The Odyssey: Difference between revisions

[[Image:Chagall-odyssey.jpg|thumb|The Odyssey, by Chagall]] [[Homer]]’s <i>[[Odyssey]]</i> is a ''nostos'', or an [[Epic Poetry | epic]] of return, and asks can one come home again, especially after years of bloody war? In fact, an odyssey is now meant generally as a long journey home, much like Odysseus’ after the fall of Troy. The <i>[[Odyssey]]</i> attempts to remake order after the chaos of war. Odysseus, a young man when Agamemnon and Menelaos recruited him for the campaign against Ilium, is now a middle-aged survivor and veteran of that war who must be smarter than the champion Achilles and the leader Agamemnon in order to return home and set his lands in order. War almost seems easy in the light of Odysseus’ journey — at least in war, he knew his enemies. Enemies during peacetime wear many masks; Odysseus must do the same if he is to survive.