STORY 0:00 – 56:00
Odysseus’ crew arrive on Circe’s island, where they are transformed into pigs (most likely for behaving like pigs). After rescuing his crew, Odysseus decides to postpone his homecoming a full year, unwilling to resist the pleasures of the Circe’s “gorgeous bed”.
POST-STORY COMMENTARY: MARITAL FIDELITY IN THE BRONZE AGE 56:00 – 1:29:20
Was Odysseus being unfaithful to his wife Penelope, by spending a year in the goddess Circe’s “gorgeous bed”? First, I address Homer’s perspective, and the perspective of the Classical Greek world, on “the rules” governing male vs. female sexual fidelity. Next, I address the question of how a “real, living woman, like Penelope” might have felt about her husband’s extra-marital adventures: do we have any historical documents which can cast light on that question? Then I review the most common responses of my 21st century listening audiences, to Odysseus’ possible “infidelity”. And finally, I review (and refute) post-Homeric interpretations of Circe as an archetypal “temptress” or “femme fatale”.
RELATED IMAGES
I struggle to find details – title of work, name of artist, date – for some images. If you can help, please forward information to me. Thanks. Jeff
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- Crew Being transformed into Animals, 5th century B.C.E.
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- Ulysses at the Palace of Circe,Wilhelm Schubert van Ehrenberg, 1667
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- Greeks turned into Pigs
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- Circe, by Wright Barker, 1889
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- Circe, by N.C. Wyeth 1929
