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Written by Homer
Written Approximately 1200 B.C.
Translated from Greek by Robert Fitzgerald
• A Myth is a traditional story from a particular culture
• It usually explains a belief of that culture, a ritual of the culture, or
a mysterious natural phenomenon
• A Myth deals with humans and the unknown or, humans and gods.
*Many times the god is an alter ego, or a reflection of the
hero’s best or worst characteristics
*Types of myths: Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian
*Topics of Myths include: nature, creation, semi-historical.
*Ancient Greek mythology is the influential and richest type.
One will find its influence in literature, sculpture, and
painting.
*The earliest sources of Greek mythical tales are the works
of the poets Hesiod and Homer.
Creation Myths: Hesiod
 The Theogony is a poem by Hesiod (8th-
7th century BC) was a Greek oral poet
 describing the origins and genealogies
of the gods of the ancient Greeks,
composed circa 700 BC.
 Hesiod's Theogony is a large-scale
synthesis of a vast variety of Greek
traditions concerning the gods,
 tells how they came to be and how they
established permanent control over the
cosmos.
 first Greek mythical cosmogony( a
theory concerning the coming into
existence or origin of the universe, or
about how reality came to be.
Greek religion was polytheistic. What does the
Greek root “poly” mean? So, now what do you
think polytheistic means?
The Olympians
12 immortals who dwelt in a palace on
Mount Olympus (can you identify them all)
Zeus / Jupiter
 King of the gods
 God of air
 Uses Thunderbolts as
his weapon
 Womanizer – married
his own sister
 Son of Cronos and
Rhea
 Most powerful
Jupiter is so
named because
it is so big – it is
the “King of
Planets”
Poseidon / Neptune
 God of the sea and
earthquakes
 Made horses
 Trident is weapon
 Amphitrite is his wife
 Zeus’ brother
 Son of Cronos and Rhea
 2nd most powerful
Neptune is
so named
because
the blue
looks like
water
Hades / Pluto
 God of the Underworld and
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Wealth
King of the dead but he is not
Death
Zeus’ brother
Son of Cronos and Rhea
Has a helmet that makes the
wearer invisible
Persephone (Spring) is his wife
NOT EVIL! (but he is unpitying)
3rd most powerful
Hephaestus / Vulcan
God of fire and the forge
Son of Zeus and Hera
Ugly
Lame because he was thrown off Mt. Olympus for
interfering with a fight between Hera and Zeus
 Husband to Aphrodite
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Hera / Juno
 Queen of the gods
 Protector of marriage
 Wife/sister of Zeus
 The peacock is her symbol
(because of the eye-look)
 Cows are sacred to her (oxeyed Hera)
 Jealous
No planet, but there
is an asteroid named
after her plus a city
in Alaska
god and the
Hermes / Mercury Messenger
god of thieves
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Greek Trickster figure
Very fast
Son of Zeus and Maia
Loves Aphrodite
Greeks believed he
guided souls to Hades
The Hermes Asteroid
Mercury revolves around the sun so fast, it was
named for the messenger god. One year is
faster than one day on Mercury
Phoebus Apollo
 God of truth, light,
archery, and healing
 Sun god in some myths
(Helios is the sun god in
other myths)
 Son of Zeus and Leto
 Wolves, dolphins, and
crows are sacred to
him
 Has the Oracle of
Delphi
Apollo
asteroids are
near-earth
asteroids
Artemis / Diana
 Apollo’s Twin sister
 Goddess of the hunt,
wild things, and
crossways
 She is the moon
goddess sometimes
 Virgin goddess
 As Diana, she is also a
goddess of light
The
Artemis
navigation
satellite
Ares / Mars
 Son of Zeus and Hera,
but both hate him
 God of War
 The Romans glorify him,
but the Greeks make
him out to be a coward
 He has three children
with Aphrodite: Phobos
(panic) and Deimos
(fear) are twins
Mars
and its
moons,
Phobos
and
Deimos
Hestia / Vesta
 Zeus’ sister – Oldest of the

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original gods
Goddess of the hearth and
home
Gave up her spot on Mt.
Olympus for Dionysus
Worshipped daily
A virgin priestesses served
her for 30 year time periods
Does pretty much nothing in
mythology
Asteroid Vesta
Eros / Cupid
 God of love
 Son of Ares and
Aphrodite
 Often portrayed as a
child, but not always.
 He has wings
 Uses a bow and arrow –
arrows cause one to fall
in love
Eros is a near earth
asteroid
Pallas Athena / Minerva
 Goddess of wisdom and
defensive war
 Daughter of Zeus and
Metis (titan) – she popped
out of his head after he
swallowed the pregnant
Metis
 She carries a shield with
Medusa’s head on it
Minerva was a tiny
robot designed by
the Japanese to
land on an
asteroid, but got
lost in space.
