DAY 01
8:47 min
Games & Tears — rendered in the spirit of the 8th-century Homeric tradition.
DAY 01 · The Odyssey
Onboarding
The Council of the Gods
8:47 min
2 modules
1 / 1 done
Modules
In Book VIII, Odysseus is a guest at the court of King Alcinous of the Phaeacians. The blind bard Demodocus sings at a feast, and his songs of the Trojan War move the disguised Odysseus to tears — tears that Alcinous alone notices.
“Nobody is my name. Nobody — so my mother and father call me, all my friends.”
— Odysseus, The Odyssey, Book IX · Homer (trans. Fagles)Homer’s masterstroke is the hero’s use of mêtis (cunning intelligence) over brute strength. The art of Demodocus holds a mirror to Odysseus — the hero weeps to hear his own glory sung as epic.