The Ancient World (HUM 124 - UNC Asheville)/Texts/Odyssey/Book 12

Summary of Book 12

After visiting the underworld and the house of Hades, Odysseus and his crew of warriors sail back to the island of Aeaea, the home of Circe, to ask the goddess for more instructions and to give Elpenor a proper funeral, as he requested they do upon meeting Odysseus in the underworld. After retrieving the dead body of Elpenor from Circe's house, Odysseus' men burned him and his gear and placed the oar with which he rowed with atop a mound of soil, so that he could finally receive a proper funereal ritual. Circe and her slaves brought the group bread, meat, and red wine and encouraged them to stay for the day and travel again in the morning, which Odysseus reluctantly agrees to. When night fell and the men fell asleep by their ship, Circe led Odysseus to a secluded place on the island so that he could recount the story of his visit to the underworld and the advice given by Tiresias, a blind prophet of the underworld. Once he finished giving her the details, Circe gave Odysseus instructions on how to get to the island of Thrinacia, the place Tiresias told him to go. First, Circe warned Odysseus of the Sirens and their magical song and ordered him to plug the ears of his crew with wax as they passed by and to bound himself to the mast of the ship with rope if he wished to hear their enchanting song. Once past the Sirens, the goddess told Odysseus of one of the two optional routes he could take: past vast rocky cliffs called the Wandering Rocks. No ship has passed through the rocks, except for the Argo, which Jacob and Hera sailed on during their quest for the golden fleece. The second route would take Odysseus' ship to two rocks, one of which leaps up towards the heaven and is polished so smooth that nothing can climb it and another smaller rock with a fig tree on it. In the middle of the tall, polished rock is a cave which houses Scylla, who eats six sailors on the deck of any ship that passes by. Beneath the lower rock with the fig tree lurks Charybdis beneath the black waves, who sucks up the water above her and spits it back up high three times a day, creating a dangerous whirlpool each time. Circe tells Odysseus to go past these rocks and sacrifice six men to Scylla and then call to Cratais, so that Scylla does not strike again. After he escapes from the two rocks, the ship will arrive at Helius' sacred island of Thrinacia, where Odysseus and his men are not to harm the immortal cattle and sheep living there, guarded by Helius' daughters, Lampetia and Phaethousa. After all of this, Circe told Odysseus, he and his men would return home to Ithaca, but if they touched the cattle or sheep disaster would be set upon them by the gods.

Having heard Circe's instructions, Odysseus riled his men in the morning and told them of the goddess's instructions, and ordered them to set sail towards Thrinacia. When the ship came across the Sirens, Odysseus followed Circe's orders and plugged his men's ears with wax, and Eurylochus and Perimedes bound Odysseus to the mast. The Sirens' song enticed Odysseus, but the ship managed to pass them by unharmed. Odysseus and his men eventually arrived at the two rocks, where Charybdis conjured a great whirlpool and Scylla devoured six of Odysseus' men. Soon after, the ship came into view of Helius' island, where the men could hear the distant lowing of cows and the bleating of sheep. Odysseus attempted to persuade his men to bypass the island, but Eurylochus accused Odysseus of being unfair to the crew, who wanted to stop and rest for the day. Angrily, Eurylochus declared before the rest of the crew: "You are unfair to us, Odysseus. You may be strong; you never seem to tire; you must be made of iron. but we men have had no rest or sleep; we are exhausted; And you refuse to let us disembark and cook our tasty dinner on this island. You order us to drift around all night in our swift ship across the misty sea. At night, fierce storms rise up and wreck men's ships, and how can anyone escape disaster if sudden gusts of wind from north or west bring cruel blasts to break the ship, despite the wishes of the gods? Let us submit to evening. Let us stay here, and cook food/ beside the ship. At dawn we can embark and sail the open sea." Believing that a spirit must have been pitted against them, Odysseus yielded and allowed the men to beach their ship at the island, making them swear an oath not to kill any animal from the herd of livestock. On the beach the men slept, and while they slept Zeus conjured wind and fog to keep them from leaving in the morning. For a month the south wind never stopped blowing, and Odysseus' men lived on supplies from the ship, and when that ran out they hunted birds and fish. While Odysseus slept one day at a far corner of the island, Eurylochus persuaded the men to eat the cows and sheep on the beach and that it would be better to die at sea than on the deserted island. The men agreed and slaughtered the livestock on the beach, offering part of the meat for sacrifice to the gods. Odysseus returned to the beach returned to the ship, and was horrified by the sight of his men eating Helius' livestock. Lampetia also saw the men feasting on her sheep and ran to tell her father, who then summoned the other gods. Enraged, he demanded Zeus punish Odysseus' men or he would shine his light in the underworld rather than for the gods and mortals. Zeus agreed to strike down the ship. For six days, Odysseus' men feasted on Helius' immortal cows before setting sail on the calm sea. After sailing a short way, Zeus created a storm and destroyed the ship, killing every man but Odysseus, who clung to the destroyed keel and mast. He was swept back to Charybdis and Scylla, and desperately clung onto the fig tree on the rock to escape Charybdis' whirlpool. For nine days, Odysseus drifted on the sea, clinging to the planks of his ship, before reaching the island of Calypso, where he'd stay for another seven years.

