2.5 Odysseus on Scheria (10:45)

From the "Greek and Roman Mythology" course - https://www.coursera.org/course/mythology - by Professor Peter Struck,
University of Pennsylvania

When morning comes, Odysseus is luckily
still alive.

That ember that fire brand that's tucked
underneath the ashes in our simile really

does survive until the next morning and
the fire gets going.

Odysseus is off.
He comes up out of his leaves and when he

does, he sees this scene in front of
amazing beauty.

These young women washing laundry at
nearby edge of the river.

And, if you've ever been looking for or,
or, in the, in your wider experience run

across a situation where young women are
characterized as being exciting, in an

erotic way, around a pond or a river or a
spring, this is the archetypical example

of such a thing in western literature.
There they are, these beautiful young

girls busy with their laundry during the
day and here's this grizzled man who sees

what's happening and is, you know, in
congruent situation with them, the flower

of their youth and his own near death kind
of situation.

And the transition between Book five and
six, we make an important change where,

where we've seen Odysseus suffering
through Book five.

We're going to see him through Book six
and beyond endure.

There are trials and tribulations that he
has been subject to and really the

bottoming hell point is where we just
ended in Book five.

This is of a long series of not just what
happened on Ogygia or sorry, on yeah, on

Ogygia with Callypso and not just what
happened with Poseidon and the storm and

him washing up on the shore of the Island
of Scheria.

But, of all the things that happened
before that.

It's been, it's been a long, long period
of suffering.

Now, Odysseus is going to, we're going to
see him endure, bear up from that

suffering, put things back together and
then get ready to take back his own

kingdom and take his own rightful place.
Well, we got a lot to do before then.

Through Book six, which we're going to
have a look at now, he's going to find his

first footing back in human society.
In Books seven and eight, he's going to

find his footing more stably in more
complex human society.

And then, from Book nine and forward,
we're going to see him take the reins and

display his hero-ness in lots of different
lots of different ways.

So here, Odysseus has got his life thank
goodness, he's made it through the night.

Now, he has to figure out what to do next.
Remember, that he is without clothes, he's

got to figure out a way to get clothes and
that's going to mean also, he's going to

have to regain his speech.
He finds near by him that these young

women are doing laundry, he's in an
embarrassing state, I'm actually standing

in between Nausicaa, Odysseus and Nausicaa
and in between here's Athena.

Oh, Athena, thanks for keeping an eye on
our hero.

And Odysseus is now utterly bereft of
everything, including clothes.

And the embarrassment of the situation and
the abject position that Odysseus is in,

bedraggled, starving, hungry, pummeled.
He, he has nothing.

He's, he's lost everything including his
own clothes, now he has to figure out a

way back in.
Well, first step is going to be, to find

some clothing to cover himself so he's
ready to join human society.

And, in order to do that, he's going to
have to have resort to and find back again

his way with words.
Words are Odysseus's friend.

He is a master of persuasion.
He is able to get people to do things for

him and he's able to make good alliances.
Odysseus is extremely capable in the arts

of language.
So, when he gets started there in, in Book

five, sorry, in Book six, he's got a
couple tasks.

First of all, make sure to make a
connection with this group of young girls

because he's going to need an ally,
someone to help him.

He, in, in this abject position has no way
to rejoin human society.

He needs to find a way and needs some help
to be able to do that.

The first thing that he's going to need is
clothes, in order to get those, he needs

to use his words.
So, he for, for, in both of these

situations, it's through Nausicaa and her,
her acolytes around her that he's going to

be able to, to get it done.
So, she sets a stage for him to regain his

speech and, and is a crucial sort of,
first connection with the rest of human

society.
Now, he needs to then persuade her.

And this leads us to our second universal
law, universal law number two, if you want

to persuade people, you should know your
audience.

You got to know your audience.
You can't just say all the stuff you might

want to say example, a person who was who
went through terrible suffering, probably

just wants to say, oh, my gosh, I'm so
glad I saw you, I can't wait, you know,

let me tell you all my stuff.
Let me unburden you with all the awful

things that I've been through.
But Odysseus knows not to do that.

