Athena and telemachus

  • Michael Murrin
Article
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Abstract

The argument of this article is that, once one tries to interpret the Homeric poems, major deities like Athena will invite allegorical readings and that, in fact, Athena in theOdyssey should be seen as polyvalent. A close reading of the initial discussion between Athena and Telemachus reveals three distinct functions of the goddess, which carry over into other scenes: her psychological role as prudence, especially when one considers Telemachus and his development towards manhood; her function as familydaimon or goddess of the household, when one wishes to understand why she intervenes when she does; and finally the military goddess, when one realizes what her true intent had been throughout the poem. The scholiasts provide support for all three interpretations but especially stress the first. These interpretations also appear in the work of modern academics, both critics and historians of religion. They show that the scholiasts, who do not show how they came to their interpretations, and modern scholars who are more explicit and certainly hold different assumptions and have different methodologies, nevertheless, have provided accounts for these same three roles of Athena in the poem. They show that the scholiasts were not erratic readers of the poem. I simply present their readings, but the claim for polyvalency is my own.

Keywords

Classical Tradition Archaic Period Loeb Classical Library Poison Arrow Homeric Problem 
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Copyright information

© Springer 2003

Authors and Affiliations

  • Michael Murrin
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of EnglishUniversity of ChicagoChicagoUSA

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