In chapter 22 of the Odyssey, the peaceful hospitality found in earlier dining areas throughout epic is abandoned for a scene more akin to that of a homeric battlefield. There are several elements in this chapter which mirror elements of battle scenes from the epic poem the Iliad. These include the graphic descriptions of death and catalogue style descriptions of death, supplication for lives, and the mutilation and gloating over the corpses.
One of the characteristics of Homeric battle scenes are the detailed descriptions of death which would have raumatized young children. The first suitor that Odysseus strikes down is Antinous. His death is described on page 336, “...the arrow punched all the way through the soft neck tissue. Antinous fell …show more content…
This was common in scenes of warfare from the Iliad, in which warriors would have a list of a series of men they killed. This occurs in chapter 22 on page 344, lines 299-302, where Odysseus kills Eurydamas, Telemachus kills amphimedon, Eumaeus killing Polybus, and Philoetius killing Ctesippus. This series of deaths also reminds of the importance of names in both battle, and also in situations of hospitality. When people know each other's names they can find that they share Xenia, and who you kill on the battlefield is important for the purpose of obtaining glory. It is ironic that in Odysseus’s dining hall, who these suitors were would have been revealed only after they received Xenia, and they are now named only after their …show more content…
Well, you can stop all your big talk now”(pg 345). This is typical of battle scenes in Homeric epic. However, later on Odysseus scolds Eurycleia, saying that it is unholy to gloat over corpses. This seems to mark the transition of the dining room from a battlefield back to a place of manners. After the cleaning of the dining hall, another scene brings us back to warfare. It is the mutilation of the Melanthius, “...they sliced off his nose and ears with cold bronze and pulled his genitals out by the root…”(pg 351). This resembles some of the mutilation we saw in the Iliad, such as when Hector was dragged around by
One of the characteristics of Homeric battle scenes are the detailed descriptions of death which would have raumatized young children. The first suitor that Odysseus strikes down is Antinous. His death is described on page 336, “...the arrow punched all the way through the soft neck tissue. Antinous fell …show more content…
This was common in scenes of warfare from the Iliad, in which warriors would have a list of a series of men they killed. This occurs in chapter 22 on page 344, lines 299-302, where Odysseus kills Eurydamas, Telemachus kills amphimedon, Eumaeus killing Polybus, and Philoetius killing Ctesippus. This series of deaths also reminds of the importance of names in both battle, and also in situations of hospitality. When people know each other's names they can find that they share Xenia, and who you kill on the battlefield is important for the purpose of obtaining glory. It is ironic that in Odysseus’s dining hall, who these suitors were would have been revealed only after they received Xenia, and they are now named only after their …show more content…
Well, you can stop all your big talk now”(pg 345). This is typical of battle scenes in Homeric epic. However, later on Odysseus scolds Eurycleia, saying that it is unholy to gloat over corpses. This seems to mark the transition of the dining room from a battlefield back to a place of manners. After the cleaning of the dining hall, another scene brings us back to warfare. It is the mutilation of the Melanthius, “...they sliced off his nose and ears with cold bronze and pulled his genitals out by the root…”(pg 351). This resembles some of the mutilation we saw in the Iliad, such as when Hector was dragged around by