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Nostos


Nostos (Ancient Greek: νόστος) is a theme used in Greek literature which includes an epic hero returning home by sea. It is a high level of heroism or greatness. This journey is usually very extensive and includes being shipwrecked in an unknown location and going through certain trials that test the hero. The return isn't just about returning home physically but also about retaining certain statuses and retaining your identity upon arrival. The theme of Nostos is brought to life in Homer's The Odyssey, where the main hero Odysseus tries to return home after battling in the Trojan War. Odysseus is challenged by many temptations, such as the Sirens and the Lotus-eaters. If Odysseus had given into these temptations it would have meant certain death and thus failing to return home. Nostos is used today in many forms of literature and movies.

In the Odyssey, Homer has nostos being the "return home from Troy by sea." Nostos can be told by those who experienced it themselves, or there are simply instances in which it's present. Those who told their adventures on the sea on their journey back home from Troy were Menelaus, Nestor, and Odysseus. Those three recount their adventures to others in the epic. With Menelaus, in Book Four, he tells of his time in Egypt and other irregular stops. He did not stop at just his nostos but he told of Agamemnon's fatal nostos in great detail as well as a small section of Odysseus' journey. Nestor gives more on Menelaus' nostos and his journey home with Odysseus and Menelaus. In Book Three Nestor said "we pondered our long sea-voyage, whether we should sail over the top of rocky Chios by the island Psyros, keeping it on our left hand, or else to pass under Chios, by windy Mimas. We asked the god to give us some portent for a sign, and the god gave us one, and told us to cut across the middle main sea for Euboia, and so most quickly escape the hovering evil." Here Nestor made it evident to the audience that his and Diomedes' journey home was a perfect nostos, they had no real issues, which was quite different from Agamemnon's. This great difference shows how different each hero's journey home could be. In these instances where nostos is simply present and not told by the individual in The Odyssey, there is an intention to reach a specific destination and some other force blowing the characters off course and arrive in unexpected places on their journey to their home.The Odyssey had several different instances of nostos. One specific instance where Odysseus' companions lost their nostos, was when they ate Helios cattle and were killed for this since they were specifically told not to. Odysseus warned the men when he said "Friends, since there is food and drink stored in the fast ship, let us then keep our hands off the cattle, for fear that something may befall us. These are the cattle and fat sheep of a dreaded god, Helios, who sees all things and listens to all things." At that point Odysseus warns the men of what will happen if they eat the cattle, yet they do anyway. This situation took away their nostos because their journey home came to an end.


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