Just when you think the suitors are about to get their just desserts, Homer manages to stretch things out.
Fun anecdote: When my prof shared this episode in class, he commented that none of us were old enough to have seen this before. I mean, we weren’t even born in the ’70s. And there was little ol’ me in the front row, raising my hand. And he looked at me and said, “Really?” And I nodded and said, “’78.” Admittedly, I think I was the only senior in the class, and I probably was the only person in the class who had been born in the ’70s, and I wasn’t old enough to have seen this when it originally aired, but it did make me giggle, possibly inappropriately when I look back at it, which makes it all the more fitting…
Discussion Prompts
- Does Penelope know that Odysseus is home? Why or why not?
- What does this book have to say about free will?
- How do you think things might be different if Athena kept out of it?
- Who is your favorite character? Why?
Triumvir Clio's School of Classical Civilization 