THE
CUNNING HOMER
Written
by Alberto
Majrani, science journalist
This English translation of the introduction of L'ASTUTO OMERO has been published on the prestigious Classical Wisdom website https://classicalwisdom.com/mythology/homer/the-cunning-homer-a-new-look-at-the-odyssey/
Who
really killed the suitors in Homer’s Odyssey?
A careful reading of the epic poem reveals a myriad of clues left by
Homer with a surprising conclusion: Ulysses was not…really Ulysses.
He was the expert Achaean archer Philoctetes in disguise!
With
this key, the Homeric poem suddenly assumes a logic and coherence
hitherto unsuspected. This explains why Homer continues to praise the
art of deception: it is he who has deceived us for three thousand
years! And the surprises do not end there: all the apparent
inconsistencies of the Iliad
and the Odyssey
that have plagued students and teachers for generations, known as the
"Homeric Question", now fall effortlessly in place. The
ancient texts finally agree with historical and archaeological data,
fully revealing the genius of their author.
It’s
a strange story, that of Ulysses. Is it possible that the king of
Ithaca stay away for twenty years, missing his homeland, abandoning a
beautiful nymph who would make him immortal, only to return to a wife
no longer young after a dangerous solo crossing?
And
when he does return, nobody recognizes him, not even his father or
his own wife, so he kills all the pretenders threatening to provoke a
bloody revolution, and finally, when he would have every right to a
little peace and quiet, he decides to sail away in secret, leaving
everyone baffled! All right, yes, it is a mythological tale, but it
is not very ... logical!
And
what if Ulysses was not actually... Ulysses? Let's examine the
hypothesis that the son of Ulysses, Telemachus, had hired a mercenary
to interpret Ulysses and to slaughter of the suitors asking the hand
of his mother Penelope: the same Telemachus would then cast a poet to
tell a fantastic story that could justify all the years of his
father's absence. All this in order to free the royal palace of all
the suitors who were eating them out of house and home , not to
mention is someone had married his mother, Telemachus would have lost
his right of succession to the kingdom.
In
fact, Penelope was of noble birth, being the daughter of the powerful
King Ikarios, while Ulysses was an "upstart" tradesman
familiar with piracy and looting, activities which, at that time,
were not clearly defined. The claimants themselves were plotting to
get rid of him, and he had to anticipate them as soon as possible.
Who
was this mercenary? Can you imagine? Think about it … it is
suggested to us by Ulysses himself ... when he is in the land of the
Phaeacians. Ulysses claims to be the best of the Achaeans in archery,
immediately after Philoctetes!
As
for Philoctetes,
who was he? Maybe someone remembers him thanks to the amusing cartoon
"Hercules", produced by Disney in 1997 in which the script
writers got a bit too carried away by the need to invent a fun story.
They changed the events and roles of various mythological characters.
It’s best, then,to refer to Classical sources.
The
Iliad
tells us that Philoctetes was the head of a contingent of the
Achaeans headed to the Trojan War. However, he was bitten in the foot
by a snake, a serious wound that became infected and forced his
teammates to abandon him on the island of Lemnos. As Sophocles
recounts in his play, according to a prophecy, Troy would fall only
with the help of Hercules’ weapons. Philoctetes had been a pupil of
Hercules and had inherited his bow and arrows, so after being cured
by the Achaean doctor Machaon, Philoctetes kills Paris, decisively
contributing to the defeat of the Trojans.
Of
course! The mercenary was Philoctetes! That explains a lot: he had
known Ulysses for some time—that lent itself well to interpret
him-- he also was a "family friend" and therefore may be
willing to risk his life in such a dangerous undertaking. He was an
extremely skilled archer, requiring a level of training that Ulysses
could not have maintained after so many years at sea.
Assuming,
then, that Ulysses was really equipped with this skill: as the Iliad
recounts, Ulysses never uses the bow, even during the games in honor
of Patroclus, in which he won wrestling and running competitions. And
when he finally does have a bow in hand—borrowed from the
young warrior Meriones—all he does with it is whip horses!
Note also that Homer does not say that Philoctetes was abandoned on
Lemnos on Ulysses’ orders: this is the work of subsequent
mythographers and repeated by Sophocles, who reworked the old myths
to build on his story--not very different from the authors of Disney!
So there is no reason to think that Philoctetes was harboring
resentment against Ulysses or his family members.
