Odysseus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Odysseus (epic ancient Greek Ὀδυσσεύς ) is a hero of Greek mythology . He was the son of Laërtes (in less common versions of Sisyphus ) and Antikleia and the brother of Ktimene . Odysseus took over Ithaca from his father and had a son named Telemachus with his wife, the Spartan princess Penelope . Non-homeland genealogies made him the father of numerous other children, of which Telegonos , his son of the sorceress Kirke , should be emphasized.

Odysseus was one of the most famous Greek heroes in the Trojan War . The deeds he accomplished are described by Homer in the Iliad , his ten-year odyssey on the journey home in the Odyssey (Wanderings of Odysseus). Throughout all of his adventures, he was primarily distinguished by his extraordinary wits and cunning ideas. On his return he killed Penelope's suitors and reigned in Ithaca. After Telegonia he died at the hand of his son Telegonus, but there are different traditions about his last life and his death.

Surname

Variants of the name Odysseus are Attic Ὀλυττεύς Olytteús , Corinthian Ὀλισ (σ) εύς Olis (s) eús , Doric Ούλιξεύς Oulixeús , Latin Ulixes and Ulyssēs , Etruscan Uthuze , Utuse , Utsthe u. Ä.

Among the numerous Greek name variants, the forms mainly occurring in Attic, Boeotian and Corinthian vase inscriptions beginning with Ol- ( Olytteús , Oliseús ) are much more common than those with Od- . The latter start of the name occurs in the Homer epics. The question of how these two groups of forms Ol- and Od- relate to one another was answered differently. Due to Homer's authority, the forms with Od- were considered older, but then u. a. due to the fact that the forms with oil- epigraphically , represented older by some researchers, the opposite position. Furthermore, a pre-Greek name origin is often assumed.

Even before Homer there was probably a folk etymological connection with the Greek word ὀδύσσομαι odýssomai for "angry", which the poet took up and thus helped the form of Odysseus to break through in the epic. According to Homer, Autolycus suggested the name Odysseus for his newborn grandson because he was angry with numerous people. But also the possibility of explaining that Zeus or Poseidon were angry with Odysseus is suggested.

The Latin form Ulixes goes back to Doric and was probably taken over by the Greeks of southern Italy. The Etruscans, on the other hand, were given the Homeric name form.

Adolescence and marriage to Penelope

There is only a few scattered information about Odysseus' youth in the Odyssey. He could boast of Zeus on his father's side and Hermes on his mother's side . As a young man he visited his grandfather Autolykos on Mount Parnassus and went on a hunting trip with his sons, during which a boar struck his thigh with a wound, the scar of which was always visible. On a trip to Messenia , he befriended Iphitus , who gave Odysseus the mighty bow of his father Eurytus . Odysseus valued this bow very much and would later use it against Penelope's suitors. In Ephyra in Thesprotien he wanted to get poison arrows from Mermeros ' son Ilos ; but when he did not get it, he obtained it from the Taphic prince Anchialus . Although his father Laertes was still healthy, Odysseus received the government of Ithaca from him long before his journey to Troy . His territory also included the neighboring islands of Zakynthos , Dulichion and Same as well as smaller Ionian islands and parts of the opposite coast of Akarnania . In particular, the identification of Dulichion and Same has been heavily disputed since ancient times and has not yet been clarified beyond doubt. According to the ship catalog of the Iliad , Dulichion still belonged to the domain of Meges at the time of the Trojan War . According to a passage in the Odyssey , however, at the time of the arrival of Odysseus in his homeland, a king named Akastos ruled over Dulichion. However, since Dulichion is mentioned in several other places in the epic, along with the other islands owned by Odysseus, the opinion is widespread in research that the mention of Akastos is based on a competing (non-Homeric) saga tradition and that Homer sees him as the local ruler who was subordinate to Odysseus.

Odysseus was one of Helena's numerous suitors , but didn't think he had any chances. Instead, he stood by Helena's father, Tyndareos, with wise advice on how he could avoid a feared conflict with suitors who had not been given a chance after the choice of a husband. He recommended that all applicants swear to support Helena's chosen husband with any problems arising from this marriage. In return, Tyndareus, who now designated Menelaus as the bridegroom for his daughter, worked with his brother Ikarios to ensure that his daughter Penelope became the wife of Odysseus. According to Pausanias, however, Odysseus had to win a race to get Penelope's hand. The couple had a son Telemachus.

Preparations for the Trojan War

After Paris abducted Helena to Troy, her former suitors had to keep their oath and give Menelaus military support for a planned expedition against Troy. The Odyssey indicates that Odysseus was reluctant to take part in the campaign and that Agamemnon and Menelaus found it difficult to persuade them to participate. According to the extract from the Kyprien in Proklos' Chrestomathie , Odysseus deceived his visitors, Menelaus, Nestor and Palamedes , who had traveled to him , to be insane, but the cunning Palamedes saw through him and, by threatening little Telemachus, succeeded in exposing the deception. According to Hyginus Mythographus ' detailed explanation of this version , Odysseus' pretended delusion consisted in carrying a pileus in front of his guests and harnessing a horse and an ox to his plow; But Palamedes put Telemachus in front of the plow and admonished his father to go with the oath companions, whereupon he promised to come with them. So if Odysseus was defeated by Palamedes in the area of ​​his very own strength, cunning, he later took cruel revenge on him.

So Odysseus had to go to war and entrusted his housekeeping to the care of his comrade Mentor . First he took on the task of securing the services of Achilles for the planned campaign. After the Iliad , he traveled with Nestor to Peleus and picked up his son Achilles and Patroclus . According to the later elaboration of the legend, Thetis did not want to let her son Achilles go because he would not return alive after an oracle. She had therefore hidden him, disguised as a girl, among the daughters of King Lykomedes of Skyros. Odysseus went to this place - with or without a companion - and discovered the wanted person through the ruse that he was offering not only gifts intended for girls but also weapons that Achilles donned and / or by observing his reaction to the sound of a trumpet. Now Achilles also joined the Greek expeditionary army.

The library of Apollodorus is the only source that mentions Odysseus as a participant in a futile attempt by the Greeks to also woo King Kinyras of Cyprus for the war against Troy. According to this, Odysseus came to Kinyras in the company of Menelaus and Talthybios , who agreed to provide 50 ships, but then only sent one and made the rest and their crew from clay. Odysseus then played a marginal role in the conflict between the Troy fighters and Telephus . Achilles had inflicted a non-healing wound on him with his lance, which according to an oracle could only be healed by the person who had caused it. So Telephos came to Argos to see Achilles, and when he protested that he was not a doctor, Odysseus interpreted the oracle in the sense that the spear, and not its owner, was the cause of the wound, whereupon Telephos was healed by the rust from the spear .

