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EC English 9: The Odyssey
Homer’s World Notes
Fill in the outline below to correspond with the notes posted In Canvas.
Examining the Homeric Epics
I.
Composed in Greece around _______________________ B.C.
II.
The greatest masterpieces of the _______________ form
a. _________________________ poetry
b. Hero’s adventure
III.
First told orally
IV.
Common plot elements
a. The _________________________________
b. The heroism of _______________________________________
c. The _______________________________ of the gods
The Trojan War (Around _____________________ B.C.)
I.
According to Legend…
a. The Trojan War began after _______________, a Trojan prince, kidnapped the beautiful
______________ from her husband, Menelaus, the King of Sparta, and took her back to Troy.
b. Although it is unknown for sure, many believe that Helen went with Paris ______________.
II.
Retaliation
a. Menelaus then recruited kings and soldiers from all over Greece, including his brother, Agamemnon, to
help him ______________ and ____________________ his wife.
b. The Greeks held Troy under siege for ___________________.
III.
The Tenth year (___________________)
a. In the tenth year of the siege on Troy, Agamemnon offended the greatest of the Greek warriors,
___________________, when he took the girl Briseis from him as compensation for losing his own warprize, the woman Chryseis.
b. This action sparked the ____________________ of the Iliad.
IV.
Refusal to Fight
a. Achilles became enraged at Agamemnon’s actions and ____________________ to fight for the Greeks
any further.
b. The war went badly, and the Greeks offered handsome reimbursements to Achilles, but he still refused
to fight; however, he agreed to allow his friend ____________________ to fight in his place, wearing his
armor.
c. The next day Patroclus was ____________________ and stripped of the armor by the Trojan hero
____________________, who mistook him for ____________________.
V.
Retaliation, part two
a. Achilles was overwhelmed with ____________________ for his friend and ____________________ at
Hector.
b. He returned to the fighting and killed ____________________.
c. He desecrated the body, ____________________ it behind his chariot before the walls of Troy and
____________________ to allow it to receive funeral rites.
d. When Priam, the king of Troy and Hector's father, came secretly into the Greek camp to plead for the
body, Achilles finally relented.
VI.
Bringing the war to an end
a. The Greeks brought the war to an end thanks to the cleverness of ____________________, ruler of the
Island of Ithaca.
VII.
The Trojan Horse
a. Odysseus ordered a giant wooden horse to be built and left at the
__________________________________.
b. The Trojans, waking to find it there—without a Greek in sight—would assume that the enemy had fled
and left them a _________________.
c. Once the horse was inside the city gates, the Greek soldiers who filled it began to ravage the city and its
people, including _____________________________.
The Heroic Story of Odysseus
I.
______________________________________
a. The Odyssey deals with Odysseus’ adventures as he travels _________________ from Troy and with the
events that occurred in ________________ while he was gone.
b. He left Troy with a fleet of 12 ships carrying about 720 men.
II.
The Gods and Goddess
a. Characters in Homer’s ______ also had to deal with ____________________ among the gods
and goddesses
b. Getting Involved
c. Belief that gods and goddesses took an active interest in ____________________
d. They were also believed to behave in ____________________ ways
i. Petty ____________________
ii. Trivial ____________________
III.
Connection to Modern Readers
a. ____________________ gods and goddesses
b. ____________________ lands and creatures
c. full of ____________________ and ____________________
i. science fiction
ii. fantasy adventures
Homer: The Epic Poet
I.
Believed to have lived sometime between ____________________ B.C.
II. Debate whether or not Homer really ____________________.
III. It is believed that the works credited to Homer could really be the works of ____________________
people.
Characteristics of an Epic
I.
An extended ____________________ poem recounting heroic episodes
II.
Written in a ____________________ (with ennobled diction, for example).
III.
Epic Hero
a. Possesses ____________________ strength, craftiness and confidence
b. Is helped and harmed by ____________________ gods/goddesses
c. Embodies ideals and values a ____________________ considers important
d. Emerges victorious from a ____________________ situation
IV.
Epic Plot
a. Involves a LONG journey
b. Features many ____________________
V.
Epic Setting: Includes ____________________ or exotic lands
VI.
All epics include ____________________ (characters, situations and images that are
____________________ in many cultures.
VII.
Epic Themes
a. ____________________ concerns: courage, a homecoming, loyalty, the fate of a nation, beauty
or life and death
Introduction to The Odyssey
A Close-Reading Activity
Background
The Trojan War was over. The clever Greek Odysseus had 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.
The Greeks had been laying siege to Troy for nine long years, but suddenly it looked like their whole army had departed, leaving the
horse behind.
That night, while the Trojans slept, Odysseus and his men emerged from the horse’s belly. Opening the city gates, they admitted
their comrades, who snuck back in the dark.
Troy was sacked and the Trojans utterly vanquished. Now it was time for Odysseus and his fellow warriors to return to their
kingdoms across the sea. Here begins the tale of The Odyssey, as sung by the blind minstrel Homer.
The Odyssey: Tell the Story
Homer opens with an invocation, or prayer, to the Muse. The Greeks believed that there were nine Muses, daughters of
Zeus, who inspired people to produce music, poetry, dance, and all other arts.
Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story
of that man skilled in all ways of contending,
the wanderer, harried for years on end,
after he plundered the stronghold
on the proud height of Troy.
He saw the townlands
and learned the minds of many distant men,
and weathered many bitter nights and days
in his deep heart at sea, while he fought only
to save his life and to bring his shipmates home.
But not by will nor valor could he save them,
for their own recklessness destroyed them all –
children and fools, they killed and feasted on
the cattle of Lord Helios, the Sun,
and he who moves all day through heaven
took from their eyes the dawn of their return.
Of these adventures, Muse, daughter of Zeus,
tell us in our time, life the great song again.
Begin when all the rest who left behind them
headlong death in battle or at sea
had long ago returned, while he alone still hungered
for home and wife. Her ladyship Calypso
clung to him in her sea-hallowed caves—
a nymph, immortal and most beautiful,
who craved him for her own.
And when the long years and seasons
wheeling brought around the point of time
ordained for him to make passage homeward,
trials and dangers, even so, attended him
even in Ithaca, near those he loved.
Yet all the gods had pitied Lord Odysseus,
all but Poseidon, ranging cold and rough
against the brave king till he came ashore
at last on his own land…
1. What is Homer asking the Muse to help him with?
2. From reading the background info, who can you
infer is “that man”?
3. What are his two goals?
4. Does his achieve his goals? What happens?
5. What is he still searching for?
6. Why can’t he get home?
7. What does Calypso want with him?
8. Hoe do the gods feel toward him?
9. What does Poseidon do?