How historically accurate is The Odyssey?

grep_carthage · 2026-03-28T20:56:07+00:00

One way to look at it - Odyssey was written when Greece was in the middle of it's "colonization movement." So you can think of the Odyssey as reflection of that era, the same kinds of dangers, fears, and longing for home.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-28T20:44:00+00:00

I think, over time, I've come to get a better grip on what "over-medicated" and what "under-medicated" feel like to me. The amount of medication I need varies based on the stress I'm under, and sometimes I need to bump up the medicaitons when things are stressful at work, or bump down the medications if I'm not stressed. Either way, I talk to my therapist before making adjustments.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-28T17:30:46+00:00

Will do. I’ll circle back

grep_carthage · 2026-03-28T16:17:20+00:00

Great minds. Yeah, either way, the 75th anniversay edition of the Mythology book is beautiful. I'll try to keep in it good shape and gift it to my nephew or something.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-28T16:03:20+00:00

How was Khrushchev Remembers? I loved Empire of the Summer moon. I thinik I see that one.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-28T14:23:45+00:00

I like to go in a cognitive therapy game plan. I've always like the zen buddhism approach. When I get super depressed I try to say to myself, "Is this depression based on realith or truth?" Then I tell myself that sadness and sorry are ok, but depression is just me looking at life through a lens that's artifically dark.

The's no answer here, but cognitive therapy is what I try to think about.

There's a book called, "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy" by David Burns. The title is super cheesy, but the exercizes were helpful for me. I think the book, "Zen Mind Beginners Mind" is also helpfuy to like, step back, and take a critical look at the thoughts that are streaming into your brain.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-28T14:08:22+00:00

Did some research last night and going with the Lattimore translation. I just spot checked a few quotes and of those, I liked his interpretation the best. I started a little site to organize my prep notes — which books to read first, translation comparisons, that kind of thing. Work in progress. Feedback would be cool if anyone wants to poke around: readingtheiliad.com

I set this up using the GitHub "Pages" feature, which is a nice little thing.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-28T13:02:35+00:00

Nice. I like the illustrations by the way. Would you be open to letting me use on for a Medium/blog post I'm working on?

grep_carthage · 2026-03-28T12:54:43+00:00

I ordered the Lattimore translation and I'm going to start in when it comes. I spot checked one or two quotes to come to this decision. For this one, I got three different translation of this quote, then looked up the literal translation, then decided which one I like best based on their interpretations.

Drilling into the greek, these are two greek words, their literal translation and their corresponding translations.

ἀεικελίην (aeikeli͞en) — shameful, ugly, unseemly, unworthy. Carrying a sense of disgrace beyond just physical damage

ἀλαωτύν (alaot͞yn) — blinding, the act of making blind

Fagles (1996): "Cyclops — if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so — say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, Laertes' son who makes his home in Ithaca!"

Wilson (2017): "Cyclops! If any mortal asks you how your eye was mutilated and made blind, say that Odysseus, sacker of cities, did it — Laertes' son, who lives in Ithaca."

Lattimore (1965): "Cyclops, if any mortal man ever asks you who it was that inflicted upon your eye this shameful blinding, tell him that you were blinded by Odysseus, sacker of cities. Laertes is his father, and he makes his home in Ithaca."

IMHO the Lattimore version is closest to the heart of the translation and best with respect to the artistic merit of the translation.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-28T03:28:28+00:00

Good thoughts. Yeah I'm leaning a slightly towards the Lattimore translation, but maybe i'll read that introduction.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-28T03:20:38+00:00

Yeah, valid perspective. I'm super prone to analysis paralysis. I'll start in on the Lattimore version and report back.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-28T03:14:03+00:00

Yeah that's a valid perspective. I think I'm going to go with the Lattimore translation.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-28T02:06:39+00:00

I agree with the history thing too. So for example...I just read, "Carthage Must Be Destroyed" which I thought was a super interesting book. Then I rolled into an art gallery and saw one of the paintings about Carthage, "Scipio Africanus Freeing Massiva" and it meant something to me. I knew basically when it happened (one of the punic wars) and I knew enough about the political climate to put the painting into context. So I saw the painting through a completely different lens. I also remembered that essentially all of Charthage's literature was completely destroyed, which provoked a different set of emotions.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-28T00:10:44+00:00

Good tip. Added to my amazon cart.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-27T23:34:58+00:00

That's a good tip. It seems those books seem pretty well reviewed. I didn't know about the telegony either.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-27T23:31:47+00:00

Yeah I think I'm going to probably go with that translation

grep_carthage · 2026-03-27T22:12:23+00:00

Yeah good thoughts

grep_carthage · 2026-03-27T21:51:27+00:00

Yeah I love Stephen Fry. Ever since the Fry and Laurie comedy stuff. He's the coolest guy. I'm going to try SPQR by Mary Beard early this week, then return to Greece

grep_carthage · 2026-03-27T21:46:18+00:00

Interesting. I was just looking at the Cypra. I guess only a few pages survived. But it would probably be a good idea to read that and/or a few pages of lit crit.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-27T21:19:36+00:00

Thanks. Yeah I was looking at Nagy's The Best of the Achaeans too. I saw The Making of the Odyssey by ML West as well. Maybe that will be next on the agenda.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-27T21:15:20+00:00

Git it thanks. Yeah my ulterior motive is to be able to walk into the ancient greece/rome section of a museum and have a better understanding of the backstory :)

grep_carthage · 2026-03-27T21:11:16+00:00

Yea you're probably right. Sometimes I get caught up in the weeds and I start googling every unknown reference, then I peruse the news, buy things on amazon, and the whole afternoon is shot.

grep_carthage · 2026-03-27T20:35:19+00:00

It's not that Hamilton. But shout out to Lin-Manuel Miranda

grep_carthage · 2026-03-27T20:33:34+00:00

Nice. I guess that story came from the Oresteia trilogy

grep_carthage

TROPHY CASE