The Greek fleet assembled in Aulis , to which Odysseus contributed twelve ships, could not leave because of a calm. The seer Kalchas explained that Artemis prevented the departure of the fleet because of her anger at Agamemnon, which would only be possible after the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia . Odysseus went to her mother, Clytaimnestra, and managed to get Iphigenia to be sent to Aulis by making the false claim that she should be Achilles' wife. Artemis replaced the girl on the altar with a doe. Euripides ' Iphigenie is preserved in tragic adaptations of this episode in Aulis , where Odysseus does not appear.

When the Greek fleet was now on its way to Troy, Odysseus successfully wrestled with King Philomeleides of Lesbos. Since the archer Philoctetes had a festering wound due to a snakebite, the bad smell of which was increasingly annoying to the Greek army, Odysseus exposed him to Lemnos .

Before the outbreak of the military confrontation, Greek envoys went - according to most sources Odysseus and Menelaus - to Troy to demand the return of Helen and stolen treasures. If their request had been granted, the war could have been avoided. However, the ambassadors were not successful. According to some sources, they were even in danger of being killed, but Antenor saved them. His family was spared after the fall of Troy.

Role in the Trojan War

Killing the Palamedes

Even before the disgruntled Achilles retired from the war, Odysseus retaliated against Palamedes. According to the library of Apollodorus , he compelled a Phrygian prisoner to write a letter, which allegedly came from Priam and was addressed to Palamedes, after which the latter appeared as a traitor. Odysseus then buried gold in Palamedes 'tent and dropped the supposedly treacherous letter in the Greeks' quarters. Agamemnon found the document and then the gold, which led to Palamedes' stoning. Hyginus reports slightly differently that Odysseus managed to move the Greek camp for one day due to an alleged dream. During the night he hid gold below the former location of Palamedes' tent and had a Phrygian prisoner murdered near the camp, to whom he had previously given a letter he had written in which Priam allegedly promised Palamedes gold in the event of his betrayal. After the camp was moved back, a soldier found the letter on the body of the Phrygian and brought it to Agamemnon, who looked up and found the gold, whereupon the army killed Palamedes. According to the completely different representation in the Kyprien , Palamedes would have been drowned while fishing by Odysseus and Diomedes .

Depiction in the Iliad

In particular, Odysseus, described by Homer as not very tall, but rather broad-shouldered and a favorite of Athena , was distinguished during the Trojan War by cunning and eloquence; he was also a brave fighter. When the Greeks had to return the Chryseis they had abducted to their father Chryses to appease Apollo's wrath , Odysseus carried out this mission. Through his eloquence, he managed to talk the army out of the premature retreat suggested by Agamemnon, while chastising the troublemaker Thersites . After his friend Leukos was killed by Antiphos , he furiously shot Priam's illegitimate son Demokoon with a javelin in the temple. Tlepolemus was later fatally injured in a fight with Sarpedon , whereupon Odysseus killed seven Lycians until Hector slowed him down. He was also one of the candidates for the duel with Hector. But when the old Nestor threatened danger from the approaching Hector, Diomedes came to his rescue and called the fleeing Odysseus in vain for assistance. Because of the desperate situation of the Greeks, Achilles was to be persuaded to take part in the war again, but Odysseus' oratorial talent, which was called up for this, was not enough either.

Hector managed to set up a Trojan camp on the plain. Now Odysseus and his frequent companion Diomedes set out on a nightly scouting tour and met the Trojan scout Dolon , whom they interrogated and killed; then they penetrated the camp of the newly arrived Thracians , slew King Rhesus and captured his choice horses. For the successful coup they made a sacrifice of thanks to Athena. Agamemnon emerged the next day by killing several Trojan heroes ( Aristie ), but then had to withdraw injured, whereupon Hector hit the Achaeans seriously. Odysseus and Diomedes intervened successfully in the fight, but after Diomedes' wound Odysseus had to fight off his skin alone. He was able to kill Sokos in individual combat, but suffered injuries and was finally saved from the encirclement of his enemies by Menelaus and the great Aias . After his recovery he took part in the funeral games for Patroclus, defeated the great Aias in a wrestling match and won the race against the faster little Aias , because Athena had let him stumble.

Arms dispute with Aias

Odysseus musing, with the weapons of Achilles (shield, helmet and armor). Clay oil lamp, 1st century AD

Achilles killed the Amazon queen Penthesileia , according to the Aithiopis , but then fell in love with the beautiful dead woman. Because Thersites made fun of it, Achilles struck him down. Due to the conflict in the Greek army caused by this murder, Achilles had to sacrifice to the gods on Lesbos, whereupon Odysseus atoned him.

Paris and Apollo then killed Achilles, for whose body the great Aias and Odysseus fought with the Trojans. Aias carried the corpse through the middle of the enemy and Odysseus covered his retreat. But now the two warriors got into an argument about to whom of them the weapons of the fallen hero belonged. The Little Iliad began with the report of this event . According to the excerpt from Proclus giving a lecture therefrom, the goddess Athena made sure that Odysseus won the arms battle, whereupon Aias went mad and finally evacuated. According to a Scholion to Aristophanes , a conversation between Trojan girls was overheard at Nestor's suggestion and on its basis it was decided in favor of Odysseus. A more frequent version, however, states that Agamemnon tried to appear as an impartial arbiter and, based on the testimony of captured Trojans that Odysseus had done more to them than Aias, awarded the former Achilles' weapons. Ovid in particular designed the speech duel between the opponents in front of the referees broadly, in which Odysseus won as the far more gifted in this field. The tragedy Aias written by Sophocles on this subject has survived.

Contribution to the fall of Troy

Soon afterwards, according to the Little Iliad , Odysseus captured the seer Helenos . The library of Apollodorus justifies this step with the fact that Helenos knew the prerequisites for an oracle, how to conquer Troy. Other sources let Helenos switch sides voluntarily. The seer announced to the Greeks that they could not conquer Troy until they had fetched the bones of Pelops as well as Achilles' son Neoptolemus and Philoctetes with the bow of Heracles, who had been abandoned by them on Lemnos ; alternatively, instead of the latter condition, some sources name the stolen Palladion from Troy.

Odysseus then went to Skyros either alone or with Diomedes or with Phoinix in order to persuade the Neoptolemus who was there to participate in the Trojan War and to hand him Achilles' weapons. The collection of Philoctetes, which had been living a meager existence on Lemnos for ten years, together with his Heracles Arch was also a work of Odysseus, acting either alone or together with Diomedes or with Neoptolemus; according to the Little Iliad , however, Diomedes carried out this commission alone. According to a variant of the legend, Philoctetes was brought back on the instructions of the Kalchas even before Helenus was captured. All three great tragedians wrote plays on this subject, but only Sophocles' Philoctetes has survived , where Odysseus is very unfavorably characterized. Machaon or Podaleirios healed Philoctetes, who had arrived among the Greeks and who then shot Paris.

