The Raft Of Odysseus: The Ethnographic Imagination Of Homer's Odyssey

The Raft of Odysseus This page intentionally left blank The Raft of Odysseus The Ethnographic Imagination of Homer's Odyssey CAROL DOUGHERTY OXPORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 2OOI OXPORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris Sao Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 2001 by Oxford University Press Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dougherty, Carol. The raft of Odysseus : the ethnographic imagination of Homer's Odyssey / Carol Dougherty. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-513036-7 i. Homer. Odyssey. 2.. Homer—Knowledge—Ethnology. 3. Homer— Knowledge—Geography. 4. Epic poetry, Greek—History and criticism. 5. Odysseus (Greek mythology) in literature. 6. Trojan War— Literature and the war. 7. Geography, Ancient, in literature. 8. Ethnic groups in literature. 9. Ocean travel in literature. 10. Ethnology in literature, n. Commerce in literature. I. Title. PA4i67 .D68 2.001 883'.01—dcxi 00-039x07 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 x 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper For my family, Joel, Nathan, and Megan This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments Although it has not taken me as long to finish this book as it did Odysseus to get back home again, it has been a lengthy journey, and I would like to thank the people who helped me avoid the many distractions and pitfalls involved in writing a book. Above all, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my friend and collaborator Leslie Kurke, for all her support, both intellectual, bibliographical, and moral. As always, Leslie knew which sentences I had left out and, most important, when the book was done. The book got its start as papers given at the Center for Literary and Cultural Studies at Harvard and to the Classics Department at Boston College, and I thank Gregory Nagy and Ken Rothwell for giving me the opportunity to launch a new project in such hospitable company. I am grateful to Greg as well for encouraging me to stick with the book in those early days when I was having my doubts. Thanks, too, go to Richard Martin and Helene Foley for their support at the early stages of the project and for their comments and suggestions at the eleventh hour. Karen Bassi, as always, provided invaluable encouragement throughout the entire process, and Carla Antonaccio was a great help in sorting out matters of archeological details. Part of this book was written during my stay as Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge University, and I owe a special debt of thanks to Paul Cartledge for helping arrange my visit. Clare Hall proved to be a particularly productive place to work, and members of the Classics and History faculties at Cambridge, especially Paul Cartledge, Patricia Easterling, Simon Goldhill, and Anthony Snodgrass, provided a very stimulating and collegia! environment. In particular, Paul Cartledge and Anthony Snodgrass helped me think through some of the historical and archeological arguments of the book. In addition, I owe thanks to Oliver Taplin for inviting me to speak at Oxford University, as well as to those in attendance for their comments and suggestions about the relationship between ships and song. Thanks, too, go