Characters of Book 12

Odysseus: The protagonist of The Odyssey and a legendary hero of Greek mythology. He is the leader of a group of Greek warriors during their adventures to return to home to Ithaca after the Trojan War.

Circe: An immortal goddess who gives shelter, supplies, and instructions to Odysseus and his men to aid them in their return home. She lives in a house on the island of Aeaea.

Elpenor: The youngest of Odysseus' group of men, who after breaking his neck from a fall from the rafters of Circe's house, meets Odysseus once again in the underworld and pleads him to give him a proper funeral and burn his body.

Sirens: The Sirens are a group of mythical sea monsters disguised as beautiful women who rest on rocks in the sea and feed on dead passersby. The Sirens attempt to shipwreck nearing sailors by luring them towards rocky shores with an enchanting, seducing song.

Amphitrite: The goddess wife of Poseidon and Queen of the Sea.

Zeus: The God of lightning, thunder, and sky, and ruler of all the Greek gods of Mount Olympus. The cruel god often plagues Odysseus on his journey home with storms and rough seas at the request of his cyclops son, who's eye was skewered by Odysseus.

Jason: Another Greek hero similar to Odysseus, leader of the Argonauts, and famous for his quest for the golden fleece.

Hera: The goddess of women and children, who loved and aided Jason in his journey for the golden fleece.

Scylla: A sea monster that lives in a cave in the middle of a vast polished rock. The monster has twelve legs and six heads, each with three rows of sharp teeth. She feeds on seals, dolphins, whales, fish, and passing sailors. Whenever a ship nears the cave, she eats six men from off the deck- one for every head.

Charybdis: A sea monster that lives in the sea beneath a great rock and fig tree. She gulps the water above her and spits it back up three times each day, causing an inescapable whirlpool to appear in the ocean around the Wandering Rocks.

Cratais: The mother of Scylla.

Helius: The God and personification of the sun, who also tends to immortal sheep and cattle on the island of Thrinacia.

Neaira: The mother of Phaethousa and Lampetia, who conceived them with Helius.

Phaethousa: One of the daughters of Helius and Neaira, who protects the sacred cattle and sheep of Thrinacia alongside her sister Lampetia.

Lampetia: Another daughter of Helius and Neaira, who protects the sacred cattle and sheep of Thrinacia alongside her sister Phaethousa.

Eurylochus: The second-in-command of Odysseus' ship and crew on the journey home to Ithaca.

Perimedes: One of Odysseus' loyal companions.

Calypso: A nymph who resides on the island of Ogygia, alone only with her slaves and other animals.

Hermes: The nimble messenger and herald of the Greek gods of Mount Olympus. he is the protector of mortal merchants, thieves, heralds, travelers and orators.

Setting in Space

The spaces in which chapter 12 takes place can be divided into four different places: Circe's island, the sea (the places where Odysseus encounters the Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis), Thrinacia, and the fig tree above Charybdis. Each of these places adhere to some set of unique characteristics, following a common set of guidelines that probably would have helped the orator of the story remember each setting better.

Dangerous, Enticing Spaces

Thrinacia, and to some extent the Sirens' place can be categorized as dangerous places of temptation. These are the regions in The Odyssey that lure Odysseus into them, but ultimately endanger him and his men and often obstruct their journey home. This type of setting can be found in the Cyclops' cave from a previous book, where Odysseus and his men were lured inside by the crates of cheese and the pens full of goats, and where they ultimately suffered at the hands of the cyclops. The same setting is found in Circe's palace in another book, where Odysseus's men were lured inside by her enchanting weaving and beautiful singing, and then transformed into pigs. So, in the same way, Helius's Thrinacia follows the same characteristics: a place thronging with fat sheep and cows that would entice Odysseus' men to the island, but would lead to Helius and Zeus enacting wraths against them once they gave into temptation and slaughtered the herds. Similarly, the rocks of the Sirens is a place of temptation and enticement that would have ultimately led to the deaths of Odysseus and his men. The Sirens' singing enchants Odysseus, but he is saved because he is unable to give into his temptations. This category of setting in space is used throughout the epic to help propel the plot and to get Odysseus into new adventures and trials. These areas could also have been implemented to warn against the evil forces of temptation.

