ὣς ἔφαθ᾽, αἱ δ᾽ ἔσταν τε καὶ ἀλλήλῃσι κέλευσαν,

κὰδ δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ Ὀδυσσῆ᾽ εἷσαν ἐπὶ σκέπας, ὡς ἐκέλευσεν

Ναυσικάα θυγάτηρ μεγαλήτορος Ἀλκινόοιο·

πὰρ δ᾽ ἄρα οἱ φᾶρός τε χιτῶνά τε εἵματ᾽ ἔθηκαν,

δῶκαν δὲ χρυσέῃ ἐν ληκύθῳ ὑγρὸν ἔλαιον,215

ἤνωγον δ᾽ ἄρα μιν λοῦσθαι ποταμοῖο ῥοῇσιν.

δή ῥα τότ᾽ ἀμφιπόλοισι μετηύδα δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς·

"ἀμφίπολοι, στῆθ᾽ οὕτω ἀπόπροθεν, ὄφρ᾽ ἐγὼ αὐτὸς

ἅλμην ὤμοιιν ἀπολούσομαι, ἀμφὶ δ᾽ ἐλαίῳ

χρίσομαι· ἦ γὰρ δηρὸν ἀπὸ χροός ἐστιν ἀλοιφή.220

ἄντην δ᾽ οὐκ ἂν ἐγώ γε λοέσσομαι· αἰδέομαι γὰρ

γυμνοῦσθαι κούρῃσιν ἐυπλοκάμοισι μετελθών."

ὣς ἔφαθ᾽, αἱ δ᾽ ἀπάνευθεν ἴσαν, εἶπον δ᾽ ἄρα κούρῃ.

αὐτὰρ ὁ ἐκ ποταμοῦ χρόα νίζετο δῖος Ὀδυσσεὺς

ἅλμην, ἥ οἱ νῶτα καὶ εὐρέας ἄμπεχεν ὤμους,225

ἐκ κεφαλῆς δ᾽ ἔσμηχεν ἁλὸς χνόον ἀτρυγέτοιο.

αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δὴ πάντα λοέσσατο καὶ λίπ᾽ ἄλειψεν,

ἀμφὶ δὲ εἵματα ἕσσαθ᾽ ἅ οἱ πόρε παρθένος ἀδμής,

τὸν μὲν Ἀθηναίη θῆκεν Διὸς ἐκγεγαυῖα

μείζονά τ᾽ εἰσιδέειν καὶ πάσσονα, κὰδ δὲ κάρητος230

οὔλας ἧκε κόμας, ὑακινθίνῳ ἄνθει ὁμοίας.

ὡς δ᾽ ὅτε τις χρυσὸν περιχεύεται ἀργύρῳ ἀνὴρ

ἴδρις, ὃν Ἥφαιστος δέδαεν καὶ Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη

τέχνην παντοίην, χαρίεντα δὲ ἔργα τελείει,

ὣς ἄρα τῷ κατέχευε χάριν κεφαλῇ τε καὶ ὤμοις.235

ἕζετ᾽ ἔπειτ᾽ ἀπάνευθε κιὼν ἐπὶ θῖνα θαλάσσης,

κάλλεϊ καὶ χάρισι στίλβων· θηεῖτο δὲ κούρη.

δή ῥα τότ᾽ ἀμφιπόλοισιν ἐυπλοκάμοισι μετηύδα·

    Nausicaa's attendants give Odysseus clothing, and he goes off to bathe. Athena makes him look dazzlingly attractive. The attendants give him food and he wolfs it down.

    The maids prepare to clean up the salty stranger, laying out clean clothes and supplying olive oil for moisturizing. Displaying a seemly modesty, Odysseus asks the girls to stand further off and leave the washing to him, as he would be embarrassed to appear naked before them. Next comes a striking simile:

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    τὸν μὲν Ἀθηναίη θῆκεν Διὸς ἐκγεγαυῖα
    μείζονά τ᾽ εἰσιδέειν καὶ πάσσονα, κὰδ δὲ κάρητος
    οὔλας ἧκε κόμας, ὑακινθίνῳ ἄνθει ὁμοίας.
    ὡς δ᾽ ὅτε τις χρυσὸν περιχεύεται ἀργύρῳ ἀνὴρ
    ἴδρις, ὃν Ἥφαιστος δέδαεν καὶ Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη
    τέχνην παντοίην, χαρίεντα δὲ ἔργα τελείει,
    ὣς ἄρα τῷ κατέχευε χάριν κεφαλῇ τε καὶ ὤμοις.
    ἕζετ᾽ ἔπειτ᾽ ἀπάνευθε κιὼν ἐπὶ θῖνα θαλάσσης,
    κάλλεϊ καὶ χάρισι στίλβων· θηεῖτο δὲ κούρη.

    Athena, born of Zeus, made him taller
    and broader to look at, and on his head
    she put thick hair, curling like hyacinth blossoms.
    As when some learned craftsman pours gold over
    silver, one whom Hephaistos and Pallas Athena
    have taught every kind of art, and he creates graceful works,
    so the goddess poured grace over his head and shoulders.
    Then going apart he sat on the shore of the sea,
    glistening with beauty and grace. And the maiden admired him.

    Odyssey 6.229–37

    The goddess is busy again, working in the hero’s interests. Just being clean again might not be enough to attract the princess, it seems. As we will see, this gambit succeeds, as Nausicaa will soon send out some signals of her own. As it happens, the same simile appears again, verbatim, in Book 23 when Odysseus is bathed after slaughtering the suitors. In this case the enhancement does not immediately work on Penelope, as it does on Nausicaa. The queen is not a naïve young virgin and has some tricks of her own. The hero will need to work harder to win over his prudent wife (23.152–204). (See essay on Book 5.1–42)

    This parallel is yet another sign that Homer had the Nausicaa episode in mind when composing his portrait of Penelope in Books 18–23. In each case, we see a potential mate for Odysseus, whom he must win over to regain his status in Ithaka. Athena orchestrates the meetings between the two, buffing up the hero so he will be at his most attractive. Submerged feelings surface in both Nausicaa and Penelope, initially stirred by Athena, which make them more receptive to the man before them (6.20–47; 18.158–205). Both are uncertain about how to respond to the stranger, drawn to him but constrained by societal notions of propriety. Nausicaa is moving toward marriage, Penelope perhaps toward remarriage. The question is, will Odysseus arrive in time to be the queen’s groom or will one of the suitors take over in Ithaka? The Nausicaa paradigm imbues the later episodes with a rich layering of meaning: Through the rags and dirt, we see Odysseus engaged in a second courtship of his wife, who will prove to be harder to catch than he might expect.

    The image of Athena as artist is also suggestive. One of the fundamental sources of energy in the poem comes from the interplay of two different perspectives on human experience and the kind of world imagined by each. On the one hand, there is the story of Odysseus’s heroic struggle to make it back to Ithaka, an example of a popular subject in the Greek literature about the Trojan War and its aftermath. Other versions include the grim story of Agamemnon’s murder by Clytemnestra upon returning to Argos, Ajax’s suicide in the wake of his unsuccessful bid to inherit the arms of Achilles, or Menelaus’ detour into Egypt before reuniting with Helen. Virgil’s reimagining of Homeric epic rests on another postwar struggle, of Aeneas and the other Trojan refugees.

    Athena is the divine force behind Odysseus’s journey, as we have seen. In Book 5 and again in Book 24, Zeus notes that she has already arranged for the hero’s successful return and triumph over the suitors (5.21–27; 24.477–81). With the repeated simile, Homer seems to be pointing to the goddess as the artistic director of Odysseus’s heroic return, a kind of story-within-a-story. His triumph over the suitors, to which the poem’s dominant rhetoric gives primacy over all other considerations, will reaffirm his roles as king, husband, father, and son, all of which have been vacant in Ithaka for twenty years. Behind the imperatives in this perspective lie other assumptions, that Odysseus, gone for twenty years, can simply take up where he left off, that the lives of others will reshape themselves around the imperatives of the returning hero. Into Athena’s heroic world the poet has allowed two inconvenient facts, that Telemachus has reached manhood and must find his way on his own and that Penelope may not be content to remain celibate—forever, if necessary—rather than find a new husband. In pursuing their own goals, each character provokes a crisis after Odysseus returns to Ithaka, Telemachus by posing a potential threat to Odysseus’s kingship, Penelope by endangering his status as her husband.

    The fairytale qualities of Athena’s return story play out against the backdrop of a different world, the one inhabited by Odysseus in his persona as the anonymous stranger who arrives in each new place on his way home from Troy and waits to reveal his identity until he feels safe. (See Introduction: Two Worlds.) This dynamic informs several episodes in Books 6–22, his stay with the Phaeacians, with Polyphemus the Cyclops, with Circe, with Eumaeus in the Ithakan countryside, all building to a glorious crescendo in his triumph over the suitors and fraught reunion with Penelope and then Laertes. In each case, Odysseus arrives unknown and relatively powerless and then, having negotiated the challenges of the local scene, returns to his heroic persona in a triumphant recognition scene (9.1–38, 500–5; 10.325–35; 16.186–91; 23.205–30; 24.321–44). In these situations, when Odysseus’s heroic identity does not at first afford him leverage over others, he experiences the world from the perspective of the ordinary non-heroic person and must make his way by his wits. We, meanwhile, observe how the relationships he forms assume a different scale of values, in which his status does not separate him from others, but rather offers the chance to bond with them.

    The clash of these two modes of experience appears most clearly in Books 14 and 15, when Odysseus, disguised as an old beggar, encounters his faithful swineherd Eumaeus. The two men form a warm connection, based on the life stories they exchange, Eumaeus’s tough childhood and rescue by the noble Laertes, the beggar’s adventures at sea. At this point, the alternate worlds of the poem suggest two radically different views of the relationship. From the perspective of Athena’s heroic return story, the beggar is never authentic, only a disguise covering the hero’s true identity. The stories he tells are purely fiction and the friendship between two men down on their luck is not genuine. If the swineherd knew he was sitting across from his master, he would never presume to be his friend. The world of the heroic return is strictly hierarchical, based on the relative status of each member, which is based on kleos, the measure of heroic greatness. The anonymous stranger, on the other hand, can form a friendship with the swineherd based on shared suffering and kindness offered to someone in need.

    The Odyssey, like most enduring works of the imagination, reveals a more complex view of human experience than its dominant narrative represents. Odysseus’s fame, the basis of his status as hero, depends on being known and admired by others, and on the separation this status enforces between him and lesser mortals. In the episodes where he is initially without this leverage, especially in the Eumaeus episode, Homer explores the advantages and disadvantages of anonymity and, by implication, of heroic glory. By witnessing the growing bond between the beggar and swineherd, something not possible in Athena’s world, we begin to see the heroic exploits of Odysseus in a larger context: Kleos brings one before the admiring gaze of many but allows intimate contact with few. Heroic status and the power it brings must be guarded from the predations of others and can thus bring isolation. The exchanges in the Ithakan countryside are hampered by none of these considerations of power and status. Strangers with apparently little leverage in the world can form friendships without worrying whether their property will be safe. A rough cloak can be shared without ceremony, meals without calculation of profit and loss. The principal medium of exchange between the two men is the very experience of pain and trouble; a good story repays the host who feeds the storyteller. This implicit critique of heroic values adds depth and richness to the return narrative, and it begins with the Phaeacians.

     

    Further Reading

    Van Nortwick, T. 2008. The Unknown Odysseus: Alternate Worlds in Homer’s Odyssey, 45–82. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

     

    212  κὰδ … εἷσαν: “they made … sit down,” tmesis, 3rd pl. aor. act. indic. > καθίζω.

    214  πὰρ … ἔθηκαν: “they provided,” tmesis, 3rd pl. aor. act. indic. > παρατίθημι.

    218  ὄφρ᾽ … / … ἀπολούσομαι: purpose clause with short-vowel subjunctive.

    219  ὤμοιιν: “from my shoulders,” gen. masc. dual, governed by ἀπό in ἀπολούσομαι.

    219  ἀμφὶ: “all over,” “all around,” adverbial.

    221  ἄντην: “in front (of you).”

    221  ἂν … λοέσσομαι: anticipatory (see line 201). Short-vowel subjunctive with ἄν used like a future indicative (Smyth 1813).

    222  μετελθών: “in the presence of” (lit., “going among”) + dat.

    223  ἴσαν: 3rd pl. impf. act. indic. > εἶμι.

    224  χρόα νίζετο …/ ἅλμην: “he washed the brine off his body.” For νίζω in the middle with double accusative, see Cunliffe νίζω 4 (citing this passage).

    228  ἀμφὶ … ἕσσαθ᾽: "he put on," = ἀμφιέσσατο, tmesis, 3rd sing. aor. mid. indic. > ἀμφιἐννυμι.

    229  τὸν … θῆκεν … / μείζονά: “made him bigger …,” τίθημι with double accustive, object and predicate adjective (Smyth 1613, LSJ τίθημι B.I.2).

    229  ἐκγεγαυῖα: fem. nom. sing. pf. ptc. > ἐκγίγνομαι.

    230  εἰσιδέειν: explanatory (epexegetical) infin., with μείζονα (Smyth 2002).

    230  κὰδ δὲ κάρητος /… ἧκε: “sent …down from his head,” “made … grow from his head.” κὰδ (κατἀ) can be understood as a preposition with κάρητος or in tmesis with ἧκε ( > καθίημι).

    232  ὡς δ᾽ ὅτε: introducing a simile.

    232  περιχεύεται: “overlays” (A.T. Murray), lit. “pours around” > περιχέω.

    233  δέδαεν: “taught,” 3rd sing. reduplicated aor. act. indic. with ν-moveable > *δάω (LSJ δάω II).

    235  ὣς: concluding the simile.

    235  κατέχευε: the subject is Athena. Like περιχέω in line 232, the verb takes an accusative object and a dative of place.

    237  θηεῖτο: 3rd sing. impf. mid. indic. > θεάομαι.

    ἄρα: now, then, next, thus

    Ὀδυσσεύς –έως ὁ: Odysseus, king of Ithaca, hero of the Odyssey

    καθίζω, 3 pl. aor. κάθισαν: to sit down; to cause (someone) to take a seat

    σκέπας –ους τό: a covering, shelter

    Ναυσικάα –ας ἡ: Nausicaa, the Phaeacian princess, daughter of Alcinous and Arēte

    μεγαλήτωρ –ορος: great - hearted, proud

    Ἀλκίνοος –ου ὁ: Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians in Scheria, a grandson of Poseidon

    ἄρα: now, then, next, thus

    οὗ, οἷ, ἕ and encl. οὑ, οἱ, ἑ: him, her, it; himself, herself, itself

    φᾶρος –ους τό: cloak

    χιτών –ῶνος ὁ: tunic

    εἷμα –ατος τό: clothing

    χρύσεος –η –ον: golden, gold-inlaid 215

    λήκυθος –ου ἡ: an oil-flask, oil-bottle

    ὑγρός –ά –όν: wet, liquid

    ἔλαιον –ου τό: olive-oil

    ἀνώγω: to command, order

    ἄρα: now, then, next, thus

    μιν: (accusative singular third person pronoun) him, her, it; himself, herself, itself

    λούω λούσομαι ἔλουσα λέλουμαι: to wash; (mid.) to wash myself, bathe

    ῥοή –ῆς ἡ: a river, stream, flood

    ἀμφίπολος –ου ἡ: female attendant, handmaid

    μεταυδάω μεταυδήσω μετηύδησα μετηύδηκα μετηύδημαι μετηυδήθην: to speak among (+dat.)

    δῖος –α –ον: divine, godlike, shining

    Ὀδυσσεύς –έως ὁ: Odysseus, king of Ithaca, hero of the Odyssey

    ἀπόπροθε: from far off, at a distance

    ὄφρα: while; until; so that; ὄφρα … τόφρα, while … for so long

    ἅλμη –ης ἡ: sea-water, brine

    ὦμος ὤμου ὁ: shoulder

    ἀπολούω ἀπολούσω ἀπέλουσα – ἀπολέλουμαι/ἀπολέλουσμαι ἀπελούσθην: to wash off

    ἔλαιον –ου τό: olive-oil

    χρίω χρίσω ἔχρισα κέχρικα κέχριμαι ἐχρίσθην: to rub, anoint 220

    δηρόν: (adv.) for a long time, long

    χρώς gen. χροός or χρωτός, ὁ: the surface of the body, the skin

    ἀλοιφή –ῆς ἡ: anything used for anointing, hog's-lard, grease, unguent

    ἄντην: against, over against, in front of; face to face

    λούω λούσομαι ἔλουσα λέλουμαι: to wash; (mid.) to wash myself, bathe

    αἰδέομαι αἰδέσομαι ᾐδεσάμην –––– ᾔδεσμαι ᾐδέσθην: to respect, revere, honor, to ba ashamed, to be afraid of what someone thinks

    γυμνόω γυμνώσω ἐγύμνωσα ––– γεγύμνωμαι ἐγυμνώθην: to strip naked

    κόρη (or κούρη) –ης ἡ: girl, maiden; daughter

    ἐϋπλόκαμος –ον: fair-haired

    μετέρχομαι μετελεύσομαι/μέτειμι μετῆλθον μετελήλυθα: to mingle with, go amoung (+ dat.); to pursue (+ μετά + acc.)

    ἀπάνευθε: far, remote; far from, separately from (+ gen.)

