Hi,

My co op class (Rhetoric) is studying the Oddysey. We are in a discussion (actually the students) about whether Odysseus committed adultry with the sea nymph or if he was under a spell and not able to object. What do you all think?

Renee'

Hi Renee! I'm afraid there isn't really much question that he was in fact committing adultery, and quite cavalierly too. That was a norm in the ancient world, and the places in the Odyssey where it talks about Calypso "holding him there on her island by magic" (to paraphrase) should not be understood as constraining him to commit adultery with her. At that time, in that culture, an adulterous relationship such as this one would be seen as Odysseus enduring one more set of adverse circumstances (a goddess being in love with him) in the hopes of reaching home. The culture would even have viewed it as quite normal and not damaging to his marriage if he enjoyed the affair with Calypso.

Such is the ancient Greek view, as far as I understand it. :-/ I'm sorry! However, hopefully you will be able to use this as an opportunity to point out to your students the different between pagan and biblical worldviews. :-)

Christy Somerville

Christy ... you are wise waaaaaaay beyond your years! Your parents "done good!"

Grins,
Monica

Thanks for the input really helpful. One of the topics in the debate was that Odysseus was "under her spell" and had no control over what he was doing. What do you all think about that? These kids are spending three weeks hashing this out, but I am glad they are thinking. It all started because some of them picked Odysseus as their favorite character in the first week and the reasoning was that he was honorable and faithful.......

Hi. Jumping in here, we don't have the benefit of a co-op. IF you are all by chance doing some writing project, I would love to see samples. My high schooler is really wanting to see what other kid's his age are writing.
Thx for considering. (BTW - we aren't asking for the best, jast a random samplling and by no means do I need personal names