So, Book 11 begins on Circe's beach with Odysseus and his men putting their ship
in the water while crying about Elpenor.
Once everything is in order, they sail away from the island with the
help of some wind from Circe. They quickly reach
the river Oceanus and then the land of the Kimmerians, where they land to
follow Circe's instructions on contacting the dead, including digging a pit
that they fill with milk, honey, wine, water, barley, and the blood of some
sacrificial sheep.
As a result of so faithfully following Circe's instructions,
a horde of shades (ghosts) pop out of the ground. Odysseus is taken hold of by "the green
fear", but stands his ground and pulls his sword so that his ghost bait
isn't overrun before he can find out how to get home from Teiresias.
The first soul he speaks to is that of Elpenor, his
alcoholic buddy who fell of the roof.
Elpenor asks Odysseus to go back to Aiaia and bury him with his
oar. Odysseus cries and agrees.
He also cries when he
sees the ghost of his mother, who he didn't know had died while he was
away. He can't talk to her, though.
He then sees the blind prophet Teiresias, target of this
little mission, and lets him drink the blood. Teiresias can then speak to
Odysseus, and tells him not to let himself or his men touch Apollo's sheep and
cattle when they get to Thrinakia, or the men won't make it home. However, he then strongly suggests that the
men do mess with the livestock when he prophesizes that Odysseus will be the
only one to make it home, in someone else's ship. He also tells Odysseus that he will return to
Ithaka to find Penelope and Telemachus bombarded by suitors, that he will
violently punish the suitors, and that he will have to make another journey to
a place that has "men living who know nothing of the sea" in order to
sacrifice to Poseidon and guarantee for himself a long life and peaceful death.
Odysseus doesn't really react to hearing his life story, but
instead asks to talk to his mother.
Teiresias tells him to let her drink the blood, which he does. His mother then tells him that Penelope cries
and sleeps all the time, that Telemachus is all grown up but in need of help
with the suitors, that Laertes is so depressed about Odysseus that he lives in
a hut, and that she died out of grief for Odysseus.
While they were talking, Persephone sent ghosts of
"daughters and wives of heroes" to talk to Odysseus. He uses his sword to keep them in line and
lets them drink blood and talk to him one by one. He speaks to Tyro, Antiope, Alkmene, Megara, Epikaste, Chloris, Leda, Iphimedeia,
Phaidra, Prokris, Ariadne, Maira, Klymene, and Eriphyle.
He then pauses the story, saying that,
"there is a time for sleep," but Arete says that he should continue,
as well as that everyone should give him gifts.
The king claims the right, as the king, to give him the most gifts, and
says that sleep is for people who don't have fantastical stories to tell,
especially if they involve meeting the souls of the fallen heroes of Troy.
So, Odysseus continues his
story. The next soul he speaks to is
Agamemnon, who tells him about his murder and to never trust women. Except the lovely Penelope, of course.
Achilles, Patroclus, and Antilochus
then appear. Odysseus lusts after the
glory that is now Achilles', but the son of Peleus says he would rather be a
poor, living farmer than a powerful, dead lord of ghosts. This is an interesting throwback to Achilles'
choice of fate; he chose the early death and glory, but at one point in the
Iliad was contemplating the long life without kleos that he seems to be wishing
for now. Finally, Achilles asks about
his son, and Odysseus tells him that he was brave and left Troy unharmed.
Odysseus also sees the soul of
Telemonian Ajax hovering in left field, and pleads to talk with him, but Ajax
is still mad about the whole suicide thing.
Next, Odysseus looks into the depths
of the Underworld and sees an image of Hercules commiserating with him, Minos
judging souls, and Sysiphus,Tityos, and Tantalos suffering their
punishments. While he is distracted,
more shades swarm around the blood, and Odysseus gives into the "green
fear", runs back to the ship, and sails away.
 |
| A vase painting of Odysseus talking to the soul of the blind prophet Teiresias. |
On to Book 12.
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