Demeter / Ceres
 Daughter of Cronos and
Rhea
 Goddess of vegetation
 Had powers of growth and
resurrection
 Her daughter is
Persephone
The asteroid Ceres was the first
asteroid ever discovered and is
one of the largest (about the size
of Texas). It almost became a
designated as a planet
Dionysus / Bacchus
 Son of Zeus and
Semele
 God of wine and
happiness
 In some areas of
Greece, his worship
was outlawed ( thought
too be dirty).
The Bacchus
asteroid
Aphrodite / Venus
 Goddess of beauty
and love
 Mother of
Eros/Cupid
 Wife of
Hephaestus/Vulcan
but lover of
Ares/Mars and
other guys
Venus is so named
because it is a
beautiful planet
* Born from the foam in the sea and can be easily
caused by the attack of Cronos/ seen with just the
Saturn on Ouranus/Uranus
eye
”
Where was ancient Greece? Greece is
a country in Europe.
Greece
When and where was ancient Greece?
BC AD
0
1000 BC –
323 BC:
Ancient
Greece
3100 BC – 1069 BC:
Ancient Egypt
7901060s:
The Viking
Age
55 BC 400 AD:
Roman
Britain
1666: The
Great Fire
of London
Socrates 470-399 B.C.
 Socrates was a philosopher of
Ancient Greece.
 A philosopher is someone who
tries to explain the nature of
life
 Sought truths about broad
concepts such as truth,
justice, and virtue.
 Socrates thought people could
learn best by asking questions.
This method of questioning is
still called the Socratic
method. He also thought that
philosophers could study human
behavior to learn how to
improve society.
The Death of Socrates

The trial of Socrates was based on two
charges: corrupting the youth and
impiety (immorality and sin). More
specifically, Socrates’ accusers cited
two ‘impious’ acts: ‘failing to
acknowledge the gods that the city
acknowledges’ and ‘introducing new
deities.’ 501 chosen jurors voted to
convict him.
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Socrates was ultimately sentenced to
death by drinking a hemlock-based
liquid. A well-known account of the trial
was given by one of Socrates’ student,
Plato.

The trial is one of the most famous of
all time. Whether Socrates was
punished unjustly is a thought-provoking
and contested issue, which to this day
inspires discussions about the nature and
meaning of justice.
Plato
428-348 B.C.
 Plato was a student of
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Socrates.
Plato later teaches Aristotle.
He started a school called
The Academy.
Plato’s writing took the form
of a dialogue between
teacher and student.
Wrote Plato’s Republicproved one of the most
intellectually and historically
influential works of
philosophy and political
theory.
Aristotle
384-322 B.C.
 Aristotle taught Alexander
the Great.
 His writings cover many
subjects, including physics,
poetry, theater, music,
logic, rhetoric, politics,
government, ethics,
biology, and zoology.
 He wrote The Poetics-offers
an account of what he calls
poetry, drama and comedies,
tragedy, satires, lyric poetry,
and epic poetry.
A look inside the Greek Alphabet. Compare and
contrast this to our own English alphabet. What do
you notice?
What similarities are there between ancient Greek schools and our
school?
At school we learn reading, writing and math. We
also learn singing and musical instruments.
Only children from rich families can go to school,
because you have to pay.
Girls don’t usually go to school, they are mostly
educated at home.
We start school at the age of seven and stay
until we are about fourteen.
After school most children learn a job or trade.
The richer ones might go to Athens to study with
a philosopher.
Greek Contributions
 The Greeks invented the Greek
crane.
 This is a catapult that the
Greeks invented. It could
throw 300 lb. stones at
walls/buildings.
How have the ancient Greeks influenced our buildings?
Look at buildings in your area or in pictures. Can you spot
any of these Ancient Greek features?
capitals
columns
cornices
a pediment
Greek Architecture
The Greeks invented
three common and
influential forms
of columns.
DORIC
IONIC
CORINTHIAN
Political: Athens was the first
democracy.
 Democracy: type of government where people
vote.
 Well, actually, Athens was a direct democracy
where people vote on everything.
 The U.S. today is a representative democracy,
where we vote for people to make decisions for
us.
Direct participation was the key to Athenian democracy. In the
Assembly, every male citizen was not only entitled to attend as
often as he pleased but also had the right to debate, offer
amendments, and vote on proposals. Every man had a say in
whether to declare war or stay in peace. Basically any thing that
required a government decision, all male citizens were allowed to
participate in.
An Epic is a long narrative poem
• Tells about the adventures of a hero
• Usually epics embody the values of the cultures they are
written for
•The Iliad and the Odyssey were used in schools to teach Greek
virtues.
