homer’s the odyssey

Homer’s Homer’s The OdysseyThe Odyssey

Must you have battle in your heart forever?The bloody toil of combat? Old contender,will you not yield to the immortal gods?

From The Odyssey, Book 12

Notes for The OdysseyNotes for The Odyssey

• The Odyssey is an ____ poem. It has more than ____ lines and is divided into ____ books.


• The Odyssey is an epic poem. It has more than ____ lines and is divided into ____ books.


• The Odyssey is an epic poem. It has more than 12000 lines and is divided into __ books.


• The Odyssey is an epic poem. It has more than 12000 lines and is divided into 24 books.


• The Odyssey is an epic poem. It has more than 12000 lines and is divided into 24 books.

• Epics address universal concerns:– Good and Evil– Life and Death– Sin and Redemption

Some characteristics of an epic:Some characteristics of an epic:• 1) The story is set in many locations, real

or imaginary, across a wide area.

• 2) The hero is an important historical or legendary character of high social rank – a king or a prince, for example.

• 3) The hero is pitted against overwhelming odds and must be strong and courageous.

• 4) Supernatural events play an important role in the plot.

• 5) The story is told in language that is formal and grand but also simple and clear.

The hero in The Odyssey is Odysseus.

Sean Bean in Troy

Armond Asante in The Odyssey Marble carving of Odysseus from 2nd century BC - Greece


Sean Bean in Troy


He is from He is from _______________ _______________ which is which is

locatedlocated _____________________________._____________________________.


Sean Bean in Troy


He is from He is from the island of Ithacathe island of Ithaca which is which is

locatedlocated _____________________________._____________________________.


Sean Bean in Troy


He is from He is from the island of Ithacathe island of Ithaca which is which is

locatedlocated off the west coast of Greeceoff the west coast of Greece..

The Trojan WarThe Trojan WarWho?Who?

• Menelaus, King of Sparta, and the kings and soldiers of Greece sail to Troy.

• Greeks: Agamemnon – leader of Greek Army Achilles – Greatest Greek warrior – one physical weakness Odysseus – “The Cunning One”

• Trojans: Priam – King of Troy Paris – Son of Priam Hector – Troy’s greatest warrior, son of Priam

The Trojan WarThe Trojan WarWhy?Why?

• Paris kidnapped Helen, wife of Menelaus, who then sails to kill Paris and destroy Troy, and retrieve his wife.

• Helen is known as the “most beautiful woman in the world,” but is also forever associated with treachery and infidelity.

• In his famous play Dr. Faustus, Christopher Marlowe wrote that Helen was “the face that launched a thousand ships.”

The Trojan WarThe Trojan WarWhere?Where?

• The battles take place on the coasts and lands surrounding Troy.

• Today this land is the country of Turkey.

• When?• 1200 BC = When the events told in Homer’s

poems are supposed to have occurred. • This means these stories have been told for

over 3200 years. • 900-700 BC = The oral tradition is thought to be

first written down by Homer.

The Adventures of OdysseusThe Adventures of OdysseusWho?Who?

• Odysseus and his men – 12 ships and 720 men leave Troy and head for home.

• Rather than soldiers, they now must battle monsters and enchanting women.

• Meanwhile, Penelope waits for him at home while their son, Telemachus sails the sea looking for his father.

The Adventures of OdysseusThe Adventures of OdysseusWhy?Why?

• Odysseus angers the gods who were on the side of Troy, and one god who was on his side. They have decided that he must suffer.

The Adventures of OdysseusThe Adventures of OdysseusWhere?Where?

• The Mediterranean Sea – this was the entire known world for the ancient Greeks.

When?The 10 years immediately following the Trojan war.

The Olympian Gods and GoddessesThe Olympian Gods and Goddesses

• The ancient Greeks believed that the gods and goddesses were very “human” and their pettiness, jealousies, and anger caused humans to suffer.

• The Trojan war was prolonged because the gods took sides during the conflict.

Gods Siding with Gods Siding with TroyTroy

• Aphrodite

Goddess of Love and Beauty

Protector of Paris


Ares

Greek God of War

- Greatly disliked by Greeks

- Defeated by Achilles in battle and saved by his sister, Aphrodite.


• Apollo

God of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts.

Most known for sun and archery, and music.

Gods Siding with Gods Siding with GreeceGreece

• Athena

Goddess of Wisdom and War

Protector of Odysseus

Athens takes its name from her


• Hermes

Messenger of the Gods


• Poseidon

God of the Sea and Earthquakes

Inventor of horses

Second only to Zeus in power

ZeusZeus

• King of the Gods• God of the sky and thunder• Also the god of hospitality• Neutral in the Trojan war• Known for his infidelities

against his wife, Hera

From “Bureaucrats & Barbarians: The From “Bureaucrats & Barbarians: The Greek Dark Ages” by Richard HookerGreek Dark Ages” by Richard Hooker

• “No other texts in the Western imagination occupy as central a position in the self-definition of Western culture as in the two epic poems of Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey. They both concern the great defining moment of Greek culture, the Trojan War.”


• “If the Greeks regarded the Trojan War as the defining moment of their culture, they did so because of the poetry of Homer. It would not be unfair to regard the Homeric poems as the single most important texts in Greek culture.”


• “Whether or not this war really occurred, or occurred as the Greeks narrate it, is a relatively unanswerable question. We know that such a war did take place around a city that quite likely was Troy, that Troy was destroyed utterly, but beyond that it’s all speculation.”

homer’s the odyssey

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