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The Odyssey's relation to Christian Literature and music

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Quadadiddle

PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 1:52 pm


So yeah, we read "The Odyssey" in my Greek Mythology class, and we just started our review for midterm exams. Our teacher gave us hints for the question that's worth the most points of any question.

She told us that if you can understand it, then the answer is plainly clear, there's no interpretations once you find it in the book.

Anywho, I'm going to give you guys everything she gave us, and then my additional thoughts and notes on the hints. But first, realize that our teacher is a very Christian woman, and was able to relate the entire story of "The Odyssey" to The Bible, hence that sect in the title.


    We discussed what an anthology was
    -She told us "People think that The Odyssey is actually an anthology, and that the bible, too, is an anthology"

    She asked us how many keys are on a piano. Answer: 88
    She asked us how many books are in The Bible. Answer: 66
    She asked us how many books are in The Odysset. Answer: 22

    She said "The Bible has books made of chapters, and chapters of verses"
    She also said "Doesn't 'The Odyssey' have books, too?"




And that was it as far as the hints went. The first thing I noticed was the numbers. 88, 66, 22. 22 goes into each of those numbers.

22/66 = 1/3
22/88 = 1/4
1/3 > 1/4.

So considering the 3rd inequality, it's obvious that a one-third is greater (more valuable) than the one-fourth. 1/3 is the connection to the Bible, and 1/4 is the connection to music. So perhaps the question os focused mostly on the bible with a small link to music.

In the Odyssey, the 3-headed dog that guards Hades (for pop-culture sake we'll call him Fluffy) can only be distracted by music. But that has no real relation to the Bible, nor does Odysseus actually contact Fluffy when he goes into Hades to meet Teresias the blind prophet.



I know, this is some DaVinci Code s**t, but she said "it's obvious once you understand it" and that "once you find it in the book that's the answer. there's no interpretation once you find it in the book" so yeah, I'm either thinking too complexly or just nto thinking at all.

Please, readers of The Odyssey, please help me D:

to throw in more background to our teacher, she always --and I mean always-- talks about how when she read The Odyssey in college, there was a question about relating The Odyssey to The Bible and using specific examples. However, it's a public school so that may be a little farfetched.

The one thing that keeps puzzling me is the reference to music, more importantly why she told us about 88 keys on the piano.

Unless 22, 66 & 88 are somehow related to the line/chapter system in The Odyssey & The Bible. Maybe Chapter 22, line 88 or something. I wish I had a copy of The Odyssey on me to check that.
PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:02 am


Quite a puzzler. I'm sure it would be easier to figure out if I read the book.. but I can get a general idea of the puzzle. And you're possibly right, now you mentioned she's very Christian, meaning that she could just be linking it to the bible many times in hopes of converting people with subtle memory keys. But she only gives a few hints, Piano keys, the bible, and the book. So maybe there is a connection. Or maybe the numbers are a way of finding specific points in the Bible or the Odyssey as a way of finding a paragraph or sentence.

But I'd probably have to read the book, I'm just rambling off possible ways of interpreting the hints.

Lumiere Vulpine
Crew

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