Experience the oldest literary form Study and analyze the genre of epic Study and analyze other elements of

literature (character, theme, etc.) Look for archetypes Enjoy a fascinating adventure tale Today we will discuss three things:

Greek/Roman mythology, Background of The Iliad and Odyssey, Hero Cycle

A traditional story rooted in primitive folk beliefs of cultures

Uses the supernatural to interpret natural events

Explains the culture’s view of the universe and the nature of humanity

All cultures have their myths: Native American, Greek, Chinese, Egyptian, etc.

…was Chaos (shapeless nothingness) Chaos had two children:

Night (darkness) Erebus (death)

“All was black, empty, silent, endless.” Mysteriously, Love was born of darkness

and death.

When Love was born, order and beauty began to flourish.

Love created Light and Day. Earth was created.

She was the solid ground, but also a personality. The Earth bore Heaven to cover her and be

a home for the gods.

Mother Earth = Gaea (Gaia) Father Heaven = Ouranos (Uranus) They had three kinds of children:

Three monsters with 100 hands and 50 heads Three cyclopes The Titans

These were the first characters that had the appearance of life, although it was unlike any life known to man.

There were many of them. Enormous size, incredible strength Cronos (Saturn): Ruler of the titans Rhea: Wife of Cronos Ocean: River that encircled the world Iapetus: Father of Prometheus,

Epimetheus, and Atlas (also titans)

Cronos and Rhea were parents of Zeus (Jupiter, Jove) Poseidon (Neptune) Hades (Pluto) Hera (Juno) Hestia (Vesta) Demeter (Ceres)

Other Olympians include Athena (Minerva) Ares (Mars) Hebe (Juventas) Hephaestus (Vulcan) Apollo (Apollo) Artemis (Diana) Hermes (Mercury) Aphrodite (Venus) Dionysus (Bacchus) Persephone

Lets take a few minutes to review some of the Gods and Goddesses alluded to in the epics The Iliad and The Odyssey

Roman Name: Jupiter (also Jove)

Supreme god of the Olympians.

Fathered many characters in mythology

Roman Name: Juno

Zeus’s sister and wife

Jealous protector of marriage

Punished the women Zeus fell in love with

Roman Name: Neptune

God of the Seas and Waters- tempestuous, violent and cruel

“The Earthshaker” The god who opposes

Odysseus Odysseus is also quick

to anger, violent and cruel at times to this god

Roman Name: Pluto

God of the Underworld/ Dead

Kidnapped Persephone

Roman Name: Minerva

Goddess of Wisdom and War a war goddess

who fights to protect the homeland.

Sprang from Zeus’s head

goddess who favors Odysseus

Roman Name: Mars

God of War Son of Zeus and

Hera Bloodthirsty and

merciless

Roman Name: Apollo

God of Light/Sun and Music

Brother of Artemis

Roman Name: Mercury

Messenger of the Gods

Appears in more myths than any other character

Roman Name: Venus

Goddess of Love and Beauty

Sprang from the ocean foam

Nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne

Inspired artists of all kinds

Goddesses who presided over the arts and sciences

“He is happy whom the muses love.”

Clio, Urania, Thalia, Melpomene, Erato, Calliope, Euterpe, Terpsichore, Polyhymnia

Roman Name: Parcae, Moirae Three sisters

Clotho (“The Spinner”) Lachesis (“The disposer of lots”) Atropos (“The cutter”)

They weave, measure, and cut the thread of life for humans.

CyclopsOne eyed monster, son of Poseidon

Charybdis bladder of a creature whose face was all mouth and whose arms and legs were flippers and who swallows huge amounts of water three times a day before belching them back out again, creating whirlpools

Scyllagrotesque sea monster, with six long necks equipped with grisly heads, each of which

contained three rows of sharp teeth.

Circeis a minor goddess of magic, a witch and enchantress

CalypsoSea nymph

In The Odyssey

It’s good to know, during the Odyssey when we talk about dates……

3000 years ago also can mean 1000 B.C.EB.C. = Before Christ B.C.E= Before the Common EraA.D. = After Death A.C.E.= After the Common Era

Long, narrative poem about the adventures of a hero

Shows values & beliefs of a culture Includes a journey / quest Encompasses vast setting (world) Involves supernatural forces Hero’s actions determine nation’s fate

Iliad: the archetype of the war epic. A story of the 10 year Trojan War

(estimated to have occurred around 1200 B.C.)

Began with Paris a Prince of Troy who took Helen, wife of King Menelaus.

