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Hear me out more people should sing the epics. They were songs first right? I was singing the Iliad earlier and when I read the Homeric hymns I'll sing them as well. I always read those kinds of texts out loud.
So I’m curious in terms of slavery back in Homeric times, it wasn’t chattel slavery apparently it was more of being a class of people with a lack of civil rights. But then he executes the maids and it’s a non issue. Were Odysseus’ slaves prisoners of war and conquering? And on the subject of not condemning/exonerating him as a member of the slave owning class, is it one of those things (in your opinion) where we should just accept it as a flaw and move on, treat it as a part of society that was pretty normal, or something else entirely?
homeric slavery and chattel slavery aren't two different things. chattel slavery means that people are considered personal property of their enslavers, and that is the form of slavery in the homeric epics. historically speaking (as i understand it, but i am not a historian and my comfort level is much higher with literary analysis) there were different systems of enslavement in athens vs sparta, but chattel slavery was widespread in the ancient greek world.
i'm not sure what contradiction you mean to highlight with his execution of the twelve women.
the provenance of some of the enslaved members of odysseus' household are given in the odyssey (e.g., eumaeus was kidnapped by pirates and sold in ithaca, dolius was brought from sparta with penelope), but most aren't. i don't know what the "most likely" scenario is historically, but i know that in the text, in the sometimes-anachronistic world of the poems, enslaved people come from many walks of life and classes and yet are the absolute property of their enslavers.
we are not dealing with a world where slavery says something about odysseus that it doesn't also say about everyone else in the ruling class. we just aren't. i do not know how much clearer i can be: systemic slavery is not a personal character flaw. cruelty is a character flaw you can ascribe to the fictional man odysseus, one that jumps out in his treatment of "disloyal" slaves, but owning slaves is a foundational evil that everyone at his level of society is dependent on as a matter of course. we have to accept that fact in order to discuss the literature with anything like integrity, but moving on is not the aim, and in fact has nothing to do with it. enslaved characters are not invisible in the text(s), even if their inner lives often are. they act, they cause reactions, they speak, they exist. i think we should analyze them, their relationships with other characters, and their positions in the narrative like we do anyone else—if not with even more intentionality and interrogation of the text and ourselves than we do anyone else
Just curious but where does the star on cheek motif come from in Ancient Greece? It’s beautiful but I don’t know what it’s called so I can’t google it effectively and ‘star on cheek ancient Greece’ did not net me much. If you have any resources on this I would love to read them!
I'm not sure if there's an actual term for it, but the main (and perhaps only) point of reference that everyone seems to use is this painted plaster head of a woman from Mycenae c. 12th century BCE (National Archaeological Museum Athens inv. 4575). it's a unique and pretty unusual object for the period, but apparently there are a couple of other (less well-preserved or less impressive) examples of women's faces depicted with these red suns/stars/rosettes on their cheeks and chins in Mycenaean art. there's some thought that it might be a representation of some sort of makeup worn by real women in late Bronze Age Mycenae, potentially royalty and/or priestesses in official ritual contexts. alternatively it could be an artistic marker of divinity or non-human status with absolutely no relation to women's appearances in real life, since this head may have belonged to a statue of a goddess or a sphinx. we do have a decent number of Mycenaean wall painting fragments depicting female figures, and I don't believe any of them have these markings on their faces-- the trend of depicting mythic or historical Bronze Age Greek women like this really does seem to all come back to this one object.
Hey, jumping in to add some resources - during my archaeology degree I focused specifically on Late Bronze Age (LBA) Aegean dress & adornment, so while I'm not at all an expert I've got a pretty good grasp of current research.
Answering the first question, the term you're looking for is 'rosette', or more specifically - depending on the academic - 'dot-rosette'. This was a common LBA iconographic motif in the Near East & Aegean, depicted on a variety of materials; from ceramics to textiles, architecture, metalwork, jewellery, stone carving, etc etc. These depictions could be simple & stylised, more realistic/flower-like, or even quite sophisticated and complex - the dot style seen on NAM.4575 (the plaster head that OP linked & pictured above) being on the simpler, more stylised side.
