ARTicles vol. 1 i.3: Inspired by the Ancients

In revisiting Homer’s text, I was interested in its relevance to modern ideas, thought, and conundrums.
– Rinde Eckert

The Odyssey narrates the ten-year return of Odysseus to Ithaca. After the fall of Troy, Odysseus sets sail with twelve ships and five hundred men. By the time he reaches Ithaca, he has lost his entire crew. With the help of his son, Telemachus, Odysseus slaughters the suitors who have been courting his wife, Penelope. The following episodes from The Odyssey inspired some of the scenes in Highway Ulysses.

Ismarus: After leaving Troy, Odysseus and his crew are carried along the Thracian coast to Ismarus. In an act of piracy, Odysseus and his men sack Ismarus, killing the men and enslaving the women. In “The Odyssey and the Western World,” George Lord writes: “Odysseus’ unprovoked attack on the town of Ismarus following his departure from ruined Troy is typical of the acts which cast him out of the world of men, if we except his followers, for ten years. This aggression, which I am told, Grotius cites as the earliest recorded violation of international justice, is not mitigated in Homer by any mention of [Ismarus’] alliance with the Trojans.”

Cyclops: Odysseus’ ships are blown off course to the fertile island of the giant, one-eyed Cyclops. Odysseus and his companions venture into the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus, who traps them by blocking the entrance with a boulder. Odysseus and some of his men escape by intoxicating Polyphemus, blinding him with a red-hot pike, and clinging to the bellies of Polyphemus’ rams as they leave the cave.

Circe: After Odysseus loses eleven of his ships to the man-eating Laestrygonians, his remaining boat washes up on the island of the beautiful witch Circe, who turns Odysseus’ men into pigs. Odysseus undoes Circe’s spell and spends a year as her lover. Finally, at the encouragement of his crew, Odysseus asks to leave. Circe tells him he must visit the underworld before resuming his voyage home.

The Sirens: When he returns from the underworld, Odysseus and his men sail past the Sirens–wailing beauties who bewitch passing soldiers with their sweet songs. Unable to quell his curiosity, Odysseus plugs his oarsmen’s ears with beeswax and has himself tied to the mast in order to survive their song.

Scylla and Charybdis: Odysseus and his men face certain disaster when they sail between Scylla, a six-headed, twelve-legged creature, and Charybdis, a monstrous whirlpool. The crew escapes Charybdis, but Scylla devours six of Odysseus’ remaining men.

Calypso: Clinging to the mast of his sunken ship, Odysseus drifts to the island of Ogygia, where the nymph Calypso detains him for seven years.

Phaeacia: Calypso releases Odysseus. After seventeen days at sea, he washes up on the island of Phaeacia, where Princess Nausicaa finds him beside a river.