While watching the film adaptation of *The Odyssey* by Christopher Nolan, a question naturally arises:
What is our Ithaca?;
The Odyssey is not a movie. For twenty-seven centuries, it has been something worse. It is a A mirror of society. Timeless.
With every new adaptation of *The Odyssey*, the same misleading question arises: «How faithfully does it reflect *The Odyssey*?»
All great works endure because each era reinterprets them through its own anxieties, through the prevailing social structures and circumstances of the time. The world of Homer’s Odysseus does not correspond to any specific historical era.
What is missing from the descriptions in the *Odyssey* when compared to the current situation in our country (and why not in Kythira as well)?;
The Laestrygonians, the Lotophagi, the Cyclops, the Sirens, Circe, Calypso?;
The Lotus-Eaters exist. They are oblivion. Societies that eat the lotus forget who they were, who put them in debt, and what they paid. They end up embracing the theory of two extremes! They try to present it as a neutral outcome. But it isn’t; it is political and deliberate.
The Sirens exist, and they are propaganda. It sounds like a truth that flatters and misleads. New times, new customs—let’s break free from the supposedly «anachronistic and old-fashioned» patterns.
The Cyclops exists. It is the lawless, the rejection of communal life and collective struggle, the raw power that is accountable to no one. It is today’s Trumps—and their ilk—everywhere.
Circe, if she exists at all. The magical potion symbolizes moral decline and the loss of human identity. Passions and pleasures can cause a person to lose their dignity and their
reason. That is when passions and animal instincts begin to take hold and dominate human thought.
And Calypso exists. Her name means «she who hides.» She is escape. Escape from history. Privacy in its purest form. Self-absorption. I am withdrawing for good; I no longer exist in the public sphere; it is none of my concern. After seven years, Odysseus refused to become immortal. He became a human being again—a citizen, a mortal.
Ithaca is not a nostalgic longing; it is not just an island. It is a society with functioning institutions and rules that are binding on everyone—even the powerful. With a historical memory that cannot be bargained away or «modernized» at will. History is the map on which all obstacles are recorded. Oblivion, complacency, arbitrariness, propaganda. It is the antidote to all the miseries we experience.
Little by little, we’re getting back to our daily lives—to everything that’s happening in Kythira.
So what does this mirror tell us about our own island?;
We are living in an era not of the best, but of the Useless. Η Incompetence It lives and reigns. (I know some people will rush to respond and lambast me, but if, in the end, an article helps them define themselves, then so be it.) A system that has promoted people who are the worst of the worst—people who are, at the same time, arrogant and repressive toward anyone who tries to contribute something meaningful to society as a whole. Excellence is under attack.
We have the clash between brutality and humanity, between childishness (nē + epós = foolishness, stupidity) and ingenuity, between physical strength and knowledge, and between cunning and morality. The power of the mind is pitted against physical strength.
Since it’s summer and discussions about dining spots are in full swing, let’s take a look at the «kitchen» of these places from this perspective Useless.
The basic ingredients in the cuisine of Achriston are:
“Cunning, arrogance, cynicism, aggression, selfishness, narcissism, vanity, and optimism. All in order. Neatly arranged in his kitchen (located in a space to the right of his office), inside uniform wall cabinets. The bottom part of each cabinet is a faithful clay replica of his head. When the Useless When he wants to cook, he places beneath the clay knob on every cabinet a pot made of hollowed-out air and simultaneously twists back both ears of the faithful clay replica of his head; immediately, the mouth opens, the tongue shoots out, and the required amount of material pours into the pot. The grams are calculated automatically. The pot boils over fresh lies, at three hundred sixty-five degrees Celsius, and after about half an hour of rich, this thick, creamy, bubbling nonsense is ready to be served.»
Enjoy your meal!
An Eteo-Tsirigotis
And for copying
Stavros Megalokonomos
Excellent!