Odyssey: the archetype of the story of a long journey; the long journey can be see as a metaphor for living one’s life.

A story of Odysseus’ long and wayward journey from the Trojan War.

Concern eternal human problems such as the conflict between GOOD and EVIL

Written or told on a grand scale and often

in ceremonial style

The hero is a great leader who is identified strongly with a particular people or society.

The setting is broad and often includes supernatural realms, especially the land of the dead.

The hero does great deeds in battle or undertakes an extraordinary journey or quest.

Sometimes gods or other supernatural or fantastic beings take part in the action.

The story is told in heightened language

Who was Homer?

No one knows for sure Greek storyteller composed the Iliad and the

Odyssey around 800 BC may have been blind, a group

of poets, or even a woman

FYI: For many centuries it was believed that the 'Iliad' was a piece of imaginative and inventive fiction . In 1870, however, the German scholar Heinrich Schliemann began excavations at the place where Troy was believed to have stood. He satisfied himself, and eventually the rest of the world, that there had actually been a war fought there. The excavations revealed that several cities had stood on the spot before the one Homer celebrated.

The Illiad:The Illiad:Achilles’ role in the Trojan WarsAchilles’ role in the Trojan Wars

Achilles was the most important warrior in the Achilles was the most important warrior in the Greek ranks. His argument with King Agamemnon Greek ranks. His argument with King Agamemnon led to his brooding and isolation from the war. His led to his brooding and isolation from the war. His friend, Patroclus, disguised in Achilles’ armor, friend, Patroclus, disguised in Achilles’ armor, leads the men into battle. Hector bravely fought leads the men into battle. Hector bravely fought whom he thought was Achilles and killed the whom he thought was Achilles and killed the youth. Achilles, in rage, reenters the battle after youth. Achilles, in rage, reenters the battle after the funeral of Patroclus.the funeral of Patroclus.

The Iliad takes place in the 10th and final year of the Trojan War

Trojan War was fought over Helen. Although, their were underlying currents of tension as the Greeks wanted

to control the trade of The Mediterranean. Menelaus, king of Sparta, wanted his wife back. Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, gathered the army together. Agamemnon got the wind to sail the ships to Troy by sacrificing his

daughter to the gods. Greeks own the war through trickery, the Trojan horse, created by

Odysseus. Achilles, greatest Greek hero, died young in the last year of the war. Agamemnon, killed when he returned home by his wife who had

taken another lover.

Before we get into the actual Trojan War, it is necessary to understand Achilles’ place in Greek culture. The Greeks considered him a hero, who was born of a mortal father and a goddess mother, Thetis. It was his mother who imbued Achilles with his heroic powers.

Achilles was the son of Thetis, a nymph, who had attracted the attention of Zeus and Poseidon. When Prometheus revealed a prophecy that Thetis' son would be greater than his father, the gods lost interest. Thetis married the mortal Peleus, instead. The centaur Chiron raised Achilles.

The Greek concept of a heroThe Greek concept of a hero

In the Homeric epics, the heroes give the reader (or In the Homeric epics, the heroes give the reader (or listener) the impression that, listener) the impression that, in order to be the bestin order to be the best, to , to achieve arachieve arête, ête, an individual must sacrifice for the an individual must sacrifice for the societysociety. Greek heroes often had superhuman powers, . Greek heroes often had superhuman powers, though all Greek heroes and gods had a though all Greek heroes and gods had a classic flawclassic flaw. For . For Achilles, his flaw is his heel, the only portion not covered Achilles, his flaw is his heel, the only portion not covered when his mother dipped him in the river Styx. In the Iliad, when his mother dipped him in the river Styx. In the Iliad, Homer uses Achilles as a central figure to illustrate the Homer uses Achilles as a central figure to illustrate the power of the gods, the role of fate in ones life and the ways power of the gods, the role of fate in ones life and the ways man should deal with the travails of life in a way that man should deal with the travails of life in a way that continues tradition and protects the values of the culture.continues tradition and protects the values of the culture.

After chasing Hector around the city walls three times, the two men finally squared off in battle.

BOOK I. Apollo is angry because Agamemnon has failed to let one of the god's priests ransom a daughter Agamemnon had allotted himself as a war-prize. Agamemnon reluctantly gives the girl up but insists on taking in her place Briseis, a captive originally assigned to Achilles--hence the "wrath of Achilles," which is the epic's announced topic. Achilles complains to his divine mother, Thetis, who persuades Zeus to let the Trojans prevail in battle until Achilles's honor is satisfied.

