Book Review: The Odyssey

Title: The Odyssey
Author: Homer, translated by Robert Fagles
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Release Date: 17th century BCE
Date Finished: 27 November 2010

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid

Challenges: 100+ Reading, Hogwarts Reading Challenge, Reading Resolutions, Really Old Classics Challenge,

The Short and Sweet of It
The Odyssey picks up where The Iliad leaves off, and follows Odysseus as he tries to make his way back home to Ithaca, where his faithful wife fends off suitors and his young son is slowly becoming a man.

A Bit of a Ramble
I have read bits and pieces of The Odyssey over the years, but I've never read the entire epic poem. Now that I have, I am so very glad I did. While certain books were a bit slow and certain passages a bit redundant or unnecessary, overall Odysseus's journey home is a fascinating look at the culture, religion, and ideology of what is to me, an already fascinating time period.

As I read this as part of a readalong, my thoughts on specific sections of the book can be found in my first four posts (Books 1-6, 7-12, 13-18, and 19-24). In this review post, I really want to focus on one thing: the translation by Robert Fagles.

Many times, in my experience, when contemporaries translate ancient works, the resulting language feels formal, flowery, and/or a wee bit confounding, which turns off many of us lazy modern readers. Fagles' translation, on the other hand, reads smoothly and simply without losing that touch of class which graces older works.

Here are a few different translations of the first lines of The Odyssey:

Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story
of that man skilled in all ways of contending,
the wanderer, harried for years on end,
after he plundered the stronghold
on the proud height of Troy.
He saw the townlands
and learned the minds of many distant men,
and weathered many bitter nights and days
in his deep heart at sea, while he fought only
to save his life, to bring his shipmates home.
~~~~Robert Fitzgerald (1961)

Tell me, O Muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover, he suffered much by the sea while trying to save his own life and bring his men safely home.
~~~~Walter James Miller (1970)

