The Odyssey Book Six: The Princess and the Stranger

Dcn. Harrison Garlick and Adam Minihan are joined by Eli Stone, formerly of the TU Great Books Honors College and now with Holy Family Classical School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to discuss BOOK SIX of the Odyssey: The Princess and the Stranger.

Check us out at thegreatbookspodcast.com.

From the guide:

32.      What happens in book six?

Athena inspires Nausicaa, the daughter of King Alcinous, to go with her handmaids to the river and wash clothes (6.20). Her father grants her permission, and she takes a wagon of clothes to be washed (6.75). As she waits for the clothes to dry, she and her handmaids have a picnic out by the river (6.107). With a little influence from Athena, Odysseus awakes to the sound of the girls playing with a ball (6.130). Odysseus emerges naked, covering himself with a “leafy branch” (6.140)—“a terrible sight, all crusted, caked with brine” (6.151). All the women scatter save Nausicaa in whom Athena has planted courage (6.153). Odysseus tells the princess of his plight (6.163), and she welcomes him as a stranger sent from Zeus (6.227). To avoid scandal, Nausicaa instructs Odysseus on how to enter the city alone, find the queen, and grasp her knees (6.313). The books ends with Nausicaa leaving Odysseus in a sacred grove, and Odysseus praying to Athena (6.352).[1]

33.      Is Nausicaa another temptation for Odysseus, like Calypso?

The desire of Nausicaa to be married is a predominate theme in book six and seven. We see Athena state her marriage is “not far off” (6.30); we see Nausicaa be too shy to express her desire for marriage to her father (6.74), but her father sees through his daughter’s coyness and confirms his supports her, i.e., “I won’t deny you anything” (6.77); and we see Nausicaa, after seeing Odysseus glorified by Athena, say: “if only a man like that were called my husband” (6.270). Moreover, the princess is “still a virgin, unwed” (6.121) and compared to the virgin-goddess Artemis (6.113, 165). Her intuition and political savvy are displayed in the narrative of avoiding scandal and how to seek mercy from the queen (6.313). She is arguably presented as a young Penelope: beautiful and clever. The concern is that whereas Calypso represented an unnatural temptation (Question 29), Nausicaa will represent a very natural one for Odysseus.

One may note that naked Odysseus emerging to speak to the young girls is presented in predatory language, e.g., “as a mountain lion exultant in his power…” hungry and stalking sheep (6.143). The opening predatory metaphor seemingly stands in contrast with Odysseus’ restraint to not run and hug the knees of Nausicaa (6.161). The main principle of his opening speech to Nausicaa is presented in his earlier internal dialogue of whether the island inhabitants are savages or civilized persons (6.132). Guest-friendship is the sign and standard for civilization (6.133). Odysseus arguably mentions Artemis (6.165), Apollo’s altar in Delos (6.178), the custom of grasping by the knees (6.185), and the need for he, as a stranger, to be welcomed (6.193) to see if she is civilized. Moreover, it also reveals that Odysseus—the strange man emerging from the bushes—is civilized himself.[2] If guest-friendship is the standard for civilization (6.133), then it is one Nausicaa responds to well in both speech and practice (6.227).

Those who see Nausicaa as a temptation, point to Odysseus’ flattery of her: “I have never laid eyes on anyone like you” (6.175). As with most Odyssean rhetoric, one may debate to what degree this statement reflects his interior disposition as opposed to simply a statement intended to cause an effect in his listener. The dialogue between Odysseus and Nausicaa has him comparing her to a god, but later she believes he looks like a god (6.269). Moreover, Nausicaa subtlety tells Odysseus that she thinks he’s handsome and available for marriage (6.303). There is much in book six to suggest that marriage to Nausicaa will be the next major temptation of Odysseus.

[1] Thank you to Mr. Eli Stone who joined us on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast to discuss and lead us through books six and seven.

[2] On the podcast, Mr. Eli Stone submitted the theory that Odysseus mentions Artemis explicitly to imply that he is safe and will not harm Nausicaa. In addition to being one of the virgin-goddesses, Artemis punished men severely for even seeing her naked much less touching her. As such, by Odysseys comparing Nausicaa to Artemis, he’s communicating that he, as a rational man, would never dare to touch her.