus’s story shows that he is just as important as his father. He makes an effort, with the help of the gods, to save his father’s kingdom, mother and even rescue Odysseus. Telemachus has a strong religious belief and strives to search for his missing father. Odysseus is located on an unknown island and is not even rescued by his son, but let free by the gods.

It will be interesting to see if Telemachus’s and Odysseus’s paths cross one another or if the son’s story will just end. The story is title Odyssey not Telemachus, so I will take an educated guess and assume the stories from now on will focus on Odysseus.

5) The text says Telemachus was an infant when Odysseus went to war and now he is just a young adult. Without a father Telemachus is forced to mature fast and take care of his mother and father’s kingdom, which is being taken advantage of. Telemachus is reached out by Artemis, the goddess of wisdom and is told to send away his mothers suitors and find his missing father. Without question he follows these orders and never doubts the truth in them. He ventures on to search for his father without telling anyone, but his nurse in the kingdom. He visits Troy and Greece searching for his father, but the only clue he finds is from Proteus in Sparta. This is strange because I think Sparta is an enemy country of where Telemachus is from. Having never heard these stories before makes it difficult to connect the dots with this ancient way of writing.

Telemachus becomes a man while on this journey to find his missing father. He is following the advice of gods and has help from another prince. This journey represents something similar that his father, Odysseus might do. Shows that father and son may be reunited soon or that the son will now have the power and experience to save his father.

AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: Genesis (Day Five: Chapters 37, 39-50)

AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: Genesis (Day Five: Chapters 37, 39-50): For today's blog, bring up at least two topics of interest and write a short and cohesive argument explaining why these themes are important...

The main theme I found while reading the stories of Joseph was jealousy between brothers. This theme is not only portrayed in Joseph's story, but every other story we have covered in Genesis so far between brothers. Joseph's brothers become jealous of him because Israel favors him over his brothers. Joseph begins to develop dreams because the Lord watches over him. He makes the mistake and brags to his brothers about these dreams. How he will rule over the land, his brothers and even his father! This creates even more jealousy and his brothers plot to murder him out of spite. Jealousy seems to always befall the brother that is favored or blessed by the Lord. Later in Genesis Joseph's master's wife tries to lie with him in bed, but Joseph refuses. She is jealous of his attractive looks and he disobeys her so she sees that he is arrested on false claims. I find it strange that all these stories included Joseph's have such a strong element of envy in them. Is Genesis attempting to say how jealousy is something evil? But those who are envied always triumph and brag about their actions. Which is the correct action or correct argument?

The second theme I find important is treachery and deception by those in social power. Joseph deceives his family because he attempts to trick them because of the crimes they did against him. The stories of Genesis always have these elements, characters do not like to be truthful and it is always revealed in the end. I think that Joseph takes his deception far, but his brothers did attempt to murder him. Once again, I think these stories are portraying themes that are evil, but make it very unclear. Deception and treachery are both bad, but when they occur the person conducting them wins in the end because of it. So is treachery good if it helps or is it always evil and makes your intentions pure evil?

AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: Genesis (Day Four: Chapters 25-28, 32-33)

AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: Genesis (Day Four: Chapters 25-28, 32-33): Please answer at least three questions or bring up your own topics (and answers) for discussion. Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Esau (Chapters 2...

1) The story begins with the Lord saying the youngest will rule over the oldest son, Jacob will rule over Esau. Esau seems to be the strong brother and cares for Jacob greatly; he hunts game for him and always is nice to him according to the text. As soon as Esau is in danger Jacob steal's his birthright from him for now reason! What is Esau's birthright? After this act Esau seems greatful he is still alive, but bitter towards Jacob. Jacob them takes it a step further and steals his blessing also. At this point it is ridiculous and once again the youngest son destroys the older son for NO REASON. Why the same things keep repeating I am not sure and this family is not honorable or courteous towards each other at all.

