Winnowing Oar
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The Winnowing Oar (athereloigos - Greek ἀθηρηλοιγός) is an object that appears in Books XI and XXIII of Homer's Odyssey.[1] In the epic, Odysseus is instructed by Tiresias to take an oar from his ship and to walk inland until he finds a "land that knows nothing of the sea", where the oar would be mistaken for a winnowing fan. At this point, he is to offer a sacrifice to Poseidon, and then at last his journeys would be over.
[edit] In popular culture
- The Winnowing Oar appears in "The Oar," a poem by Michael Longley.
- Seamus Heaney alludes to the Winnowing Oar in his poem "Wolfe Tone."
- The poet Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin writes of the Winnowing Oar in her poem "The Second Voyage."
- In 2003 the artist Conrad Shawcross created a work, Winnowing Oar, based on the object. Sculpted in oak, spruce and ash, it is an imaginary tool with a winnowing fan at one end and an oar blade at the other.[2] It formed part of the Shawcross' 2004 Continuum exhibition at the National Maritime Museum.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ The Odyssey, Perseus Project
- ^ Winnowing Oar, Conrad Shawcross, Victoria Miro Gallery
- ^ Continuum, NMM
[edit] External links
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