aamcnamara (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aamcnamara) wrote2010-01-31 01:43 pm
aamcnamara) wrote2010-01-31 01:43 pm
Entry tags:
sing to me, Muse.
We're reading The Odyssey in my classics course this semester. Using the Fagles translation, which is lovely--from reading the introduction, the epic-poetry form of Greek used a lot of different registers and dialects to fit hexameter, which makes it seem appropriate that he uses phrases like "scot-free".
The course is about mythology--"Gods and Mortals"--and even just reading the first few books of the Odyssey it's clear that the relationships are very (very!) different than I see these days. Athena is helping Telemachus out; they're visiting a king, and Athena's like "well, gotta go see to the ship, guys", turns into an eagle, and flies off. The king goes "oh em gee, it's Athena!" and plans a sacrifice for the next day. And, the text tells us, "Athena came as well / to attend her sacred rites."
That's right. The goddess shows up to the sacrifice they're making to her. But she's not All-Powerful All-Seeing, in front of whom everyone should bow. Even though the sacrifice is in her honor, she's at most an afterthought--"oh, and Athena was there, too."
Rock on, dudes. Rock on.
(Also? The audiobook version of this translation is read by Ian McKellen. Which might well be worth the money.)
The course is about mythology--"Gods and Mortals"--and even just reading the first few books of the Odyssey it's clear that the relationships are very (very!) different than I see these days. Athena is helping Telemachus out; they're visiting a king, and Athena's like "well, gotta go see to the ship, guys", turns into an eagle, and flies off. The king goes "oh em gee, it's Athena!" and plans a sacrifice for the next day. And, the text tells us, "Athena came as well / to attend her sacred rites."
That's right. The goddess shows up to the sacrifice they're making to her. But she's not All-Powerful All-Seeing, in front of whom everyone should bow. Even though the sacrifice is in her honor, she's at most an afterthought--"oh, and Athena was there, too."
Rock on, dudes. Rock on.
(Also? The audiobook version of this translation is read by Ian McKellen. Which might well be worth the money.)