In order to get into Troy as a spy unnoticed, Odysseus allowed himself to be scourged and disguised himself as a beggar. Helena recognized him but did not betray him and learned from him the Greeks' plan to conquer the city. He killed several Trojans and, enriched with knowledge of some hostile intentions, returned safely to the Greek camp.

Odysseus and Diomedes steal the Palladion from Troy . Apulian red-figure oinochoe from the circle of the Iliupersis painter (around 360–350 BC) from Reggio di Calabria. Today in the Louvre , Paris.

The information about the point in time at which Odysseus - according to most sources together with Diomedes - stole the image of Athens, the Palladion, differ widely; According to some versions, this happened before Achilles' death, according to others, however, only after the creation of the Trojan horse . The Greeks knew that this robbery was necessary for the victorious end of the war either from the prophecies of Kalchas or Helenos or from ancient oracles. Some ancient authors report that the robbers entered Troy through an underground canal. Because Odysseus wished that the glory for the successful execution of the deed came to him alone, he planned on the way back to stab Diomedes in front of him. However, he saw the flash of Odysseus' dagger in the moonlight and was able to avoid the danger by drawing his own sword in good time. Now Odysseus had to march back before him, handcuffed.

Several authors state that Odysseus was the inventor of the Trojan horse. After the apparent withdrawal of the besiegers, it was supposed to be smuggled into Troy disguised as a religious sacrifice; at night, Greeks hidden in its interior had to get out and open the city gates to their countrymen who had secretly returned. According to the Little Iliad, there is supposed to be room for no less than 3,000 men in the horse, but only 23 according to the smallest number mentioned. In most of the depictions, Odysseus is referred to as the leader of the warriors hidden in the horse. Helena and her new husband Deiphobos examined the horse and perfectly imitated the voices of the wives of some Greek heroes trapped in the horse to discover a possible trap. It was difficult for them to keep their silence and Odysseus closed Antiklos ' mouth and, according to Tryphiodorus, even suffocated him in the process .

The Greek plan succeeded. During the nightly battle in Troy, Odysseus led Menelaus to the house of Deiphobus and took part in the conflict with the Trojans that took place there. Not only did he take part in the slaughter during the destruction of the city, but also in remembrance of Antenor's earlier friendly attitude towards him in the rescue of his sons Glaucus and Helikaon . In vain did he demand that little Aias be stoned, since he had raped Kassandra and desecrated an altar of Athens in the process; He was right to fear the goddess' wrath on the Greeks. According to the Iliu persis , he was largely responsible for the killing of Hector's little son Astyanax, who, according to some representations, himself fell from a tower, while the Little Iliad attributed the murder to Neoptolemus. According to some authors, Odysseus also strongly advised sacrificing Polyxena on Achilles' grave. He got Priam's wife Hekabe as a slave, who was soon turned into a bitch and is said to have found her grave on the Thracian Chersonese.

Random journeys on the way home

After the victory over Troy, which had been preceded by ten years of war, Odysseus set off with his 12 ships on the journey home described by Homer in the Odyssey . Many theories about the localization of the locations mentioned by Homer were already proposed in ancient times. The most widespread ancient theses are briefly presented when discussing the individual stations on Odysseus' route.

Odysseus and his crew had to endure numerous adventures and misfortunes on their journey. For some they were responsible themselves, others owed them to the hostility especially of the sea god Poseidon . Only after ten years of wandering did Odysseus return alone to Ithaca after losing all companions.

Kikonen, lotophages, polyphem

First, after their departure from Troy, Odysseus' ships reached the Thracian port city of Ismaros , where the Kikonen lived. Odysseus and his men stormed the city and only showed indulgence towards the Apollo priest Maron and his wife, for which Maron gave him, among other things, particularly intoxicating wine. When the Kikonen counterattack, Odysseus lost several companions and had to flee. After the passage from Cape Malea in the southeast of the Peloponnese , from where the attempts to localize the travel destinations become uncertain and a journey to fairy tale land begins, a strong north wind struck Odysseus' fleet after nine days to the land of the peaceful lotophages (often on the North African coast all Djerba ). Odysseus had to forcibly fetch back three of his men who had been sent as spies because they had forgotten everything after eating lotus fruits and had not returned.

Odysseus and his companions blind Polyphemus . Laconic - black-figure bowl of the horseman painter , approx. 565–560 BC Chr.

The next stop on Odysseus' odyssey was the land of the Cyclops , which numerous ancient authors localized in different parts of Sicily . First, Odysseus and his team settled on an offshore island where no people but many goats lived. On the third day Odysseus drove with twelve companions to the opposite fertile mainland and went with them into a large cave, in which they came across a flock of sheep. When Odysseus waited out of curiosity for the owner of the cave, he turned out to be the one-eyed giant Polyphemus , who after his arrival devoured a total of six of Odysseus' men and blocked the entrance with a large rock. The next evening Odysseus made the giant drunk with Maron's wine and rammed a glowing stake into his only eye with his remaining companions. The following morning, the blinded giant rolled the stone aside and sat in front of the cave entrance, in order to possibly catch the Greeks trying to escape. But when his rams went outside, he only felt their backs, while Odysseus and his men clung to their peritoneum. So they could escape to their ship. Odysseus mocked the giant and told him his real name, whereupon his ship was almost hit by a boulder thrown away by Polyphemus. At Polyphem's prayer to his father Poseidon, this Odysseus caused great difficulties for years on the further journey.

The drama Cyclops des Euripides, which uses this material, has been preserved. The dithyramb poet Philoxenus of Kythira brought a new aspect to history by introducing Polyphem's unhappy love for the Nereid Galateia . Virgil wrote that Odysseus left a companion by the name of Achaemenides on the island of the Cyclops, that Aeneas found the wandering man while driving past the Sicilian coast and brought him to Lazio . The ancient fine arts also frequently took up the topic.

Aiolos, Laistrygonen, Kirke

Odysseus now sailed to Aiolia , the island of the wind god Aiolus , which classical authors often mistook for one of the Aeolian islands . Aiolos received Odysseus in a friendly manner and after a month's stay handed him all the unfavorable winds locked in a hose; only the westerly wind was not in it to enable the seafarers to travel home quickly. When home was already visible and Odysseus was asleep, his men curiously opened the hose, whereupon the winds escaped and their ships once again swept towards Aiolia. This time, however, the wind god chased them away, believing that Odysseus had incurred the wrath of the gods.

