Chapter Utopie del lavoro manuale e ozio in Omero

Abstract

In Homer the virtuous and profitable activities are war, robbery, piracy, the physical suppression of the vanquished who cannot be reduced to slavery. Work is not in itself despised, but it has a lower value and belongs to another dimension of life. In this picture, two utopias relating to manual labor stand out and a story that introduces the idea of leisure. The first is in the Iliad and concerns the automatons that help Hephaestus in his blacksmith activity which Aristotle will transform into machines capable of replacing slaves. The second is embodied by Odysseus who carries out manual labor almost, to use Finley's words, if he were doing "sport". But in the Odyssey we also find the idea of a time removed from military, work and political activities dedicated to personal growth represented by the story that Odysseus tells, accompanied by the sound of the lyre, during the banquet promoted in his honor by Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians.