Download The Odyssey Background Notes

A.The Odyssey is written in a genre called an
epic poem
B.An epic poem is a long, narrative poem about
warriors and heroes.
C.It has four main ingredients:
 Myth
 Legend
 Folktale
 History
D. An epic poem has cultural significance. It is
like a cultural bible.
E. The Greeks had two major poems: The Iliad
andThe Odyssey.
F. The Romans had an epic poem called The
Aeneid.
G. The English have an epic poem called
Beowulf.
H. The Odyssey has two strong features:
 Homeric similes (long similes)
 Epithets ( a word or phrase used to characterize
someone or something such as “Raider of Cities”
referring to Odysseus, or “Lord of the Clouds”
referring to Zeus.)
A. The Greeks were polytheistic (believed in many gods).
B. Their gods behaved like humans; they played jokes,
got angry, etc.
C. The Greeks believed that the gods lived in northern
Greece on Mt. Olympus.
D. They believed that the gods came down to earth
disguised as wandering strangers.
E. The major gods:
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Zeus- King of the gods
Hera- Queen of the gods
Athena- Goddess of war & wisdom
Aphrodite- Goddess of love & beauty
Apollo- God of the sun
Poseidon- God of the sea
A.
B.
C.
D.
Homer was the poet who wrote both Greek
epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey.
The Iliad is about a ten-year war at Troy.
The Odyssey is about Odysseus’ ten-year
journey back home after the war.
Homer wrote these poems about 800 B.C.;
however, the Trojan War took place 400
years earlier in 1200 B.C.
E. Homer is believed to have been blind
F. Homer memorized the entire poem and sang it
for hours, as a kind of entertainment for people to
listen to.
G. This type of poem-singer was called a rhapsodoi
(professional reciter) similar to minstrels of
Medieval England.
H. These epic poems united all the Greek citystates into one nation.
I. The poems were viewed as sacred and the
ultimate authority on morality.
J. The poems were lost during the Dark Ages
but were rediscovered in Constantinople
(Turkey) during the Renaissance.
A. The Greeks were polytheistic and believed in many
gods.
B. The gods could come to earth disguised as
wandering strangers, therefore, the Greeks treated all
wandering travelers with hospitality. To treat a
stranger badly was a risk at offending a god.
Therefore, the people valued hospitality very highly.
C. The Greek people respected their
religious prophets called oracles.
D. The people also valued moderation and
looked down on people with too much pride
(hubris) or who were greedy or cruel.
E. Greek households grouped together to form
city-states. Each city-state tried to win the
favor of a particular god or goddess by giving
offerings.
F. The people also believed in hero worship
involving a person who displayed honor,
bravery, hospitality, loyalty to home,
intelligence, and respect for the gods.
G. The people traveled mainly by sea because
Greece is so mountainous. They traded with
countries who had alphabets and began to
develop their own about the time of Homer.
The story was passed down from generation to
generation until it was written down about 750
B.C.
A.
The Historical Perspective
1. The city of Troy did exist. In fact, there were at
least nine “Troy’s” built one on top of the otherall located in the country we now call Turkey
2. Later conquered by the Greeks, the city also
went by the Ilios, and when conquered by the
Romans it became Ilium; hence, the name of
Homer’s first epic, The Iliad, (not the Troyad)
3. Troy was an important trade city that was
strategically located at the Dardanelles Strait.
The Dardanelles Strait links the Black, Marmara
and Aegean Seas.
4. Since sea trade was vital to transporting
goods, anything from the Far East went across
the land to the Black Sea, where it could be
loaded onto boats and distributed to the
Mediterranean Sea area.
5. Troy was a city worth capturing and
archaeologists say that it was burned to the
ground in the 11th Century B.C., about the time
of the Trojan War.
6. The word “Greek” did not exist back then;
the people from Greece were called Achaeans,
Argives, and Danaans.
1.
2.
3.
In the 11th Century B.C., Troy was supposedly
ruled by King Priam
With his wife, Hecuba, and his other wives,
King Priam had 50 sons and 12 daughters.
In those days, dreams were believed to
foretell the future, and Queen Hecuba
dreamed that she would have a trouble
maker of a son who would bring about the
fall of Troy.
4. The next child is born, a son named Paris. He
is taken to the mountainside and left to die ( a
frequent Greek custom usually reserved for
handicapped children).
*The Greeks believed only the
strongest should survive.
5. The baby, Paris, was given a rattle with the
King’s seal on it to entertain himself while he
dies.
6. Legend says that Paris was rescued and
raised by a shepherd.
7. The shepherd kept the rattle, and when Paris
was a young man the shepherd revealed his
identity to him. Paris returned to the king’s
household to continue his life.
8. There was an important social wedding in
Troy between a mortal man named Peleus and
a sea nymph named Thetis.
9. One goddess, Eris, the goddess of strife and
discord, was deliberately left off the guest list.
10. In revenge, Eris “crashes” the wedding and
rolls a golden apple down the wedding table.
The apple is engraved with the words, “To the
Fairest.”
11. The three most powerful goddesses- Hera,
Aphrodite, and Athena- each grab for the apple
considering themselves to be the “fairest.”
12. Zeus is afraid to make the controversial
decision over who should get the apple, so he
picks Prince Paris to make it instead.
13. Bribery begins:
Hera- promises all the power in the world
Athena- promises wisdom and military skills
Aphrodite- promises the most beautiful woman
in the world.
Paris chooses: Aphrodite as the “fairest”
14. The most beautiful woman in the world is
Helen of Sparta. Unfortunately, she is already
married to King Menelaus.
15. Paris pretends to be a beggar at King
Menelaus’ castle and kidnaps Helen with
Aphrodite’s help.
16. Menelaus gathers armies from all his friends (including
King Odysseus of Ithaca) and sails to Troy to bring back his
wife.
17. The Greeks fight the Trojans for nine years before
Odysseus comes up with the idea for the Trojan horse in
the 10th year. This idea ends the war and they regain
Helen. This is the basis for the epic poem, The Iliad.