The woods and the polis

Abstract

This paper reconsiders the relation between ‘nature’ and the foundation of a
Greek polis. In order to elucidate this question, I examine some relevant problems in the
interpretation of the Odyssey, particularly the nostos of Odysseus from the depths of the
sea and the forest. This reading is completed with two classical textual references (to the
Hebrew Bible and to the Epic of Gilgamesh), in which the issue of knowledge as loss is of
paramount importance.