Download Odyssey - English at Open

Homer’s
Odyssey
The epic journey and return of the hero
The Greeks believed in:
•Self-worth: Any individual
could be important
•Self-responsibility: People
should be responsible for
creating their own happiness
•Self-rule: Ordinary people
could create a sensible
government
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how to fight (Iliad)
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how to feel (Odyssey)
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how to party (poetry)
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how to rule (politics and plays)
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how to think (philosophy)
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how to see (art)
from Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea by Thomas Cahill
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For the ancient
Greeks, the sea
was everything.
Men were traders,
explores,
adventurers
Greeks shared
language and
traditions but
never formed
official country
Maybe some Greek word
elements will help…
Go to our Edmodo site and
take a short quiz.
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Stories that attempt to answer questions,
explain natural phenomenon, and meet
religious needs
Stories that express a culture’s attitude toward
life, death, and the universe
Stories of gods, goddess, and heroes
Stories that make order out of the chaos of
experience
Stories that explain things which never
happen that are always true
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Composition of Homer epics, Iliad and
Odyssey around 750 B.C.E.
legends of Homer as blind, wandering
poet/minstrel
role of epic poetry as historical record,
educational tool, courtly entertainment
epic poem as simultaneous glorification and
criticism of heroic culture
Trojan War c. 1200 B.C.E.--10 year Greek
attack and siege of the city of Troy in
northwestern Asia Minor (today’s Turkey)
An epic is a long narrative poem
that tells of the adventure of
a larger-than-life hero
who in some way embodies the
values of their civilization.
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Recited aloud from memory
A subject of national significance
Elements of the supernatural
Use of simile and metaphor
Elevated/formal language
A descent into the underworld
A vast setting
A beginning in medias res (“in the middle of
things”)
An invocation of the muse (one who inspires
poetry)
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Protagonist
main character
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Antagonist
enemy, rival, or opponent of the
protagonist
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Setting
ancient Mediterranean world after the
Trojan War, circa 1200 BCE
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Techniques
Homeric simile, epithets
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Conflicts
• man vs. self
• man vs. nature
• man vs. fate
• man vs. divine