Marriage, Cosmic Tranquility, and the Homeric Retiring Scene

Retiring scenes are an integral part of the narrative rhythm of the Homeric epics, and scenes in which spouses go to sleep beside one another frequently serve to bring phases of the story to a close. The retiring scene, however, does not serve only a practical function. Marriage and spousal togetherness are important leitmotifs in the Homeric corpus, and retiring scenes are a recurring compositional reinforcement of some of the epics' most powerful themes.