10.5281/zenodo.1211394
Philip S. Peek
Bowling Green State University
Propriety, Impropriety, And The Gaining Of Kleos In The Phaiakian Episode
Zenodo
2003
Narratology, Homer, Epic, kleos, Odysseus
2003-04-03
en
Journal article
https://zenodo.org/record/1211395
10.5281/zenodo.1211395
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Open Access
<p>The Phaiakian episode of the Odyssey has provoked much critical commentary. The main reason T is its ambiguity: the passage contains contradictory elements that demand explanation. For example, a main contradiction is that the Phaiakians are depicted as hyper-civilized and said to be unfriendly to strangers. Eustathius 1566.7–9 and the scholia to 7.16 and 7.32 explained the contradiction in terms of class: Phaiakian nobles are hospitable; Phaiakian commoners, rude. The text, however, fails to uphold such a distinction: Nausikaa and Athene speak of general Phaiakian unfriendliness, and the rudest treatment Odysseus suffers comes at the hands of the nobleman Euryalos. In modern times, genetic answers to such contradictions have dominated.</p>