The Lotus Eaters Episode 7: Lying Odysseus [unlocked]
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What is the overall premise of Books 13‑14 in Homer’s Odyssey?
Dear listeners, thank you for joining us on our voyage into Homer's Odyssey. You're listening to the Lotus Eaters, a 12-part series on Homer's Odyssey that was funded by our generous supporters over at patreon.com. It's because of that support that we're able to release this series for everyone. If you'd like to join them in supporting us, please head over to patreon.com/slash very bad wizards. One of the benefits will be that you'd get access to all of the Lotus Eaters at once rather than having to wait every week for a new episode to drop, but you'd also get access to hundreds of hours of other bonus content and Zeus would smile down upon you for your generosity in supporting us. So thank you for listening.
Let's get to the episode.
Welcome to another episode of The Lotus Eaters. The Lotus Eaters. We are going to be discussing books thirteen and fourteen of Homer's Odyssey for this episode. We are back on Ithaca. It is the second half of the book. Yeah, it's a little sleepier. You know, the pace has slowed down quite a bit since the last four books where the pace was just galloping with all his adventures.
Totally. Totally. It's more a little reflective. We needed it. Can't, you know, can't maintain that hectic pace.
Yeah, it's a slow burn now until we get to what we think is inevitable, Odysseus slaughtering the suitors. But what did you we haven't talked about this at all. Um, what did you think of these two books? Uh what's your impression of kind of what's going on uh in the books?
And I mean I really enjoyed them. I l like it feels like this little slow p plotting before the the plan comes together. And Athena and Odysseus together in book thirteen kind of like They're like almost like equals, you know? They're like, All right, let's let's do it this way. Here's what we're gonna do. Um she's She gets off on his ability to like be a trickster and deceive. And so she's like glad that he can. And she's like, All right, yeah, that's my boy. Let's do it this way then. Um and and s it so I like that. There's also in book thirteen something that I appreciate a lot, which is there are hints of like theodicy, like why did you let this happen? How could you being able, like presumably being able to like control some of these things and knowing some of these things, like you couldn't even let my son know, like you're just letting him go off, how come this has happened to me?
Um it's it had little hints of Job in that way.
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And just uh he yeah, he's he's quite suspicious and legitimately so, like ten years like he's been delayed, these he's supposed to have Athena on his side and uh where's she been? All this time. She has she like ghosting him uh until he arrives at f on the Phoeacian Island and then she helps him out a little bit, but not as much as Nausica.
Yeah. I and the other thing that reminds me of Job is Poseidon goes to Zeus and is like, What the fuck with your boy? Like you're gonna just let him like do what he wants. And Zeus is like No, no, no. My like go ahead. Do like do whatever you want. Like we're not gonna get in your way. Which is very much like the adversary in the book of Job when he comes up to God and says, like, hey, that's your boy, like, but he's you know, he's only your boy because you're favoring him. Uh God's like, All right, do your thing, like do whatever you
want. I don't think that's that's that analogy holds in this particular case. But what Poseidon is mad about isn't Odysseus and he he can't take anything more out on Odysseus. Like Odysseus has gone to Ithaca, he has all the treasure. What he's mad about are the Phaeacians. The the the fact that they disrespected him. And what Zeus says isn't you can do what you want to Odysseus, it's you can do what you want to the Phaeacians and punch those.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's more structurally, like the god going to the other god saying, like, you're letting them get away with this. Like and it's not it real yeah. In Job it's not like he's feeling disrespected. He's more just being like, Are you sure this is but like yeah, this is disrespected.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the overall premise of Books 13‑14 in Homer’s Odyssey?
0:00–6:30
2
How do Athena and Odysseus cooperate and what does their partnership reveal about Odysseus’s character?
6:30–13:39
3
Why does Poseidon confront Zeus about Odysseus and what does this divine dispute tell us about divine justice?
13:39–21:52
4
How does the theme of hospitality (xenia) and theodicy play out among the Phaeacians and the gods?
21:52–28:41
5
What does Odysseus’s paranoia and identity crisis reveal about his psychological state on Ithaca?
28:41–37:19
6
Why does Odysseus fabricate elaborate lies for Eumaeus and how do those lies serve his larger strategy?
37:19–45:33
7
How does the conversation with Eumaeus illustrate loyalty, truth‑telling, and the moral core of the Odyssey?
45:33–51:13
8
What are the key takeaways from this episode and what can listeners expect in the next books?
51:13–54:52
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Very Bad Wizards
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