On the further voyage, Odysseus' small fleet came seven days later to the port of Telepylos , the city of the gigantic cannibal Laistrygons (which was located in ancient times in Sicily and Sardinia) . Their king Antiphates was able to escape two of a total of three scouts sent by Odysseus and warn their master in good time. Odysseus' ship was the only one to escape, as it had anchored outside the port entrance by itself as a precaution. The rest of his vehicles were shattered with enormous stones by the Laistrygones and the crews devoured by the giants.

The next destination Odysseus headed for was the island of Aiaia of the sorceress Kirke , which, according to ancient theses, was often located on the west coast of Italy and identified with today's Monte Circeo , but there were other opinions, which she sought in Colchis , far east . Odysseus formed two groups of his remaining companions, and the second group, led by Eurylochus , had to explore the island by drawing lots. They came to the house of Kirke, who apparently kindly invited them, but after they had enjoyed wine they touched them with a whip and turned them into pigs. Only the suspicious Eurylochus had not accepted the invitation and was able to return to Odysseus. He immediately went to the rescue of his companions and met the god Hermes on the way, who gave him a plant called Moly and rules of conduct to protect him from Kirkes magic . When Kirke wanted to transform Odysseus too, she did not succeed because of the effects of Moly; instead she was threatened by him with the sword and had to swear by the gods that he would no longer harm him. She restored her human form to the enchanted companions and became the lover of Odysseus, who spent a whole year with her. Then, at the urging of his men, he set off again on the journey that now led him to Hades , since, according to Kirkes advice, only the shadow of the late seer Teiresias knew how to get home to Ithaca. Later legend, Odysseus wrote several sons of Kirke, some of whom are also attributed to Calypso , such as Telegonos and Latinos . Alleged graves of some of Odysseus' companions in Campania and the surrounding countryside are also mentioned.

Hades, Sirens, Charybdis and Scylla, cattle of Helios

Surrounded by Eurylochus and Perimedes, Odysseus meets the shadow of Teiresias. Lucanian red- figure kalyx crater by the Dolon painter , approx. 380 BC Chr.

After a day's voyage, Odysseus reached the shores of the Ocean . There was the land of the Kimmerer , where the sun never shone. After the offering of a potion and animal offering at the gates of Hades, the shadows of the dead appeared. The spirit of Teiresias prophesied Odysseus his further destinies. He could return to his homeland with his companions, albeit not easily, but must be careful not to injure the cattle of Helios grazing on the island of Thrinakia ; otherwise he would only reach Ithaca late, alone and on a strange ship. There he would meet many suitors of Penelopes and kill them; afterwards he had to erect and sacrifice an altar to the sea god Poseidon where the sea was not known, so do not salt the food and take Odysseus' oar that he had brought with him for a shovel. Only then was he finally destined for a gentle death from the sea in his old age in his homeland. Thereupon Odysseus spoke with the shadow of his mother Antikleia, who had meanwhile died from grief for him, and also met the spirits of Greek heroes and their wives, including Achilles and Agamemnon, who had been murdered after his return home at the instigation of his wife Clytaimnestra. Finally, Odysseus saw the torments of Sisyphus and Tantalus and talked to Heracles before he hurried off. Then he returned with his men to Kirke and buried his companion Elpenor , who had died in an accident before Odysseus' first departure from Aiaia, had remained unburied there and had asked for a dignified burial while talking to Odysseus on his journey to Hades. Kirke informed Odysseus about the adventures ahead and the necessary rules of conduct. The next day he left again.

Odysseus is tied to the mast of the ship. Attic red-figure stamnos of the Siren Painter , approx. 480-470 BC Chr.

According to Kirkes advice, Odysseus plugged the ears of his men with wax before driving past the island of the sirens (which ancient authors have equated with Samos or localized near Sorrento ) , but not his own, in order to be able to hear their beguiling singing, which attracted many seafarers and had fallen to ruin. In order to avoid this fate, Odysseus had himself tied to the mast and was therefore unable to follow the sirens' lures while passing the island, although he wanted to. Outside of their earshot, the danger was over.

On the further sea route Odysseus avoided the dangerous passage of the plankton , two heavily surrounded rocks shrouded in flames, and instead chose to drive through the strait (mostly identified with the Strait of Messina ) on both sides of which Charybdis and Scylla lived. Charybdis was a dangerous whirlpool that sucked in the sea water three times a day and then spat it out again. Odysseus, according to Kirkes advice, kept his ship closer to the rock of Scylla, a six-headed monster. He took up arms and tried to protect his men from Scylla, but couldn't stop her from eating six of them.

The course now led to the island of Thrinakia. Because of the warnings from Teiresias and Kirke not to touch the grazing cattle and sheep of the sun god Helios, Odysseus wanted to row past, but he had to give in to the pressure of his exhausted, almost mutinous men and stop on land on this island. Kirkes 'supplies lasted for a month, during which time the companions kept their oath to spare Helios' animals. Because of unfavorable winds they had to stay longer on Thrinakia and slaughtered some cattle of the sun god on Eurylochus' instigation against the express instruction of Odysseus while he slept. He demanded that the other gods punish the guilty and so, when Odysseus and his men had stuck into the sea again, Zeus sent a hurricane that destroyed their ship. Everyone on board drowned; only Odysseus could make a raft out of the rubble and thus survive. When he was driven past Charybdis again, she sucked in his raft. But he managed to cling to an overhanging fig tree on her rock. When his vehicle reappeared beneath him, he dropped and rowed quickly out of the danger zone. After ten days he was driven to the island of Ogygia by the nymph Calypso. Ogygia was identified with Gavdos near Crete , Gozo , Madeira , Stromboli and with Cape Punta Meliso on the Apulian coast.

Calypso, Phaiacs

Calypso received Odysseus kindly and made him her lover. She promised him immortality if he stayed with her forever. Odysseus stayed with her for seven years and shared the bed with her, but over time, despite all the temptations to Ithaca, he longed to return to his wife Penelope. He would never have reached his home if Athena had not stood up for him on Olympus . When his bitter opponent Poseidon was in distant Ethiopia , the goddess Zeus persuaded her to finally allow her favorite to return home. At the behest of the supreme god, Hermes ordered Calypso to release Odysseus. Reluctantly, she followed and provided Odysseus with tools for building ships so that he could finally set off again. Odysseus is said to have had several sons of Kalypso (some were also attributed to Kirke), including Nausinoos and Nausithoos .

