Festivity and Contest in Phaeacia - "The Odyssey" Book VIII by Homer

Stephen Alexander Beach 

Book VIII picks up with Odysseus waking up the next day in king Alcinous' palace. A crew and ship is prepared for Odysseus to return home, but first Alcinous wants to throw a feast to show off the greatness of his people. A blind bard (Homer?) is brought in to entertain them and a song is sung about the quarrel between Achilles and Odysseus, which brings Odysseus to tears. They then go out to host Olympic style games with the young men. Odysseus is challenged by a young man and puts them in their place by showing off his strength. Then the dancing begins and the story of Ares and Aphrodite is told. 

The story is about how Ares and Aphrodite commit adultery when Hephaestus is away. Hephaestus, though, sets a trap for them and traps them for all the gods to witness. They become the butt of jokes, and Poseidon has to swear a pledge to Hephaestus to get him to loose the bonds. Overall Phaeacia showed that it hosted the best dancers in the land and Odysseus is impressed. Odysseus is then given fine gifts by the princes of the land, as well as by Arete, and he packs them up safely before taking a warm bath and joining a feast. At the feast, Demodocus is asked to sing of the Trojan horse. 

He retells how the Achaeans burnt their camps and pretended to leave Troy, offering the giant horse as a parting gift, how the Trojans brought it into the city, wondering if they should hack it to pieces, throw it off a cliff, or keep it as an offering to the gods, and how as they decided to keep it that their fate was sealed. This song also broke Odysseus and he began to weep. Alcinous had the bard stop the song. Odysseus is weeping in the most painful and bitter sense, as Homer expresses here: "That was the song the famous harper sang but great Odysseus melted into tears, running down from his eyes to wet his cheeks ... as a woman weeps, her arms flung round her darling husband, a man who fell in battle, fighting for town and townsmen, trying to beat the day of doom from home and children. Seeing the man go down, dying, gasping for breath, she clings for dear life, screams and shrills - but the victors, just behind her, digging spear-butts into her back and shoulders, drag her off in bondage, yoked to hard labor, pain, and the most heartbreaking torment wastes her cheeks." 1 

And here it is that Alcinous begins to put the pieces together and asks Odysseus to reveal who he is and where he is from. "...why do you weep and grieve so sorely when you hear the fate of the Argives, hear the fall of Troy?" 2

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1 - Book VIII 585 - 595

2 - Book VIII 645