The Multiple Meanings of Odysseus’ Triumphs

This chapter pursues the implications of the failure of the poet’s overt program, as demonstrated in chapter 4. The Odyssey contains multiple perspectives on Odysseus’ triumphs, which may be glimpsed through underappreciated layers of meaning or irony in certain words or phrases. The poem allows its audience to consider a darker, alternative evaluation of Odysseus’ character. It is shown that Odysseus silences Eurykleia and spares Phemios in order to control the narrative of his actions in the slaughter of the suitors. A final section considers an aspect of Odysseus’ responsibility for the deaths of the companions.

Vengeance in the Odyssey: tisis as Narrative

This chapter establishes the importance of revenge in the Odyssey and shows how a narratological analysis of revenge-taking best accounts for the combination of the ideological points from chapter 1 with the literary form of the Odyssey. The manner in which the Odyssey opens—with the mythic paradeigma of Aigisthos—brings tisis to the forefront, as does the final divine council scene. This chapter next shows how the basic ideological framework of tisis analyzed in chapter 1 takes on a narrative structure. Thus, tisis in the Odyssey is defined as a type of narrative. In addition, with a brief survey of the debate about intertextuality and allusion in Homer, this chapter examines how different instances of tisis refer to one another via intratextuality and can evoke irony. Lastly, some distinctive, prominent features of tisis in the Odyssey are considered, such as ἀτασθαλίαι‎, “recklessness.”

Three Narratives of Divine Vengeance

This chapter examines three tisis narratives in the Odyssey that are subordinate to the main tisis narrative of Odysseus’ revenge on the suitors. These narratives are found to have a robust ideology of symmetry of offense and punishment, some unsettling ironies surrounding ἀτασθαλίαι‎, and a tendency for narrators to manipulate tisis in favor of their own biases. The first tisis narrative is the companions’ deaths in the Thrinakia episode. Sometimes considered a case of Helios’ revenge, Zeus is the real agent of tisis in this instance. The second tisis narrative is Poseidon’s against Odysseus, which, though never explicitly called tisis, has all the other markings of a such a narrative. The third instance is Poseidon’s against the Phaiakians for escorting Odysseus home. Each of these narratives takes on deeper significance and ironic layers of meaning when interpreted in light of the others.

The End of the Odyssey and of Revenge

This chapter deals with the apparent problem of the end of the Odyssey. The poem could have ended with Odysseus’ and Penelope’s reunion, but it continues in order to provide a final statement on tisis. Thus, the transmitted ending should be considered integral to the poem, against a long tradition that considers it spurious. The final confrontation of the suitors’ relatives and Odysseus’ allies reveals how the natural course of a tisis narrative is to incite further tisis. Other illustrations of the open-endedness of tisis in the poem are also considered. In order for the poem to end, not only must every last suitor die but even the memory of their slaughter must be erased. The possibility of alternative narratives is closed off. This radical conclusion is highlighted in a final speech by Zeus in which he uses strikingly original language to ordain a general amnesia.

The Archaic Context of Vengeance

This chapter analyzes the ideology of retributive punishment in the wider context of archaic Greece. It begins by identifying the language associated with vengeance—words etymologically connected with tisis—and outlining some of its uses. Documentary examples in Mycenaean Greek and from Crete are considered and tisis is shown to have a basically transactional sense. Anthropological theory helps distinguish tisis as negative reciprocity over and against positive reciprocity. Three features come to the fore: (1) temporality; (2) the calculation of the object exchanged; (3) the agent calculating the object and whether the exchange is negative or positive. These characteristics are each examined in turn with recourse to examples from the wider Greek corpus down through the archaic period, with particular emphasis on examples from the Iliad.

Introduction

This introduction identifies what is at stake in the Odyssey’s use of tisis. It briefly considers some of the consequences of Odysseus’ tisis against the suitors. One surprising result is that a potentially sympathetic figure like Aigyptios mirrors and anticipates a foe of Odysseus like Eupeithes. Odysseus’ tisis also brings about further revenge by survivors that requires the radical ending of divine amnesia. Peace on Ithaca and the conclusion to the poem rest on the peculiar lie that Odysseus did not kill the suitors. This realization raises a number of interpretive questions.

Odysseus’ Terrifying Revenge

This chapter focuses on the central revenge story of the Odyssey—Odysseus’ against the suitors. Odysseus’ tisis follows the model of Orestes’ tisis, but with sophisticated adjustments. The warning element takes on considerable emphasis. The suitors’ principal offense is their devastation of Odysseus’ household, especially through their feasting, which is portrayed as cannibalistic. For this, they face a reciprocal punishment: their deaths take the form of an inverted feast. The poem presents one direct, positive view of the justice of Odysseus, while also sowing the seeds for its audience to question this presentation. A careful auditor would note the asymmetry between the suitors’ actual crimes of feasting and wooing and the punishments they receive, which are properly appropriate for genuinely accomplished murder and adultery. The poet’s program of justifying Odysseus would not have succeeded, at least for some auditors.