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  • Essay / A study of birds of prey featured in The Odyssey

    The eagle's eyes scan the landscape from its perch, searching for its prey from above. Suddenly, a rustle of movement captures all his attention: a dove, perched lightly on the branch of an olive tree. Immediately, the eagle rises from its own branch and dives below, wings folded as it flies toward the unconscious little bird. Expanding its feathers as it braces itself for impact, the eagle catches the dove in its claws and flies away, victorious. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Such scenes appear frequently in Homer's Odyssey, and without fail, a character witnessing the event would declare it to be an ominous sign from the gods. The omens of birds of prey in the Odyssey represent the relationship between gods and men. The delicate balance between predator and prey symbolizes the essence of the power held by the gods over mortals. Birds of prey possess unimaginable power over their victims: power over life and death. With natural ease, they kill their prey, ruthlessly and mercilessly. Likewise, the gods arbitrarily play the role of favorites: those they reward and those they punish, whose lives they destroy and those they elevate to a higher status – all depends solely on their innate whim. Like predators, gods have the power to radically change the quality of life of their victims. Mortals are helpless, struggling prey whom the gods only notice when they figuratively make a significant move in the human world. It is therefore not surprising that almost all of the omens in the Odyssey consist of birds of prey carrying new prey. A good example is the omen spotted by Telemachus as he prepares to leave Lacedaimon. "While he was saying these words, a good omen happened: a bird flew to the right, an eagle carrying in its claws an enormous white goose that it had captured in a barnyard... "What about it? do you think, King Menelaus? Was this omen intended for both of us, or just for you? Our champion Menelaus did not really know what to say, nor how to correctly interpret this omen..." (172) As an eagle flies above him and his companions, carrying a dead goose, Telemachus' companion, Peisistratos , asks Menelaus what he thinks this omen could mean Although they are unsure how to interpret this sign, they are immediately reminded of their mortality and subordination to the gods. The gods seem to enjoy refreshing their subjects' memories. : if they displease them in any way, their lives could end as quickly and ruthlessly as a hunter slaughters his prey. These menacing implications have particular significance in the case of the unfortunate suitors. impending doom is embodied in the incident where they, plotting to assassinate Telemachus, witness another eagle soaring, carrying a freshly slain dove. This so frightened the future kings that they immediately abandoned the plot altogether. “Meanwhile, the suitors hatched a plot to assassinate Telemachus; but a bird was flying near them on their left, an eagle with a dove in its claws. Amphinomus then said: “My friends, our plot to assassinate Telemachus will not succeed. let's succeed; let’s go to dinner instead” (234). Moreover, it is hardly a coincidence that the dream Penelope describes to the beggar carries a similar omen concerning the suitors: "'A great mountain eagle swooped down on them and broke their necks with its curved claws and killed [them]..