Jonathan S. Burgess - Böcker

The Travels of Odysseus employs the theme of travel to explore the Odyssey and its contexts. After an introductory chapter, Chapter 2 provides analysis of the “wanderings” or Apologos of Odysseus, Chapter 3 explores the “lying tales” told by Odysseus in disguise upon his return to Ithaca, and Chapter 44 discusses a variety of stories about Odysseus leaving Ithaca again (including Teiresias' prediction of an “inland journey” and the Telegony of the Epic Cycle). The introductory chapter explores various contexts of Odysseus' travels: the Epic Cycle (notably the Nostoi (“Returns”) and the Telegony), comparable travelers of myth (Gilgamesh, Heracles, Perseus), the genre of travel writing, ancient and modern, and the characterization of Odysseus within Homer and outside of Homer. Chapter 2 explores the hero's account of his wanderings to the Phaeacians in Books 9-12 by exploring the poem's explanation of the hero's nostos (“return”) in the proem, the spatial and temporal aspects of the wanderings, the Phaeacian context of the Odysseus' stories, the implications of the ancient term apologos for Odysseus' “wanderings,” the patterns, causality, and plot of the Apologos, and the socio-economic aspects of the “wanderings.” Chapter 3 explores the actions of Odysseus upon his return to Ithaca. Topics include the Homeric and non-Homeric aspects of Ithaca, the motif of “lying travelers at Ithaca,” the themes of the false travel tales that Odysseus tells while in disguise, the function of these “lying tales” to “test” suitors, slaves, and family, and an extensive comparison of the “lying tales” to the “wanderings.” Chapter 4 first discusses issues arising at the end of the Odyssey, which are described as indicative of existing or potential further adventures of Odysseus. These post-nostos travels include Teiresias' prediction of the need to take an “inland journey,” Odysseus' travel to Thesprotia in the Telegony, and other lost tales about Odysseus traveling to northwest Greece or the Italian world. Many tales involve locations linking themselves to the hero through genealogy or burial place.

Although the Iliad and Odyssey narrate only relatively small portions of the Trojan War and its aftermath, for centuries these works have overshadowed other, more comprehensive narratives of the conflict, particularly the poems known as the Epic Cycle. In The Tradition of the Trojan War in Homer and the Epic Cycle, Jonathan Burgess challenges Homer's authority on the war's history and the legends surrounding it, placing the Iliad and Odyssey in the larger, often overlooked context of the entire body of Greek epic poetry of the Archaic Age. He traces the development and transmission of the Cyclic poems in ancient Greek culture, comparing them to later Homeric poems and finding that they were far more influential than has previously been thought.

Achilles' death-by an arrow shot through the vulnerable heel of the otherwise invincible mythic hero-was as well known in antiquity as the rest of the history of the Trojan War. However, this important event was not described directly in either of the great Homeric epics, the Iliad or the Odyssey. Noted classics scholar Jonathan S. Burgess traces the story of Achilles as represented in other ancient sources in order to offer a deeper understanding of the death and afterlife of the celebrated Greek warrior. Through close readings of additional literary sources and analysis of ancient artwork, such as vase paintings, Burgess uncovers rich accounts of Achilles' death as well as alternative versions of his afterlife. Taking a neoanalytical approach, Burgess is able to trace the influence of these parallel cultural sources on Homer's composition of the Iliad. With his keen, original analysis of hitherto untapped literary, iconographical, and archaeological sources, Burgess adds greatly to our understanding of this archetypal mythic hero.