After 17-day sea voyage Odysseus coast saw the (in ancient times, usually with Kerkyra identified) Phaiakians -Landes Scheria . Then Poseidon noticed him and caused him to be thrown out of his boat by a storm. In dire need, the sea goddess Leukothea appeared to him and advised him to go for the Phaiac coast by swimming under his own steam , renouncing his destroyed boat. To prevent him from drowning, she gave him her veil, which he should tie around himself. After initial suspicion he followed the advice and with the support of Athenes, who paved his way through the waves, he reached the shore of Scheria after two days by swimming. He almost got crushed on the rocks, but then found a better way to land at an estuary. He set up a bed of leaves under two bushes and fell asleep exhausted.

Athena made sure that Nausicaa , the daughter of the Phaiac king Alcinous , went to the river mouth with her maids to wash clothes. Their voices awakened Odysseus, who, as a naked man covered with sea mud, only covering his nakedness with a branch, humbly asked the king's daughter for help and flatteringly praised her beauty. He could quickly take Nausicaa to himself; she dressed him splendidly, gave him something to eat, and escorted him to the town. Then he went to the royal palace and, following Nausicaa's advice, first asked her mother Arete for assistance. This worked; and Odysseus knew how to recommend himself by his appearance so that Alcinous would have liked to see him as a son-in-law. But the ruler also showed himself ready to help the stranger to return home quickly. The next day Odysseus finally revealed his true identity and told the Phaiacs about his experiences. On one of their ships, he was brought to Ithaca with a gift of gifts and dropped off asleep on the island's coast, but the Phaiacs incurred Poseidon's anger because of this.

Fight against Penelope's suitors

When Odysseus woke up, he did not recognize his homeland at first and thought he was exposed to a foreign land by the Phaiacs. Then Athena came and explained to him that he was indeed in Ithaca. In his palace, numerous suitors who thought he was dead because of his long absence besieged his faithful wife and squandered his property. Because it was too dangerous to return to his house alone, the goddess turned him into an unsightly old beggar. So he could plan the next steps unnoticed, which also included testing various people including relatives and servants with various tales of lies. First he went to the hut of the swineherd Eumaios, who had remained loyal to him, and was warmly received by him, but still did not reveal himself to him. There his son Telemachos appeared, who had just returned from a mission to find out his father's whereabouts with Menelaus. When Eumaios left to report the return of her son to Penelope, Odysseus revealed his identity to Telemachus and they prepared a plan to kill the suitors.

Odysseus is greeted by Argos, denarius of C. Mamilius Limetanus from the year 82 BC. Chr .; the gens Mamilia saw themselves as descendants of Odysseus

Telemachus first went back to the palace, where Eumaios and Odysseus in his beggar disguise also set off shortly afterwards. On the way they were insulted by the goatherd Melanthios , who had switched sides, but it was necessary for Odysseus to carry out his plan to wait with his revenge. When he arrived at his destination, only his old dog Argos , who died immediately afterwards, recognized him . In the palace he went to examine the attitudes of those present towards him. So he asked the suitors for food. Most of them gave him something, but Antinous threw an armchair on his shoulder. Another beggar, Iros , who mocked him, he could easily strike down. Then Penelope appeared and informed her suitors that after such a long absence from her husband she would soon be ready for a new marriage. Later an unfaithful maid, Melantho , Melanthios' sister, turned against Odysseus. Her lover, a suitor Penelopes by the name of Eurymachos , also reviled Odysseus. A heated argument ensued, but Amphinomos defused the situation.

After the suitors left, Odysseus and his son removed the weapons from the festival hall and locked them in the pantry. Then Odysseus had a meeting with Penelope alone, presented himself to her as the noble Cretan Aithon and gained her trust. He claimed to have known her long-absent husband from before; he will return home soon. When Odysseus' old nurse Eurycleia washed his feet, she recognized her master by the scar that came from the boar attack, but she was not allowed to tell anyone.

Odysseus shoots the suitors. From an edition of Gustav Schwab's collection of sagas .

Following the feast the next day, Penelope challenged the suitors to a competition. Whoever of them could shoot an arrow through the holes in the shaft of twelve axes standing in a row with the bow of Eurytus, which Odysseus had once received from Iphitus, would receive their hand. Odysseus, who was also present, meanwhile left the hall, identified himself to his faithful servants Eumaios and Philoitios and instructed them. Then he went back into the hall and noticed that none of the suitors had been able to draw the bow. Despite their protests, Penelope, who then withdrew, persisted in allowing the "beggar" to make an attempt, which Telemachus finally achieved. Now Odysseus easily managed the required master shot, whereupon he first pierced Antinous and Eurymachos with arrows. As a result, he fought, supported by his son and his two loyal servants, against the overwhelming power of the other suitors. Melanthios delivered weapons to the suitors, but was then tied up by Eumaios and Philoitios. Ultimately, Odysseus and his few companions succeeded in killing all suitors with the assistance of Athenes. Twelve disloyal servants had to clean the bloodied hall and were then hung up by Telemachos. Melanthios did not escape his punishment either.

Eurycleia woke the fast asleep Penelope, who only believed that her husband had actually returned when Odysseus told her a secret that only he could know. Later Odysseus went to see his old father Laertes, who had lived poorly in a remote hut out of disgust for the suitors and grief for his son, examined him too and then revealed himself to the now blissful old man. The suicide led Odysseus, his family and his devoted servants to a final battle against the powerful families of the slain men, but Athena separated the parties and restored peace between Odysseus and his subjects.

Later fates and death

The Odyssey ends with Odysseus regaining control of Ithaca. The final fates of Ulysses and his death, not reported by Homer, were presented in extremely contradictory terms by other writers. In the oldest, fragmentary telegony belonging to the Epic Cycle , there was a record of Odysseus' journey to Elis , where King Polyxenus gave him hospitality. Then Odysseus came back to Ithaca, made sacrifices according to the instructions of Teiresias and traveled to Thesprotien , where he married Queen Kallidike and had the son Polypoites with her . When Kallidike died, he turned the government over to Polypoites and traveled back to his homeland. Now Kirke's adult son, Telegonos, was moved to Ithaca, which he did not know. Because of a cattle robbery, he came into conflict with his father, who was also unknown to him, and unsuspectingly killed him with a spear, the tip of which was a ray sting, whereby the prophecy of Teiresias regarding the "exmaritime" death of Odysseus was (partially) fulfilled, since the deadly ray sting came from the sea. When Telegonos learned that he had murdered his father, he brought his body as well as Penelope and Telemachos to Kirke on the island of Aiaia. The sorceress made Penelope and Telemachos immortal and there was a double wedding between Telegonos and Penelope on the one hand and Telemachos and Kirke on the other. Hyginus adds, among other things, that Odysseus had been warned by an oracle to beware of death by his son.

