Tuesday, December 9, 2014

The Homeric Cast of "Ody-C"

According to their own description, Ody-C is Matt Fraction and Christian Ward's re-telling of Homer's Odyssey by way of Barbarella.  While their sci-fi adventure epic already shows its unique vision and independent sense of story and style, it's riddled with echoes and allusions—some pregnant with meaning, others clever but seemingly inconsequential—to the ancient epic.  This is an ever-evolving list of characters, places, and episodes from the comic series and their Homeric equivalents.  Some are clear enough—Odyssia for Odysseus—others less so and are eligible for later revision.

[Note: At least as of the first issue—particularly the mythological timeline and galactic map—there are a number of spelling inconsistencies.  As/if these resolve themselves in future issues, they will be standardized below.]

Mortals:

Greeks:
Odyssia = Ὀδυσσεύς (Odysseus)
Gamem = Ἀγαμέμνων (Agamemnon)
Ene = Μενέλαος (Menelaus)
Keles = Ἀχιλλεύς (Achilles)
He, husband of Ene, kidnapped by Paris = Ἑλένη (Helen)
Palam = Παλαμήδης (Palamedes)
Sinane = Σίνων (Sinon)

Pelenus
 (sebex), mother of Keles = Πηλεύς (Peleus)
Leda, wife of Tynda and mother to He = Λήδα
Tynda, wife of Leda and mother to He = Τυνδάρεως (Tyndareus)
Icaria of Parras, sister to Tynda and mother to Penelope = Ἰκάριος (Icarius), husband of Περίβοια (Periboea)

Crew of the Ody-C:
Xylot =
Eurylock/Eury = Εὐρύλοχος (Eurylochus)
Tiphu = Ἄντιφος (Antiphus)
Pen/Pem = Ἐλπηνωρ (Elpenor)
Olite = Πολίτης (Polites)
Medes, daughter of Sinane = Περιμήδης (Perimedes)

Family of Odyssia:
Penelope, wife of Odyssia = Πηνελόπεια
Ero (sebex), lover of Odyssia = perhaps punning on both ἔρως ("love," as Odyssia's lover) and ἥρως ("hero, warrior")
Telem, son of Odyssia and Penelope= Τηλέμαχος (Telemachus)
Anticlea, mother to Odyssia = Ἀντίκλεα

Trojans:
Hekta = Ἕκτωρ (Hector)
Paris = Πάρις
Priia, mother of Hekta and Paris = Πρίαμος (Priam)
Hecu (sebex), wife of Priia = Ἑκάβη (Hecuba)
Cassan = Κασσάνδρα (Cassandra)

Gods and Titans:
Zeus = Ζεύς
Hera = Ἣρα
Promethene = Προμηθεύς (Prometheus)
Poseidon = Ποσειδῶν
Athena = Ἀθηνᾶ
Hermes = Ἑρμῆς
Aphrodite = Ἀφροδίτη
Seri = Ἔρις (Eris)
C(h)ronus = Κρόνος
Dionysus = Διόνυσος
Apollo = Ἀπόλλων
Aeolus = Αἴολος

Lesser Deities and Monsters:
Amphi(t)rite = Ἀμφιτρίτη
Thetia = Θέτις (Thetis)
Furia = Ἐρινύες (Erinyes/Furies)
Centiladon = centi- + Λάδων (hundred-headed dragon guarding the Garden of the Hesperides)
Herakles = Ἡρακλῆς

Places:
Troiia = Τροία (Troia/Troy)
Ithicaa = Ἰθάκη (Ithaca)
Achaea = Αχαΐα
Atoleia = Αιτωλία (Aetolia)
Mycen = Μυκῆναι (Mycenae)
Aeolia = Αἰολίη
Hespiridia = land of the Ἑσπερίδες (Hesperides)
Cicone = land of the Κίκονες (cf. Ἵσμαρος, Ismaros)
Lotophage = land of the λωτοφάγοι, the lotus-eaters
Kylo(s) = land of the Κύκλωπες, the cyclopes?
Parra =
Valbarra =
Laestyr = land of the Λαιστρυγόνες (cf. Λάμος, Lamos; Τηλέπυλος, Telepylos)
Aeaea = Αἰαία, island of Κίρκη
Calaria =
Sirenium = home of the Σειρῆνες (cf. Sirenum scopuli, Aeneid V.864)
Khary = home of Χάρυβδις
Hyperia = Ὑπερείη
Thrine = Θρινακία (Thrinacia)
Ogyrus = Ὠγυγία (Ogygia), island of Καλυψώ
Nuna-Nix = νῦν ("now," ever-)? + Νύξ ("night"), perhaps the land of the Κιμμέριοι (the Cimmerians), living at the edge of the Land of the Dead


Episodes from The Odyssey:
Cicones = plundering of the Κίκονες (IX.39-66)
Lotophage = sojourn among the Lotus-Eaters, the λωτοφάγοι (IX.82-104)
Wine of Apollo's priestess = Ὀδυσσεύς receives gifts of sweet wine from Μάρων, son of Ἐυαντῆς and grandson of Διόνυσος, for kindness in Ἴσμαρος, island home of the Κίκονες  (IX.196-211)
Feast on the Satyrs:  Ὀδυσσεύς and his men feed on the wild goats in the land of the Κύκλωπες (IX.152-165)
Cyclops of Kylos:  capture by the κύκλωψ, son of Ποσειδῶν (IX.105-370)

Cosmoquanta Corpus Callsoum [sic] = presumably corpus callosum (lit., "hard-skinned body"), the white matter commissure between the cerebral hemispheres

The Kamiethi = τῇ καλλίστῃ (ΤΗΙ ΚΑΛΛΙΣΤΗΙ) 'for the most beautiful', carved into the golden apple stolen from the Hesperides

Thumos = θυμός (cf. anima), 'the soul, spirit, heart; desire, will, passion' — the seat of both thought and anger in the heart

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