It, as OP pointed out, is a very singular object for the LBA. Not only is NAM.4575 a large scale three dimensional human figure, but it has so much surviving pigment!! As per gendered iconographic norms (e.g. skin colour) for the LBA Aegean it clearly depicts a female, however there is debate over the specifics depicted. Is she real or divine, human or mystical? It certainly comes from religious context, excavated in the Cult Centre of Mycenae, and the headdress she wears (known as a Polos) has strong links to ritual practice. Worn by (likely) goddesses, mortal figures of high religious or social significance (e.g. priestesses), as well as sphinxes (but not exclusively! older scholarship skewed towards majority sphinxes but our understanding of Poloi wearers has improved over time and tbh there are more occurrences of being worn by human/human-like divinities than by a sphinx). This led to the initial identification of NAM.4575 as a sphinx, however more recent consensus in scholarship interprets her (IMO more correctly) as a goddess or mortal woman of high ritual/social status. Either way, wherever she falls on the mortal/divine divide, it is clear NAM.4575's facial markings hold some form of ritual function for high status women.
However, as mentioned briefly by OP, she is not the sole depiction of facial rosettes from the archaeological record - similar markings *do* appear occasionally elsewhere.
Brief Overview of Rosette facial markings within the archaeological material:
Earlier examples of painted facial rosettes (as well as so many other simple designs) can be seen on some Early Cycladic Figures, such as this EC II marble female head from Keros pictured below on the left, displayed at the Karlsruhe Badisches Landesmuseum (inv.70/550). While the condition of the figure's pigment has deteriorated, traces of pigment on the cheeks and chin in a dot-rosette pattern can still be seen.
More contemporary with NAM.4575 both in time (LBA) and location (found within the Mycenae Cult Center complex) is MM.294, a LH IIIB2 ceramic female figurine. As can clearly be seen in the middle picture below (taken by me at the Archaeological Museum of Mycenae) two facial dot-rosettes are detailed, with one on each cheek. They are less sophisticated then those seen on the plaster head, unsurprising with the differences in material and quality between the two artefacts. Other body markings are also present.
Another LBA dot-rosette example can be seen on CMS II 052, a LM I hematite seal stone now located in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion. While not depicted explicitly on a human face, the seal consists of 4 'floating' objects isolated from any background - an eye, ear, and two dot-rosettes. CMS II 052 (pictured below right) therefore provides evidence of an explicit association of dot-rosettes with other human facial features.
With the explicit proviso I have yet to find scholarly discussion regarding a link to facial markings specifically (unsurprising with how extremely niche of a subtopic this is), through my own research I've found some fragmentary examples of apparent facial dot-rosette markings on phi Φ type figurines. As currently for many phi Φ types no comprehensive pigment analysis exists, or if undertaken most technical reports are not publicly available, so my interpretation of painted facial markings cannot at this stage be definitively confirmed. This identification is instead based solely on visual surveying of available material, with some examples seemingly depicting dot-rosette facial markings that have degraded due to pigment loss over time. One such example is below, a LH III phi Φ type grave good from Tanagra, now displayed in the Archaeological Museum of Thebes (where this picture was taken, by me). On the figurine's left cheek two dots are visible, potentially once part of a larger dot-rosette motif (especially considering pigment loss is evident elsewhere on the figure).
Facial Markings more generally in the archaeological record:
Looking not *just* at dot-rosettes but more broadly at the practice of facial markings in the LBA Aegean there is a greater body of evidence. They appear within a larger variety of contexts, depicted on votive offerings, grave goods, religious objects, and as artistic imagery within high status urban complexes, domestic spaces, peak sanctuaries, and even rock shelters. Notably, while many of these depictions may hold ritual purposes they are represented not just on goddesses but also on explicitly confirmed non-divine women (in fact, I'd argue the majority are mortal rather than divine). This suggests that facial markings were practised by real LBA women in the Aegean, albeit likely not as common, everyday practice for majority of the population. At current, there is no absolute consensus on whether this was achieved by temporary cosmetics (most likely?), tattooing, scarification, or some other method with a variety of generally simple geometric designs depicted within the archaeological record.
The simplest design of facial markings - red, blush-like circular blobs on the cheeks - can be seen on multiple frescoes, see below pictured examples of women within the House of the Ladies Fresco from LBA Akrotiri, Thera; as well as another female plaster head from Mycenae, the smaller and more damaged NAM.7712 pictured below right.
