Download The Odyssey

The Odyssey
An Introduction
Journal
What do you want the most from life?
For example would you most want love?
Peace? Nice teachers?
Today we will….
• Learn new information to prepare for
reading the Odyssey
• Use what we did last week and tie it into
our new information
The Author
Who wrote the Odyssey???
HOMER
DOH!!!
Not this
one……..
Class, meet Homer. Isn’t he handsome???
Does HOMER have a first name?
• Not much information
was known about
Homer.
• This is what scholars
have brainstormed
about him
Elements of
Literature, pages
744-745
1. He was a blind
singer
2. He’s a legend
What exactly was HOMER?
Homer was a RHAPSODY
• Historian
• Myth Maker (some religious)
• Entertainer
Page 745
HOMER
George Washington meets Hercules who then performs
karaoke at a TuPac Concert
+
+
=
HOMER
• Homer wrote 2 (two)
epics
• Iliad (we’ve already read
a selection from this)
• Odyssey
Epic Definition
Long narrative poems that
tell of the adventures of
heroes who in some way
embody the values of
their civilizations
Page 740 Epics and Values
Not so EPIC definition
Really long poem that tells
about a hero’s adventure
in which the people
support the hero
How Epics Were Told
• Believed to be told out loud by people who
could not read or write
• “Scholars have found that oral epic poets are
still composing today in Eastern Europe and
other parts of the world.”
Page 745
Where the Epics were Told
• Greece
• Between
1200 and
700 BC
How Epics Were Told
• They were improvised or made-up with a
formula
• Usually they would summarize the story
and sing the rest
• YOU ARE NOW PART OF THAT
AUDIENCE!!!!!!
Iliad
“Beauty is in the eye of
the beholder.”
Iliad
• About the Trojan War
Trojan War
You see, what had happened was…..
The king of Sparta (Menelaus) was married
to Helen (a beautiful woman) who was
then kidnapped by Paris (a Trojan). The
Spartans joined together with the Greeks
under the command of Agamemnon,
brother of Menelaus.
{basically Menelaus got flamed}
Trojan War
King of Sparta
(Menelaus)
One HOT Mamma
(HELEN)
Paris
(KIDNAPPER?)
Odyssey
The Odyssey
This epic tale begins
with the assumption
that YOU, the
audience, has prior
knowledge
Prior Knowledge
Important things to
know
• The Greeks/Spartans
were able to enter the
city of Troy
• The Greeks/Spartans
won the war (the fall
of Troy)
• Achilles (Brad Pitt)
died in the last year of
war
• Agamemnon returned
home only to be
murdered by his
unfaithful wife
(bummer….)
p.744
Focus of the Odyssey
Odysseus
BRAWN + BRAINS = my kind of man!!!
Center of the epic tale
HERO
 Heroes are ranked between gods and
human
 Odysseus is a hero in trouble
Odysseus
Married Penelope
Had a son (Telemachus)
Odysseus the proud father
Odysseus was called to war when his son
was just a toddler.
Which war?
The Trojan War
p.742
Odysseus the proud father
•
•
•
•
•
Acted insane
Plowed fields as a peasant
Army too smart for even Odysseus
Threw Telemachus in front of the plow
Odysseus had no choice but to save his
son
The Epic Adventure
The Odyssey is about a Greek soldier (gee I
wonder who) getting home after war
LONG JOURNEY
Odysseus’ role in the Trojan War
• For 10 (ten) years the war was fought on
the outside of the city wall.
• It was ODYSSEUS who had the idea for
the horse.
The Horse
• The warriors put a
wooden horse in front of
the city gate
• Unknown to the Trojans
the horse was filled with
Greek/ Spartan soldiers
• The Trojans believed it to
be a peace offering and
brought it inside of the
gates
• At night, the warriors got
out of the horse and
opened the gates for their
fellow soldiers.
The Horse continued….
• Inside Troy, the Greeks/ Spartans
destroyed the city
• Took valuables
• Burned buildings
• Killed women
• Odysseus is in trouble with the gods
And the story begins…..
Logically the story would begin with
Odysseus leaving Troy…..
However this IS Mrs. Perkins’s class
So the story starts with Telemachus and he
is in his 20’s.
And the story begins….
It has been 10 years since Odysseus left Troy
And 20 years since he left his wife and child
en media res (Latin for “in the middle”)
And the story begins…..
Mythology in The Odyssey
• Homer is considered to
be a religious individual
(gods control all)
• Some Greek gods and
goddesses can be seen
as alter egos
Page 744
1. Athena
2. Odysseus was
known for his wise
choices
3. Poseidon
4. Represents
Odysseus’s
arrogance and
brutishness
THANKS FOR PAYING
ATTENTION
(NOW YOU HAVE A QUIZ)