The Odyssey -Book 6 - Nausicaa and the Phaeacians

• Reading time: about 22 minutes
• The land of the Phaeacians—Odysseus' first contact with humans

• Odysseus is washed up on the shore of Scheria, the island of the Phaeacians, whom we will come to see form a society far more perfect than any other in the epic.
• His first encounter is with the princess Nausicaa, whose sexual interest is constant yet still maidenly, unlike Calypso's. Marriage is constantly on her mind. She even fancies what it would be like to marry Odysseus (270).
• The sexual interests throughout this book are amusing. Think about it: Here's Odysseus, naked and covered with grime, coming out of the bushes holding a branch over his genitals.
• He is reluctant to do two actions that are customary:
  • (1) Supplicants kneel before the potential benefactor and hug the benefactor around the knees. Odysseus doesn't do that because he's afraid to scare Nausicaa.
  • (2) Men are generally bathed by young women, yet Odysseus becomes modest and refuses to do this.
• Yet both Odysseus and Nausicaa fantasize about their relation to each other.
• Examine the mutual interest Nausicaa and Odysseus have in each other but how each sublimates their interest for some other, more important purpose.
• See if you can determine what the more important goal is for each. [Discuss Ody Bk06 Q01]