2) Isaac and Rebecca do not help with the relationship between their sons at all! A perfect example of this is Rebecca heavily favors Jacob and has him lie to his father. This act makes me think that she dislikes Esau. She has Jacob tell his dying father that he is Esau so that he can steal his blessing. Jacob goes right along with it and shows how weak or deceiving his character is. Rebecca is very deceiving and is similar in many ways to Sarah. The same is seen for Isaac and is very similar to Abraham especially in the beginning of the story when he pretends his wife is his sister, sound familiar? It is very strange that this couple behaves so similar to the previous couple and there is the continuous issue with brothers, I am not sure what Genesis is trying to infer about ancient civilizations. All of the characters in this story are so deceiving towards their loved ones. They care little for one another when it goes to the end. Jacob steals everything from Esau, Esau wants to kill Jacob, Isaac doesn't seem to care about giving the blessing to the wrong son, and Rebecca makes her son lie to Issac.

5) The text states Jacob was 'left alone', this is meant alone in the sense of people. The text continues to imply Jacob is wrestling with God, which could mean metaphorically, in his head, or physically. If God appeared after Jacob was alone there is no need to mention in the text of his appearance. There are such little details in Genesis that this would not be included, we should be able to figure it out. Jacob is proving to God that he is still worthy of his protection and that he is still blessed and deserves to be saved.

AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: Genesis (Day Three: Chapters 12, 16-18, 21-23)

AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: Genesis (Day Three: Chapters 12, 16-18, 21-23): Please answer at least three questions or bring up your own topics (and responses) for discussion: THE JOURNEY TO EGYPT 1. Why does Abram ...

2) In the beginning Sarah must pretend to be Abraham’s sister and ends up marrying the Pharaoh. I think she does not speak because she has nothing to say. She cares for her husband and they both think this is the only way to make sure Abraham is not killed while in Egypt. She is doing as her husband commands her too, which resembles how wives were expected to behave in this time. Once Sarah and Abraham are reunited she becomes very opinionated and Abraham listens to everything she says. An example of this is when Sarah commands Abraham to conceive a child with Hagar, her Egyptian servant.

3) The first love triangle is formed between Sarah, Abraham and Hagar because Sarah can not bore children for Abraham. She commands him to take Hagar as his wife and she will bore him children. Sarah believes that Hagar will bore the children for her. Poor Hagar is taken away from her home in Egypt and is forced to bore Sarah and Abraham’s child. Sarah becomes outraged by her decision and threatens Hagar. Hagar flees from her mistress, but the Lord convinces her to return to Sarah and bore the child from the. Sarah bores her own child in old age and when she hears Hagar’s son laughing at her she casts them both out. Even though Hagar gave up so much for Sarah and Abraham, Sarah forced them to flee again, but never to come back.

Hagar is a servant and difference in class is apparent here, Sarah and Abraham take advantage of her. She is also Egyptian and the couple is the first of the Jews, this separation of the two ethnicities begins with their story. It is ironic how Sarah and Abraham take advantage of Hagar, an Egyptian and the Egyptians will soon take advantage of the Jews (descendents of Abraham).

4) Abraham trusts God with every command that he gives him and Sarah. I think that God tests Abraham for the sole reason to see how far this trust will go and to see what power God has over mankind. Abraham will be forming a nation and will birth princes and royalty. God needs to make sure that he will have the same control over this nation as he does over Abraham. By threatening Isaac in this terrible and installing this fear into Abraham, God is passing down the authority of the voice of God. This fear is even supported by the statement the Lord makes after Abraham almost murders his son: “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” (Genesis 22)

The relationship between Abraham and the divine is very strong. God is guiding Abraham and Sarah through life to his liking. He continues to command their family and the final test is the murder of Isaac. I am happy that God didn’t actually want Isaac dead, but it is strange he tested the father in that way. It shows Abraham cares more for the divine than his own family, which is not even human.