Essays on The Odyssey

The theme of border crossing is prominent in in a majority of literary works, including most ancient ones. There are physical borders as well as socially constructed barriers that humans have been crossing for centuries. An example of a socially constructed border is the boundary...

Greco-Roman paganism, embodied in the works of Homer and other epic poets, has an inherently tragic vision of humanity’s place in the Cosmos. Unlike the Christian and Enlightenment tradition, which holds that mankind has free will and is master of its own fate, the Greek...

The ripples of calm, still water turn into mountains of engraved waves. The darkness and isolation at sea changes into powerful water crashing down onto the ship. Odysseus and his men are tossed like ragdolls side to side, holding onto what is at reach. With...