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Epics, Epic Heroes, and The Odyssey

English I

Mythology

Mythology is the the study of myths, or stories that symbolize basic truths about life.

Myths are usually passed down orally through many generations.

Our new piece of literature, The Odyssey, is one of the most famous Greek myths.

The author given credit for The Odyssey is Homer.

What is an EPIC?

A long narrative poem

An epic has a hero

The story tells of a the hero’s adventures and his fights with supernatural beings (gods, monsters, etc.)

Larger than life scenarios

Long, perilous journeys

Modern Day Epics

Can you think of any modern day epics?

Modern Day Epics

The Wizard of Oz

Harry Potter

The Hangover I, II and III

The Hobbit

The Lion King

Forrest Gump

Star Wars

The Hunger Games!

The Odyssey

The Odyssey is a sequel (second book in a series)

It is the second of Homer’s two great epic poems.

Part one is called The Illiad.

It tells the story of The Trojan War

The Odyssey Background

According to the myth, the war started this way: Paris was a prince in the city of Troy.

Aphrodite, the goddess of love, offered Paris a reward if he chose her.

She said he could have Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world.

However, Helen was already married to Menelaus, the King of Sparta, a city in Greece.

Aprhodite made Helen fall in love with Paris and ran away with him.

The Odyssey Background

Of course, Menalaus was salty, (upset), so he and his brother Agamenon, led a Greek army again Troy to bring her back.

The war that followed is called the Trojan War.

The odyssey tells about a war hero named Odysseus and his long journey home back to Ithaca after the war ends.

See any common traits?

Traits of an Epic Hero

Has larger than life qualities, possibly supernatural powers

Traits of an Epic Hero

A natural leader of men

Appealing to all but rarely has an extended relationship

Traits of an Epic Hero

Defeats monsters and/or fights gods

Voldemort from the Harry Potter series

Grendel from Beowulf

Traits of an Epic Hero

Has “good” on his side

Example: Ares (god of War) rode alongside the Trojans into war

Traits of an Epic Hero

Often stands alone in battle

Smarter than everyone else, generally a problem solver

Trojan horse

Traits of an Epic Hero

Has a weakness that may lead to his death

Makes long journeys, always on the move, travels to find adventure

A skilled fighter

What’s Next

Next class, you will have an open-note quiz about ALL of today’s background information.

Hope you took good notes