•Values: honor, bravery, hospitality, intelligence, respect for
the gods, loyalty to home and family
•Major faults: disrespect for the gods, lack of hospitality,
excessive pride “hubris”
• Iliad is primary model for epic of war
• Odyssey is primary model for epic of the long journey
•Begins in medias res (Latin for “it begins in
the middle of things”), then flashes
back to explain action leading up to that
point
•Begins with an invocation (calling upon a god
for inspiration) or prayer to a god or gods
•Always begins with a statement of theme
•Contains many epithets
•Contains long, formal speeches by many
characters
• Singer “rapsode” of tales/ from the island Chios
•historians and classicists can only speculate about the life of this
man (details are few)
•thought to be blind, but describes events as a seeing person
. We do not even know the century in which he lived, and it is
difficult to say with absolute certainty that the same poet
composed both works.
•All historians/entertainers of Homer’s time did not write their
stories/facts down.
•The Greeks hailed him as their greatest poet, as well as their first.
Although the Greeks recognized other poets who composed in Greek
before Homer, no texts from these earlier poets survived.
This
Homer
Not This
Homer…
Now, close your eyes and envision this as I read the following to you!
 The banquet is over and the fire has collapsed to a bed of
embers. Amid bursts of laughter and boisterous conversation,
serving maids clear the remains of bread and meat from the long
wooden table. From his place at the head of the table, the lord
of the hall signals to a man holding a stringed instrument starts
to play while the guests shift their attention and slowly ease
their talk. Then he begins to sing. Chanting rhythmically,
occasionally touching the strings of his lyre, he sings of gods,
heroes, and monsters; of love, war, travel, death, and
homecoming. A stillness upon the hall and the listeners fall under
the spell of his words. The singer of tales is working his magic.
 This is an example of what it would be like to hear the tales of
Homer and other storyteller’s.
•Sequel to the Iliad (900 and 700 BC)
• The Iliad focuses on the days toward the end of the Trojan
War (mid 1200s BC)
• The Odyssey focuses on one of the soldiers that fought in
the Trojan War returning home 20 years after the
war—Odysseus .
• The Iliad and the Odyssey together were considered sacred to
the Greeks—much like the Bible to many people today.
• Both books were not originally written down but were recited
orally
•2 ways they were presented : sung with musical accompaniment
•Both contain Homeric similes & epithets
•The Judgment of Paris- The Golden Apple Contest
•Spartan King Menelaus’ wife Helen (the face that launched a thousand
ships) left him for the young Prince Paris of Troy.
•Greeks attacked Troy
•Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, led the siege.
• Odysseus (main character in the Odyssey) was another hero of
the war.
• Odysseus was known not only for being a strong hero, but also
for being a wise/smart hero.
• Another Greek hero, Achilles, died in the final year of the war “Achilles
Heel”
•Trojan Horse & Greek forces were victorious!
•Wife: Penelope
Son: Telemachus
Kingdom: Ithaca
•Great soldier of the war
• Originally tried to get out of going to the war—pretended he was crazy
• Came up with the wooden-horse trick that lead to Troy’s collapse.
• The Odyssey is the account of Odysseus’ journey home after the war.
Meter in The Odyssey
 The Odyssey was written in a dactylic
hexameter. Each line of the epic has 6 metrical
feet. The first five feet are dactyls which are
composed of a long sound and 2 short sounds. The
last foot of each line is always a spondee which is
made up of 2 long sounds.
• (1)Story in Ithaca about Odysseus’
wife and son as they await his return.
•(2)Tale of Odysseus’ wanderings
during the ten years following the
Trojan War.
•(3)Odysseus returns to Ithaca and
joins forces with his son, Telemachus,
to destroy their enemies.
Motifs in The Odyssey
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Hospitality
Respect for the Gods
The Importance of Lineage
Loyalty
Pride and Honor
Resisting Temptation
Live Life to the Fullest
Self-discipline
The Importance of Leadership
Revenge, Justice, & Reconciliation
Fate
Edith Hamilton
 an American educator and author who was “recognized
as the greatest woman Classicist”.
 Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes is a book written
by Hamilton, published in 1942.
 It retells stories of Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology drawn
from several classical sources.
 The book has become one of the most powerful and criticallyacclaimed books of the Western world.
2 Film Allusions
 2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction
film directed by Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork
Orange, Doctor Strangeglove). The movie is about
creation by design- computers and their part in
them- computers that can misfunction and cause
destruction.
 Alludes to the Trojan Horse (monolith), Names
(Tycho & Dave Bowman), Monolith (creates a
forgetting effect), a human relies on brute
strength & a monster relies on genius (irony).
O’ Brother Where Art Thou?
 *The film is a 2000 adventure story directed by brothers Joel and
Ethan Cohen (The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, Fargo,etc).
 Set in 1934 Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is
a modern satire loosely based on Homer’s epic poem.
 *In the opening credits explicitly state the story of the film is based on
epic poem by Homer.
 *The similarities between O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The
Odyssey are numerous, ranging from the obvious to the obscure.
 Joel Cohen has been quoted as saying: “It just sort of occurred to us
after we’d gotten into it somewhat that it was a story about someone
going home, and sort of episodic in nature, and it kind of evolved into
that. It’s very loosely and very sort of unseriously based on The
Odyssey.”
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