BOOK II. Lured by a false dream sent by Zeus, the Greeks mass for battle, as do the Trojans. Homer gives long lists of both and their allies.

BOOK III. Paris agrees to single combat with Menelaus to settle the issue of the war and everyone on both sides hopes that the war will soon be over, but when Paris starts to lose Aphrodite wafts him away. Even Helen is mad at both Paris and the goddess.

BOOK IV. The Olympians quarrel among themselves and help stir up battle on the fields of Troy.

BOOK V. Athena helps DIOMEDES, the son of King Tydeus of Argos, wound Aphrodite as that goddess is bearing her Trojan son Aeneas off the battlefield. Ares comes to the aid of the Trojans, and Diomedes wounds him, too.

BOOK VI. The Trojan hero Hector drops home during battle to make some sacrifices. His wife Andromache begs him not to leave her a widow, but he goes back to battle anyway.

BOOK VII. Hector wreaks havoc, and Apollo keeps Athena from helping the Greeks. Ajax is chosen to face Hector in single combat; they fight till night without result. Priam's brother-in-law Antenor advises the Trojans to give up Helen, but Paris refuses.

BOOK VIII. Guided by Zeus, Hector leads a Trojan rout of the Greeks, but nightfall keeps them from climbing the walls and burning the ships.

BOOK IX. Advised by Nestor, Agamemnon finally agrees to return Briseis to Achilles and give him other great gifts, but Achilles won't come back. He knows that his glory will mean his death.

BOOK X. Sent to spy on the Trojans, Odysseus and Diomedes capture a Trojan spy and learn about a Trojan ally on his way. They kill him and the spy.

BOOK XI. The next day brings another bloody battle. Nestor carries off one of the wounded. Achilles sends his closest friend PATROCLUS (or Patrokles) to find out who it is, and Nestor urges Patroclus to wear Achilles's armor and lead their men into battle.

BOOK XII. Led by Hector, the Trojans break through the Greek walls. BOOK XIII. Poseidon disobeys Zeus and helps rally the Greeks. BOOK XIV. Poseidon keeps Agamemnon from calling a retreat to the ships, while Hera seduces Zeus

and lulls him to sleep. Hector is wounded by a stone, and the Trojans are driven back. BOOK XV. Zeus wakes up mad at his wife and sends Apollo to heal Hector, who comes back and

burns the Greek ships. BOOK XVI. Achilles agrees to let Patroclus wear his armor and lead his men. The Trojans fall back,

but Hector kills Patroclus after Apollo stuns him. BOOK XVII. There is a big fight for the battle of Patroclus. Menelaus goes to tell Achilles his friend is

dead. BOOK XVIII. Achilles weeps and carries on. His mother Thetis promises to buy him some new

armor overnight. Just seeing him come out to the field of battle makes the Trojans retreat some. BOOK XIX. Achilles reconciles with Agamemnon and leads the Greeks to battle. BOOK XX. Zeus allows the gods to join in the battle. The Greeks are supported by Hera, Athena,

Poseidon, Hermes, and Hephaestus; the Trojans, by Apollo, Artemis, Ares, and Aphrodite.

BOOK XXI. The gods quarrel among themselves, while Achilles is winning the day. The Trojans retreat within their walls.

BOOK XXII. Hector reproaches himself for not having retreated at the first appearance of Achilles. He goes out to meet Achilles in single combat and is slain. Achilles ties his body behind a chariot and drags it off to the Greek ships.

BOOK XXIII. Funeral games are part of the magnificent burial Achilles gives Patroclus.

BOOK XXIV. As part of his mourning, Achilles keeps dragging the body of Hector around the tomb. Zeus insists that he give the body back, and the gods help Hector's father Priam sneak into the Greek camp to beg for it. Achilles holds the war off while funeral rites are held for Hector. Homer's epic ends with Hector mourned by his wife Andromache, his mother Hecuba, and even Helen, to whom he had been kinder than most Trojans, many of whom understandably resented her role in bringing on the war.

This is where The Iliad ends. The remainder of the story is told recounted by Odysseus in The Odyssey

• A hollow wooden horse the Greeks built, supposedly to honor the Trojans.

• The Greeks pretended to leave and the horse was brought inside the gates of Troy.

