The Odyssey Book 5 Notes

The Odyssey Book 5 * Athene spoke first. * Athene says ‘kindness, generosity and justice should no longer be the aims of any man who wields a royal sceptre – in fact he might just as well devote his days to tyranny and lawless deeds.’ * Athene is Zeus’ child. * Zeus sent Hermes to Ogygia to tell Calypso to release Odysseus. * Odysseus was to have no help on his way home however this didn’t happen. He had assistance from, Ino, Athene, the river god and the Phaeacians. * Odysseus reached Scherie on the 20th day. * Hermes put on his golden sandals. * Hermes carried his wand. * Hermes was described as a sea-gull – a simile. * Calypso was singing and weaving. * Odysseus is on the sea shore. * Hermes doesn’t see Odysseus. * Calypso calls Hermes ‘Hermes of the golden wand.’ – An epithet. * Hermes eats ambrosia and drinks red nectar. * Hermes complains that it was a long way here ‘across that vast expanse of salt water’ and no one on the way to offer a sacrifice to him. * Calypso must send Odysseus off ‘without delay’. * Calypso accuses the gods of being jealous. * Calypso quotes Dawn and Orion; Demeter and Iasion, when accusing the gods. * Odysseus weeps every day for his lost home. * Odysseus shuddered because he doesn’t trust her – she said she was ready to help him leave her island, but he suspects a trap and fears ‘this formidable sea.’ * Calypso smiled and stroked Odysseus’ hand, to show she’s swearing oath. * Calypso and Odysseus then go to her cave. * Odysseus sits in the same chair that Hermes had just sat in. * Odysseus appeases to Calypso by telling her that Penelope’s looks and stature are inferior compared to Calypso’s, plus ‘she is mortal, while you have immortality and unfading youth.’ * Odysseus cuts down 20 trees. * It takes Odysseus 4 days to build the raft. * Calypso bathes and clothes Odysseus before he sets sail. * Calypso also gives Odysseus 2 skins (of wine and water), a leather sack containing grain and meats and a ‘gentle breeze’. * On the 18th day, Homer uses the simile ‘the land looked like a shield laid on the misty sea’ to describe Phaeacians. * Poseidon ‘marshalled the clouds.’ * Odysseus is referring to Calypso when he said that he feared she’d ‘prophesised all too well.’ * Odysseus wished he had died on the plains of Troy. * Odysseus said this because he would have had burial rites and fame. * ‘A mountainous wave’ appeared and Odysseus was tossed off his raft into the sea, then climbs back on. * Homer uses a simile to describe this ‘he is thrust about by the seas like a ball of thistles tossed about by the north wind at harvest time.’ * The epithet applied to Ino was ‘Ino of the slim ankles.’ * Ino gives Odysseus some instructions, take off his clothes, leave the raft and swim to the Ino gives Odysseus some instructions, take off his clothes, leave the raft and swim to the Phaeacians coast and wind her veil around his waist. * Odysseus ignores these instructions. * Poseidon then sends ‘another monstrous wave’ which scatters the timbers of his raft. * Homer uses a simile to describe this ‘a wind which scatters chaff in all directions. * Odysseus sits on one beam, takes off his clothes, winds the veil around his waist and starts to swim to the shore. * Athene helps Odysseus by calming the other winds, she also summons the north win and uses it to flatten the waves in Odysseus’ path. * Odysseus swims for 2 days and 2 nights. * When Odysseus glimpses land Homer uses a simile, ‘he feels as much relief as the children of a sick man feel when he starts to get better.’ * Odysseus grabs a rock and the backrush of the sea flings him back out to sea. * Athene gives Odysseus the idea of swimming along, keeping clear of ‘the coastal breaks’ until he finds a natural harbour. * Odysseus says ‘I am your suppliant’ to the god of the stream. * The river checks its current and Odysseus can get to land. * Once Odysseus has recovered his breath he drops the veil into the river. * Odysseus considers staying by the river and possibly die of frost and dew or go into the woods and eaten by animals. * Odysseus decides to go into the woods. * There is a weird bush, one side is an olive but the other is a wild olive and they grow from the same stem. * Homer uses another simile to describe this, ‘he covers himself with leaves as carefully as a farmer covers a glowing log with ashes. * Athene helps him go to sleep.