In Aeschylus ' Psychagagoi, according to a fragment preserved from it, Teiresias prophesied Odysseus that his head would be hit by the dropping droppings of a heron and that it would be burned by a poisonous sting of a sea animal contained in it. In Sophocles' lost drama Euryalus , Odysseus went to Epirus after the suitor's murder and there seduced the daughter Euippe of his host Tyrimmas . From the liaison came the son Euryalus , who came to Ithaca as an adult, but was killed by the intrigues of the jealous Penelope by Odysseus, who did not recognize him.

Penelope is said to have given birth to another son of Poliporthe after his return from his wanderings to Odysseus . The library of Apollodorus reports that some ancient authors, contrary to Homer, stated that Penelope had not remained faithful to her husband during his long absence. According to a variant of the legend, Penelope was seduced by Antinous, sent back to her father Ikarios by Odysseus and later became Pan's mother in Mantineia in Arcadia by Hermes . The Virgil commentator Servius , on the other hand, states that Pan was the child of Penelope and all the suitors, whom Odysseus found in his house after his return and fled at the sight of him and went on new wanderings. According to another account, Odysseus killed his wife because she was the mistress of Amphinomus.

It was also told that Odysseus was accused by the relatives of the slain suitors and that Neoptolemus was appointed judge. Since Neoptolemus wanted to take possession of the island of Kephallenia, which belonged to Odysseus' possession , he had Odysseus banished. He went to Aetolia to see King Thoas , had a son Leontophonus from his marriage to his daughter and died a very old man. A fragment of Aristotle preserved by Plutarch reports that Neoptolemus, accepted as arbitrator by Odysseus and the family members of the murdered suitors, sent Odysseus into exile, who, according to this version, emigrated to Italy; At the same time, Neoptolemus condemned the relatives of the suitors to send Telemachus a certain amount of agricultural products every year. According to other authors, Odysseus finally came to Italy. According to Xenagoras , he had three sons with Kirke, Rhomos , Anteias and Ardeas , who founded the three cities named after them Rome , Antium and Ardea .

Some writers knew of Odysseus' alleged transformation into a horse by Athena. According to Ptolemy Hephaistionus , however, a Tyrrhenian sorceress carried out this transformation; Odysseus would then have stayed with her until his old age changed.

Dating approaches

Solar eclipse theory

Plutarch and Heraclitus interpreted the last two verses of a passage about Odysseus' homecoming in Book 20 of Homer's Odyssey as a poetic description of a solar eclipse in the Ionian Islands - an event that occurs there only about every 360 years. The passage reads (in the translation by Roland Hampe ):

And Theoklýmenos, like a god, said among them:
“Oh, poor people, what evil has befallen you? In night
your heads and faces are wrapped and your knees below.
Wailing screams, the cheeks are wet with tears,
And the walls and the beautiful framework are splattered with blood;
And
the vestibule is full of shadow, the courtyard is filled, Those who go to Érebos into the darkness, but the sun
is obliterated from the sky, and evil darkness rises. "

The theory of a solar eclipse had long been known, but was initially received with skepticism and already rejected by some ancient authors. Odysseus' return had already been made by Carl Schoch and Paul Neugebauer (1926) on the well-known day of the Aegean solar eclipse on April 16, 1178 BC. Has been dated. JR Minkel claims that this dating approach was largely rejected because it was generally assumed that ancient Greek astronomy only developed after the Odyssey was written.

The main argument against interpreting this passage as a description of a solar eclipse, however, was already the context in antiquity. Wilhelm Dörpfeld repeated in 1926 - as a reaction to Schoch - that Theoklymenos foretold the death of the suitors and that the passage "the sun has been wiped out from heaven and evil darkness rises" should be seen in connection with Erebos , the realm of the dead the suitors would arrive after their imminent death and in which, according to the Greek idea, the sun does not shine, hence darkness prevails. Furthermore, Dörpfeld pointed out that in the following dialogues there was no talk of darkness, except at a point in which the darkness in the palace is contrasted with the brightness outside. In addition, Dörpfeld points out that no other person, including the narrator, indicates a solar eclipse and that the suitors do not believe Theoclymenos.

Baikouzis and Magnasco

As an alternative approach, the biophysicists Baikouzis and Magnasco (2008) chose to dispense with what they believed to be the uncertain theory of the solar eclipse and analyzed the last stages of Odysseus' journey for further potential mentions of astronomical observations such as rare constellations of constellations and planets . They came to the conclusion that on the day when Odysseus killed the suitors, new moon was four days earlier, on his arrival in Ithaca, Venus stood high before sunrise in the sky, the Pleiades and the constellation boat on the journey from Ogygia after Scheira were visible at the same time in the evening. Bootes is said to have risen in the sky later than the Pleiades.

They then searched a 135-year period (1250 to 1115 BC) for this Homeric sky constellation and calculated 15 possible days for Odysseus' return to Ithaca. Based on their thesis that in Homer's description of the god Hermes , who flew west to Ogygia before the departure of Odysseus , the planet Mercury was encoded above the western horizon, the biophysicists also put Odysseus' return in the spring of 1178 independently of the earlier investigation v. BC, which is the more specific date of April 16, 1178 BC. Supported.

Although the work of Baikouzis and Magnasco met with broad media coverage, research on ancient philology and history did not address them for a long time.

Gainsford

In 2012, Peter Gainsford of Wellington University published an article in which he critically questioned both the general methodology and the individual points on which Baikouzis and Magnasco used their dating approach. Overall, he rejects the results of Baikouzis and Magnasco.

  • As Baikouzis and Magnasco also restricted, Gainsford emphasizes that the identification of Hermes with the planet Mercury in ancient Greece can only be proven through a passage from Plato . Otherwise there is no evidence for such an equation, not even in Aratos' work on celestial phenomena ( Phainomena ), in which there is also no indication that journeys by gods are to be equated with celestial phenomena.
  • Gainsford further points out that the assumption that Bootes was later visible than the Pleiades during Odysseus' voyage from Ogygia to the land of the Phaiacs (the argument why Baikouzis and Magnasco set the voyage between February and April) cannot be inferred from the original text , but the English translation could suggest this.
  • Gainsford also points out that the Aithi operas from which Poseidon went to Olympus, according to the Greek idea, before the 5th century BC. Lived on the edge of the world, in the east and not in the south, as Baikouzis and Magnasco assume. In addition, an identification of Poseidon with the earth is extremely doubtful and not proven by ancient sources.
  • The fourth assumption that Venus was visible when the Phaiacs arrived on Ithaca in the early morning is evident from the Odyssey, but not that the sun rose at least 90 minutes later, as Baikouzis and Magnasco base their theory on.
  • The fifth assumption that there was a free new moon on the day of the killing would correspond to the prevailing - but not uncontroversial - research opinion and is anyway a prerequisite for a possible solar eclipse.

