More Odyssey to See

Hello everyone, and welcome to LukeLore. A quick deep dive into a folklore topic, where I share

some of the stories from around the world that have piqued my interest.

This topic feels a bit obvious, but I'm not looking a gift Trojan horse in the mouth: Let's talk The Odyssey!

First things first, the movie.

I enjoyed it quite a lot.

Now, some of you may have seen some discussion online about how it changes a lot, it tones down the mythology; maybe even seeing some people disappointed by the movie because of this.

All true, but kind of not the point. The changes made by Nolan all build upon each other to tell a single sitting, if long, one coherent whole movie. Long form heroic epic poems aren't exactly a single coherent story, they're a sequence of dramatic encounters. They were the comic books of their day moving from story arc to story arc. Nolan's The Odyssey is a powerful movie about trauma and the collapse of civilisation, with fantastical horror woven throughout. The gods are toned down, some big moments well done in their new way are pretty far removed from their original versions, and all of that gives us a good amount to discuss here.

But the film itself? It's a great film I highly recommend. It may not quite give you what you were expecting, either overall or at an adaptation of a particular myth, but it's a great self contained epic to enjoy. I especially loved the scene on the shore of Hades, and how it used the shades left from the Trojan war...

But I will be speaking no more of the movie. Changes allow for spoilers, despite it being an aeons old poem!

This episode will be all about exploring the original myths, which you can then contrast with the movie for yourselves.

Not everything will be covered here. Scylla came up in the episode 'The Oceans Should Scare You', and Sirens are in the 'Stay Away From The Water' episode. Some weirdness from The Iliad before The Odyssey is in the episode 'Achilles, Amazons & Pride Through The Ages', but conveniently for this episode I don't appear to have tackled The Odyssey much.

So, let us look back to the stories brought to us in the poems some near 3,000 years ago, giving us a little more insight to the source material.

SECTION BREAK – The Law of Hospitality

The concept of Xenia needs its own section as a foundation of events in The Odyssey. Throughout the poem, and especially the movie as it underpins a lot of the direction Nolan took in retelling the story.

Xenia is the classical Greek law of hospitality. It broadly covers hosts offering strangers safe harbour and the essentials they need to survive, upon risking anger from the gods if you do not should the stranger have been themselves a god in disguise. This does go both ways however, a stranger is obliged to be a good guest who offers to help the household and freely offer stories they bring from their travels, at pain of becoming cursed by the gods should they be dangerous or simply a burden to their hosts.

Xenia appears to be the feminine expression of the law, and relating to Athena. Xenious being the masculine and specific Law of Zeus. A story with confirmed gods in disguise becomes a theoxenia, the ambiguity is gone and a big reveal will likely reinforce the moral of the practice. Any which way, it's about being a good host and in turn being a good guest. A mutually beneficial civilised convention, backed up with mythological firepower for any offenders. It even had historical cross continental usage, as a form of diplomacy. Envoys were expected to be safe, so negotiations and treaties could be made, even in the aftermath of incredible warfare.

To offer hospitality is divine, potentially even leading to great reward. To refuse hospitality to is to paint a bullseye on yourself for a smiting. The simple tale of Baucis and Philemon demonstrates this. Zeus and Hermes were in disguise as humble travellers when they came to a town in the Tyana region as night was falling. Appearing as peasants they went from townhouse to townhouse asking for a place to sleep, no huge demands beyond that. The town itself was a rich one, any house had plenty to spare, yet each and every time they were turned away; eventually moving to a humble run down little cottage on the outskirts of the town. Baucis and Philemon were an old married couple who owned very little, by any standards let alone those of their affluent neighbours, but they threw open their doors without any hesitation. While they had little, they enthusiastically fed their guests with what they did have. The meal was strange, though, somehow becoming a feast. For all they had a single pitcher of wine to share, no matter how many times they filled up the wooden cups of their guests they never ran out (apparently this story being the origin of a bottomless “Hermes's Pitcher”). Upon realising the guests were gods in disguise, the old couple panicked! Philemon tried to catch and butcher the goose they had that guarded their cottage, although the goose wisely went running to Zeus for protection – buying enough time for the gods to assure them the hospitality they had already shown was everything they needed to give.

But it was important the couple should leave town with the gods in the morning...