The Sea

The sea is a very interesting region within The Odyssey, serving both as a place of transportation between spaces and as a place of treachery and tribulations. In book 12, the sea serves both purposes, creating danger in the form of Scylla and Charybdis, the Sirens, and Zeus's storm, as well as a place of transportation from the Underworld to Aeaea, from Aeaea to Thrinacia, and from Thrinacia to Calypso's island. From the Underworld to Circe's Aeaea, the sea serves solely as a source of transportation, not much different from the storytelling purposes of a door or a hallway, with only a line or two dedicated to Odysseus's travel on the sea. This is nothing compared to the later passages about Odysseus's encounters with the Sirens and Scylla, where several pages are dedicated to his time on the sea. This difference in length also plays into the concept of time in The Odyssey, but as it relates to physical space this technique is simply used to make effective, interesting storytelling, focusing on the tense parts and skipping over the moments that are either uneventful or repetitious and monotonous. So, essentially, the sea is either a means of transportation between two spaces or a space in which terror is brought upon Odysseus and his crew.

Spaces of Refuge

The majority of The Odyssey actually takes places in uneventful spaces that are often used to give Odysseus rest or to to give other characters outside of Odysseus's journey moments to propel their own parts of the plot, like Telemachus's decision to travel abroad to hear news about his father, or the Gods meeting in Olympus to discuss Odysseus' fate. These types of paces come in the forms of palaces, houses, beaches, and other calm places. It can be argued that all of book 12 technically takes place in this one space, since all of the events are being told by Odysseus from the comfort of Alcinuous's palace. Aside from that, however, book 12 features two vastly different examples of this type of space: Circe's island and the fig tree on the rock above Charybdis. Where Odysseus and his men rest on the beach and where Circe gives Odysseus instructions are places of refuge. On the other hand, there is the rather dangerous place of refuge in the form of the fig tree, which saves Odysseus from Charybdis as she sucks down the water above her, swallowing and later spitting up Odysseus's makeshift raft. The fig tree is a very interesting space in book 12, in that it would seem rather negligible, yet it is given a decent amount of description and specificity as to allude that it has some sort of importance or underlying meaning. The main reason that the fig tree could be considered a space of refuge, other than its key role in saving Odysseus, is that fig trees were a very important symbol in ancient Greece. Figs were illegal to export in Greece and their fruits and foliage were given to the winners of various competitions. They particularly symbolize safety, deriving from the Greek story of the time Zeus pursued Gaia (the personification of Earth) and her giant son, Sykeus, after the fall of the Titans. To protect and hide her son from Zeus, Gaia transformed into a fig tree for her son, saving him from Zeus. So this particular space is used to accentuate Odysseus's kind of divinity and importance by having him hold onto a fig tree for safety, comparing him to the likes of the son of Gaia and having him cling to something so important to the Greeks.

Setting in Time

Time plays a major role in The Odyssey, considering that Odysseus takes several years to return home from the Trojan War, and so much seems to happen in such a short span of time once he leaves the island of Calypso. Time moves slowly and normally when exciting actions take place, like when Odysseus and his men passed Scylla and Charybdis, or when important dialogue occurs, such as when Circe told Odysseus about how to reach Helius's island. Time and space seem to be closely interwoven in the epic, since certain actions are usually taken in certain spaces, thus creating a certain pace in timing whenever the story takes place in certain areas. For example, when Odysseus and his men are traveling on the sea from one space to another without any other event occurring in between, the journey is very quick, oftentimes only taking a sentence or two. The journey from the underworld to Aeaea takes only one sentence: "Our ship sailed out beyond the stream of Ocean, across the waves of open sea, and came to Aeaea, home of newborn Dawn, who dances in meadows with the beams of Helius." In contrast to this quickened pace of time, when the story takes place in a space of danger, it is often a combination of fast and slow paces, since the time in the space usually spans several days. For example, on the island of Helius, time moves quickly as the men ignore Helius's cattle and wait on the beaches for a month for the fog on the sea to clear. However, as soon as the men attack the cattle, time seems to drastically slow, describing each step the men take to prepare the meat to eat and offer to the Gods.

Ancient Worldview

Respect for the Gods

The Ancient Greeks learned to fear the wrath of the Gods in Olympus, so to fend off their wraths they offered sacrifices, built temples in their honor, and prayed to them frequently. The Odyssey champions this belief, making the Gods helpful and obliging when respected, yet cruel and fearsome when disobeyed. This idea is reflected in chapter 12 when Odysseus's men, at the advice of Eurylochus, go against the advice of Circe and slaughter Helius's sacred cows, thus incurring the anger of both Helius and Zeus, which ultimately ended in the death of the men and Odysseus's late arrival back home. Even as the men slaughtered Helius's cows, they offered libations and sacrifices to the Gods with the flesh of the cows and whatever other makeshift materials they could offer, demonstrating just how the traditions of respecting the Gods were so engrained in the brains of the ancient Greeks. It is shown how helpful the gods can be when obeyed: Circe, for example, informed Odysseus about how to survive the Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis, all of which helped Odysseus reach Thrinacia and later survive Scylla a second time after drifting back to her.