Friday, August 22, 2014

What two similes describe the Phaeacians ships in Book 7 of Homer's Odyssey?

The
"curved" and "swift" ships of the
Phaeacians are described by Athena in Book
7 of the Odyssey as, reiterating
the "swift" descriptor, "swift as a bird on the
wing or as a thought." This
is effectively two similes in one, as it uses two separate
points of
comparison to reinforce the point the goddess is making about the quality of
the
Phaeacian fleet. Later, it is stated that the Phaeacians are famed for
their ships; we can
deduce from the context that this is because of their
great speed and their
construction.

We see the same term,
"swift," applied again to the
Phaeacian ships later in the book, when the
Phaeacian men's skill at crafting swift ships is
described as equalling their
women's skill at the loom. This equivocation is not really a ,
although it
compares one thing to another, but it does help illuminate our understanding
of
Phaeacian society.

As far as I can see, there are no
further similes
describing the ships.


href="https://www.theoi.com/Text/HomerOdyssey7.html">https://www.theoi.com/Text/HomerOdyssey7.html

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