Come leaving in the dawn of the new day, Zeus told Baucis and Philemon to climb the mountain with him and Hermes, also presumably the guard-goose, warning the mortals to not look back until they reached the top. Following the instructions of the guards the old married couple reached the top and turned back to see that a rather wrathful Zeus had flooded the town killing every household that turned the gods away. On the plus side, he had turned the humble cottage into a gloriously ornate temple which as an added bonus was now a riverside property.

The two mortals asked to be curators of the new temple, a boon immediately granted, then asked for one more thing: That when one died, the other should also die rather than have to go on alone. This, too, the gods granted with a twist. When one of the couple did eventually die, the two were transformed into trees. One an oak, one a linden, and both entwined together with neither having to live without the other.

This all comes back around to the Iliad, the vicious total war waged against Troy, and the many times Odysseus spited the gods and got in ongoing trouble for it. The Trojan Horse was a pretty massive violation of the expectations of hospitality and civilised decorum. It worked! The problem was, at what cost to all involved?

SECTION BREAK – Nobody and the Giant

The Cyclops is both an instantly recognisable monster and yet a strangely unknown story, at least in its entirety. People know the broad strokes of “big guy, one eye” and may from there know some more about how it likes to snack on the flesh of men, possibly something about sheep will come to mind. Here is the full story.

While there are multiple Cyclops, the most important one certainly to The Odyssey and likely overall is Polyphemus. Like a lot monsters of classical Greek myth, certainly the non-curse related ones, in his nature Polyphemus was of divine descent. In this case the horniness of Poseidon, god of the seas, as it related to the sea Nymph Thoosa. Thoosa herself was divine ocean royalty, being a child of the primordial sea god who came before Poseidon. Lineage to bear in mind for later.

Odysseus and his men land on an island to search for supplies, a common event in the Odyssey that tends to precede a new disaster, and they find a flock of well tended sheep. The sheep have a cave they return to that's jam packed full of supplies, including excellent sheep cheese, and the men help themselves to take the edge off their starvation and scurvy (as the Odyssey quite famously is at no point going well). This was vaguely within the bounds of hospitality so long as they announce themselves when the host gets back instead of wrecking the place then sneaking off with everything that isn't nailed down, but the host does soon come back and it does not go well for the sailing soldiers.

Men find sheep tasty. The Cyclops finds men tasty. When Polyphemus comes back to see tiny humans raiding his cheese, he seals the cave with an immense stone and promptly snacks down on two of them. I can't judge him for this, really, I may do the same if someone was raiding my cheese. The Cyclops then settles down to sleep, leaving Odysseus and his men trapped in there overnight.

This alone hints at how ridiculously strong these giant offspring of the gods must be. These soldiers were armed, and if there were any Trojans still alive to ask they could be confirmed as dangerous, yet the Cyclops just enjoys his sleep in peace while they free roam the cave. It's likely that there were a lot of broken bronze swords by the time the unbothered giant woke up, snacked on two more screaming helpless men for breakfast, then carefully let himself and his flock out for the day while resetting the massive stone to keep his new sources of protein safely locked in for later.

This gives an entire day for plotting, and Odysseus is an all time champion sneaky git, so when the day ends the commander is ready to lead his remaining men out of there. Well, minus two more of them, after a long day's shepherding Polyphemus was hungry again.

Odysseus had some ridiculously strong wine on him from an earlier gift, the kind you dilute a lot if you don't want to melt. Something strong enough to get the Cyclops drunk, so was offered up with no serving instructions to get Polyphemus tipsy. This gets the giant talkative, and it strikes up a conversation with Odysseus where it asks him his name. This was an important part of the ongoing plot, as Odysseus was well aware of the divine nature of his captor, so tells muddled Polyphemus his name was Nobody. The super wine eventually plunges the Cyclops into a deep sleep that allows for the next phase of the plan: Odysseus had spent the day working with his men to create a giant wooden spear the tip of which they hardened in fire ready for this moment. Working together, the unwieldy weapon was used like a battering ram and driven into the one obvious weak spot.

The single eye of the Cyclops.

This, now, is where the name Nobody becomes an important part of the plan. Drunkenly awakened in agony and blinded, Polyphemus starts screaming that Nobody is hurting him. If he had a true name, his family would have acted, but instead all he gets is his brothers answering that he should pray.