Muse make the man thy theme, for shrewdness famed
And genius versatile, who far and wide
A Wand'rer, after Ilium overthrown,
Discover'd various cities, and the mind
And manners learn'd of men, in lands remote.
He num'rous woes on Ocean toss'd, endured,
Anxious to save himself, and to conduct
His followers to their home.
~~~~William Cowper (1791)

And here, my friends, are the words of Robert Fagles:

Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy.
Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds,
many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea,
fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home.

Personally, Fagles's translation knocks the others on their bottoms, so if you feel the urge to read this in the future, I would definitely suggest reading this translation.

This Book Around the Web
If I've missed your review, let me know!

Read an interview with Robert Fagles at PBS; things mean a lot;

Book Review: The Odyssey Books 19-24

Plot Summary
When last we left Odysseus, he was in his own home disguised as a beggar, bearing the brunt of numerous insults from the suitors who are systematically trashing the place and running through all the goodies while trying to win Penelope's hand in marriage. Can it get any worse? Someone spending all your money while trying to hook up with your wife? Bad.

Odysseus and his son, Telemachus have a plan though, a bloody plan which gets carried out here in the last section of this epic book. First we have to get through Books 19 and 20, however. Penelope and Odysseus (as a beggar) have a bit of a chat where he lies about seeing Odysseus on his travels. Penelope is all "he's never coming back and I just want to die". Instead of just killing herself though, Penelope makes a plan for how one of the suitors can finally win her. Her plan? She will marry whichever suitor can string Odysseus's bow and fire an arrow through a line of axes.

Now in Book 21, we find that no one can bend the bow to string it because they are all weaklings compared the one and only Odysseus. The Big O, of course, manages to string the bow and fire it through the line of axes, finally revealing himself for who he is as Telemachus takes his place along his side.

And then we have a huge string of killing in Book 22. Suitor after suitor falls to Odysseus and Telemachus; arrows through the throat, spikes through the gut, it's awesome. To top it all off, Odysseus has the maids who've been a'whoring (or possibly being a'raped) carry the bodies from the house and clean up all the blood; and then, he has his men and Telemachus kill them. Naughty girls die nasty deaths. Reading The Penelopiad did give me quite a different outlook on the whole situation though, which colored my reading of this section.

Once the dirty deed is done, Penelope finally gets her dearest wish - to see Odysseus. But, as she is a wise woman, she tests him first, making sure he is who he says he is; after all, it's been twenty years. Once formally reunited, the two get their freak on, have a long chat, and fall asleep.

Now this is where the story should end; there seems to be absolutely no reason for the 24th book. It begins with Achilles and Agamemnon discussing their deaths and then the suitors arrive as well to discuss how they died. Back in reality, Odysseus heads off to see his father, Laertes, and along with Telemachus, the royal house fights off the families of the suitors they decimated. Athena and Zeus intervene though to bring peace to the land. It's seriously anti-climatic to me.

Excerpts from when Telemachus was a complete and total ass to his mother:

The Set Up: Penelope is quite rightly admonishing the suitors for being rude to the beggar (Odysseus in disguise). She wants him to have his chance stringing the bow; not for marriage, but for some nice clothes.

What Telemachus Said: Mother...my father's bow - no Achaean on earth has more right than I to give it or withhold it, as I please. Of all the lords in Ithaca's rocky heights or the islands facing Elis grazed by horses, not a singly one will force or thwart my will, even if I decide to give our guest this bow - a gift outright - to carry off himself. So, mother, go back to your quarters. Tend to your own tasks, the distaff and the loom, and keep the women working hard as well. As for the bow now, men will see to that, but I most of all: I hold the reins of power in this house.

What Penelope Thought: Astonished, she withdrew to her room. She took to heart the clear good sense in what her son had said.

What Penelope Should Have Done: Smacked that little shit right across the face.

The Set Up: After waiting for Odysseus's return for 20 years, Penelope takes her time deciding if this man who has come into her home is really Odysseus.

What Telemachus Said: Oh mother...cruel mother, you with your hard heart! Why do you spurn my father so - why don't you sit beside him, engage him, ask him questions? What other wife could have a spirit so unbending? Holding back from her husband, home at last for her after bearing twenty years of brutal struggle  - your heart was always harder than a rock!

What Penelope Said: My Child...I'm stunned with wonder, powerless. Cannot speak to him, ask him questions, look him in the eyes...But if he is truly Odysseus, home at last, make no mistake: we two will know each other, even beter - we two have secret signs, known to us both but hidden from the world.


What Penelope Should Have Said: Come here you little shit so I can smack you right across the face.

There are many instances like these throughout the play, but the close proximity of these two events really brought the absolute disrespect of Telemachus for Penelope home to me. He is so horrid to her.

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Echoes of Man is my month-long sojourn into antiquity. I plan on entering the ancient world and basking in its glory for the entire month of November.

During this time, I will be reading and reviewing literature of the time and posting about related topics. If you have anything you would like to add - a review, an informative post, etc. - let me know. I would love to have you join in!
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Echoes of Man Image from ~darkmatter257 at deviant art
Odysseus killing the suitors, Gustav Schwab, Sagen des Klassischen Altertums (1882)
Clipart.com 

Book Review: The Eumenides

Title: The Oresteia - The Eumenides
Author: Aeschylus
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Release Date: 458 BCE
Date Finished: 27 November 2010

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid

Challenges: 100+ Reading, Hogwarts Reading Challenge, Reading Resolutions, Really Old Classics Challenge,

The Short and Sweet of It
The Oresteia is the only trilogy of Greek drama to survive today. Included are Agaememnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides, three plays which reveal "the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos." Sounds interesting right?

The first in the trilogy, Agamemnon, recounts the return of its titular character to his home following the Trojan War. The second, The Libation Bearers, has Orestes returning home and killing his mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. In the finale to the story, Orestes has fled his home, pursued by the three Furies who wish to torment him and drive him to death because of his matricide.

A Bit of a Ramble
As with the first play in this trilogy, I really enjoyed the story. While the second should have included the most exciting event, it fell flat, lots of talk with very little action. The third play, however, follows Orestes to Apollo's celestial (at least otherworldly) home and then on to Athena's city where Orestes appeals to the goddess to judge his case and hopefully free him from his persecution by the Furies. The trial is intriguing with the Furies on one side, and Apollo and Orestes on the other with Athena and some citizens judging the case.

What was most interesting to me was the dialogue between the Furies and Athena. The Furies are old gods, subjugated by the Olympians, and primarily located in the Underworld. They consistently protest their lot and call attention to the fact that they came first and should not be thwarted. Athena doesn't lord it over them and instead offers them a place of honor in her city: a respectful way to placate them over their loss in the case. It's funny to me how much these plays stray from their central protagonist - Orestes - and feature such a philosophical discussion of the role of the old and new gods.

Another interesting point about the trial is the horridness of the closing arguments. The poor, mortal jury has to cast their ballots, but before doing so, they are dealt some pretty serious threats by the Furies and Apollo. Vote my way or I'll decimate your city sort of stuff. The vote ends up tied, but Athena casts her vote for Orestes' innocence.

Having finally finished the entire trilogy, I am confident in saying that I would recommend it to anyone interested in this time period - especially since it's pretty quick reading - but without the foundation interest, I would hazard a guess that modern readers wouldn't be all that excited by the story.

This Book Around the Web
If I've missed your review, let me know!

So Many Books;

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Echoes of Man is my month-long sojourn into antiquity. I plan on entering the ancient world and basking in its glory for the entire month of November.

During this time, I will be reading and reviewing literature of the time and posting about related topics. If you have anything you would like to add - a review, an informative post, etc. - let me know. I would love to have you join in!
~~~~~~~~~~

Echoes of Man Image from ~darkmatter257 at deviant art

Graphic Myths

I took a bit of a break from my trip to put in some time with my students, but as is the way with life, one portion seeped over into the other (i.e. my vacationing in the ancient world influences my teaching). So, for my lit class's final project, they will be turning a myth into a graphic novel. Typically my student's turn one of the short stories we read for the class into graphic novel or a play, but this semester the spirit of the ancient gods have moved me. Here are a few of they myths they can choose from:

Vasilisa the Beautiful, a Baba Yaga story
Vasilisa is a cinderella story. A young woman abused by her stepmother and two stepsisters, Vasilisa turns to the doll her dying mother gave her for comfort. Of course, this is no ordinary doll. Give it a little food and water and it wakes up to offer advice and help. While the evils steps order Vasilissa to perform menial and difficult tasks, it is the doll who actually completes them. Horribly frustrated by Vasilisa's obstinate refusal to become worn down and ugly, the steps send her off into the woods to borrow fire from Baba Yaga, a witch who enjoys eating people, in the hopes of killing off Vasilisa. In the way of fairy tales, this plan does  not work and Vasilisa escapes, with much help from her highly useful dolly.  Baba Yaga sends her off with fire - in a skull, how awesome is that - and Vasilisa returns home; at which point, the skull sets the stepmother and stepsisters on fire. Love it. Vasilisa does some seriously artful weaving and ends up married to the King...of course.

The stories of Baba Yaga are Russian fairy tales that while are not quite as old as the other stories I've been reading, do share many commonalities with the more ancient myths. The most 'mythological' as opposed to 'fairy tale based' character in this story is Baba Yaga. She is drenched in mythology as the central character in many tales designed to reveal something about morality or nature; also, she is often paired with three riders, as in this story, who represent the Day, the Sun, and the Night, suggesting godlike abilities. She is both good and evil: providing those who cross her path with the wisdom they need to carry out their mission, but also always a hair's breadth from just killing and eating them if they mess up in any way. Just like a god.

If you want to read the story, SurLaLune has an annotated version.



The Terrible Head (winner of best name)
The Terrible Head is the fairy tale story of the myth of Perseus, a Greek hero. In the fairy tale, a King sends his daughter and her newborn son out to sea trapped in a box because a prophecy forewarned he would die by the hands of his daughter's son. They are, of course, rescued and a nice man takes them in. But then the King of their new country decides he wants to marry the woman and to do so, he has to get rid of her son. He tricks the son into going on a quest to retrieve The Terrible Head. "Then they told him that somewhere, a long way off, there dwelt three dreadful sisters, monstrous ogrish women, with golden wings and claws of brass, and with serpents growing on their heads instead of hair. Now these women were so awful to look on that whoever saw them was turned at once into stone. And two of them could not be put to death, but the youngest, whose face was very beautiful, could be killed, and it was her head that the boy had promised to bring. You may imagine it was no easy adventure."

And of course, he will need three objects to complete his quest: "first, a Cap of Darkness, which would make him invisible when he wore it; next, a Sword of Sharpness, which would cleave iron at one blow; and last, the Shoes of Swiftness, with which he might fly in the air." And to find these three objects, he must "go to the Three Gray Sisters, who live far off in the north, and are so very cold that they have only one eye and one tooth among the three." After a successful mission, he rescues a princess chained to a rock right before she can become a sea monsters dinner.

Anyone familiar with the Perseus story - or the film Clash of the Titans or Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson - will recognize the myth behind the fairy tale. The elements remain eerily the same, except the names. In Greek mythology, all of these characters have names - Perseus, Andromeda, the Gorgons, Polydectes, Danae, et al. - but in the fairy tale, names are unimportant and instead we have the King, the Princess, the son, and so on. I am not going to hazard a guess as to the reasoning for this.

You can read the full fairy tale here or the myth of Perseus here.

I also gave students the option of adapting the myth of Sisyphus, the story of Narcissus and Echo, Diamonds and Toads, or the Girl without Hands. With thousands and thousands of myths to choose from, I took the lazy man's way out and just picked the first handful I figured they wouldn't be too familiar with. :)

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Echoes of Man is my month-long sojourn into antiquity. I plan on entering the ancient world and basking in its glory for the entire month of November.

During this time, I will be reading and reviewing literature of the time and posting about related topics. If you have anything you would like to add - a review, an informative post, etc. - let me know. I would love to have you join in!
~~~~~~~~~~

Echoes of Man Image from ~darkmatter257 at deviant art
Sketch by Tanja Wooten
Perseus and the Gorgons  in Wonder Book for Girls and Boys

Book Review: The Odyssey Books 13-18

Plot Summary
Odysseus is finally leaving Phaecia. After talking the ears off Alcinous, his niece-wife Arete, and the rest of the Phaecians, O sails away loaded down with gifts, cuz he's just so awesome, and the Phaecian crew drops him off in Ithaca. The interesting part of all this: apparently O suffers from a serious sleeping disorder as it appears he was asleep for the entire trip. The crew actually carries him, still slumbering peacefully, off the ship and lay him down. Then the honest folk unload all of his goodies, hiding them so that they won't be stolen while O spends his remaining time in dreamland. After what I'm sure was a lot of poking O and giving each other questioning looks, the crew ambles back to their ship and take off, leaving the dead-to-the-world O. Seriously people, they left him sleeping! That just amuses me.

When he wakes up he doesn't know where he is due to some mystifying by the enigmatic Athena. The two have a long chat where Athena gets to have THE BIG REVEAL which I summarize as follows:

Athena sees Odysseus sleeping and mists the land so he will not know where he is.

Odysseus wakes up, confused and angry. Where am I? Why have those tricksy Phaecians left me on this unknown land?

Athena saunters up to him, appearing as a shepherd boy. Her thoughts are filled with how freaking cool Odysseus will think she is, how grateful he will be, when she gets to THE BIG REVEAL.

Odysseus: Thank god there are people here! Who are you? Where am I? WTF is going on here?!?

Athena: You are such an idiot to not now this totally amazing land for it is the incomparable ITHACA! (applause, applause for THE BIG REVEAL)

Odysseus cries.

Did she just want to see the look on his face when he found out he was home? Why is she messing with him at this point? I just don't know.

On a side note, Poseidon totally destroyed the Phaecian ship which brought O to Ithaca. He wanted to punish them because they are so nice they always help out the people who land on their island. Yeah, cuz that's bad. I thought hospitality was like a religion in this time. Anyway, following Zeus's suggestion, Poseidon decimates the ship just as it was in sight of everyone in  Phaecia so that they would learn their lesson: don't help everyone cuz Poseidon may be wanting to lay a bit of the smack down on that particular traveler.

After Athena and Odysseus bandy about some words, catching up and the such not, she turns him into an old beggarman and sends him off to his loyal swineherd Eumaeus to wait until she can bring Telemachus back home from Menelaus's home. O and Eumaeus engage in the proper formalities of hospitality and end up spending some quality time eating and exchanging stories - O's are all big fat lies as he is trying to disguise who he really is.

In the meantime, Athena has urged Telemachus home, warning him of the nefarious plot the suitors have concocted to kill him upon his return. One part I had to read twice for hilarity's sake involved Telemachus telling Nestor's son Psistratus: "Hey dude, I think I'm just going to bypass your dad's house cuz like he really likes to talk and be all hospitable and stuff, so if I go there, I'm afraid o'dude just won't let me leave." Psistratus is then all like: "Yeah, he's a real blabbermouth so I totally get it. Just head for the boat and I'll take my sweet time heading home to deliver the news. That way the old man won't like run down and jump in the water and swim to the boat to snatch you back for some more old school hospitality."

And blah blah blah blah, Telemachus arrives home, meets up with O, makes a plan with daddy to kick in the suitors' heads, finally arrives home and gets all "I da man" on Penelope. Odysseus eventually makes his way home, still disguised as an old beggar. Just a little while later, the strangest thing so far in the story happens. See there's this other beggar in Ithaca, Irus, and Irus is none too pleased with O encroaching on his territory, so he tells O to hit the road. The suitors hear the two old beggars getting up in each other's faces, and next thing you know THEY ARE LAYING ODDS ON WHO WOULD WIN IN A FIGHT. I have to admit I busted out laughing at this. The suitors set up some sort of random street fight here, pitting two old men, men who are poor and weak looking and dirty against each other. How horrible is this?!?! I know I just said I was laughing, but the chuckles turned self-consciously guilty quite quickly.

Obviously, O kicks Irus's ass which wins him the respect of the suitors. Despite the respect, the suitors - and even the maids of the house - still get their rocks off by making fun of O (which will cause some serious pain later). And that my friends is where Book 18 ends. I can feel the cage match coming on.


Any intelligent thoughts on this section Trisha?
Er...not really. I was a bit busy this past week, so while I read and enjoyed this section, I didn't spend much time contemplating all that has happened. In other words, plot summary is all you are going to get for this section. Sorry!
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Echoes of Man is my month-long sojourn into antiquity. I plan on entering the ancient world and basking in its glory for the entire month of November.

During this time, I will be reading and reviewing literature of the time and posting about related topics. If you have anything you would like to add - a review, an informative post, etc. - let me know. I would love to have you join in!
~~~~~~~~~~

Echoes of Man Image from ~darkmatter257 at deviant art

Revisiting Some Old Old Favorites

Echoes of Man is my month-long sojourn into antiquity. I plan on entering the ancient world and basking in its glory for the entire month of November.

During this time, I will be reading and reviewing literature of the time and posting about related topics. If you have anything you would like to add - a review, an informative post, etc. - let me know. I would love to have you join in!
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Today I wanted to feature some books I read and reviewed before Echoes of Man began:

Dante Alighieri's Inferno isn't quite as old as the other books I've been reading. Published around 1314, it's 1000+ years beyond The Odyssey. And yet within it, we reach back into antiquity in the character of Virgil, Dante's guide, and in many of the beasts which inhabit a hell clearly based on the ancient idea of the Underworld.

Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad is about as far removed in time as one can get from antiquity, but I wanted to include it as the protagonist is Penelope, Odysseus wife, and the story centers on her time at home with the suitors while Odysseus is away.

Paul Cartledge's The Spartans: The World of the War-Heroes of Ancient Greece is a rather riveting non-fiction account of the high point of Sparta. I tend to be wary of non-fiction history books; I've read a lot of boring ones. But I really enjoyed the style Cartledge used to convey the information. And of course, the content is just fascinating.

Euripedes' The Bacchae takes us back to an ancient text. Written around 405 BCE, the play focuses on Dionysus, a rather randy and extraordinary god who seduces the women of a city. Pentheus, whose mother is off running around naked in the woods with Dionysus, is rather unhappy about the whole situation. The punishments doled out by the gods for bad behavior are extremely apropos to the crime, much like the entirety of Dante's Inferno.

The Tao Te Ching by Laozi is a religious/philosophical text which originated in the 6th century BCE during the Zhou Dynasty (China). The philosophies in this book influenced religious Taoism, Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism, et. al. While the concepts are a bit difficult to grasp, the language and metaphors are relatively easy to understand, making it a difficult but not frustrating read.

Do you have any past reviews about ancient times?
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Echoes of Man Image from ~darkmatter257 at deviant art

Ancient World: South Asia

Chapter 3: South Asia



I know very little about ancient South Asia so most of this chapter was new to me.  This also means that I will remember less since I had no background knowledge with which to situate the new information.  Books like this, short with basic facts and no narrative, are useful if a person already knows a bit about the subject.  Hopefully writing this out will help a bit with remembering.

Interesting facts:

In the middle of the 3rd millenium BCE, the Harappan civilization began in South Asia, uniting what had been three distinct areas/traditions.  The civilization lasted for approximately 700 years before it was replaced by the Mauryan empire.  What is interesting, however, is that warfare did not create, maintain, or destroy the civilization.

Houses in this area at this time were pretty advanced.  They were two or three stories, built around courtyards, and had efficient bathrooms.  On the other hand, no temples or palaces were found anywhere in the area, and the political structure of the Harappan civilization remains a mystery.

Buddha.

I have no list of literature from the time period, in part because the language used by the Harappan civilization has not been translated.  Scholars believe the civilization used perishables to write upon, and hence no luck with passing on the literature.
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Echoes of Man is my month-long sojourn into antiquity. I plan on entering the ancient world and basking in its glory for the entire month of November.

During this time, I will be reading and reviewing literature of the time and posting about related topics. If you have anything you would like to add - a review, an informative post, etc. - let me know. I would love to have you join in!
~~~~~~~~~~

Echoes of Man Image from ~darkmatter257 at deviant art

Midway along the Trip

My trip through the ancient world is half-way finished, and I felt a need for some reflection on where I've been and where I'm heading. At the beginning of my trip, I planned out a list of literature to visit; as with all of my plans, things changed. I am a naturally spontaneous person, so schedules rarely plan out properly for me. I did, however, begin in Mesopotamia where I met Gilgamesh, a rather ornery king who met his comeuppance in Enkidu and went on a quest for immortality.

Then I journeyed to Ithaca. Before I left, however, a lovely young woman, displaced in time, warned me to keep my head about me on my travels. I was able to make short stop in Egypt, but my time there was something of a whirlwind, and I hope to have a bit of a stay there in the next two weeks.

When I finally arrived in Ithaca, Odysseus and Penelope welcomed me warmly into their home; although I don't really feel special about this as they seem to treat all manner of guests the same. Odysseus asked me about my journey to his home, but before I could get a word in, he launched into his own tale. Due to a prearranged appointment with Sappho, I only heard about a fourth of Od's story - he is a rather long-winded fellow. But I promised to return to hear the rest. I must admit though that I stopped by Aeschylus's house on the way back to get the low down on Agamemnon and company. While Aeschylus's rendering of Agamemnon's death was fascinating, he carried on a bit long about Orestes homecoming and subsequent justice-rendering.

I managed to make it back to Od and Pen's house, and swear to the gods, that man started rambling again, the moment I entered. His stories are rather fascinating though, so I can't complain too much.

While traveling, I had much time to ponder the big questions: Life, the Universe, and Everything. And while I'm still not quite sure how 42 fits into it, I did enjoy my philosophizing about Life and Death from a more primitive perspective. On a bit less intelligent brain ramble, I also found myself questioning the charms of Helen of Greece...of Troy...of Greece.

I am learning so much about ancient peoples' from my trip, even the like really really ancient ones. Right now, I'm still in Ithaca - I do want to hear the rest of Od's story - but plans have been put in motion to find out how Orestes made out after running from his matricide. And I still want to head back down to Egypt, with another jaunt through Mesopotamia and possibly a side trip to India. We shall see, we shall see.

Early Development and Ideas

Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud by Peter Watson is a giant chunkster of a book. Taller and wider than your average Bible and containing over 800 pages, the book terrifies me in the commitment level required to read it cover to cover. So I'm just not going to do it. :P

At this point, I've read to page 56, probably about 150 pages in a normal sized book. All 56 pages are littered with underlining, random stars next to important passages, and my half-articulate annotations. (Apologies to the book purists out there.)

Instead of even attempting to paraphrase the overwhelming amount of information, I am just going to give you some of the points I found most intriguing in separate posts throughout the month. I highly doubt I will read the entire book this month as it's extreme weightiness would overwhelm any other reading I want to do. Who knows, maybe I'll do another Echoes of Man month in April?

The chimpanzee-human divergence occurred 6.6 million years ago. Early humans were bipedal 3.4 to 2.9 million years ago. "We" were using stone tools 2.5 to 2.7 million years ago. We were vegetarians until about 2.5 million years ago. (Clearly those stone tools served a purpose, mainly FRESH MEAT).

Much early art focuses on the female form: "Many of them...are buxom, with large breasts and bellies, possibly indicating they are pregnant. Many...have distended vulvas, indicating they are about to give birth. Many...are naked. Many...lack faces but show elaborate coiffures. Many..are incomplete, lacking feet or arms...Some...were originally covered in red ochre - was that meant to symbolise (menstrual) blood?...Until the link was made between sexual intercourse and birth, women would have seemed mysterious and miraculous creatures, far more so than men." And we still are in my opinion. :)


Mother Earth (Gaia to the Greeks) tried out a few varieties of humans over the millenia: three styles of Paranthropus and three styles of Homo (of which we are eventually derived). Of the Homo variety, "H. habilis had an ape-type body with more human-like face and teeth, H. rudolfensis was the other way around." Watson doesn't tell me what the third, H. ergaster, looked like. H. erectus (our ancestors) appeared well after the original three, about 1.7 million years ago. H. erectus morphed into H. sapiens around 500-300,000 years ago. H. sapiens evolved into both Neanderthals and well, us, with Neaderthals dying out about 31,000 years ago.

Humans started burying bodies after death about 120-90,000 years ago. While some view this as evidence of spirituality, I personally couldn't help but wonder if it had more to do with an efficient means of disposal and smell control. :)

H. floresiensis, discovered in 2004, apparently lived only on the Indonesian island of Flores. They were barely one metre tall, had small brains, walked upright, produced tools, and controlled fire. Can anyone say hobbits? (And I seriously mean no offense to the H. floresiensis by that comment.) (Nor to hobbits.)

Around 60-55,000 years ago, early humans reached Australia. Were these early sailors unbelievably brave or seriously directionally challenged?

There are about 6,809 languages exist today, and (rather fuzzy) research indicates that ancient people's probably had just as many: roughly one language per thousand people.

Three is the biggest number the human brain can recognize without having to count.

True houses didn't begin until about 18-14,000 years ago. And then quickly developed into elaborate mansions where no one lived, but cleaning services still kept spotless just in case. (pictures is of Oprah's mansion).

"The term civilization generally implies four characteristics - writing, cities with monumental architecture, organised religion, and specialised occupations."

The greatest human invention is arguably agriculture. This make sense to me as the domestication of animals and plants is what allows communities to become stable and hence allows the above indicators of civilization to develop. This domestication occurred sometime between 14,000 and 6,500 years ago in the Fertile Crescent (Middle East today, Mesopotamia then) and in Mesoamerica (Panama-Mexico area). Animals were not domesticated until about 1,000 years after plants. Full domestication took about 3000 years.

Our original plan of attack, hunting and gathering, seems much more appealing and efficient than our turn to farming. H-Gs only work about three-five hours a day, and ethnographic evidence suggests that the farmers had more cases of malnutrition, more infectious diseases, and more tooth decay than their H-G counterparts. Plus, the farming diet was way more monotonous than the H-G diet.

I could go on and on and on about all of the interesting ideas presented in the first 56 pages. If you have any interest in ancient history, in human development, or just in ideas in general, I highly recommend getting this book.
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Echoes of Man is my month-long sojourn into antiquity. I plan on entering the ancient world and basking in its glory for the entire month of November.

During this time, I will be reading and reviewing literature of the time and posting about related topics. If you have anything you would like to add - a review, an informative post, etc. - let me know. I would love to have you join in!
~~~~~~~~~~

Echoes of Man Image from ~darkmatter257 at deviant art

Book Review: The Odyssey Books 7-12

Plot Summary
In the first six books, we meet Telemachus, Penelope, and Odysseus, each doing their own thing. Books 7 through 12, however, are entirely focused on Odysseus. Once he enters the palace and is given the royal treatment as all suppliants (guests) do, The Big O (as Jill calls him) launches into a riveting and extremely long-winded tale.

First up, he lets Alcinous know how he arrived in Phaecia. He waxes poetic about Calypso that silly tramp who kept him weeping by day and performing most admirably by night for seven years, and then he talks about his heroic battle with the elements at sea before he finally landed in the perfect spot to watch Nausicaa getting her laundry on. Alcinous laments that Odysseus, this man he does not know at all, like not even his name, cannot marry his daughter Nausicaa. Seriously. Odysseus must be like all kinds of gorgeous to inspire such admiration and respect so quickly with everyone he meets. I get why people would be all over him after hearing about his daring exploits, but why the googly eyed adoration at first sight?

In keeping with ancient customs on hospitality, Alcinous sets up a day of singing and competition. The men of Phaecia entertain Odysseus with singing, wrestling, jumping, boxing, running, and the such not. But then - dum dum dum - one young hothead insults Odysseus when he declines to join in the games. So then The Big O has to get his game face on and decimate in all the competitions Terminator style. At which point his says boo-yah, cocks his head, and raises his eyebrows.

Once Odysseus has reasserted his dominance, the bard sings yet again, a soft tale of Aphrodite and Ares, two gods in love, defying Hephaestus (Aphrodite's husband) in his own marriage bed. How wrong is that? H gets his though when he traps the two mid-coitus and then calls down all of the gods to laugh at them making the two-backed monster. Ouch. After the bard sings his ditty, the dancing begins and apparently the Phaecians are quite the steppers and would kill on Dancing with the Stars. Yet again, the bard plies his trade, this time singing of the Trojan horse. Odysseus cries, sobs actually, throughout the song, and so Alcinous FINALLY ASKS O WHO HE IS. Crazy right? Two days of honor and they still haven't asked him his name.

Instead of just saying his name, he tells them his story from the time he left Troy to when he washed up in Phaecia. Over the next four books, we hear about the not-so-famous escapades such as: the sacking of Ismarus; the mutiny which turned them from Ithaca at the last moment; the conversations with dead folk; and so on.

We also hear about the famous stories: the Lotus-Eaters, the ancient world's druggies; the daring sheep escape from the Cyclops, a cannibal; the Laestrygonians, who are giant cannibals; the first of O's goddess-lovers, Circe; and the killing of Helios's cattle an unbelievable act of idiocy.

I would love to recount for you each of these events in excruciating detail, but that's probably a bad idea. Instead, I will just urge you once again, to read the book. At the end of Book 12, I believe we are finally up to date. Odysseus has regaled the Phaecians with his travels and adventures from the time he left Troy all the way up to the present.

Strange Tidbits

• Alcinous, king of Phaecia married Arete - HIS NIECE!
• In Aeaea, the king had six sons and six daughters, so obviously, he paired them off in marriage.
• Heracles is married to Hebe, "famed for her lithe, alluring ankles." LOL!
• Prophets and gods keep telling O what not to do, and some how what not to do keeps being done.
• "But now I cleared my mind of Circe's orders - cramping my style, urging me not to arm at all." Cramping my style!?!?!

Dante and Homer
I recently read Inferno for the second time, and once again I fell in love with the horrifying and appropriate punishments doled out. Book 11 of The Odyssey includes some of the same fun. At this point in the story, Odysseus is telling Alcinous et al. about the time he went to the House of the Dead. While there he saw, Tityus, Tantalus, and Sisyphus, all three being perfectly punished.

Tityus was born of the goddess Earth, sort of. Apparently, he is Zeus's son, born of Hera, whom Zeus entombed deep in the Earth. And he wasn't really born... See, he grew to such alarming proportions when inside Hera that he ripped her apart and Gaia (Earth herself) had to finish out the nine months. Nasty. He made his big oopsie when he tried to rape Leto, one of Zeus's baby mommas. As punishment, his body is staked to the ground, covering nine acres, and he is made to lie there while two vultures eat his liver, "beaking deep in the blood-sac, and he with his frantic hands could never beat them off."

