Friday, December 18, 2009

Homers guineas and exemplar of divine blessed heroism as vehicle to all peoples' glory and greatness.

From the comments on the previous post, it helps in understanding the essence of the interpretive frame work used to decipher the historical truths found in the odyssey.

"I now understand the Odyssey more than ever, its like Gaulivers (Gulliver’s) travels which we know is metaphoric comments on the society of the author’s day."

Telemachus finally reaches Eumaeus’ hut and finds his father Odysseus there in disguise, he does not recognise him. Eumaeus recounts the stories Odysseus imparted pretending to be someone else. Telemachus invites the unrecognised Odysseus to go live in the palace with him, yet fears what the suitors might do to them so he sends Eumaeus a head of them to tell Penelope that her son has returned. While in the hut after Eumaeus departure for the palace, Odysseus is visited by a vision of Athena who invites him outside the hut. Odysseus exited the hut and then returns without his disguise in all the pristine glory of his heroic self. Telemachus at first doubts his own eyes and once convinced him embraces his father tearfully. Odysseus then recounts the tale of his encounter with the Phaeacians and begins plotting the over throw of the suitors. He plans to reenter the palace as a beggar and have Telemachus hide all the weapons in the palace out of reach of the suitors. Consequently father and son will over power and slaughter the suitors.
Here Odysseus plots the destruction of the pretenders to the throne representing the New Greek paradigm of peaceful alliance and marriages with the people they encounter. If you notice the plan contains elements of disarming the war like Greeks and using the peaceful people of old and new generations to take over. The appearance of the vision of Athena is Odysseus divine wisdom and showmanship appearing as part of a way to truly impress Telemachus who represents the paradigm of the new generation of Greeks and their equal divine wisdom to the heroes of past and older generations. He presents himself as a pristine hero embodying the perfect virtues of the good and divine here, an exemplar of what all Greeks should be: THIS IS THE KEY TO THE ODDESSEY AND WHAT WE HAVE BEEN CLAIMING ODDYSEUS REPRESENTED FROM THE BE3GINNING, not just to the generation of Telemachus but to all future generations of Greeks and non Greeks; it is this type of peaceful hero and way of behaving that makes a people great and divinely blessed in all ways and powers. This is the divine wisdom of the odyssey and Homers reason for its writing as well as the guineas of the true Odysseus and true blessed heroes of his day to our own.

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