Homer Iliad - Blog Posts

—The Golden Apple of Discord 🍎

People who have read "the song of Achilles" need to read "the silence of the girls" and Homer's Iliad, as in song of Achilles the story is told from Patroclus' perspective, someone who loved Achilles so he's incredibly biased and mainly focuses on how amazing Achilles was,

when actually he's the reason so many died during the trojan was because of his massive tantrum over Briseis (who would not have been like a close friend to them she would have just been a slave for Achilles to use)

Then again after Patroclus dies he commits horrific acts "in the name of love" but in Homer's Iliad the entire plot is off Achilles anger, it starts with his annoyance of being dishonoured and ends with his rage as his lover is killed because of his original anger.

I definitely like to imagine him performing the different characters! Changing his voice for each is a great image hehe either way he must have performed with incredible passion!

Also Inspiration for Caleb doing his book reading "performance" for the whole village 😆 Even if he doesn't do song narratives (unless the story calls for it 😂) sorry!

Do you think that Homer, when performed his epics in public, he would also change his voice when he sang every time a different character spoke and be a performer or just sing the whole thing through? 🤔

As always your analysis and theories are such great food for thought and great inspiration as well ✨✨ despite the fact that I'm newer to the depth of Odyssey and Iliad than most people here it's somehow adds to the fun to explore it 😆

Jesus Christ just thinking about spending 11 days without sleep blows my mind! I had to spend a little more than 48 hours awake to finish some deadlines and I was already having blurred distorted vision! So to be in a stressful situation, in an environment that can become dangerous, plus trying to guard the thing that will help them get home from his own men, all that combined with his previous struggles and now extreme sleep deprivation?? Sounds like a special kind of hell! And not only that but almost like a sort of vicious cycle, because it could be indeed that the sleep deprivation itself was getting to Odysseus attitude as you theorize, which in turn could definitely influence his man's behavior as well.

Gosh but as said before the tension after his men opened the sack and they all got sent back must have been like a damn cloud over their heads for days! Someone was struggling not to kill 😂

That is a very good point, by guarding the sack in such a way Odysseus could definitely be making his men feel untrusted and even antagonized by their own leader, which would definitely trigger an hostile response in the form distrust right back at him, and the suspiscion of what he could possibly be hiding from them in such a manner. It did not help at all!

On the other hand the effects of sleep deprivation mixed with previous stress and anxiousness to be so close to home are such an interesting and human reaction from him! That's such a scary list, and I can definitely imagine it impacting Odysseus little by little the more he remains awake! And the more he becomes more violent and irritable yelling and such the more his men would feel like he was becoming a whole different person and get progressively more and more worried, irritated and suspicious in turn! Plus I can definitely imagine them indeed questioning his authority especially as his mental state becomes erratic with hallucinations!

His own insistence to do things alone and putting himself in such a situation definitely bit him back! It was very toxic behavior especially with himself and his health, which passed to his man, and despite his intentions it added to the disaster! Being the leader is definitely not easy since everyone is looking at you as an anchor, and if the anchor fails, everyone can drown pretty easily! Overall both sides had their fair points and their mistakes and flaws and ultimately that makes for an awesome compelling narrative! Awesome stuff girl!! ✨

And gosh for real! This is such brilliant inspiration for Caleb and the rebellion as well! Caleb is definitely the one to want to carry the burdens of his men, and many times he is putting himself through unhealthy toxic situations to do so! Can imagine him also not sleeping for days for many reasons! To keep watch, to protect provisions and his resting comrades, to go on into dangerous missions... And the stress and fear hitting him inside too! And it would definitely mess with his attitude and response to others as well 👀 And it also reminds me of Diego, in the times he was made to take charge, or later when he felt his ultimate sin and plan against Caleb about to be discovered!!

Odysseus not sleeping for 9 days increased suspicion to his men unconsciously (a small analysis based on sleep deprivation and Odyssey)

So it seems that the limits that we know so far is around 264 hours or just above 11 days of staying awake consequently. That is surprisingly just above what Odysseus did who stayed awake for 9 days or approximately 216 hours! That seems ironically accurate on Homer's part that it occured.

