If you've been following along--catch up on the last part--you probably have found this to be a relaxed pace of reading. Maybe more so than you wish. Alas, life has way of keeping me from this project. As mentioned before, I am reading a hard copy of the translation of W.H.D. Rouse, but I can also recommend the digitized version of the translation of A.S. Kline.

In the next three books, finally we meet Odysseus, who is (reluctantly?) biding his time on some island with a nymph named Calypso. We hear from his peer, Menelaos and Helen, how Odysseus' heroism and restraint delivered them to victory against the Trojans; however, it becomes harder to distinguish who the true Odysseus really is. His tendency to appear differently from his true nature begins to reveal itself in the stories told about him, and now, first hand, as we are taken along on his adventure to meet the Phaiacians. Thus, we begin to find some truth in the first line of the poem, as translated W.H.D. Rouse, 'here is the story of a man who is never at a loss.' Odysseus begins to earn the name he bears (ὀδύσσομα), whose meaning in Greek translates into something like "to be hated."

Discussion on Themes

Hospitality
The vivid descriptions of feasting, drinking, and making sacrifice to the gods upon the arrival of a guests has defined the escapades of Telemachos up to book IV in the poem. Even as he goes to the house of Menelaos, his good manners and refined appearance precede him, even before he has the chance to make himself known as the son of Odysseus. The Odyssey, being the "national" epic of the Achaeans, takes painstaking effort to provide encyclopedic, lurid descriptions of the level of civilization that had been achieved by Greeks at that time. Clearly, the poem paints a complete and detailed picture of their cultural achievement in the deeply entrenched and refined mores that consistently define what it meant to be Greek. This cultural consistency stands in contrast to the geographic and political separation of the different kingdoms that existed at the time.

Appearances versus reality
Finally, in Book V, the reader gets their introduction to Odysseus, who, despite his loyalty to his wife, is on some island playing house with the Nymph Calypso. Since Odysseus rarely presents himself as he truly is, it is impossible for the reader to differentiate whether his desire to return home is authentic, or some hollowed-out sense of moral duty. The reader first learns of his duplicity when Helen recounts how he sneaked into Troy disguised as a beggar, revealing to her their plans to sack the Trojans and rescue her. Also, when Calypso, tells Odysseus he can return home as long as he concedes that his wife is not prettier than her, he lays with her, and doesn't resist. Again, as Odysseus approaches Nausicaa in book VI, he appears as a homeless beggar, in want of proper clothes, when in fact, as we know, Odysseus is the center of attention on Mt Olympus.

The sea/landscape both as friend and enemy
There is this sense in the poem that the god of the sea, Earthshaker Poseidon, is the single chaotic force that the Achaeans owe their greatness to, as well as their woes. Nausicaa says to her maids that there is no mortal enemy who do harm on Phaiacia since their country is out of reach, "far away at sea." Also, despite Zeus and Athena's desire to see Odysseus return home, it is grumpy old Poseidon who hurls continued misfortune upon him, as seen after he leaves Calypso. The poem uses the "wine-darkened" sea as a representation of a kind of frontier of civilization, acting at the same time as a buffer of defense, but also a liminal and chaotic realm, where just about anything can happen.

Questions for contemplation

• How do you define the frontier of civilization now? Is it a physical place/thing, technological, or something else?
• What American national epics document the height of its culture and civilization? How would you characterize these works?
• In your opinion, how should we read Odysseus' trickery, as a mark of virtue or a vice?

Summaries

Book IV

Menelaos recounts the death of his brother, Agememnon and laments Odysseus' apparent death, not knowing that he is talking to the latter's very own son. Helen of Troy sedates everyone present with some kind of drug she picked up in Egypt, and tells them the story Odysseus in Troy, where Helen, being held captive, recognized Odysseus disguised as a beggar, who was able to tell her of the Greek's plan to sack the city. Menelaos recounts how he heard her as she circled and touched the Trojan horse, calling our his name, and that if it weren't for Odysseus's being there, urging restraint, he would have called back, blowing their cover. He then tells the story of how he tricked the Old Man of the Sea in Egypt, disguising himself and two of his men with seal carcasses so they can ambush him while he is asleep. The Old Man tells Menelaos of Agememnon's murder, and how Odysseus was still living. Penelope, back in Ithica, prays to Athena, as her suitors plot against Telemachos, laying in wait for his ships to return. Athena summons the ghost of Iphthime, daughter of Icarus, to visit Athena in her sleep to inform her that she will protect Telemachos from harm.

Book V

Zeus and Athena discuss Odysseus' fate. Zeus reluctantly agrees to intervene to by sending Hermes to inform Calypso of their desire to see Odysseus find his way home, on the condition that Odysseus travel without man or god, and only after a good dose of bad fortune. Calpyso tells Hermes that she loves Odysseus, but does not wish to anger Zeus. She tells Odysseus that it is the god's will that he be allowed to go home, but that he must admit she is prettier than his wife, which he does, and the sleeps with her. Calypso send him off, helping him to hew trees and craft a ship, supplies him with food and wine and water. Poseidon sees Odysseus thus returning, close to his destiny, and decides on shaking up his world, sending a storm his way, to throw him off course. Ino, or Leucothea, the White Sea Goddess, takes pity on him, orders him to strip his clothes and gives him a veil that helps him swim to safety. At first Odysseus refuses, choosing to test his fate and his trusted raft, but this quickly shatters like straw on the threshing floor, and he takes Ino's advice. After he swims to safety, he kisses the earth, returns the veil to Ino, prays to Zeus, and finds a place to take shelter, collapsing from exhaustion.

Book VI

In the house of Alcinoos, king of the Phaiacians, sleeps his daughter, Nausicaa. Athena visits her in a dream to inspire her to take all of her best bridal linens down to the river to be washed, for the time is coming when she must be prepared to be wed. Thus, Nausicaa appeals to her father, who allows this, prepares for her carts and donkeys. She and her maids take the linens down to a rushing stream, bathe, lather in olive oil, and adorn themselves as the goddess Artemis, daughter of Zeus. They begin playing ball, when Athena decides that it is time that Odysseus is awaken. She causes one of them to drop the ball, sending it hurling down toward the eddies, awakening him. He emerges, craggy and briny, approaches the women, all who get scared away except for Nausicaa, whose fear Athena removed. Odysseus, impressed by her refinement, makes an appeal to her for clothes, which she agrees to. He washes and changes, and Athena makes him taller and more handsome. Finally, the latter invites Odysseus to return to Phaiacia among her party, instructing him to hide in her father's orchard until she makes it back to her father's house. She gives him instructions on how to find her, and tells him he must supplicate himself to her mother if he wishes to return to his own people.