Essay On Currents In The Odyssey

From 2005-2009, there were an average of 3,533 fatal unintentional drownings annually in the United States — about ten deaths per day. Most of these deaths were caused by swimming too far out in the ocean, getting picked by a large current, and then drowning. Water currents are perhaps the most important and influential natural activities that Mother Nature can produce. Over the years, currents have propelled ships across oceans, changed weather patterns around the world, and created ecosystems that have thrived for centuries. Humans have been both benefited and hindered by the effects of currents. Homer has incorporated currents into the Odyssey by combing mythical creatures, such as Poseidon, thus affecting Odysseus at every turn.

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likely written between 750 and 650 B.C., The Odyssey is an epic poem about the wanderings of the Greek hero Odysseus following his victory in the Trojan War. The Odyssey, alongside the slightly earlier Iliad (a story of the famous Trojan War), began a new age of Western literature. The Odyssey has been so influential that its primary theme, the desire for home, may be the most important one in modern narratives, used for stories such as Hatchet, Ranger’s Apprentice, and many more. In The Odyssey, Odysseus, who is the King of Ithaca, has just completed the siege of Troy. Coming home victorious, he sails toward his homeland. Throughout his voyage, he loses all 16 of his ships, every single man with him dies, and he receives hundreds of injuries, insults, and indignities. After twenty tears of yearning toward Ithaca, he finally returns home. Throughout his travels, Poseidon, the god of the Sea, attempts to kill Odysseus because he blinded Poseidon’s son. Thus, dangerous currents plague him for through his journey.
When Odysseus leaves Circe’s island, he goes across a strait where both Charybdis and Scylla live.

Charybdis is an enormous whirlpool that often sucks in hundreds upon thousands gallons of sea water. After she sucks in that enormous amount of water, she spits it all out, thus causing waves and tsunamis. Her waves cause furious currents that affect the surrounding areas. The few ships in Odysseus’s fleet are almost sucked in by the currents caused by the whirlpool. Later in the epic, Odysseus once again meets up with Charybdis. His ship has just been shipwrecked by the wrath of Poseidon, and he is currently being propelled and controlled by the wind and currents. The elements drive him back to the dangerous strait where Charybdis and Scylla reside. Odysseus lands on a small deserted island where he decides to rest for a little while. Then, Charybdis begins sucking in water, demonstrating a severe case of rip currents. In Martin Austin’s article named An Introduction to Rip Currents Based on Field Observations, he states “rip currents are often the main hazard in a populated beach area.” Rip currents are a specific kind of water current that can be found near beaches. It is a strong, localized, and rather narrow current of water. This type of currents often sweeps boats, humans, and other objects far out to sea. Rip currents and ordinary sea currents have been combined with Charybdis in the

Odyssey.
Ever since Odysseus blinded the Cyclops’s eye with a burning branch, Poseidon, the Cyclops’s father, has vowed to kill Odysseus in revenge. When Odysseus’s men kill and feast on the sun god’s cattle, he once more tries to kill them all. He has often sent dangerous waves and currents to harm Odysseus and his crew. He delays their attempts to reach Ithaca and causes a dangerous shipwreck that kills everyone except Odysseus. The destruction of the ships could be explained by the abnormal currents of El Nino. Xiaoliang Song writes in Role of Climate Feedback in El Niño–Like SST Response to Global Warming, “The equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) changes associated with natural climate variability [e.g., El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)] affect not only tropical cyclone activity, freshwater supplies agriculture and ecosystems, but also the global patterns of flood and drought and climate extremes worldwide through atmospheric teleconnections.” El Nino has far-reaching effects, and could have caused dangerous storm and conditions for Odysseus and his men. El Nino was incorporated into Poseidon, thus explaining the abnormal weather.
When Odysseus finally lands on the beach in Ithaca, the Phoenician sailors gently drop him off the coast.

Once he is dropped off, the Phoenicians immediately set off back to their homeland. Poseidon is still very angry, so he immediately destroys the ship with waves and currents. This phenomenon is clearly expressed in Current flow through the Straits of Mackinac, and article explaining peculiar interactions between different currents. James Saylor says “The region of intense thermal gradients that separate the upper and lower water layers is called the thermocline. The warmer water, the upper layer, is moved easily about the lakes by winds acting on the lake’s surfaces, causing the familiar downwellings and upwellings of the thermocline that are observed along the lake coasts. Downwellings represent the piling up of the wan water, pushing the thermocline to deeper depths. This often causes unexpected currents that can exceed 3 m/s, thus making the waters extremely dangerous.” The destruction of the Phoenician ship was clearly caused by downwellings. The ancient Greeks showed downwellings by expressing the as an instrument of Poseidon’s

wrath.
Currents have been explained in a mythical sense by Homer. Since the ancients were not able to understand what caused these natural activities, they created Poseidon, Charybdis, and hundreds of other mythical creatures to explain this natural activity. Currents are perhaps one of the most important natural activities in The Odyssey. From Odysseus’s voyage to Troy to his flight from Charybdis, currents, in the form of gods and monsters, have clearly affected Odysseus’s story.