According to Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus remained awake for 9 consequent days, guarding the sack containing all the winds blowing over the Mediterannean (a gift of the god of winds, Aiolus). Overcome by fatigue, once the island of Ithaca came on sight Odysseus fell asleep but at that moment his men, thinking that the sack contains rich gifts, they opened it up, releasing all the winds out and pushing Odysseus back to the islands of Aiolus. Aiolus witnessing upon that sign of bad luck, he refused to help Odysseus again.

Now of course one might say why on earth wouldn't his men trust him when he told them not to open the sack and why were they so overcome by not just distrust but also greed? Well, apart from the symbolism of the Iliad, ironically their distrust was perfectly logical even if in a way misplaced. And here's why

Odysseus was guarding the sack

No matter what one says, Odysseus was still acting distrustful to THEM. In a way he felt like his warning was not enough and he needed to take some extra precaution. The fact that he was still feeling the need to guard the sack like a guard dog, because of his natural suspicious nature, made his men feel not trusted and therefore evn more suspicious of his behavior. Why all of the sudden their captain had his guard so high up? Why did he feel like he had to take extra precaution? Didn't their captain; the captain they spent almost 15 years together trust them anymore? What did he have to hide? This behavior drove them suspicious back thinking there was more to that story than what Odysseus was saying.

Behavioral changes due to sleep deprivation

Odysseus was sleep deprived, that much everyone could tell. However interestingly the signs of sleep deprivation might unsconsciously increased suspiciousness to the already tensed atmosphere. Some of the early signs of sleep deprivation are:

drowsiness

irritability

impaired decision-making

impaired judgement

altered perception

memory deficits

vision and hearing impairments

decreased hand-eye coordination

increased muscle tension

tremors

increased risk of accidents or near misses

Therefore already from the first two or three days without sleep, Odysseus's character began to swift due to fatigue. He was expected to become more irritable, more drowsy, having difficulty to concentrate and having tension to his muscles. He would become increasingly more and more aggressive in his reactions. The longer he stayed without sleep and one could expect

mtabolism disruptions

hallucinations

delusions

mood swings

risky behavior

decreased attention

inflexible reasoning

The more Odysseus remained without sleep, the more unpredictable he would become and the more suspicious and aggressive his behavior would be. Imagine if at some point some of his men would want to give him some food or drink and Odysseus violently pushing them away, yelling at them that he needs nothing but to be left alone. He would become more and more irritable by basic things even if those things had the kinder intentions.

He would seem more and more like a tiger in a cage, more and more paranoic about the precious sack he guarded; seemingly getting all the more anxious the closer they got to his beloved home. At some point if he actually got hallucinations (talking to things that aren't there or looking around like a madman) would also make his men suspicious on his capability to lead them if an emergency were to occur.

Conslusion:

Therefore in his zeal to protect the sack at all costs, in his fixation upon doing everything himself, in his obsession with getting anxious and not trusting his own shadow, Odysseus made the bad decision to remain awake for so long that affected his mental and behavioral health, thus leading to more suspicion on his men's part to doubt his words and believing he was lying and that he was hiding gold and gems instead of their salvation. In a way Odysseus's obsession, just like all his plans, turned boomerang against him. Sleep deprivation made him aggressive. His aggressiveness was perceived as suspicious and his men didn't believe in him.

Still stupid on their part but one can understand their thoughts a bit. Having a captain that is slowly breaking guarding a seemingly precious sack rose plenty of suspicion. Of course that mistake costed them not only their home but also their life, but one can probably understand them a little.

Perfect 😂 (and here I was gathering Atlantis references for other reasons 😆 amazing!)

Didn't even hesitate or try to hide it a little bit, it's all about the good business 😂 Poor Odysseus just wants to sneak out to go home, he can't with these people anymore hahaha

Sorry I just couldn't resist!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Don't you tell me this wasn't perfect?! Hahaha like come on everyone thought of that! 😂 (inspiration from Paris The Musical song "Business" because I just heard that specific song for the lolz 😆)