Simple cheek circle markings are also represented on other figurines such as ceramic head AMH.Π1102 from Agious Antonios (pictured below left & centre), or on this stunning clay woman's head found at the Pisokephalo peak sanctuary, with a very distinct red pigmented mark on her left cheek (pictured below right, taken by me at the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion)
Diamond facial marks also occurred, evident on a few terracotta Mycenaean figures, MM.320 (left) and MM.1552 (right), both images taken at the Archaeology Museum of Mycenae by me
A favourite of mine from Agia Triada, the fragmentary AHM.Π3085 shows unique fragmentary forehead marks of concentric semi or full circles. (below left taken by me at the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion)
Appearing significantly more frequently are depictions of (painted?) red ears, for example seen in the West House Priestess Fresco from Akrotiri (below right taken by me at the Prehistoric Museum of Thira)
The above examples of facial markings designs are not exhaustive, but with many of the remaining extant designs being unique and/or in poor condition I've tried to only discuss those that are of most relevance.
Of these examples, majority come from secure religious contexts and while some could potentially depict divinity, many can also be ruled out as not depicting goddesses at all - but rather real women. While most likely these would be high ranking priestesses, worshippers, holders of some other specific ritual function, or otherwise high status individuals (rather than the average woman) it is clear that some form of cosmetic facial marks were practised by some LBA women. The rarity of depictions likely means these markings held a specific ritual or social meaning no longer evident today. Regarding rosettes specifically, it was a much more widespread motif in textiles, art, architecture, and jewellery then depicted as a facial marking, however several examples *do* exist - with NAM.4575 being the most spectacular and well known.
For more in depth discussion and research on rosettes and/or facial markings within the LBA Aegean I've listed a few articles in the readmore below. I've tried to only add ones that are freely available online, but for the ones that aren't feel free to dm for pdf copies. All imagery not taken by me are from publicly available sources (wikimedia commons, the Arachne CMS database, open access publications, and online museum digital collections)
Further reading:
Blakolmer, H. 2012 ‘Body Marks and Textile Ornaments in Aegean Iconography: Their Meaning and Symbolism’ in KOSMOS ed. Nosh and Laffineur.
Earle, J. 2012 ‘Cosmetics and Cult Practices in the Bronze Age Aegean? A Case Study of Women with Red Ears’ in KOSMOS ed. Nosh and Laffineur.
Nicolakaki-Kentrou, M. 2007 'Artists exchanging vocabularies: the dot-rosette motif on ceramics and textiles of the 2nd millennium BC in Egypt and the Aegean' in Mediterranean Crossroads. ed. Antoniaou and Pace.
Palaiologu, H. 2015 'A Female Painted Plaster Figure from Mycenae' in Mycenaean Wall Painting in Context. New Discoveries, Old Finds Reconsidered. ed. Brecoulaki, Davis, and Stoker.
Rehak, P. 2005 'The 'Sphinx' Head from the Cult Center at Mycenae'. British Archaeological Reports.
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i do think it is very possible, also insidious, to overcorrect for centuries of not taking slavery in the homeric epics seriously by making it an issue of condemning or exonerating [insert character] in the slave-owning class. you can sometimes engage with homeric slavery through the lens of the character-to-character portrayals of high-born characters interacting with their slaves, but to stop at that level, treating the act of owning slaves as a personal character flaw, is actually wildly underselling a social structure that systematically disenfranchises human beings
>shroud ithaca in mist so he cannot recognize his homeland and believes himself betrayed and lost among foreigners for the eighth time in two decades
>call him an idiot for not knowing it's ithaca
i know i've been on this shit before but jokes aside, there is something to the idea of all these tricks and disguises as athena's mercy. after throwing odysseus into that moment of despair, nothing else he sees will be as unrecognized, as disappointing. by changing him into a beggar, she protects him from having to wonder if he would even be recognized himself.
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mendelsohn (also while addressing the desexualization of nolan's odyssey) talked about how the text implies that when odysseus washed up on ogygia he enjoyed calypso's company, but not anymore, and then he said "we're told as well that she forces him to make love to her every night, even though his heart isn't in it anymore. i must say that's a passage my students never quite can wrap their heads around." which kind of got me like 'well are you asking them discussion questions about it or are you just kind of letting it go as irrelevant to the larger themes,' because i still don't understand why it's not included in the conversation more when it could enrich the discussion on sexual relations in the odyssey, on roles of women, on odysseus as a sex object and an atypical hero, on odysseus' response to the offer of immortality and his broader psychological state, on the famous book 8 simile, and so much more. but in any case i think it will be interesting to be a lit professor when the epic the musical fans get to college. better him than me
daniel mendelsohn on this zoom q&a about the odyssey just cited emily wilson's "there are no sex scenes and the food looks terrible" line LMAO she has changed the culture overnight
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