Essay - Odyssey Homer's Odyssey and the Spirit of Ancient Greek Society...

ODYSSEY

***** ODYSSEY AND THE SPIRIT

OF ANCIENT GREEK SOCIETY

By the later part of ***** Greek "Dark Age," circa 800 B.C.E., ideas and traditions linked to the social/cultural arena of ancient Greece concerning the organization of their communities and the proper behavior expected from all Greek men and wo*****, i.e., ***** shared codes of value, represented the basic components of Greece's emerging new political forms and institutions. These shared ***** of social and cultural value at the end of the "Dark Age" serve as the foundation for Homer's epic poem the Odyssey which was first written down via ***** oral tradition around the middle ***** the 8th century B.C.E. This type of ***** poetry so closely as*****ciated with Homer grew out of centuries of oral per*****mance by countless Greek poets singing of the deeds, exploits and personal values of heroes like Odysseus, the main protagonist in ********** book-length poem. Over*****, the many and varied behavioral codes portrayed in the Odyssey primarily reflect the values established in Greek society during and after ***** "Dark Age" and before the rise ***** political systems (i.e., the polis) based on ***** citizenship.

***** major characters in Homer's ***** Odyssey are truly members of the Greek social elite who were expected to live up ***** a very dem*****ing code of *****, soci*****l and behavioral values. One of these values was excellence ***** carried with it a powerful dem*****nd for obligation and responsibility to one's society and its people. The strongest of these duties was a requirement that friendship between a guest ***** ***** host, known as xenia, had to be respected regardless of personal feelings.

***** her numerous suitors for her hand in marriage despite not knowing for certain that Odysseus is dead or h***** been taken captive by his Trojan enemies following the Trojan War, described by Homer in ***** Iliad. Thus, Penelope's excellence as a high-rank*****g Greek woman required her to maintain her household and property ***** her husband's long absence and was obliged to show great stamina in resisting ***** demands of her many suit*****s, most of whom were living in the home of Odysseus as very unwanted guests.

Odysseus himself who returns to Ithaca in triumph after twenty years of wandering, is clearly a m*****n ***** unsurpassed virtues and achievements which *****s that the society of Greece after the "Dark Age" expected a great deal from its men and wo***** which entitled them to a certain level ***** social recognition ***** their ad*****ence to excellence and virtue or social disgrace for ***** personal failings. Thus, under the conditions set forth by these codes ***** values, any other type of life was seen as contemptible if its central goal was not the pursuit of excellence and the social fame that usually accompanies it (Connolly, 256).

The most famous ancient wr*****er and scholar on Greek politics, society and values is the philosopher Aris*****tle (384 to 322 B.C.E.) who insisted that the emergence of the Greek city-state or polis ***** ***** the result