Odysseus and the Cynics
The Homeric hero from a philosophical perspective, part I
“The immortal gods had given us in Cato a more assured example of the wise man than Odysseus and Hercules in earlier centuries. For we Stoics have proclaimed that these were wise men, not being conquered by effort, despising pleasure, and victorious over the whole world.” (Seneca, On Constancy, II.1)
Ever since I was a kid I’ve been fascinated by the figure of Odysseus, or Ulysses as the Latins called him. I remember watching a 1968 television miniseries on Rai (the Italian public television) based on the Odyssey, and having nightmares in which the one-eye Polyphemus the Cyclops frighteningly appeared (I was four at the time…). Bekim Fehmiu, who played Odysseus, and Irene Papas, in the role of Penelope, still represent for me the ideal versions of those characters.
Odysseus, especially the version that stars in the Odyssey (the one in the Iliad is decidedly different and more, shall we say, complex), has ever since been a role model for me. His intelligence, courage, and high-mindedness (he gives up immortality in order to come back to his wife and son) have been inspirations over multiple decades of my life. I have read the Odyssey, in several translations in Italian and English, a number of times. (Check this superb translation by Robert Fagles, with an…