Tantalus, beloved of the gods, sat in Olympus and feasted, but then he made two big oopsies. First, he stole nectar and ambrosia from the gods and brought them back to his kingdom. Then, he committed the Big Nasty. He chopped up and cooked his own son and tried to feed the human flesh to the gods, most of whom saw through the little trick. What's up with the eating of children? Oddly enough, Tantalus is rumored to be the ancestor of the House of Atreus, descendants of which were Aegisthus and Agamemnon. Now in Tartarus, the lowest part of the underworld, he stands neck deep in a pool of water, but whenever he tries to get a drink, the water flows away from him. Above him, within reach, hangs beautiful fruit from leafy trees, but when he reaches up to grab one, they fly from him.

Sisyphus, as we all know, is doomed to forever push a gigantic boulder up a hill, but when the boulder gets to the very edge of the peak, it always rolls back down to the valley and poor Sisyphus has to start all over again. Sisyphus's sin, causing this torment, is Trickery. One of his tricks involved violations against hospitality where instead of feeding and entertaining his supplicants, he would kill them (I talk about hospitality in my review of books 1-6). Sisyphus also seduced his niece in order to become king and escaped from the Underworld twice through tricks. Tricksy little bugger.


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Echoes of Man is my month-long sojourn into antiquity. I plan on entering the ancient world and basking in its glory for the entire month of November.

During this time, I will be reading and reviewing literature of the time and posting about related topics. If you have anything you would like to add - a review, an informative post, etc. - let me know. I would love to have you join in!
~~~~~~~~~~

Echoes of Man Image from ~darkmatter257 at deviant art

Literary Blog Hop: Hard Reading

This blog hop is open to blogs that primarily feature book reviews of literary fiction, classic literature, and general literary discussion. This week's question comes from Debbie Nance at Readerbuzz

What is the most difficult literary work you've ever read? What made it so difficult?

This is my first time participating in the Literary Blog Hop, but I just found the question so intriguing, in part because nothing immediately came to mind. I've read many difficult reads, I know that, but for the life of me, I couldn't think of a single one the first few times I read the question.

A quick look through some "Most Difficult Reads" lists gave me a few ideas: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, The Stranger by Albert Camus, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Middlemarch by George Elliot, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, and blah blah blah.

These books do not feel like the most difficult reads to me, so I headed over to my bookshelves to solve the conundrum. Five seconds later I was convinced of my most difficult read:

Rhetorica ad Herennium, possibly by Cicero but maybe not, was written in the first century BCE and details the uses of rhetoric, particularly in regards to persuasion. It's some heavy shit people. Brilliant lessons written artfully abound. Of course, the translation plays a large role in the prose; sentence construction and word usage most likely vary from one translator to the next. Mine was...complex. At the same time, regardless of how the content is written, the concepts articulated are weighty and require careful consideration for complete understanding. You must turn the brain on to process. An interesting overview plus the complete outline can be found at Brigham Young University.

I read this and Cicero's De Oratore, all three books, for a Classical Rhetoric course while in my Masters program. Not exactly pleasure reading, but I do have to say that the ideas presented are rather awesome. I probably would do well to remember the lessons, but alas I have blocked them from memory due to the pain of learning them. :P

Oddly enough - and I swear I didn't plan this - my choice of books works with my Echoes of Man theme this month where I journey through ancient times. How serendipitous!

Now, of course, this probably doesn't count as "LITERARY", so I'll add in another difficult read with a more literary bent ( as in text for the purposes of storytelling ).  The only one that really comes to mind is Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose:

For full thoughts, read my review of The Name of the Rose. Of The Name of the Rose's 502 pages, I probably only fully comprehended half. This was not just a murder mystery, but also a lengthy discourse on religious politics, literary theory, the nature of truth, semiotics, logic, the validity of inquisitions, syllogisms, and history. I was fascinated even as I was confused. Overall though, the book is a good story with many and diverse characters, beautiful language, and intriguing philosophies.

While I acknowledge the difficulty of the book, I must say that reading it does not resonate as a "difficult experience" because I enjoyed it so much. In other words, don't let the rating of difficult keep you from reading this one!

Photos of My Trip

As I told you guys last week, I'm currently taking a trip through the ancient world, visiting new places and learning about the fascinating people who live there. So far, I've been reviewing the books I've read and posting some thoughts about the people and the culture. Today, I want to share some pictures of my trip! Because it can't all be study, study, study all the time!

Rocking the Tan in Egypt!

Chilling on Olympus

Fun with Snakes in *Undisclosed Location*

Book Review: The Libation Bearers

Title: The Oresteia - The Libation Bearers
Author: Aeschylus
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Release Date: 458 BCE
Date Finished: 30 October 2010

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid

Challenges: 100+ Reading, Hogwarts Reading Challenge, Reading Resolutions, Really Old Classics Challenge,

The Short and Sweet of It
The Oresteia is the only trilogy of Greek drama to survive today. Included are Agaememnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides, three plays which reveal "the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos." Sounds interesting right?

The second in the trilogy, The Libation Bearers, recounts the return of Orestes, Agamemnon's son to his home. Agamemnon is dead, murdered by his wife and her lover, and Electra, Orestes's sister is bringing libations to his grave. She discovers Orestes there, and the two vow to kill the usurpers, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.

A Bit of a Ramble

What a strange little play! While Agamemnon fascinated me, this one was a bit more boring to read. There are pages and pages and pages of the same thing being said over and over and over again. Much more talk than action in this one, and when we do get to the action, we do not witness it; we merely hear about it from other people talking. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.

All of the talk isn't necessarily out of line though. The bulk of the play takes place over the grave of the grievously murdered Agamemnon. His son and daughter, Orestes and Electra, mourn his loss together, and then go on this Hamlet-like rampage, spewing forth curses towards those who murdered him and vowing revenge. I can easily see two young people engaged in this sort of behavior, practically vomiting words that are simultaneously ridiculous, naive, noble, and heart-wrenching.

Then we also have the Chorus and the Leader acting sort of like coaches, engaging in a macabre pep talk, encouraging the siblings to murder their own mother and her lover. And how do they encourage them? With lots and lots and lots of words.

Not to say that the words used aren't wonderfully poetic, but still it was so much talk and so little action. I am, however, excited to read the final play in the trilogy because at the end of The Libation Bearers, Orestes has carried out his duties, but the action has clearly caused some serious mental issues.

Relationship to The Odyssey:
As I said in my review of Agamemnon, I picked up this trilogy of plays because Agamemnon's story is told at least three times, in three separate books in The Odyssey. But this time around, I want to discuss a different connection: Hospitality. As I've said before, hospitality in ancient times seems to have been sacred. Guests were welcomed, almost without question, they were fed, bathed, offered rest, entertained, in general treated like some sort of visiting dignitary - even before the hosts knew their names. In The Libation Bearers, this practice brings about the downfall of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra when they open their doors to the murderous Orestes. Bad luck dude.

This Book Around the Web
If I've missed your review, let me know!

Anyone?

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Echoes of Man is my month-long sojourn into antiquity. I plan on entering the ancient world and basking in its glory for the entire month of November.

During this time, I will be reading and reviewing literature of the time and posting about related topics. If you have anything you would like to add - a review, an informative post, etc. - let me know. I would love to have you join in!
~~~~~~~~~~

