Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Divine councils and apocalyptic myth
- 2 Theoxeny
- 3 Romance
- 4 Odyssey 4
- 5 Odyssey 5
- 6 Odyssey 6–8, 10–12, 13.1–187; Genesis 28–33; Argonautic myth
- 7 Odysseus and Jonah
- 8 The combat myth
- 9 Catabasis, consultation, and the vision
- 10 Thrinakia and Exodus 32: Odysseus and Moses
- 11 The suitors and the depiction of impious men in wisdom literature
- 12 Odysseus and Jesus
- 13 Contained apocalypse
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index locorum
- Subject index
6 - Odyssey 6–8, 10–12, 13.1–187; Genesis 28–33; Argonautic myth
Odysseus and Nausikaa/Kirke; Jason and Medea; Jacob and Rachel
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 February 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Divine councils and apocalyptic myth
- 2 Theoxeny
- 3 Romance
- 4 Odyssey 4
- 5 Odyssey 5
- 6 Odyssey 6–8, 10–12, 13.1–187; Genesis 28–33; Argonautic myth
- 7 Odysseus and Jonah
- 8 The combat myth
- 9 Catabasis, consultation, and the vision
- 10 Thrinakia and Exodus 32: Odysseus and Moses
- 11 The suitors and the depiction of impious men in wisdom literature
- 12 Odysseus and Jesus
- 13 Contained apocalypse
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index locorum
- Subject index
Summary
Argonautic myth is the third most dominant genre of myth in the Odyssey, providing the framework or larger organizing structure for much of Books 6–12. Odysseus' encounters with Nausikaa, Alkinoös, and the Phaiakians, Kirke and Helios, and Antiphates and his daughter (Od. 10.81–133), are three variations on the same group of underlying motifs. The Odyssey unmistakably demonstrates awareness of Argonautic myth when Kirke gives Odysseus instructions on how to continue his voyage home:
For only one sea-faring ship has ever sailed by there,
Argo, known to all, sailing back from Aietes,
and then she would have swiftly struck the great rocks
but Hera sent her through, since she was so fond of Jason.
Odyssey 12.69–72The prominence of her remarks has led many to conclude that not only is the Odyssey aware of Argonautic myth, but uses some form of that myth to inform its own structure.
Page, building on observations of earlier commentators, noted some broad connections between the Odyssey and Argonautic myth (1955: 2):
Circe is sister of Aietes, the guardian of the Golden Fleece…The Wandering Rocks belong only to the story of the Argonauts…The Laestrygones have a fountain called Artakia…On the island of Thrinakia the companions of Odysseus kill the sacred cattle – of what god? Of Helios, the Sun, so important in the story of the Golden Fleece…The Sirens too were at home in the story of Jason long before they transferred their affections to Odysseus.
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- Homer's Odyssey and the Near East , pp. 135 - 163Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011