Come the morning, Polyphemus carefully lets his flock out through a partially lifted cave sealing rock, using his hand to feel that only sheep were passing. Odysseus was way ahead of him, though, and the soldiers were tied to the bellies of the sheep to sneak out uneaten (or at this point probably just rage splattered). This was almost the perfect getaway, only Odysseus had to stop and gloat. He yelled back at the blinded giant who it was that really got the best of him, then ran away to escape by sea.

The sea both parents of the Cyclops owns.

Polyphemus prayed to his father for vengeance, and the Odyssey would go on to get much worse for Odysseus since he couldn't help but brag about his masterful plan, EVEN AFTER knowing to withhold his name as part of that plan.

There are multiple points in the Odyssey where you can't help but wonder how much of it is Odysseus's own fault. This was one of the big ones.

SECTION BREAK – Men Are Pigs

The witch Circe is, like the Cyclops, both very well known in general yet often not known of in full detail. She's had plenty of retellings and tributes across the centuries, where her exact details are not as important as her impact upon others. Once again, we have an antagonist of divine descent, her being a demigod more than a simple learned magic user – the daughter of the sun god Helios and another nymph, this time a fresh water one called Perse. Her appearance can vary in stories, but they tend to settle upon a mix of beautiful and terrible, as in she was an imposing terrifying figure. Most children of Helios have glowing eyes which will change intensity with her mood, so you're likely to be very obviously in trouble when you get hit by angry high beams. In addition to divine powers by birthright, she does also live up to her reputation as a witch. Circe is referred to by Homer as “polypharmakos”, which is a descriptor for knowing a lot of drugs and plant related charms. She seems to be a powerful, independent, and sexually liberated feminine archetype; pretty frightening to a lot of men over the aeons.

Circe appears in a few stories from the Classical era, but her most well known one was in the Odyssey.

Circe spends her days singing as she weaves, something which lures men who hear it to her palace on the island of Aeaea. The sweet singing draws victims through a forest filled with strangely docile big cats and wolves, all these red flags ignored the hapless travellers will be met by a tall strikingly beautiful older woman who insists they must feast at her grand dining table! Cheeses and meats prepared with honey and wine, don't worry about why so much just happened to be ready waiting for the supposedly unexpected guests. Or the feast's mystery bonus marinade of a magic potion that turns men into pigs.

Only one of Odysseus's men thought with his brain and not his balls, his second in command Eurylochus flees back to the ship to report the porcinification of the rest of the men.

Odysseus is confident he can handle just one woman, so he marches to the palace himself to deal with Circe. Fortunately, Athena was watching and sends Hermes to help him before he gets there and Circe happens to him. Hermes warns him how powerful a goddess Circe is, tells him to threaten her since she will then turn to seduction, then gives him explicit instructions on how not to get unmanned by her in bed since the seduction is so obviously a Plan B trap she deploys as needed. Hermes also gives him something very special... A magical herb called Moly.

Moly needs some special mention here. It may not be some random anti-magic ward, it may be specific to Circe. It at least has an origin in her youth. Circe was around for the Gigantomachy, the war between the new gods and the primordial giants who remained as a legacy of the Titans defeated in an early conflict called the Titanomachy. After the battle was finished, and the Greek pantheon triumphant, a defeated giant called Picolous retreated to Circe's island of Aeaea and tried to chase her off to claim it for his own stronghold. Circe was younger here, and not ready to fight an angry wounded giant, but her father intervened and slew Picolous for going after his daughter. No imprisonment under a volcano for this giant like a lot of the others got, Helios wasn't standing for his daughter being attacked and so obliterated Picolous. From this the white flower of Moly was born. Its exact properties are vaguely “anti magic”, but it definitely saved Odysseus from whatever terrifying bedroom tricks Circe had on standby.

This wasn't a kill-the-witch ploy, which is probably how Odysseus got home at all. Enough gods got mad at him across this and the war on Troy, he didn't need to add a personal beef with Helios on top of that growing pile. It became a negotiation, possibly as pillow talk. Ultimately, Odysseus and his men would stay on Aeaea for a full year, in this time Odysseus having three children with Circe. Not sure how much of that was divinity, witchcraft, or some combo deal of twins or triplets to fit three babies within that time frame, but Odysseus got one of multiple sex stop breaks in his journey home where he wasn't actively being smited by one of the assorted gods he annoyed. A satisfied Circe gave Odysseus instructions to visit the underworld from there, plus some other assorted prophetic warnings that didn't help too much but she at least tried.