    ἄρα: now, then, next, thus

    κόρη (or κούρη) –ης ἡ: girl, maiden; daughter

    ἀτάρ (or αὐτάρ): but, yet, consequently

    χρώς χρωτός ὁ: the surface of the body, the skin

    νίζω νίψω ἔνιψα ––– νένιμμαι ἐνίφθην: to wash the hands

    δῖος –α –ον: divine, godlike, shining

    Ὀδυσσεύς –έως ὁ: Odysseus, king of Ithaca, hero of the Odyssey

    ἅλμη –ης ἡ: sea-water, brine 225

    οὗ, οἷ, ἕ and encl. οὑ, οἱ, ἑ: him, her, it; himself, herself, itself

    νῶτον –ου τό (or νῶτος ὁ): the back

    εὐρύς –εῖα –ύ: broad

    ἀμπέχω ἀμφέξω ἤμπισχον: to surround, cover

    ὦμος ὤμου ὁ: shoulder

    σμήχω σμήξω ἔσμηξα: to wipe off

    ἅλς ἁλός ὁ: salt (m.); sea (f.)

    χνόος –ου ὁ: powder

    ἀτρύγετος [–η] –ον: yielding no harvest, unfruitful, barren

    ἀτάρ (or αὐτάρ): but, yet, consequently

    λούω λούσομαι ἔλουσα λέλουμαι: to wash; (mid.) to wash myself, bathe

    λίπα: richly, plentifully, generously

    ἀλείφω ἀλείψω ἤλειψα ἀλήλιφα ἀλήλιμμαι ἠλείφθην: to anoint, smear

    εἷμα –ατος τό: clothing

    ἕννυμι ἕσσω ἕσσα: clothe, put on clothing

    οὗ, οἷ, ἕ and encl. οὑ, οἱ, ἑ: him, her, it; himself, herself, itself

    πόρω ––– ἔπορον ––– ––– –––: to offer, furnish, supply, give; (pf. pass. 3 sing.) it is fated

    παρθένος –ου ἡ: a maid, maiden, virgin, girl

    ἀδμής –ῆτος: untamed

    ἐκγίγνομαι (Ion. ἐκγίνομαι) ἐκγενήσομαι ἐκγέγαα: to be born of

    εἰσοράω εἰσόψομαι εἰσεῖδον εἰσεόρακα/εἰσεώρακα/εἰσόπωπα εἰσεόραμαι/εἰσεώραμαι/εἰσῶμμαι εἰσώφθην: to look into, look upon, view, behold 230

    πάσσων –ον: thicker, stouter

    κάρα –ατος τό: the head

    οὖλος –η –ον: wooly, thick

    κόμη –ης ἡ: the hair, hair of the head

    ὑακίνθινος –η –ον: hyacinthine

    ἄνθος –ους τό: flower

    χρυσός –οῦ ὁ: gold

    περιχέω περιχέω περιέχεα περικέχυκα περικέχυμαι περιεχύθην: to pour round; overlay

    ἄργυρος –ου ὁ: silver

    ἴδρις –ι: experienced, knowing, skillful

    Ἥφαιστος –ου ὁ: Hephaestus, god of fire and metalwork

    δάω δαήσω ἐδάην, aor. 2 δέδαε, δεδάηκα: to learn, acquire practical knowledge of; to teach

    Παλλάς –άδος ἡ: Pallas (epithet of Athena)

    παντοῖος –α –ον: of all sorts

    χαρίεις –ίεσσα –ίεν: graceful, charming, beautiful

    τελέω/τελείω τελῶ/τελέσω ἐτέλεσα τετέλεκα τετέλεσμαι ἐτελέσθην: to finish, complete, carry out

    ἄρα: now, then, next, thus 235

    καταχέω καταχῶ κατέχεα/κατέχυσα κατακέχυκα κατακέχυμαι κατεχύθην: to pour down upon, pour over

    ὦμος ὤμου ὁ: shoulder

    ἕζομαι – – – – –: to sit down

    ἀπάνευθε: far, remote; far from, separately from

    κίω – – – – –: go, go away

    θίς θινός ὁ: shore, beach

    κάλλος –ους τό: beauty; pl. beautiful things

    στίλβω – – – – –: to glisten

    θεάομαι θεάσομαι ἐθεσάμην ––– τεθέαμαι ἐθεσαμήθην: to look on, behold, view (with wonder)

    κόρη (or κούρη) –ης ἡ: girl, maiden; daughter

    ἀμφίπολος –ου ἡ: female attendant, handmaid

    ἐϋπλόκαμος –ον: fair-haired

    μεταυδάω μεταυδήσω μετηύδησα μετηύδηκα μετηύδημαι μετηυδήθην: to speak among 

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    Suggested Citation

    Thomas Van Nortwick and Rob Hardy, Homer: Odyssey 5–12. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College Commentaries, 2024. ISBN: 978-1-947822-17-7 https://dcc.dickinson.edu/homer-odyssey/vi-211-238