THE ODYSSEY An Epic Journey. IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS Epic- An extended narrative poem in elevated or...
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Transcript of THE ODYSSEY An Epic Journey. IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS Epic- An extended narrative poem in elevated or...
IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS
Epic- An extended
narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero.
Odyssey- An extended
journey or trip, sometimes for spiritual reasons.
THE AUTHOR- HOMER
All we know about the author of the
Odyssey is that he lived some 2700
years ago. By tradition in ancient times,
Homer was a blind bard, one of the minstrels who recited long poems about heroes of a bygone age.
THREE SOURCES OF GREEK AND ROMAN EPIC ADVENTURES
The Iliad- Homer
The Aeneid- Virgil
The Odyssey- Homer
MOUNT OLYMPUS
Olympus is a mountain in
northern Greece, rising to multiple
peaks of over 9000 feet.
In mythology, it is the home of the supreme gods,
who lived there in a beautiful castle. They were known as the Olympians in consequence.
THE DIVINE PLAYERS
Muses- There were nine goddesses of artistic inspiration, known collectively as the Muses. They were rarely worshipped, but often called upon by poets since they aided memory as well as creative spark.
THE CYCLOPS
The Cyclops was the son of the
God of Earthquakes
(Poseidon). He was a one-eyed
giant of the race that built
Olympus for the gods.
THE SIRENS
Although Homer describes the treacherous
sweetness of their singing, he does not describe the physical
appearance of the Sirens. Later writers visualized them in
various combinations of woman and bird. One source also had them playing the lyre and flute in addition
to singing.
WHERE DO WE FIRST SEE ODYSSEUS? The one at odds with the gods.
Odysseus is first present in the Illiad . We find Odysseus fighting in the Trojan War. When Odysseus was first recruited, he pretended
he was mad because he didn’t want to fight. So, the soldiers who came to get him threw his son Telemachus in front of his plow. Odysseus swerved to miss his son, and they concluded he wasn’t mad.
So, he had to fight. His trouble really began when he left the
Trojan war. To know why he had such a treacherous journey home, we have to know about the war.
THE TROJAN WAR: BRIEF SYNOPSIS
The Trojan War began when a prince of Troy eloped with the wife of a Greek king.
The woman's name was Helen, and she became infamous as
Helen of Troy. Hers was "the
face that launched a thousand
ships."
Sailing to Troy, they
besieged the city for nine
years. Homer's
other epic, The Iliad,
concerns this siege and the
many individual
battles that were fought
between heroes on
both sides.
SPECIFICS ABOUT THE TROJAN WAR
Causes of the War Eris, Goddess of
Discord, was angry for not being invited to a wedding party.
To cause trouble, she threw an apple into the banquet (wedding party) which said, “For the Fairest.”
ERIS’ APPLE
All of the goddesses at the marriage party wanted to be considered the prettiest, but the choices were narrowed to three goddesses.
Hera- Zeus’s Wife Athena- The
Goddess of Civilization and Wisdom
Aphrodite- The Goddess of Love and Beauty
THE BRIBERY Hera offered power and land. Athena offered victory in battle. Aphrodite offered Paris the most beautiful
woman in the world!
HELEN Aphrodite led Paris to
Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world.
The problem- Helen was already married to Menelaus, the King of Sparta.
Paris kidnapped her? Or. She went willingly? We don’t really know for
sure. It is still debated.
MENELAUS’ REVENGE Needless to say,
Menelaus was not happy.
After reporting the incident to his brother, Agamemnon, the Greek army sailed off to go to war with Troy.
Helen became known as “the face that launched 1,000 ships.”
THE GODS AND GODDESSES AND WARRIORS
Greek WarriorsOdysseus and Achilles (although he claimed he didn’t fight for them)
Patroclus, Agamemnon, Ajax, and Diomedes
Hera and Athena
They were still mad at Paris for not choosing them!
In the Middle
Zeus- He didn’t like the
Trojans, but he didn’t want to
put up with Hera’s
nagging.
Trojan Warriors along withParis and
Hector
AphroditeAres
(He had a crush on Aphrodite)
Apollo (A friend of
Hector)
THE WAR The Greeks were
not doing well in the war.
Odysseus was believed to have come up with the
idea that would win the war for the
Greeks. Athena, the goddess of wisdom,
is said to have inspired Odysseus
with this idea.
THE PLAN …In the tenth year of
the Trojan War, the Greeks tricked the enemy into bringing a
colossal wooden horse within the walls of Troy. The
Trojans had no idea that Greek soldiers were hidden inside,
under the command of Odysseus.
That night they opened the city gates to the Greek army. Troy was destroyed. Now it was time for
Odysseus and the other Greeks to return to their kingdoms across the sea.
THE RESULTS The Greeks won the war, but angered
the gods because they forgot to say thank you!
The soldiers captured Cassandra and were mean to her. She was a friend of Athena, who became angry.
Athena asked Poseidon to help her give the Greeks a bitter homecoming.
Many of the Greek ships were lost at sea.
ODYSSEUS’S JOURNEY
Odysseus fought in the war for
ten years. Because of the
gods’ interference, it took him ten more years to
sail home. These years were not all
pleasant.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE ODYSSEY
Part One Part Two Part Three
The story of what happens to Ithaca while Odysseus is gone to war.
Odysseus tells of his wanderings during the ten years trying to get home.
Odysseus returns to Ithaca and joins with Telemachus to destroy the men who have taken over his home.