When compared to its source material (Homer's The Iliad)... In the movie Troy was sacked about a month after the Greeks

landed, whereas in the book the siege lasted over ten years. Menelaus was not killed by Hector but instead outlived him and

went on to live with Helen until his death. Agamemnon was not killed by Briseis. Actually, he was,

according to the story, killed by his own wife and her lover, after he returned home.

Achilles was killed long before the Greeks built the horse, by one arrow. He is killed by an arrow through his heel that was shot by Paris of Troy. Thus, by the time the Trojan Horse is built and wheeled into the city of Troy, Achilles is dead.

Hector didn't kill Ajax; Ajax committed suicide.

Briseis: In the Warner Bros. movie "Troy," Briseis plays the love interest of Achilles. Briseis is portrayed as a war prize given to Achilles, taken by Agamemnon, and returned to Achilles. Briseis is a virgin priestess of Apollo. The legends say slightly different things about Briseis. In the legends, Briseis was Achilles war prize, and they fell in love with eachother. But then Agamemnon took Briseis from Achilles. Agamemnon did this not merely to make an arbitrary statement about his superior power -- as shown in the movie, but because he had been obliged to return his own war prize, Chryseis, to her father.

Achilles was enraged and refused to fight for Agamemnon. He wouldn't fight even after Agamemnon had returned Briseis -- untouched (as was shown in the movie). But when Achilles' friend Patroclus died, killed by Hector, Achilles went mad and determined to get revenge, which meant going to war. Briseis and Achilles may have intended to marry (according to some). She however was not from Troy nor related to Priam.

At this time in history, the idea of “king” must be taken with a grain of salt. The king of an area might simply be the person who owned the most land, etc. Treasure was really just anything that might have a use to the people taking it.

Where in the World

Where in the World

Like Homer’s other epic, the Iliad, Odyssey begins in medias res, or in the middle of things. Rather than open the story with the end of the Trojan War, Homer begins midway through Odysseus’s wanderings. This presentation of events out of chronological sequence achieves several different goals: it immediately engages the interest of an audience already familiar with the details of Odysseus’ journey; it provides narrative space for a long and evocative flashback later in the text

Most important, the in medias res opening infuses the foreground of the story with a sense of urgency. Were the narrative to begin with the happy victory over Troy and the beginning of Odysseus’s trip back to Greece (a journey the Greeks would have expected to be brief at the time), the story would start at a high point and gradually descend as Odysseus’s misfortunes increased. By commencing with a brief synopsis of Odysseus’s whereabouts and then focusing on Telemachus’ swift maturation, the narrator highlights the tension between Telemachus and the opportunistic suitors as it reaches a climax. Spurred on by the gods, Telemachus must confront the suitors to honor his father.

This is the primary story, the first and best example, the archetype of the story of a long journey. Because the long journey can be seen as a metaphor for living one’s life, this story has been examined more closely. The Odyssey contains the morals, themes and values of the Greek society about adventure, hardship, and life.

Odysseus is a very human hero. More than his strength, which was great, Odysseus was known for his clever and agile mind. It was he who thought of using the Trojan horse to gain entrance to the impregnable walls of Troy.

The story of The Odyssey follows his wayward struggle to return home to his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, after The Trojan war

Odysseus, who was later called Ulysses by the Romans, was king of Ithaca, a small island on the west coast of Greece. When summoned to join his fellow chieftains in the war against Troy, he could not bear to leave his young wife, Penelope, and their son, Telemachus. He therefore pretended to be insane. To convince everyone of his madness, he plowed the sand along the seashore as though it were a field. But Prince Palamedes, who came for him, recognized this as a trick. To prove it, Palamedes placed little Telemachus in the path of the plow. When Odysseus quickly turned the plow aside to avoid striking his son, all saw that his madness was a pretense. So Odysseus fitted 12 ships and went to Troy.

By the war's end he had been away from home for ten years. He filled his ships with treasure taken from the Trojans and set sail. Ordinarily the trip from Troy to Ithaca would have taken only a short time. The Greek gods, however, decided that it should take Odysseus ten years to reach his wife and son. During those years he and his men endured a series of hazardous and remarkable adventures.

