Why Is Agriculture Important In The Odyssey

In the Ancient Greek society, agriculture was something to be praised and admired, and was an integral part of Ancient Greek culture. Agriculture had been the foundation of the ancient Greek economy and an activity that most of the population was involved in. In his books Odyssey and Iliad, Homer defines the model of Greek agricultural culture.

In the Odyssey, Homer tells the story of the Greek hero Odysseus. During his journey home after the fall of Troy, Odysseus arrives at the land of the Cyclopes and comes across an island offshore of the mainland. In the depiction, Homer emphasizes the wonderful opportunity for agriculture on the island. The island is forested and has never been plowed or planted. It has an innumerable number of

wild goats. “For it is not a bad place at all, it could bear all crops in season, and there are meadow lands near the shores of the gray sea, well watered and soft” (Od. 9.131-133). The land is good from an agricultural perspective; the meadow lands are fertile and soft, and can grow an abundance of grapes. The land is smooth for plowing, ideal for farming, and for harvesting in season, due to the very rich subsoil. There is also an easy harbor with no need to tie down or anchor boats.

The island would be an idyllic place for a Greek.

The Greeks valued agriculture very highly and the island’s soft and fertile land would wonderfully accommodate a Greek’s need for crop growing, farming, and harvesting. Furthermore, since goats were one of the most common types of livestock in ancient Greece, a Greek can also do well with the numerous amounts of wild goats that inhabit the island. The easy harbor is also another aspect that he can benefit from since the Greeks depend on the sea for

trade.

In the Iliad, Homer describes the Shield of Achilles.

On the shield’s layers we can see a collection of the images portraying Greek culture and their appreciation of agriculture and hard work. One image depicts a field being ploughed for the third time where the workers drink honey-sweet wine between shifts. Another image depicts a king’s estate of the harvest being reaped where men, women and children joyously take part in the reaping. A depiction of a vineyard shows how the grape pickers are as well, happily taking part. “Young girls and young men, in all their light-hearted innocence, carried the kind, sweet fruit away in their woven baskets…and with singing and whistling and light dance-steps of their feet kept time to the music” (Il. 18.567-572). The Greeks also had a great quantity of goats and sheep as livestock. The shield illustrates a pastoral setting of “A lovely valley for the glimmering sheepflocks, with dwelling places upon it, and covered shelters, and sheepfolds” (Il.18.588-589). Sheep and goats were an important part of Greek lifestyle as they were used to help on the farms and to provide meat and wool. On the shield there is another image of young men and women celebrating with song and dance, and thanking the gods for the grain from the harvest. From the depictions on the shield, the Greeks not only worked hard to grow crops and farm the land, but also did it joyously and

enthusiastically.

The Cyclopes that Odysseus meet differ from the Greeks. They are a rough and uncivilized race who “neither plow with their hands nor plant anything, but all grows for them without seed planting, without cultivation…” (Od. 9.108-109). While farming and hard work are necessities in the daily life of a Greek, the Cyclopes do not care for agriculture. They are lazy and unskilled. Even though the island is just offshore, they do not know how to craft ships, and therefore cannot travel to the island and benefit from its rewards.

Aside from not holding cultivation in high regard, the Cyclopes differ from the Greeks in a number of other ways as well. “These people have no institutions, no meetings for counsels…and each one is the law for his own wives and children and cares nothing about the others” (Od. 9.112-115). The Cyclopes have no laws, no structure, and no council or assembly. This is different from the Greeks who have laws and council and city structure, as depicted on the Shield of Achilles.

For the ancient Greeks, agriculture was one of the most important aspects of life. Homer expresses this through his depictions of a beautiful, fertile island in the Odyssey, and the bucolic images on the Shield of Achilles in the Iliad. The Greeks needed and appreciated agriculture while the Cyclopes were the complete opposite. They lacked agriculture and shared no similar culture with the Greeks. Agriculture penetrated into the Greek world to such an extent that it is still today regarded as a fundamental part in the Ancient Greek identity.