Classics Theses and Dissertations

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Navigating the Odyssey: Exploring Place and Character in Homeric Epic
(University of Oregon, 2022-10-04) Van De Laarschot, Kelsey; Jaeger, Mary
Homer’s Odyssey is a tale about many things: adventures, the importance of hospitality, returning home. However, it is ultimately a tale about place and all the ways in which it defines its inhabitants. Through the travels of Odysseus, we see how the entities Odysseus encounters and even himself are defined by their environments, resulting in each of their unique values, customs, and lifestyles. What we also see is how each of these lands and characters exist in contrast to the Greek world as exemplified by Ithaca, and in doing so, provide a map for the Greek imagination to explore its various fears and anxieties regarding the unknown beyond the Greek world. In this thesis, I shall endeavor to analyze how place creates identity, for Odysseus, as a Greek, as well as for the foreigner.