The
youth of Ithaca would not recognize Philoctetes, but some elderly
people might, so it was necessary to leave the island as soon as his
mission against the suitors was accomplished. He had been seriously
wounded in the foot by a snake, which would have left him with some
obvious lameness. In fact, Homer, without saying so openly, does
everything to make us understand that the mysterious stranger limps:
he walks slowly, leaning on a cane, is likened to the god Hephaestus,
who is lame too. There are many strange references to "feet",
for example the old nurse who recognizes "Ulysses" by his
knee injury caused by a wild boar (which is never mentioned either in
the
Iliad
or the rest of the Odyssey,
in which the legs of the runner Ulysses are absolutely perfect), a
recognition that comes just as she washes his feet. Perhaps it had
more to do with the foot than the knee!
But
Philoctetes was not content with his substantial reward— i.e., all
the preciuos objects Telemachus loads on his ship when he sailed
off—he aspired to eternal glory! And since he could not reveal the
deception, he was lauded as one of "the best of the archers
Achaean" by the great ‘Ulysses’ himself. That same
‘Ulysses’, even alludes in the poem dedicated to him, that there
was someone better than him in the art of archery. His words are
something of a Freudian slip, a kind of "Message in a Bottle"
launched to posterity, as if to say: "he who has ears to hear,
let him hear!". Homer has left a host of similar messages
throughout the poem that guide us through the actual course of the
action.
As
for the real Ulysses, he had probably died long before, killed in
battle or drowned at sea. This can be deduced from the fact that,
throughout the Odyssey,
the idea that the hero is now deceased is repeated several times.
What about the fact that at some point Ulysses descends into the
underworld? Or the episode in which his name is Nobody, so the
cyclops Polyphemus will repeat that Nobody blinds him, No one kills
him? Other messages in bottles, which.. no one, so far, had taken
literally! And again, does it not appear very suspect the
extraordinary coincidence in time, that Ulysses would return to
Ithaca after two decades, and within hours his son is landing on the
same beach, located on the opposite side to the main port? Also, what
should we infer from traditional biographies which say Homer was
blind? It could be that the poet was looking for a justification for
not recognizing he who passed himself off as Ulysses?
Let's
reconstruct the affair, let’s imagine how could it have taken
place in reality. There is a power vacuum in Ithaca; the king left
for decades and never came back. The suitors are plotting to
eliminate Telemachus and take over the kingdom, so he sets sail with
a ship full of precious objects to hire a mercenary (Philoctetes
already means "the one who loves to possess"). Philoctetes
comes and performs the massacre with the help of the most faithful
servants, whom, as the swineherd Eumaeus and the cowherd Philoetius
take the trouble of informing us, will be adequately rewarded
The
fake Ulysses cannot stay there pretending nothing had happened,
because sooner or later someone will recognize him. So he sails off
again, leaving Telemachus the kingdom... and they all lived happily
ever after.
The
Odyssey
is not just a fairy tale for overgrown children, but an intricate
maze filled with ingenious references that will inevitably escape
those who do not study it closely. "Quandoque dormitat bonus
Homerus"--"Even good old Homer nods” Horace proclaimed--
but maybe Homer was a lot more awake than we thought!
This
article is based off a new book by Alberto Majrani titled “L’ASTUTO
OMERO e il geniale inganno dell’Odissea” ( "The
CUNNING HOMER - Ulysses, Nobody, Philoctetes and the ingenious
deception of the Odyssey") which addresses Homeric question. As
of April 2021, the paper book is available only
in Italian .To
request the complete 428-page pdf ebook, which includes 280 images at
the price of Euro 6,28, send an email to alberto.majrani@tiscali.it .
Publishers, journalists, University professors are provided a FREE
copy of ebook. The paper book costs 28 euros + shipping (weight 1300
grams). More info on Internet https://cunninghomer.blogspot.com/
(in english) or https://astutoomero.blogspot.com/
(in italian)
The e-book
THE CUNNING HOMER
in English (translated
by the author) is now ready (may 2023) . I thank now
who can provide me with useful corrections for my not perfect
English. If you are a publisher and you want to publish the book you
can contact me! If you are a professional
translator and you think you can propose it to a publisher, contact
me!
To
buy the ebook it is sufficient that you send an email to
alberto.majrani@tiscali.it with your
commitment.
University professors, museum directors and journalists will
receive the ebook for free on a simple request.
The
price of the ebook it
is now € 6.28 (like two pi
Greeks!). You can pay with paypal paypal.me/Majrani
If
you want to read the book L'ASTUTO OMERO in Italian you can click
here https://astutoomero.blogspot.com/
And
if you have any
doubts, ask alberto.majrani@tiscali.it
!!!