The main character or protagonist is heroically larger than life, often the source and subject of legend or a national hero

The deeds of the hero are presented without favoritism, revealing his failings as well as his virtues

The setting covers several nations, the whole world, or even the universe The episodes, even though they may be fictional, provide an explanation for some of the

circumstances or events in the history of a nation or people The gods and lesser divinities play an active role in the outcome of actions All of the various adventures form an organic whole, where each event relates in some way to

the central theme Typical in epics is a set of conventions (or epic machinery). Among them are these:

Poem begins with a statement of the theme ("Arms and the man I sing") Invocation to the muse or other deity ("Sing, goddess, of the wrath of Achilles") Story begins in medias res (in the middle of things) Epic simile (a long simile where the image becomes an object of art in its own right as well

as serving to clarify the subject). Frequent use of epithets ("Aeneas the true"; "rosy-fingered Dawn"; "tall-masted ship") Use of patronymics (calling son by father's name): "Anchises' son" Journey to the underworld Previous episodes in the story are later recounted

Epithet Epithet Adjective or descriptive phrase regularly

used to characterize a person, place, or thing. We speak of “Honest Abe,” for example, and “America the Beautiful.”

Homeric Epithet: compound adjective that modifies a noun. Ex: “wine-dark sea,” “rosy-fingered dawn,” “the gray-eyed goddess Athena.”

A Homeric or heroic simile compares heroic events to everyday occurrences.

Example: “A man in a distant field, no hearth fires near, / will hide a fresh brand in his bed of embers / to keep a spark alive for the next day; / so in the leaves Odysseus hid himself, (Lines 119-122)

The way Odysseus hides himself in the leaves to sleep is compared to the way a burning coal is buried deep in the embers to preserve a spark for the next day.

Hero is one of those oft used words in our language like love and friends. Heroes can come from anywhere and anyone can be one. In The Odyssey, we are exposed to a mythical hero, the classic hero. In mythology and legend, a man or woman, often of divine ancestry, who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for his or her bold exploits, and favored by the gods was considered a hero. Some examples of these ancient heroes include Achilles, Hercules, Perseus, and Odysseus. All of these archetypal heroes undertake a journey or quest of some sort, which we refer to as the hero cycle.

There are three key stages in the hero cycle: Separation, Initiation, and Rebirth. The three stages can be broken down into smaller steps, as seen in the illustration below.

Separation: Heroes, people with special talents or gifts, first separate from the world, departing from their everyday life patterns.

Initiation: Next, the hero has an initiation into a source of power, experiencing trials and victories.

Return: Finally, the hero returns to society, bringing to it the powers gained through the mythic adventure. In reintegrating into society, the hero may be either honored or rejected by others.

The epic hero is a “LARGER THAN LIFE PERSON” who embodies the highest ideals of his culture and embodies LOYALTY, VALOR/ COURAGE, SENSE OF JUSTICE, DIGNITY, PERSISTENCE, and many other traits of the Anglo-Saxon culture

The epic hero usually undertakes a QUEST/ JOURNEY to achieve something of great value to themselves or society

Epic heroes “LIVE ON AFTER DEATH”…meaning they are forever remembered by those who live after them…achieving a type of IMMORTALITY

Not a “Superman” with magical powers but a “REGULAR” human whose aspirations and accomplishments set him/her apart

Overcomes great obstacles/opponents but maintains HUMANITY Epic hero experiences typical HUMAN EMOTIONS/

FEELINGS, yet is able to master and control these human traits to a greater degree than a typical person

The epic hero is an ARCHETYPAL character.

Religious Figures Star Trek Braveheart Gladiator Hancock Harry Potter The Matrix Finding Nemo Shrek I, Robot Batman (any of the films) Spiderman (any of the films) Ice Age Lion King

Introduction

Introduce what a hero is, and your particular topic

It will begin with an attention-grabbing sentence (hook) and give the author and the title of the work and lead the reader into a clear, concise thesis statement that will accurately reflect the topic. The introduction will also begin to address your “answer” to the “so what?” question.

1st Body Paragraph:

Discuss the 1st Stage for your hero: Separation. In this paragraph describe what character traits/ heroic qualities are illustrated by your character. Include specific examples.

2nd Body Paragraph:

Discuss the 2nd stage for your hero: Initiation. In this paragraph, describe the trials your hero goes through as well as any heroic qualities or traits illustrated by your character. Include specific examples.

3rd Body Paragraph:

Discuss the 3rd stage for your hero: Return. In this paragraph describe how others react to the hero’s return, and describe any heroic qualities or traits illustrated. Include specific examples.

Conclusion:

The purpose of the conclusion is to bring the essay to a satisfactory ending. You do not want to introduce new ideas in the conclusion, but you can extend the thinking into the realm of personal reflection (your thinking about the “so what?” question). Do not simply summarize the main points of the essay; a good conclusion needs a good transition sentence as the restated thesis.