This week I finished the Odyssey! It only took me a few days to read as opposed to the Iliad, which took months upon months. I didn’t do any Maths or Physics this week (woohoo!) and instead focused on getting my analysis on the Odyssey done.
Anyways, I finished that on Monday and got straight to the numerous Massolit courses on the subject. I finished one with Richard Jenkyns, another with Emily Hauser and a new one by Edith Hall. (And that isn’t all of them!)
On Tuesday, I started my first ever essay on the Odyssey, discussing the role of women in the epic. In particular I focused on Penelope, Odysseus’ wife, and Helen, Menelaus’ wife and the indirect cause of the whole Trojan War. Helen only had a fairly minor role in the Odyssey, but I could compare and contrast her behaviour in both epics, while we only see Penelope in the Odyssey and not the Iliad. Watch out for that essay, it’s coming soon!
On Wednesday I finished the essay on the role of women (but you can’t see it until it’s been marked 😜) and got started on my analysis of the Odyssey. I’ve been using Tilly’s A-Level Classical Civilisation textbooks to read in more depth about the epic, as well as some other sources and sites online. Today I mostly focused on the composition of the poem, as in the dates it was written in, how it was performed orally first and how we know that, and so on.
The next day, I studied characterisation in the Odyssey for my analysis, mostly focusing on Odysseus, the traits of a Homeric hero in the Odyssey and how those traits contrast with heroes in the Iliad. On Friday, I finished off my analysis and ended the day watching The X-Files with Andy!