Echoes of Man Image from ~darkmatter257 at deviant art

Helen of Troy: One Hot Bitch

Helen is lauded as the most beautiful woman in all the world (at least in Greece after her death). She was half goddess, the daughter of Leda (aka Nemesis) and Zeus. Being the daughter of Zeus is pretty big news, but really Helen's claim to fame is that she started the Trojan War when she ran off to Troy with Paris. Well, some say she absconded with him, but others say he abducted her.

Her husband Menelaus wanted her back, so along with his brother Agamemnon, he waged war against Troy for ten years. The fight was long (obviously) and bloody, but eventually the Spartans won when they hid inside a giant wooden horse. The Trojans brought the horse into the city walls believing it to be an offering to the gods. But at night, the Spartans escaped the horse and sacked the city. Helen was recaptured and/or rescued and returned to Menelaus.

The Odyssey states that Helen was complicit in leaving Sparta. When we first meet her in the epic poem, Helen says: "...launching your headlong battles just for my sake, shameless whore that I was." I'm not sure if this is sarcastic, flirty, or sincere, but either way it definitely indicates she left of her own free will.  Sappho, a female Greek poet (circa 620 BCE), agrees that Helen was a naughty girl:

Some say a host of horsemen, others of infantry and others

of ships, is the most beautiful thing on the dark earth

but I say, it is what you love

Full easy it is to make this understood of one and all: for

she that far surpassed all mortals in beauty, Helen her

most noble husband

Deserted, and went sailing to Troy, with never a thought for

her daughter and dear parents.

In The Odyssey, Helen attempts to alleviate her own responsibility:

I yearned to said back home again! I grieved too late for the madness
Aphrodite sent me, luring me there, far from my dear land,
forsaking my own child, my bridal bed, my husband too,
a man who lacked for neither brains nor beauty.

That little vixen. In her defense, the gods are blamed for many personal failings and obstacles throughout the book. I have to admit I'm surprised Menelaus wanted her back and that she is re-elevated to her position as queen so easily. She must have been one serious hottie. Despite Menelaus's forgiveness and her radiant beauty, Helen becomes despised by many Trojans for the deaths of so many.

A poem called Helen by Hilda Doolittle (1886-1961) captures this feeling:

All Greece hates
the still eyes in the white face,
the lustre as of olives
where she stands,
and the white hands.

All Greece reviles
the wan face when she smiles,
hating it deeper still
when it grows wan and white,
remembering past enchantments
and past ills.

Greece sees, unmoved,
God's daughter, born of love,
the beauty of cool feet
and slenderest knees,
could love indeed the maid,
only if she were liad,
white ash and funeral cypresses.

Helen's sister Clytemnestra features prominently in The Odyssey as well. Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra broke faith with her husband and had an affair with Aegisthus. The two of them murdered Agamemnon the very day he returned from his victory over Troy. This story is the focus of Aeschylus' Agamemnon, the first in a dramatic trilogy. Clytemnestra is pretty pissed with her sister since her own daughter had to be sacrificed before the Spartans could sail to Troy. Clytemenestra said: "it is buying what we most detest with what we hold most dear" so even before her daughter's death, she clearly wasn't too fond of Helen.

Ah Helen, beautiful and deadly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Echoes of Man is my month-long sojourn into antiquity. I plan on entering the ancient world and basking in its glory for the entire month of November.

During this time, I will be reading and reviewing literature of the time and posting about related topics. If you have anything you would like to add - a review, an informative post, etc. - let me know. I would love to have you join in!
~~~~~~~~~~

Echoes of Man Image from ~darkmatter257 at deviant art
Helen of Troy from wikimedia commons
Helen of Troy by Howard David Johnson
Diane Kruger from Troy (2004)
Rossana Podesta from Helen of Troy (1956)