Download The Odyssey

The Odyssey
By
Homer
Ancient Greece
Odysseus ruled the island
of Ithaca.
Minoans and
Myceneaeans
• Minoans:
• 2,000 B.C. (1,000 yrs before Odysseus)
• Present-day island of Crete
• 1450 B.C. it collapsed suddenly
• Mycenaeans
• They became the dominant power in Greek world
• “palace culture” – trade economy – writing system
Legendary Conflicts
• Cities had large central palaces with thick walls
• Ruled by KINGS.
Mycenaeans
• Fought often
• Most Famous Battle:
• The Trojan War !!!!!!!
• 1200 B.C.
After the Trojan War…
• Mycenaean civilization collapsed.
• Greece went into a “dark age”.
• BUT:
• Greece had a time of economic and cultural
wealth in 850 B. C.
• THIS
• Is when the Iliad and the Odyssey were written.
RISE of the City States
• After Homer died, Greeks grew in organization
and structure, and smaller cities and towns
morphed into:
• City-states.
• Athens, Sparta, etc.
• This generation grew up reading Homer’s
epics.
Greek Mythology and
Customs
• Many gods
The gods were believed
to all live on Mt. Olympus
Celebrating the gods
• Greek gods were worshipped in temples
• They had festivals/holidays in their names
• PROPHECY –
• Greeks believed in prophecies, given by the
god Apollo. There were human ‘messengers’
who received the prophesies from Apollo.
• Odysseus goes to see one of these men.
Homer
• Who was he?
• An epic poet
• He wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey
• But no one can prove he existed.
• The story goes:
• He was born on Ionia, and born blind. He likely
lived between 850-750 B. C.
Other interesting facts
about Homer
• The Iliad was written first.
• The influence of Homer’s two great epics
reach across generations and throughout the
world. They are the “foundational works of
western literature”.
• For example:
What is an Epic?
• Epic – n. a long narrative poem that
relates important events in the
history of a folklore of the culture
that produced it. (Greece)
• Protagonist – called an epic hero
• “larger than life” – a bit ridiculous
Epic
• Protagonist: Odysseus
• Strong, brave, noble, famous, a great leader
• Literary Devices in Homer’s Odyssey
• Most were passed down by mouth before they
were written
• There is no knowing if the literary devices were
included in Homer’s original stories.
Epic Devices
• Invocation to the Muse – speaker asks the
Muse for inspiration
• In medias res- begins in the middle of the
action
• Lofty style – full of elegant language
• Objective Tone – speaker keeps
• Emotional distance
Epic Devices
• Meter –
• Poems have strict rhythms
• Epithet –
• Characterizing phrase or person, place, or thing
which helped the author remember and keep
the meter.
• Epic Simile –
• A long comparison over many lines