The Odyssey in Athens
Subtitle: myths of cultural origins
By: Erwin F. Cook.
Series: Myth and poetics
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Ithaca
Language: eng
Number of pages: 216
Subjects: Homer; Homer -- Knowledge -- Athens (Greece); Erechtheum (Athens, Greece); Epic poetry, Greek -- History and criticism; Odysseus (Greek mythology) in literature; Epic poetry, Greek -- Religious aspects; Mythology, Greek, in literature; Athens (Greece) -- Intellectual life; Athens (Greece) -- Religious life and customs
Description: A study in poetic interaction, The "Odyssey" in Athens explores the ways in which narrative structure and parallels within and between the epic poet (aka Homer's) texts create or disclose meaning. Erwin F. Cook also broadens the scope of this intertextual approach to include the relationship of Homeric epic to ritual. Specifically he argues that the Odyssey achieved its form as a written text within the context of Athenian civic cults during the reign of Peisistratos.

Focusing on the prologue and the Apologoi (Books 9-12), Cook shows how the traditional Greek polarity between force and intelligence (or bie and metis/noos) informs the Odyssean narrative at all levels of composition. He then uses this polarity to explain instances of Odyssean self-reference, allusions to other epic traditions - in particular the Iliadand interaction between the poem and its performance context in Athenian civic ritual.

This detailed structural analysis, with its insights into the circumstances and meaning of the Odyssey's composition, will lead to a new understanding of the Homeric epics and the tradition they evoked.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-208) and indexes.