Information concerning Oct. 27 test

The test, covering the entire class period (50 minutes) will be similar in format to the Oct. 6 test.

The test will concentrate on the Odyssey, along with (a) handout, pp. 14-15 (quote from Aristotle, particularly with regard to what he says about the Odyssey), (b) handout, pp. 20-22 (post-Homeric treatments of Odysseus), and (c) Tennyson, Ulysses (H & P, pp. 1033-1034).

You should also (d) have a general understanding of the Oralist approach to Homer, as summarized in handout, pp. 17-20 and 23-24; in particular, you should understand the terms patronymic and epithet and have some idea of the terms dactylic hexameter (mainly, Greek) and iambic pentameter (mainly, English). (There is also some discussion of the oral aspect of Homeric composition in D. S. Carne-Ross's introduction to our edition of Fitzgerald, pp. lxvi (last third of page) - lxx, and in Fitzgerald's "Postscript", Part 2, sect. 1, pp. 485-489.)

Finally, (e) you should be familiar with Fitzgerald's view that Penelope recognizes the Stranger as really being Odysseus in Book 19; see Fitzgerald's "Postscript", part 2, sects. iv-vi, pp. 496-509 in our edition. This view is somewhat briefly mentioned by Harris & Platzner, p. 352, in their discussion of Penelope, but it is apparently not included in their treatment of the Odyssey itself (pp. 450-468). There is also some off and on discussion of the matter by Carne-Ross, pp. xlix - liv (top of page).

Although Fitzgerald, p. 506 speaks specifically just of Book 23 as constituting a possible obstacle to his interpretation of Book 19, many scholars regard Penelope's despairing prayer to Artemis at 20.69-101 (F's lines, pp. 377-378) as a more serious problem for the view that Penelope has just recently (in Book 19) recognized the Stranger as Odysseus.

In Harris & Platzner's selection of material from the Odyssey, the evidence for Penelope's "early recognition" of Odysseus is more or less systematically excluded, inasmuch as they skip from Book 12 to Book 23. (The key book, vis-à-vis Penelope's "early recognition" of Odysseus, is Book 19.) Moreover, in their summary of the intervening Books, pp. 517, there are several oversimplifications. They write as follows (lower case Roman numerals and underlining added to highlight points of oversimplification and/or interpretation): "(i) Having revealed his identity only to Telemachus and his faithful swineherd Eumaeus, Odysseus covertly plots his revenge on the suitors. (ii) Athene inspires Penelope to propose that she will marry the man who can string her (iii) lost husband's great bow ..."

(i) Actually, there is no direct evidence in the text that Odysseus has revealed his identity to Eumaios or that Eumaios recognizes him, until Book 21, lines 210-269 (F's numbers, pp. 397-397). (The situation with Eumaios is therefore exactly parallel to that vis-à-vis Penelope's "early" recognition of Odysseus: There are hints of recognition in the text, but no specific statement.)
On the other hand, the 1997 NBC-Hallmark movie of the Odyssey (starring Armand Assante as Odysseus and Greta Schacchi as Penelope) presents Eumaios as recognizing Odysseus almost as soon as he meets him in Book 14. Cf. an online summary of the movie by a sixth-grade student.
(ii) Another problem with H & P's summary is that they imply that Penelope is simply "inspired by Athena" to propose the bow contest, rather than deliberately choosing this course of action. At least in Book 19, though, Athena's direct intervention vis-à-vis Penelope is limited to distracting her from noticing Eurykleia's attempts to tell her (Penelope) that the Stranger is really Odysseus.
(iii) One could also say that Harris & Platzner's use of the word "lost" with "husband" is somewhat tendentious, inasmuch as it may imply that Penelope actually thinks her husband is completely "lost" – dead and gone – at the time she proposes the bow contest, rather than sitting before her in disguise – as is in fact the case.

Sappho and Pindar, Olympian 1, listed on the syllabus for Oct. 18, will not be covered in the Oct. 27 test. These texts will, however, definitely be dealt with later in the term.

Likewise, "Linear B, alphabetic Greek, development of the text of Homer" (listed on the syllabus as material to be covered in the first test) will still not be covered in the Oct. 27 test – and we may or may not actually get to these particular topics.

Within the Odyssey, you may find it helpful to concentrate on Books 1, 5, 8, 11, 19, 20.1-101 (Fitzgerald's line numbers, pp. 375-378), 23, and 24. Some material from other books of the Odyssey may, however, be included on the Oct. 27 test. Also, it is not guaranteed that all seven or eight of the listed books will be specifically dealt with in this test. (Probably any of the listed books of the Odyssey , not covered on the forthcoming test, will come into their own on the final exam.) There will not be anything specifically from the Iliad on the Oct. 27 test.