{"id":{"repo_id":"unm","oai_identifier":"oai:digitalrepository.unm.edu:fll_etds-1072"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/unm/oai:digitalrepository.unm.edu:fll_etds-1072","repository":{"repo_id":"unm","name":"University of New Mexico","base_url":"https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Friend, Foe, or Other? Monsters and Identity on the Odyssean Sea","abstract":"The sea upon which Odysseus wanders in Homer's Odyssey is a chaotic and unpredictable place, empty of historical non-Greek cultures, but full of sea creatures, monsters, and deities eager to ensnare and devour the long-suffering hero. However, the Mediterranean of the Archaic Age that produced the Odyssey was a well-charted sea, where Greeks frequently interacted with foreigners. This thesis approaches the sea in the Odyssey as a mythic borderland, a medium for conceptualized representations of actual intercultural exchanges between archaic Greeks and other cultures of the ancient Mediterranean. Further, using postcolonial theory, this study attempts to understand how the various maritime oddities within the Odyssey give form to the trauma and cultural ambiguity inherent in ancient sea travel. Finally, this thesis explores how Odysseus successfully adapts his own identity to cope with the sea's chaotic landscape, allowing the poem's ancient audience to mediate their own troubling experiences.","abstract_html":"The sea upon which Odysseus wanders in Homer's Odyssey is a chaotic and unpredictable place, empty of historical non-Greek cultures, but full of sea creatures, monsters, and deities eager to ensnare and devour the long-suffering hero. However, the Mediterranean of the Archaic Age that produced the Odyssey was a well-charted sea, where Greeks frequently interacted with foreigners. This thesis approaches the sea in the Odyssey as a mythic borderland, a medium for conceptualized representations of actual intercultural exchanges between archaic Greeks and other cultures of the ancient Mediterranean. Further, using postcolonial theory, this study attempts to understand how the various maritime oddities within the Odyssey give form to the trauma and cultural ambiguity inherent in ancient sea travel. Finally, this thesis explores how Odysseus successfully adapts his own identity to cope with the sea's chaotic landscape, allowing the poem's ancient audience to mediate their own troubling experiences.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Bellum, Daniel"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Smith, Warren","Cyrino, Monica","Garcia, Lorenzo Jr"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2009,"date_issued":"2009-08-27T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2009-08-27T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:26:07Z","subjects":["monsters","Odyssey","postcolonial","cultural identity","Homer","Proteus","Leukothea","Nausikaa","Odysseus"],"languages":["English"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/fll_etds/72"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/fll_etds/72","href":"https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/fll_etds/72","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1928/9778","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Smith, Warren","Cyrino, Monica","Garcia, Lorenzo Jr"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Bellum, Daniel"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis","Masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["monsters","Odyssey","postcolonial","cultural identity","Homer","Proteus","Leukothea","Nausikaa","Odysseus"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1928/9778","https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/fll_etds/72"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The sea upon which Odysseus wanders in Homer's Odyssey is a chaotic and unpredictable place, empty of historical non-Greek cultures, but full of sea creatures, monsters, and deities eager to ensnare and devour the long-suffering hero. However, the Mediterranean of the Archaic Age that produced the Odyssey was a well-charted sea, where Greeks frequently interacted with foreigners. This thesis approaches the sea in the Odyssey as a mythic borderland, a medium for conceptualized representations of actual intercultural exchanges between archaic Greeks and other cultures of the ancient Mediterranean. Further, using postcolonial theory, this study attempts to understand how the various maritime oddities within the Odyssey give form to the trauma and cultural ambiguity inherent in ancient sea travel. Finally, this thesis explores how Odysseus successfully adapts his own identity to cope with the sea's chaotic landscape, allowing the poem's ancient audience to mediate their own troubling experiences."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Friend, Foe, or Other? Monsters and Identity on the Odyssean Sea"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Smith, Warren","Cyrino, Monica","Garcia, Lorenzo Jr"],"dc:creator":["Bellum, Daniel"],"dc:description.abstract":["The sea upon which Odysseus wanders in Homer's Odyssey is a chaotic and unpredictable place, empty of historical non-Greek cultures, but full of sea creatures, monsters, and deities eager to ensnare and devour the long-suffering hero. However, the Mediterranean of the Archaic Age that produced the Odyssey was a well-charted sea, where Greeks frequently interacted with foreigners. This thesis approaches the sea in the Odyssey as a mythic borderland, a medium for conceptualized representations of actual intercultural exchanges between archaic Greeks and other cultures of the ancient Mediterranean. Further, using postcolonial theory, this study attempts to understand how the various maritime oddities within the Odyssey give form to the trauma and cultural ambiguity inherent in ancient sea travel. Finally, this thesis explores how Odysseus successfully adapts his own identity to cope with the sea's chaotic landscape, allowing the poem's ancient audience to mediate their own troubling experiences."],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/1928/9778","https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/fll_etds/72"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:subject":["monsters","Odyssey","postcolonial","cultural identity","Homer","Proteus","Leukothea","Nausikaa","Odysseus"],"dc:title":["Friend, Foe, or Other? Monsters and Identity on the Odyssean Sea"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis","Masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:26:07Z"}