IE/Historical: Spiridon Capotos (BU Classics)

Title: "Odysseus’s Gandharva marriage and Sanskrit heroines: (Reversed) gender roles in traditional epic"

Abstract:  In this paper I will explore the thorny issue of the nature of Odysseus’s captivity in Ogygia and of his relationship to Calypso (lover, master, sexual servant?) by looking at comparable passages from the Sanskrit epic tradition, especially the Mahābhārata. I will depart from some of the acquisitions of Gresseth’s (1979) influential article on the narrative structure of the Odyssey and the Nalopakhyana, as expanded and corrected in more recent works and especially in Jamison’s articles on the shared Greco-Aryan motifs. The focus will be on the representation of gender roles in traditional “return stories” and “chastity motifs” of Indic epic connected to the “heroic institution” of the Gāndharva marriage such as those of Damayantī, Sītā, and Sukanyā, as extensively portrayed in the Vana Parva. Within the corpus of ancient Greek epic, the Hymn to Demeter and the reverse similes of the Odyssey will also provide important comparative material for the Ogygia episode (cf. Crane 1988). My aim will be that of reconstructing the archetypical narrative functions attributed to hero and heroine in episodes about bereft lovers and often immortal suitors, in order to underline the differences and peculiarities of the two traditions. From the systematic comparisons of the Sanskrit and Greek episodes, a paradoxical Odysseus will emerge: one who has more in common with the cunning and faithful female figures of Indic epic (see Jamison 1996), and with Penelope, than with their male counterparts (cf. however Purūravas in RV 10.95). I suggest that Odysseus and Penelope share in the Odyssey inherited formulaic vocabulary normally assigned to the lovers “in separation”. The results will shed more light on the Calypso episode and on the overarching structure of the Homeric poem which seems to revolve even more than previously observed around the like-mindedness and interchangeable role of husband and wife. A leading narrative thread which we can appreciate at a linguistic, thematic, and structural level in the poem.