the family

• families are at the heart of the Odyssey
• from Olympus, to the households Odysseus meets on his journey, from the fantastical Phaeacians to Odysseus' own family in Ithaca
• family relationships influence the actions of the gods
• Athene asks her father to release Odysseus only when her uncle is safely out the way
• Poseidon punishes Ody because of a prayer from his son
• Aeolus, a minor god, is presented as a family man who happily spends his whole time with his family
• his 6 sons are married to his 6 daughters
• even monsters are seen in a family context
• the Cyclops calls upon his father
• Scylla is calmed by his mother, Cratais
• the cannibal, Antiphates, has a daughter
• the Sirens are presented as little more than voices
• there are hints that Arete is the person who makes the decisions
• both Nausicaa and Athene tells Ody as much
• the sons are the pride and joy of Alcinous, who proudly watches them display their athletic and dancing skills
• In this family, it is these skills, not war, which win them renown
• see nothing of Ody and his family at the start
• his alienation from them and consequent nostos being the point of his adventures
• on his visit to the Underworld, we see him with his mother
• there is great pathos as he tries 3 times to clasp her, and her shade slips through his hands, leaving him 'pierced' by a sharp pain
• the family is a strong unit in the palace of Ithaca
• P and T are viewed in the context of the whole household
• Eurycleia was nurse to both Ody and T, and she remains P's main support
• Melantho was brought up by P as a daughter and even given toys
• this makes her behaviour even more treacherous
• the narrative requires T to have been ineffectual and P not to have given in to the Suitors
• now T has come of age, he is assuming his role in the family, telling his mother what to do until the return of the head of the household