Daniel Seltier > Recent Status Updates

Book 19 finished. I hate Melantho!
Homer continues to build tension and can't wait to let Odysseus release his anger.
There are also the famous scenes of Odysseus' scar and Penelope's dream.

Book 18 finished.
Everyone talks about Cyclopses and Sirens in the Odyssey but not about fighting beggars or throwing stools. These later books are so action packed and awesome!

Book 17 finished.
The meanness of the suitors and the evil goat-herd Melanthius is over the top in this book. Poor Odysseus :(

Book 16 finished.
A moving reunion of father and son.
I love how Homer always talks of Eumaeus in the second person as he were his dear friend.

Book 15 finished.
What a wonderful friend and human being our noble swineherd is!

Book 14 finished. Eumaeus, the noble swineherd, was definitely one of Homer's dearest characters, and for me too.

Book 13 finished.Odysseus is finally back home at Ithaca and now it's time to kick some suitors. Oh nevermind, he got a side quest from Athene to talk to one swineherd ...

Letter 362 (Vol. 3/4).
Oh man, this totally got out of hand, and still over 150 letters to go ...

Book 12 finished.
This was full of memorable moments: Sirens, sea monsters and Odysseus' stupid crew performing a disgraceful sacrifice as an excuse for slaughtering Helios' beloved cattle.
Against stupidity even Odysseus 'of many counsels' is helpless.

Book 11 finished.

Odysseus meets his dead friends in Hades. Homer's obsession and struggle with the topics of death and immortality is quite strong here; we get moving encounters e.g. with his dead mother. Another cool thing is all the short myths (often only a paragraph) of the heroines and heros.
I really liked that one despite it's dubious authenticity.

Book 10 finished.
The Circe story is great. Odysseus sleeping with her was totally unnecessary but Homer, as so often, wanted to make it spicy. Maybe he needed a reason why they accidently stayed for a whole year.

Book 9 finished.
This contains the famous Cyclops story, entertaining gore, and a lot of sheep.

Book 8 finished.
Homer really stresses that Odysseus has PTSD. In this book he is not so much the hero as the minstrel Demodocus (he's literally called "hero" (483)) and his powerful music. An important source of ancient song culture. The self-referentiality is quite interesting to watch - Homer wanted to praise himself a little bit.

Pindar must have been a great connoisseur (and desperately in need) of wine when he calls it "Dionysos' life-giving remedy for helplessness." (Pae. 4.25 f.)

Book 7 finished.
Odysseus in fairyland.

Book 6 finished.
Homer once again thought the story needs some spice and thus introduces Odysseus to Nausicaa ...

Book 5 finished.
Now Odysseus appears, but he's quite a wretch, always sad and crying. Not at all the hero you would expect him to be. I pitied him :(
The stranding scenes at the end are memorable.

Book 4 finished.
This was a long one. I mean, it's nice to see Helen return and to hear the cool Proteus story but, Homer, where's Odysseus? Homer seems to have a tendency to announce his protagonists with the most epic phrases to get us hyped and then to dwell in some side plots. And this book is just side plots of the Telemachus side plot ...

Book 3 finished.
How old is Nestor? In the Iliad he did nothing else than complaining about "grievious old age" and telling stories of long long ago (why was he even there?). But the Iliad is 10 years ago and now Telemachus visits him! Seeing him alive is a bigger marvel than Athene turning into an eagle in front of his eyes in this book. I bet he's a vampire or so ...

Book 2 finished.
I hate the suitors!

Book 1 finished.
Definitely different in tone from the Iliad but still truely homeric.

Letter 229/537. Still has me hard in its grip, like Mr. Lovelace.

Book 23 finished.
This was hard to appreciate. It's only about funeral rites and funeral games. For a modern reader they can be very boring. But for Homer they obviously ment a lot. So this book deals in a very different way with two central themes of the Iliad, death and immortality. With this in mind one probably could get a glimps of the hidden beauty of this book, that's they way I read it at least.

Book 22 finished.

Finally the fight Homer was preparing for 21 books, and he did not fail to deliver. He really seemed to enjoy portraiting Achilles' wrath because it's out of control.
Andromache's lament at the end was quite moving.

Book 21 finished.

Achilles fighting a river and the war of the gods. Homer goes all in.

Book 20 finished.

After twenty books, Homer finally gives us the wrath of Achilles he promised us in the first line, and Achilles slays Trojans like a maniac.
(This book also contains the famous prophecy Poseidon gives Aeneas, which made Virgil's Aeneid possible.)

Book 19 finished.

A short and strange book. Half the book is about Agamemnon wanting to give Achilles gifts (as if there was not war going on) and Achilles refusing to eat before battle (somehow Homer has to stress this immensly). And finally Achilles chats with his horse, which prophecies his death. But it has an interesting Heracles story and a beautiful armor scene.

Book 18 finished.

I don't want to know the condition of Patroclus' corpse after two books of dragging him this way and that way, a wonder that Achilles could still recognize him ...
Finally Achilles starts doing something, his grief is quite moving.
Book 18 ends with the famous shield section - stunning.

Book 17 finished.

Oh boy, a book wholly about the fight for Patroclus' corpse.
Homer obviously wasn't in the mood to drive the story but rather dwelt in giving us stunning and shocking imagery.

Unfortunately I had been forced to take a break from Homer for a while. Such a joy to come back.