Arete

Um-

Arete.

Okay.

So we did that five-sentence summary.

Yeah, it seems that, uh, I guess one helpful way to zoom out and then hopefully this will also transition us further along is that in the Robert Graves book there doesn't seem to be a lot of respect for the Penelope figure.

Um-

You mean Arete? Or-

Yeah, sorry the god- yeah, so playing two roles there.

But here's the key bit, I think.

Alcinous married his bride, the queen, Arete is her name, and Athena says, quote, "He gave her such pride of honor as no other woman on Earth is given of such woman as are now alive to keep house for their husbands." End quote.

So Alcinous honors Arete, the queen, more than any man honors another woman.

But the way that Homer puts this or has Athena put it, especially if you are a reader of these poems in Greek, it's very striking.

There are a lot of these moments in the Iliad where a hero will, say, lift up a stone such that would take three men or five men to lift today, like of such men as now walk upon the Earth, and that is a signal to you that the heroes were humans, but they were from a greater age that we sort of declined from, and there's a historical rationale for this.

They were thinking, "What kind of men built these things? I mean, did they get Cyclopes to do it? Geez." And that's the world that they figured Odysseus and Agamemnon lived in.

That's when these stories are supposed to have taken place, the Heroic Age, the Bronze Age, kind of the same thing.

But that is exactly the lens, I think, that Homer wants us to see the relationship of Alcinous and Arete through.

To the palace of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians, she went.

Within the palace she found Arete, the queen, and Arete was sitting by her hearth, spinning golden and silver threads.

Arete was young at that time, as young as Medea, and as yet no child had been born to her.

But she had the clear eyes of one who understands, and who knows how to order things well.

Stately, too, was Arete, for she had been reared in the house of a great king.

Medea came to her, and fell upon her knees before her, and told her how she had fled from the house of her father, King Aeetes.

She told Arete, too, how she had helped Jason to win the golden fleece, and she told her how through her, her brother had been led to his death.

As she told this part of her story, she wept and prayed at the knees of the queen.

For he longed to allay the lawless strife between both sides without the clash of battle.

And the maiden, in deadly fear, often implored the comrades of Aeson's son, and often with her hands touched the knees of Arete, the bride of Alcinous.

I beseech thee, O queen, be gracious and deliver me not to the Colchians to be born to my father.

If thou thyself too art one of the race of mortals, whose heart rushes swiftly to ruin from light transgressions.

Still my maiden's girdle remains, as in the halls of my father, unstained, untouched.

Pity me, lady, and turn thy lord to mercy, and may the immortals grant thee a perfect life, and joy, and children, and the glory of a city unravaged.

Thus did she implore Arete, shedding tears, and thus each of the chieftains in turn.

On your account, ye men of peerless might, and on account of my toils in your ventures, am I sorely afflicted.

So here Ulysses stood for a while and looked about him.

but when he looked long enough he crossed the threshold and went within the precincts of the house there he found all the chief people among the Phaeacians making their drink offerings to mercury which they always did last thing before going away for the night He went straight through the court, still hidden by the cloak of darkness in which Minerva had enveloped him, till he reached Arete and King Alcinous.

Then he laid his hands upon the knees of the queen, and at the moment the miraculous darkness fell away from him, and he became visible.

Everyone was speechless with surprise at seeing a man there, but Ulysses began at once with his petition.

"'Queen Arete,' he exclaimed, "'daughter of great Rexenor, "'in my distress I humbly pray you, "'as also your husband and these your guests, "'whom may heaven prosper with long life and happiness, "'and may they leave their possessions to their children "'and all the honors conferred upon them by the state, "'to help me home to my own country as soon as possible, "'for I have been long in trouble and away from my friends.' Then he sat down on the hearth among the ashes, and they all held their peace till presently the old hero, Echinus, who was an excellent speaker and an elder among the Phaeacians, plainly and in all honesty addressed them thus.

Alcinus, he said, it is not creditable to you that a stranger should be seen sitting among the ashes of your hearth.

Everyone is waiting to hear what you are about to say.

Thus did he speak.

My passage home will rest with the gods and you." Odysseus paused.

They all fell silent, hushed, his story holding them spellbound down the shadowed halls till the white-armed Queen Arete suddenly burst out, "Phaeacians, how does this man impress you now? His looks, his build, the balanced mind inside him?" This is a really interesting moment.

Odysseus has narrated his journey.

He's encountered the Lotus Eaters, the Cyclops.

He met Tiresias, he met his mother's soul, and now he met all of the great legendary women from ancient Greek mythology.

And then he suddenly cuts off his narrative.

He stops here and says, "Oh, it's time for bed." What is Odysseus doing? He's built suspense, and Arete and Alcinous and the Phaeacians know it.

They're spellbound.

To the palace of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians, she went.

Within the palace she found Arete, the queen, and Arete was sitting by her hearth, spinning golden and silver threads.

Arete was young at that time, as young as Medea, and as yet no child had been born to her.

But she had the clear eyes of one who understands and who knows how to order things well.

Stately, too, was Arete, for she had been reared in the house of a great king.

Medea came to her and fell upon her knees before her, and told her how she had fled from the house of her father, King Aeëtes.

She told Arete, too, how she had helped Jason to win the golden fleece, and she told her how through her her brother had been led to his death.

As she told this part of her story, she wept and prayed at the knees of the queen.

Further, she said, and now Ulysses knew that it was Athene and not a girl that was speaking, Go in, fear nothing, the fearless man always fares best, and look first for the queen.

Her name is Arete.

Never was there a wife more loved by her husband, or a queen more honored by her people.

Be sure that if she favors you, you have come to the end of your troubles and will see your dear land of Ithaca again.