Vengeance of the Gods

What is an epic? An epic is an extended narrative poem recounting actions, travels, adventures, and heroic episodes and is written in a high style. The Odyssey, by Homer, is definitely one of the greatest classic epics known to man. This tale contains numerous epic elements such as in media res or “in the middle of things” to grab the reader’s attention and make the reader keep reading to get the full story. Throughout the story, Homer included the epic element of divine intervention where the gods play a role in the outcome of actions of mortals. The theme of hospitality to strangers is also present in this celebrated epic. The Odyssey is worthy of being an epic because of these three conventions.

Homer uses the epic element in media res to pull the reader in by starting in the middle of the story. The reader is then filled in by flashbacks or the main character re-telling his tale. By using this convention, Homer keeps the reader curious and interested and makes the reader keep reading until he or she finishes understanding the whole plot. In The Odyssey, the reader does not know half of Odysseus’ journey until he enlightens Alkinoos and Arкte as to what events took place before he was washed ashore on Kalypso’s Island. The reader always expects for the story to go directly to Odysseus, but instead the story follows the gods. Homer used in media res to show respect to the gods by starting the story “In the bright hall of Zeus…” (I. 42). The author depicts conservation between Zeus and Athena about the fate of Odysseus to show that the gods always come first even before the main character. Homer uses the curiosity of the reader to his advantage by starting out Odysseus’ long journey home in media res.

Divine intervention is another major component of this epic. At the beginning, Homer placed the role of the gods to determine the fate of Odysseus. “With this Athena left him/ as a bird rustles upward, off and gone. / But as she went she put new spirit in him, / a new dream of his father…” (I. 368-371). Without the involvement of the grey-eyed goddess Athena, Telemakhos would never have gain the courage to journey out into the world to find the fate of his father. Throughout the epic, Athena appears on earth disguised as everything from a little girl to Odysseus’s old friend Mentor to spin Odysseus’s long journey home. When Odysseus was following Nausikaa to the city, “the grey-eyed goddess came to him, in figure/ a small girl child” to guide him to Alkinoos’ palace (VII. 22-23). Homer also emphasized that mortals must listen to the gods’ warnings or awful things would take place. This was also expressed when Zeus and Athena discussed the story of Agamemnon. Since Aigisthos did not heed the warning of Hermes when he “stole Agamemnon’s wife and killed the soldier [Agamemnon],” he was killed by the hand of Agamemnon’s son, Orestes (Fitzgerald 2). In the end of the story, the suitors suffered a cold fate when they did not take the warning of Halitherses to drop their attempt to court Penelope when he saw the pair of eagles sent down by Zeus. Because the suitors did not