Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs
Publication Date
8-27-2009
Abstract
The sea upon which Odysseus wanders in Homer's Odyssey is a chaotic and unpredictable place, empty of historical non-Greek cultures, but full of sea creatures, monsters, and deities eager to ensnare and devour the long-suffering hero. However, the Mediterranean of the Archaic Age that produced the Odyssey was a well-charted sea, where Greeks frequently interacted with foreigners. This thesis approaches the sea in the Odyssey as a mythic borderland, a medium for conceptualized representations of actual intercultural exchanges between archaic Greeks and other cultures of the ancient Mediterranean. Further, using postcolonial theory, this study attempts to understand how the various maritime oddities within the Odyssey give form to the trauma and cultural ambiguity inherent in ancient sea travel. Finally, this thesis explores how Odysseus successfully adapts his own identity to cope with the sea's chaotic landscape, allowing the poem's ancient audience to mediate their own troubling experiences.
Keywords
monsters, Odyssey, postcolonial, cultural identity, Homer, Proteus, Leukothea, Nausikaa, Odysseus
Document Type
Thesis
Language
English
Degree Name
Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies
Level of Degree
Masters
Department Name
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
First Committee Member (Chair)
Cyrino, Monica
Second Committee Member
Garcia, Lorenzo Jr
Recommended Citation
Bellum, Daniel. "Friend, Foe, or Other? Monsters and Identity on the Odyssean Sea." (2009). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/fll_etds/72