The Allurement Scene: A Typical Pattern in Greek Oral Epic

Abstract

Many scholars have noted parallels between the Nausikaa episode on Scheria and the Penelope scenes following Odysseus' return to Ithaka,' but no one has yet argued that these two parts of the Odyssey share a traditional type-scene in common. Several other episodes in both Homeric epics are variants of this basic pattern, and there are instances of it also in other Greek oral poetry. This typical which I shall call the scene, goes as follows: a female (woman or goddess) makes herself especially attractive, usually with an explicit reference to Aphrodite or the Graces: there is some suggestion of sex or marriage; then the female goes forth to appear before a male audience, which is immediately smitten with desire. In some cases the participants then go to bed together: in others desire is aroused but goes unsatisfied, or else is transformed. One might expect that it would make a good deal of dif ference whether or not the characters end up in bed, but in fact Homer's deployment of this common with the resulting analysis of human sexuality, is much more subtle. Parts of this allurement scene were identified in Michael Nagler's study of what he called the motif, i.e., the way that Homer's major characters often appear accompanied by two servants, or by companions of lesser rank. Nagler notes that when the attendance motif is applied to women, it carries the extra connotation of sexual chastity, often reinforced by the kredemnon, or veil, motif. To illustrate the point, Nagler contrasts two scenes, one in Iliad 3 in which Helen goes in to her bedroom to meet Paris while her handmaidens turn aside