In general, Gainsford criticizes that Baikouzis and Magnasco do not take into account all possible references to celestial phenomena contained in the Odyssey - if one interprets the journeys of the gods as astronomical events - but rather "picked the cherry on the cake". Gainsford further criticizes that although one of two passages relevant to the theory in which the Iliad is quoted verbatim was recognized as a quotation by Baikouzis and Magnasco, they did not draw any conclusions from it.

In addition, according to the prevailing opinion, the times given by Homer should not be taken literally, as the biophysicists assume. Some dates are repeated so often with Homer that one has to assume symbolic information. The discrepancy in the chronology within the Odyssey between Odysseus 'journey and Telemachus' simultaneous journey to Pylos and Sparta had not been sufficiently discussed.

Finally, Gainsford criticizes the timeframe (1250–1115 BC) that Baikouzis and Magnasco chose to date the celestial events they assumed. Baikouzis and Magnasco hold Troy VIIa, which they destroyed around 1190 BC. For Homeric Troy. Gainsford points out that the late layers of Troy VI also need to be considered, which would date the Trojan War much earlier. Evidence for a dispute between Greeks over Troy before 1250 BC It exists in Hittite written documents. Before 1250 BC In Ithaca there were solar eclipses in the years 1340, 1312, 1281 and 1261 BC. (The first two total, the last two partial).

reception

The Ulysses material was repeatedly taken up and processed in literature and the fine arts. In his two tragedies, Philoctetes and Ajax, Sophocles shows Odysseus in roles that reflect his colorful character. In his satyr play The Cyclops, Euripides dramatizes the episode of the giant's blindness. The anonymously transmitted tragedy Rhesos deals with the killing of the Thracian king and the theft of his richly harnessed horses.

In Dante's Divine Comedy , Odysseus appears in Canto 26 of the Inferno and tells how, at the end of his travels, instead of returning to Ithaca, he called on his companions to travel over the Pillars of Hercules . After a long voyage, his ship crashed on the Cleansing Mountain - thought by Dante in the south of the Atlantic. Alfred Tennyson's poem Ulysses contains the same appeal, but now addressed to the Companions by Odysseus on his return to Ithaca. In the 20th century, James Joyce presented the “wanderings” of his Leopold Bloom through Dublin in the Ulysses in meticulous correspondences to the wanderings of Odysseus.

The story of Odysseus was filmed in 1954 under the title The Journeys of Odysseus and 1997 under the title The Adventures of Odysseus . In 1968, directed by Franco Rossi, L'Odisseia was made into a television adaptation that was shown in Germany in 1969 in four parts under the title Die Odyssey , and in 2002 the animated series Mission Odyssey .