He needs to get inside of the head of his
audience, which is this young woman

Nausicaa.
And what he does is look for ways to make

her feel good.
So, flattery is a great way to start a

persuasive speech, charm.
Express yourself in a way that's honest to

your own situation.
So, Odysseus doesn't come in with a kind

of swaggering well, you know, hello, I'm
this grand guy and maybe you don't believe

me, but I really am.
That kind of thing's not going to work,

right?
So, he comes in and, and knows this

audiences, this Odysseus learning people's
minds and he sets right up with a speech

that he knows is going to help soften her
with respect to her ability to make a

connection with him.
So, he jumps in with flattery, and an

honest appraisal of his own situation
without overplaying what's already a very

weak hand.
In our translation pages 173 and 74, here

I am at your mercy, princess.
Are you a goddess or a mortal?

If one of the gods who rule the skies up
there, you're Artemis to the life, the

daughter of mighty Zeus.
I see her now.

Just look at your build, your bearing,
your lithe flowing grace.

He goes round the speech gets from the
flattery to positioning himself, talking

about what a lowly person he is.
And then, kinda drops a little hint at the

end of his speech.
I hope you get everything you want in

life, and may the gods bring you a
husband, a house, and lasting harmony.

Hint, hint.
Now, I'm, of course, Odysseus is thinking

no one to be starting making overtures to
this young woman.

But, he right away talks to her in ways
that in Greek society at the time, Homer

would have assumed a young woman wants to
be addressed.

You're beautiful, you must be a goddess,
your parents must be very proud, soon

enough you're going to be having a
husband.

And, well, you know, I'm this eligible
guy, just washed up on shore and let me

just speak to you about all those things
that some foreign man like me sees in this

beautiful young person like you, and goes
to that long list.

And he instantly wins over some affection
from her where her guard is dropped a

little.
She wants to help him, she's ready to give

him some clothes.
And notice that he doesn't come on real

strong, he just does it in a kind of meek
way, playing his weak hand in a way that's

appropriate to that weak hand.
And interestingly, that last little hint

that he tossed in on the marriage.
Remember, Athena herself, had planted a

seed of marriage in Nausicaa's mind when
he stirs her up to go wash her clothes,

page 196 in our translation.
Time for you to go out there, bring your,

bring your handmaids and go wash those
clothes, you're going to need them you

know, weddings around here.
We need to make sure we have clean

clothes.
So, the idea is already to plant Athena's

planting in Nausicaa's mind the idea that,
you know, some eligible man may someday

wash up on shore, that softens her heart
and makes her to ready to receive

Odysseus.
Now, when she does, this is the crucial

first step in Odysseus's design.
He needs to make an alliance to get

himself in to human society.
But that first alliance is itself a

microcosm of what human society's all
about.

We need people to need things.
As a great leader, as a great hero, the

hero provides those things to the people
that, that the hero meets.

And in doing so, carrying other people's
water that hero gets a chance to do other

kinds of things, to work themselves into
the kind of position of exultation in the

society that a hero should actually
receive.

But it's only because the hero earns it by
performing in a social situation the way

the hero is supposed to.
So, using his words, he's on his way

getting something back, he's been able to
clothe himself now with rudimentary

clothes.
He's made a quick alliance with, with

Nausicaa in such a way that will help her,
and now he's going to be on his way to his

next stages on his journey.
The scene that we have just witnessed with

Odysseus washing up on shore is one that
we're going to learn as something that is

common in Odysseus's experience.
When we go and hear the back story, all

the adventures he's already been through
by the time he makes it to Nausicaa, a

very standard part of this is Odysseus
washing up on an unknown shore.

And, he may well wash up on that shore in
a terrible situation with no, almost no

life left in him.
He may wash up with a scout boat, he may

wash up with a whole tribe of men trying
to conquer a land.

But Odysseus arriving on an unknown shore
is a way that many of his, his adventures

are going to start.
And then, the next piece we are going to

see in looking forward to Book seven,
Odysseus is going to now make his journey

from the far reaches, far away from a city
center, he's going to make his journey

into a city center.
Another standard and type of the kind of

action we see Odysseus undertake.
Movement from the periphery into the

center.
That's something that we'll see in our

next lecture and I look forward to talking
with you about it at that time.