I found this one of the most striking chapters of the book; a friend of mine found it rather name-droppy, so I had to take another look.
Odysseus has gone down to Hades, the kingdom of the dead, as instructed by Circe the enchantress. Here he seeks advice from the prophet Tiresias, who unlike most of the dead still keeps his sense of self, his memory, and his talents. His mind, as Circe puts it, "remains unshaken" even in death, and he can advise Odysseus as to how best to proceed.
Odysseus must go to the mouth of the underworld itself. There, he pours libations and makes a blood sacrifice. The spirits of the dead are drawn to the blood, which of course represents life. Odysseus describes the horrifying sight of all those souls:
"Brides and unwed youths and old men who had suffered much and girls with their tender hearts freshly scarred by sorrow and great armies of battle dead, stabbed by bronze spears, men of war still wrapped in blooy armor -- thousands swarming around the trench from every side -- unearthly cries -- "
As well as Tiresias, Odysseus also meets a recently dead comrade-in-arms, and learns exactly what happened to him (how strange to hear a man describe his own death!); his own mother, who had been alive when Odysseus set out for Troy (and who claims to have died sorrowing for her absent son -- guilt, much?); and Agamemnon and Achilles and Ajax, comrades from the Trojan War.
So far, so good, in terms of appropriateness and interest for the reader. He also sees Leda, the mother of Helen of Troy. Still kinda related to what's going on.
But along with all these, he sees Tyro, a princess whom Poseidon took as a lover and had sons with. Well, Poseidon's been a big presence in the story, but we're getting a little off-topic here...
And Antiope, who dated Zeus and whose sons by him founded Thebes. Um, interesting, I guess...
And Hercules' mom; and Hercules' wife. Well, at least we've heard of him...
And Oedipus' mom, who's also Oedipus' wife. Yes, we'll remember to read that play at some point.
And Orion, and hey, there's Hercules! And Tantalus, and Minos. Ooh, and Sisyphus, my fave. Heard of them, okay.
But Chloris? Who the heck is Chloris? And Iphimedeia, and Phaedra, and Ariadne -- is *everyone's* wife or girlfriend down here, just waiting to tell her story to Odysseus?
And okay, I've left out a bunch of names. And yeah, I guess it *did* get a little name-droppy after a while.
But the beginning is so strong. And I get a mischievous kick out of the ending that the poet likely *didn't* intend. Odysseus says that he stayed a while longer than he had to in Hades,
"hoping others might still come, shades of famous heroes, men who died in the old days and ghosts of an even older age I longed to see."
Which is a good clue to all the name-dropping, after all -- wasn't the only real immortality to be had if the living were still singing your deeds and praises? Odysseus goes on,
"But before I could, the dead came surging round me, hordes of them, thousands raising unearthly cries, and blanching terror gripped me -- panicked now that Queen Persephone might send up from Death some monstrous head, some Gorgon's staring face! I rushed back to my ship..."
I'm sorry, I find that kind of funny. "So I was hanging out in Hell, hoping to see some famous people, you know? And them all of a sudden I'm like, whoa! Creepy! Too many dead people! I'm outta here!"
