Athena's Dolls

When we first started reading the Odyssey, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I knew that Odysseus was a really famous hero but that is about it. Throughout the book, there was a lot of hype about how great Odysseus was.

In the beginning of the book (the Telemachiad), we learn that Athena helped Odysseus and wants to free him. She goes to Telemachus and tells him what to do. Then she makes all the preparations for his journey. I was willing to forgive this because Telemachus hasn’t really had very much guidance in his life and wouldn’t know what to do. Not only that, the book is called The Odyssey so Telemachus isn’t supposed to be the main hero.

Then we came to the wanderings section where we learned what had been going on with Odysseus. During this time, Athena doesn’t get involved too much. She will occasionally make Odysseus look better or be stronger but only for the purpose of getting people to like him. Once again, I didn’t mind this too much.

When Odysseus finally reaches Ithaca, Athena disguises it for fun. After she feels he has grieved enough, she reveals herself and his city. They admire each other’s trickery and then she tells him exactly how to get his palace and wife back. This was disappointing. Odysseus is supposed to be (according to what we have heard) really smart and creative. Yet when given the opportunity to finally showcase his talents and be the victor in this story, Athena does all the work for him. She disguises him as an old beggar so that he can test his servants. She also makes the suitors even more malicious just to anger Odysseus. When Odysseus is debating on saving Amphinomus (one of the nicer suitors), Homer says that it doesn’t matter since Athena already slated him to die. Homer also makes a point that Athena wants a bloodbath, even though it will cause a lot of political drama (given that all the noblemen’s sons will be slaughtered). When the big battle does happen, Athena enables Odysseus and Telemachus to kill the hundreds of suitors. To prevent all the noble people rioting and murdering Odysseus, his father, and son, Athena just erases all their memories. They forget the fact that they ever had sons. Then the story ends, and everyone is happy.

I found this infuriating. Athena controls the entire climax of the story and Odysseus is remembered as the hero. I was also not a fan of Odysseus as a character. I found him to be egotistic and very harsh (especially when it came to the slave girls). Thus, to have Athena do almost all the work regarding his success was extremely disappointing.