Circe actually has another, if roundabout, appearance in the Odyssey. One of the former victims of her spite was the once beautiful nymph Scylla who a would-be suitor preferred to Circe. Circe would go on to poison the nymph's waters, transforming her into the terrifying sea monster that would go on attack the crew of Odysseus. Circe also once turned the Roman King Picus into a bird for turning her advances down, Circe had one hell of a temper and more than enough magic to back it up. Later writings also tied her and their children into the death of Odysseus, but that is from after the Odyssey. She's an interesting powerful figure in witches across the ages to take note of though! Although maybe try to avoid her attention... She's pretty scary even when you're on her good side.

SECTION BREAK – The Land of Giants

Giants have a lot to do in the Odyssey, to the point where it feels like it's something of a sequel or epilogue to the Gigantomachy. Polyphemus the Cyclops obviously stands out, the white flower Moly needed to protect Odysseus from Circe came from the destruction of Picolous. Then, there's the image used in all the Nolan movie posters. Made without CGI, I may add, Matt Damon's stunt double was a super muscular short woman and a man taller than me was looming over her for the action scene the image is captured from (I'm 6'10” tall, anyone who doesn't know the LukeLore lore there).

This being the Laestrygonians.

Telepylus, the city of the Laestrygonians, was apparently in Sicily during the Classical era. Odysseus was extremely lost, the whole point of the 20 year Odyssey, and ended up visiting them instead of getting home in only a short time. This was at a point Odysseus was still leading quite a significant force of soldiers, a dozen ships including his own.

After spotting a civilised harbour he took charge of scouting himself, mooring in a hidden cove then climbing the cliffs above it to survey this new land they found in search of supplies.

The lay of the land wasn't obvious from his vantage point, though, just that there was plenty of smoke from inhabited homes. At some point in this, the other eleven ships all moored in the calm waters of the harbour, and the small army was ready to restock on their journey.

So Odysseus sends two soldiers and an attendant to check the city. Everything seemed ordinary enough, the three met a young woman who directed him to the King's house in the city of Telepylus, saying she was the daughter of King Antiphates. So they head as directed, not seeming to notice the strange proportions of the buildings around them. Maybe just thinking they were tall and multi storied, not understanding quite what the larger than normal houses may mean.

The King's home had a mighty door they struggled with, and to their surprise they were met by a giant woman inside. The wife of Antiphates, who immediately called for her husband.

At this point, it all goes full on Attack On Titan.

The giant King took one look at his visitors, then picked one up to start eating him there and then.

The other two wisely ran back to the harbour, but the King bellowed out a call to the Laestrygonians that results in a thousand giants charging to the moored ships and the feast of manflesh that awaits the slavering giants. The ships attempted to flee, but the giants hurled rocks to sink them all leaving the struggling soldiers to be easy pickings, and tasty morsels for devouring alive on the spot. Only Odysseus's ship was spared by his more cautious mooring, almost his whole surviving company from Troy being lost to one of the many hospitality failures underpinning the Odyssey.

SECTION BREAK

If you've seen and enjoyed the Nolan's movie without having much awareness of the original tales, you may now see why some fans of Homer's work and ancient myth may have been disappointed with the adaptation. It incorporates a lot of the fantastical elements in very interesting ways, but it can be very different. If you were waiting for the Nobody word game, or Circe's palace, the feeding frenzy at the land of giants; what you got instead may have left you unfulfilled. But I will once again recommend the film on its own merits, it's pretty impressive stuff and all the changes are there for the sake of crafting a coherent whole tale that's well worth the watch.

Apologies again for the interruptions in LukeLore, but I've had a significant change in my life where I'm now focusing on creative endeavours without a day job on top. For at least the immediate future, anyway. Now, filming may still have me distracted at times, I can be quite the busy horror weirdo, but this DOES mean more time for LukeLore as creative work like is the whole drive of my life right no. The podcast, and maybe a few surprises to come yet... Let me work on that in the background until I've got something solid to show for the work.

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