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Odysseus  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Odysseus  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Odysseus  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ernst Wüst : Odysseus. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XVII, 2, Stuttgart 1937, Sp. 1907.
  2. ↑ Edzard Visser : Odysseus. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 8, Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-476-01478-9 , Sp. 1111.
  3. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 19, 406 ff.
  4. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 1:21; 1, 62 and ö .; Scholien zur Odyssey 19, 407. For a completely different name explanation by Ptolemy Hephaistionos (who refers to Silenos of Chios and explains that Odysseus was originally called Outis because of his big ears ) see the article Antikleia .
  5. ↑ Ernst Wüst : Odysseus. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XVII, 2, Stuttgart 1937, Sp. 1906-1910.
  6. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 19, 413-466.
  7. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 21, 15–33.
  8. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 1, 259 ff .; 2, 328 ff.
  9. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 2, 46 and ö.
  10. ↑ For the theories of some ancient authors, see Strabon , Geography 10, 2, 10 ff.
  11. ↑ see inter alia Wilhelm Dörpfeld : Leukas. Two essays on Homeric Ithaca. Beck & Barth Athens, 1906; Edzard Visser : Homer's Catalog of Ships . Teubner-Verlag, Stuttgart - Leipzig 1997, ISBN 3-519-07442-7 , pp. 574-598.
  12. ↑ Homer, Iliad 2, 631 ff.
  13. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 14, 335f.
  14. ↑ Edzard Visser: Homer's catalog of ships . Teubner-Verlag, Stuttgart - Leipzig 1997, pp. 580, 582 (with further references).
  15. ^ Libraries of Apollodorus 3, 129-132.
  16. ↑ Pausanias 3, 12, 1 f.
  17. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 24, 115 ff.
  18. ^ Hyginus Mythographus, Fabulae 95; similar to Servius to Virgil , Aeneis 2, 81; among others; Cicero ( De officiis 3, 26, 97) and other authors question the credibility of this episode.
  19. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 2, 225 f.
  20. ↑ Homer, Iliad 11, 766 f.
  21. ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 96; Library of Apollodorus 3, 174; Ovid . Metamorphosen 13, 164 ff .; Statius , Achilleis 1, 545 ff .; u. a.
  22. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 3, 9; differently Alkidamas , Odysseus 20 f.
  23. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 101.
  24. ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 98; Library of Apollodor , Epitome 3, 21 f .; among others
  25. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 4, 342 ff. And 17, 133 ff.
  26. ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 102; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 3, 27; Sophocles , Philoctetes 1; among others
  27. ↑ Homer, Iliad 3, 203 ff .; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 3, 28; Aelian , De natura animalium 14, 8; Ovid, Metamorphosen 13, 196 ff .; among others
  28. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 3, 8.
  29. ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 105; similar to Servius to Virgil , Aeneid 2, 81 (according to which Odysseus was also angry at Palamedes because he was more successful in getting fodder from Thrace ).
  30. ^ Kyprien in Pausanias 10, 31, 1 f.
  31. ↑ Homer, Iliad 1, 310 f .; 1, 439 ff.
  32. ↑ Homer, Iliad 2, 182-332.
  33. ↑ Homer, Iliad 4: 489-504.
  34. ↑ Homer, Iliad 5, 669-682.
  35. ↑ Homer, Iliad 7, 161 ff.
  36. ↑ Homer, Iliad 8: 92-98.
  37. ↑ Homer, Iliad , Book 9.
  38. ↑ Homer, Iliad 10: 272-579.
  39. ↑ Homer, Iliad 11: 310-488.
  40. ↑ Homer, Iliad 23, 707 ff.
  41. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 5, 1; among others
  42. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 5, 309 ff .; Aithiopis in the extract of Proclus; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 5, 4.
  43. ↑ Scholion to Aristophanes, The Knights 1056.
  44. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 543 ff .; Scholia to Homer, Odyssey 11, 547; Ovid, Metamorphosen 12, 626; among others
  45. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses , Book 13.
  46. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 5, 9.
  47. ↑ Scholien zu Lykophron , Alexandra 911; among others
  48. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 5, 10; among others
  49. ↑ Small Iliad in the extract from Proclus; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 5, 11; among others
  50. ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 102; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 5, 8; Sophocles, Philoctetes ; among others
  51. ↑ Small Iliad in the extract from Proclus; Homer, Odyssey 4, 244-258; among others
  52. ↑ Servius to Virgil, Aeneid 2, 166; Scholien zu Aristophanes, Die Wespen 351; among others
  53. ↑ Eustathios of Thessalonike , Commentary on Homer, Ilias 10, 531; Servius to Virgil, Aeneid 2, 166; among others
  54. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 5, 14; Philostratus , Heroikos 11; among others
  55. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 4, 271 ff .; 11, 523 ff .; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 5, 15; u. a.
  56. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 4, 271-289; Tryphiodoros, Iliu halosis 454-483; among others
  57. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 8, 517 ff .; Tryphiodoros 613-633; among others
  58. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 5, 21; Pausanias 10, 26, 8.
  59. ↑ Pausanias 10:31 , 2.
  60. ↑ Servius to Virgil, Aeneid 2, 457 and 3, 489; Tryphiodoros 644 ff .; among others
  61. ↑ Cf. Euripides, Hekabe ; among others
  62. ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 111; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 5, 24; among others
  63. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 9, 39 ff .; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 2.
  64. ↑ First time: Eratosthenes in Pliny : Naturalis Historia 5, 41.
  65. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 9: 82-104; Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 3.
  66. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 9, 105-536; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 4-9.
  67. ↑ Virgil, Aeneis 3, 613 ff.
  68. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 10, 1-79; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 10 f.
  69. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 10, 80-132; Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 12 f.
  70. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 10, 132-574; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 14-17.
  71. ^ Hesiod , Theogony 1011 ff .; among others
  72. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 11: 1-12, 145; Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 17 f.
  73. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 12, 151-200; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 18 f.
  74. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 12, 201-259; Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 20 f.
  75. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 12: 260-453; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 22 f.
  76. ↑ So Homer, Odyssey 7, 259; according to the library of Apollodorus (Epitome 7, 24) it was five years , according to Servius (zu Virgil, Aeneis 3, 678) ten years.
  77. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 1, 13 ff; 1, 45-95; 5, 7-268; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 24.
  78. ↑ Hesiod, Theogony 1017 f.
  79. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 5, 268-493; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 24.
  80. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 6-8; 13, 1-187; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 25.
  81. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 13, 187-16, 321; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 26-32.
  82. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 17-18; Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 32.
  83. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 19.
  84. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 20-22; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 33.
  85. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 23-24; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 33.
  86. ↑ Extract from Telegonie in Proklos' Chrestomathie ; Library of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 34-37.
  87. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 127.
  88. ↑ Sophocles in Parthenios of Nicaea , Erotica pathemata 3.
  89. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 35; see. Pausanias 8, 12, 6.
  90. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 38; see. Pausanias 8, 12, 5 f.
  91. ^ Servius to Virgil, Aeneid 2, 44.
  92. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 39.
  93. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 40.
  94. ↑ Aristotle in Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae 14.
  95. ↑ Cf. Lykophron, Alexandra 1242 ff .; Dionysius of Halicarnassus 1, 72, 2; 1, 72, 5; 12, 16.
  96. ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus 1, 72, 5.
  97. ↑ Servius to Virgil, Aeneis 2, 44; Sextus Empiricus , Adversus mathematicos 1, 267.
  98. ↑ Ptolemaios Hephaistionos in Photios , Bibliotheke , Cod. 190, 150a.
  99. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 20, 350–356: “The Prophecy of Theoclymenus”.
  100. ↑ On the different points of view of ancient authors see: Peter Gainsford, Odyssey 20.356-57 and the Eclipse of 1178 bce A Response to Baikouzis and Magnasco , Transactions of the American Philological Association 142 (2012), p. 2, note 3.
  101. ^ Map of the solar eclipses for the period in question (NASA).
  102. ^ JR Minkel, "Homer's Odyssey Said to Document 3,200-Year-Old Eclipse," in Scientific American , June 23, 2008.
  103. ^ Wilhelm Dörpfeld, The dating of the Trojan War. In: Die Sterne 6 (1926) p. 186 f.
  104. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 20.361 f.
  105. ^ Wilhelm Dörpfeld, The dating of the Trojan War. In: Die Sterne 6. (1926) p. 186 f.
  106. ↑ Constantino Baikouzis, Marcelo O. Magnasco: Is an eclipse described in the Odyssey? in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . June 24, 2008, p. 8823 f.
  107. ↑ Constantino Baikouzis, Marcelo O. Magnasco, “Is an eclipse described in the Odyssey?” (PDF; 474 kB), in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , June 24, 2008, online publication.
  108. ↑ Uwe Thomanek, "When Odysseus Returned to Ithaca". In: Image of Science . June 24, 2008, accessed September 8, 2019 . , Online pre-publication; see also other articles from Spektrumdirekt , Die Presse , Live Science and the Los Angeles Times .
  109. ↑ Astronomical year: –1177. On Ithaca, the solar eclipse could only be observed as a partial eclipse in the late afternoon (calculation with the astronomical software Stellarium ).
  110. ↑ Peter Gainsford, Odyssey 20.356-57 and the Eclipse of 1178 bce: A Response to Baikouzis and Magnasco , Transactions of the American Philological Association 142 (2012), pp. 1-22. ( Online ( Memento of the original from December 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. Available as PDF). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.academia.edu
  111. ↑ Peter Gainsford, ibid, p. 6 f.
  112. ↑ Peter Gainsford, ibid, p. 7 ff.
  113. ↑ Peter Gainsford, ibid, p. 10.
  114. ↑ Peter Gainsford, ibid, p. 10 f.
  115. ↑ Peter Gainsford, ibid, p. 11.
  116. ↑ Peter Gainsford, ibid., P. 6: “cherry-picking the movements of some, but not all, deities who may represent heavenly bodies”.
  117. ↑ Peter Gainsford, ibid, pp. 13-15.
  118. ↑ Peter Gainsford, ibid, p. 15 ff.
  119. ↑ Peter Gainsford, ibid, p. 12 f.
  120. ↑ Peter Gainsford, ibid, p. 13, note 32, whereby Gainsford refers to NASA studies .